Superman
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64 “BY THE TIME”: Author interview with Benjamin Reeve.
65 “MOSTLY A”: Reeve, Still Me, 199.
66 HIS FATHER: Frank Reeve emails.
67 “WHEN I WAS”: Author interview with Smolinski.
68 “WHAT I’M SUGGESTING”: Letter from Joanne Siegel to Steven J. Ross, February 16, 1988.
10. TILL DEATH DO US PART
1 IT STARTED: Recollections of the summit and its aftermath were based on author interviews with and emails from Cary Bates, Jon Bogdanove, Mike Carlin, K. C. Carlson, Chris Duffy, Dan Jurgens, Jenette Kahn, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Frank Pittarese, Louise Simonson, and Martha Thomases.
2 COULD TAKE YEARS: Some Superman writers worried that, given the quick turnover rate in the comic book business, they would be gone by the time the momentous wedding happened.
3 “NEVER SAY”: McTernan, “Superman to Die Saving Metropolis,” Cleveland Plain Dealer.
4 “HOW DARE”: Author interview with Kahn.
5 DURACELL BATTERIES: Elliott, “Always a Place for Superman,” New York Times.
6 KILLING HIM: Jurgens, Ordway, et al., The Death of Superman.
7 THE CLIMAX: The average number of panels per page was six, although Marvel artists had been making a splash with fewer pages and more single panels (Wells emails).
8 “COPIES IN”: “Superman Death Issue to Go to Second Printing,” Wall Street Journal.
9 “GO ON THE”: “Look! It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Curtains for the Man of Steel,” New York Times.
10 “SUPERMAN,” HE: Rich, “Term Limit for the Man of Steel,” New York Times.
11 MORE HEADS OF STATE: Stern, The Death and Life of Superman, 174.
12 “GOD? ’S ME”: World Without a Superman, 46.
13 MONTHS OFF: To satisfy fans and DC bean counters, the company published a series of other comics during that downtime, including Legacy of Superman No. 1.
14 “IF THIS MANY”: Carlin email.
15 “NOW,” HE: Zinn, “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane—It’s a Resurrection,” Business Week.
16 “THAT BECAME”: Author interview with Kahn.
17 “HE SAID”: Sangiacomo, “Superman Creator, Siegel, 81, Is Dead,” Cleveland Plain Dealer.
18 INTERESTED IN LOIS: Jenette Kahn, the power behind the scenes, says her first treatment for the TV show was entitled “Lois Lane’s Daily Planet.” She also says she decided not to have her hero fly because the limited special effects available back then would have made it look “cheesy.”
19 “I DIDN’T WANT”: Author interview with Deborah Joy LeVine.
20 ADVERTISING MONEY: Gordon, “Superman on the Set,” Quality Popular Television, 149.
21 NETWORK PURPOSEFULLY: Gordon, “Superman on the Set,” 151.
22 EARTH-2: In his 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman carried this Earth-2 couple to an alternate dimension, where they could carry on without getting in the way of the Earth-1 couple and the newly simplified DC universe.
23 ISSUE CALLED: Superman writers and artists past and present, “The Wedding Album,” Superman: The Wedding Album No. 1.
24 MOONLIGHTING EFFECT: Gordon, “Superman on the Set,” 149–50; Flint and Snierson, “ ‘Clark’ Canned,” Entertainment Weekly; and author interview with Kahn.
25 “I WAS THAT”: Hatcher, Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life, 191.
26 CAIN HAD LESS: “Dean Cain,” People; Perigard, “Raising Cain,” Boston Herald; and Jacobs, “Citizen Cain,” Entertainment Weekly.
27 “SUPERMAN: THE ESCAPE”: Wharton, “ ‘Superman’ Ride Still Grounded,” Los Angeles Times. The Escape tied for the world’s fastest ride with Tower of Terror II at Dreamworld Theme Park in Australia.
28 “IN VIRTUAL”: Herz, “It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! (And It Wobbles?),” New York Times.
29 GUEST STARRING: Dooley and Engle, Superman at Fifty! 182; www.seinfeldscripts.com; and “Seinfeld Meets a Really ‘Super’ Salesman,” New York Times. The American Express commercials—“A Uniform Used to Mean Something” and “Hindsight Is 20/20”—each lasted four minutes.
30 “HE IS A CITIZEN”: “To the Rescue: Superman’s Big Mission in Bosnia,” Time for Kids.
31 THE FIRST BOOK: Levitz, 75 Years of DC Comics, 574.
32 “COMIC ART” AUCTIONS: Lyne, “The Executive Life,” New York Times; and “2 Comic Books Auctioned for $100,000,” New York Times.
33 “A BATTLER FOR”: Kingdom Come, 210.
34 THE REAL AIM: Author interviews with Waid and Maggin.
35 FOR HIM, THOUGH: Author interview with Jeph Loeb.
36 “I DON’T WANT”: Email to author from Chris Clow.
37 JO JO KAMINSKI: Author interview with Ordway.
38 NAMES OF GIRLS: Author interview with Maggin.
39 SUCH STORIES WERE: Wells emails.
40 WHITE AND: Around this time, DC was collaborating with the new Milestone Media to distribute multicultural comic books featuring black superheroes like Hardware and Static.
41 “STEEL WAS”: Author interviews with and emails from Simonson, Christopher Priest, and Kahn.
42 “USED TO WATCH”: Gates, “A Big Brother from Another Planet,” New York Times.
43 “THERE WAS SOMETHING”: Author interview with Al Roker.
44 SHAQUILLE O’NEAL: Mead, “A Man-Child in Lotusland,” The New Yorker.
45 THREE-PART SERIES: Superman: The Man of Steel No. 81; and author interview with Bogdanove.
46 MIXED BALANCE SHEET: Jensen, “Dead Superman May Revive DC Comics,” Advertising Age; Lev, “Reaching Beyond the Ghouls and Gore for Major Payoffs,” New York Times; Rhoades, A Complete History of American Comic Books, 129; Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men, 151; and Chang, “SPLAAAAAAAT!,” Los Angeles Times.
47 GALLUP POLL: Hugick, “Public to DC Comics: Resurrect Superman!” The Gallup Poll News Service.
48 IT WASN’T JUST: Emails to author from Bill Necessary, Wurzelbacher, and Ken Cholette.
49 JOE HAD BEEN: Mietkiewicz, “Great Krypton!” Toronto Star.
50 “I WAS SHOCKED”: Letter from Jean Shuster Peavy to Marty Payson, August 21, 1992.
51 “THIS IS CALLED”: Reeve, Still Me, 15.
52 “ ‘WHAT IS A HERO?’ ”: Reeve, Still Me, 267.
53 “SHE WAS FRIGHTENED”: “Margot Kidder Is Hospitalized for Psychiatric Observation,” New York Times.
54 “IT’S THE FIRST”: Author interview with Kidder.
55 “THE FACT THAT”: Ordway emails.
56 “THERE WAS AN”: Author interview with Levitz.
57 “MORT WEISINGER”: Author interview with Evanier.
58 KEPT A SEAT: Nash, “Jack Liebowitz, Comics Publisher, Dies at 100,” New York Times.
11. TIGHTS AND FIGHTS
1 “WE MADE NO”: Author interview with Al Gough.
2 “WE WERE VERY”: Author interview with Ken Horton.
3 “JUST THE RIGHT”: Carson, “Small Comforts,” Esquire.
4 “I LOVE IT”: Hiatt, “Lex-Man,” Entertainment Weekly.
5 JONES LEFT: He was arrested in 2009 by the Drug Enforcement Administration on trafficking charges, pled guilty in 2010, and the next year was sentenced to a year in prison.
6 BROADER AND DEEPER: Scivally, Superman on Film, 151–52.
7 “WE WERE WINKING”: Author interview with Gough.
8 “ ‘SMALLVILLE’ IS ONE”: Hinson, “Getting to the Heart of a Hero,” New York Times.
9 “SEEING THE SUPERMAN”: Carson, “Small Comforts.”
10 “FINALLY, CLARK”: Jensen, “Shows of Strength,” Entertainment Weekly.
11 A RECORD: The cost would have been even higher if the studio hadn’t received nearly $20 million in tax credits in Australia, where most of the filming was done, and if it hadn’t canceled plans for a $20 million construction of Metropolis intended to be used afterward as a theme park. It reportedly cost $50 just to grow an ear of corn for the film. Jensen, “Greatest American Hero?” Entertainment Weekl
y.
12 “A MODERN BLENDING”: Lewellen expert testimony, Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment.
13 REMAINS OF KRYPTON: The next year, real-life scientists in Serbia found a new mineral whose chemistry matched the material described in the movie (Gustines, “Bad News for Superman,” New York Times).
14 “I GAVE MYSELF”: Swanson, “Super Troupers,” Premiere.
15 “I CAN’T TELL”: Bowles, “ ‘Superman’ Torch Is Passed,” USA Today.
16 “OUR GEORGE”: Rhodes, “The Continuing Adventures,” New York Times.
17 WATCH HIM FLY: Grove, “Singer Was Man of Steel,” Hollywood Reporter.
18 AT A COST: Swanson, “Super Troupers.”
19 “WRITING A STORY”: Author interview with Michael Dougherty.
20 “MY GRANDMOTHER”: Singer, Dougherty, and Harris, Superman Returns: The Complete Shooting Script, 23.
21 “IT’S INDESCRIBABLE”: Author interview with Dougherty.
22 “I WAS PRACTICALLY”: Author interview with John Ottman.
23 “SUPERHEROES—LET’S”: Duralde, “How Gay Is Superman?” Advocate.
24 “MOST HETEROSEXUAL”: Jensen, “Greatest American Hero?”
25 TOO GLOBAL: That debate over whether Superman is all-American or all-world has surfaced repeatedly over the decades. Superman himself answered it best in 1961 when, in response to being enrolled as an honorary citizen of all the member countries of the United Nations, he said: “What an honor! But of course my main loyalty will always be to the United States, where I grew up!” (Superman No. 146).
26 “WARNER BROTHERS”: “Superman and the Culture War,” billoreilly.com.
27 “THERE’S NO REASON”: Lundegaard, “Truth, Justice and (Fill in the Blank),” New York Times.
28 MISHAPS: Swanson, “Super Troupers.”
29 “AT ONE POINT”: Author interview with Bryan Singer.
30 “THEY’RE VERY IMPORTANT”: Singer, Dougherty, and Harris, Superman Returns: The Complete Shooting Script, 10, 13.
31 “SUPERMAN RETURNS”: Author interview with Singer.
32 “EARLIER VERSIONS”: Corliss, “The Gospel of Superman,” Time.
33 “STAYED VERY MUCH”: Author interview with Donner.
34 “OFFERS NOT SO”: Lane, “Kryptology,” The New Yorker.
35 “FIDELITY IS ONE”: D’Angelo, “Man, Yes; Super, Not Really,” Las Vegas Weekly.
36 “LEADEN”: Dargis, “Superman Is Back,” New York Times.
37 PRODUCTION COSTS: Warner Bros. said it suffered a net loss of $81 million on Superman Returns (Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment).
38 “WAS A VERY”: Eller, “Picture This,” Los Angeles Times.
39 CASHED IN: Johannes, “Superman Soars,” Promo Magazine; Rossen, Superman vs. Hollywood, 290; and Holson, “More Than Ever, Hollywood Studios Are Relying on the Foreign Box Office,” New York Times.
40 “WE WERE STABBED”: Joanne Siegel letter to Richard D. Parsons, May 9, 2002.
41 LEGAL FILING: DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures Corporation, 2010 (complaint, response, counter-complaint and response, press release); Cieply and Barnes, “Warner Brothers Sues ‘Superman’ Lawyer,” New York Times; and Cieply, “Lawyer Battles Back Against DC Comics in Superman Dispute,” New York Times.
42 CEASE-AND-DESIST: The letter, from a Florida attorney claiming he represented Joanne and Laura, told Lois Amster to stop claiming she was the model for Lois Lane. But “she never claimed that,” says Amster’s son, Paul Rothschild. “After my brother sent him a lawyer’s letter, we haven’t heard from him since,” Rothschild adds. “We don’t know what his point was unless it was related to their suit against DC Comics” (author interview with and emails from Rothschild).
43 PRELIMINARY RULINGS: Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment.
44 EVEN AS: Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment.
45 “THE WHOLE PURPOSE”: Author interview with Marc Toberoff.
46 END THE SUPERMAN: The concern is that once the Shuster heirs enter the case, DC and Warner Bros. would face such uncertainty over their rights and their profits that they would no longer produce Superman movies, TV shows, or even comic books. Arguing against that is the presumption that Toberoff and his clients, short of trying to produce their own movies or other products—and worrying whether that would violate Warner’s remaining rights to the character, scaring off any other studios or publishers that might have been interested—would want to reach a settlement to ensure that the Superman franchise they were getting a share of continues to earn money. The problem would come if both sides presume they can either stare down the other or win in a knock-down, drag-out battle through the courts.
47 “THE NOTION THAT”: Author interview with Toberoff.
48 TOBEROFF ALSO TRIED: Siegel and Larson v. Warner Bros. Entertainment; and email from Don Bulson, Michael Siegel’s lawyer in Cleveland. “Michael was interested in settlement, but the settlement discussions with DC Comics/Time Warner were controlled by Joanne and Laura as they owned a 75% interest,” Bulson wrote. “This remained the same after the settlement discussions with DC Comics/Time Warner stalled.”
49 STOPPED PAYING: Bella filed suit in Cleveland for nonpayment of child support, and the judge agreed that Jerry should pay up. Because Jerry was living in New York, the Ohio judge sent the petition on to the authorities in New York State (Bella Siegel vs. Jerome Siegel, “Judge’s Journal Entry”). Michael Siegel said Jerry never did pay the child support he and Bella were due and that Jerry “broke all contact with me” after he and Bella were divorced (Michael Siegel emails to Mark Waid, 2005).
50 MICHAEL BECAME: Michael told Waid that he owned a business, apparently plumbing supply, got a college education, and had lived in places other than greater Cleveland. He sent Waid parts of Jerry’s will showing that Jerry left everything to his wife, Joanne, and if she wasn’t alive to his daughter, Laura, and her offspring. “If they all die and anything is left,” Michael wrote, “I can have that if I am still alive.” Michael added that it was ironic that Jerry, who made his living from comic books sold to children, treated his own son so poorly. “Why,” Michael asked, “did he ignore me for almost my entire life?” (Michael Siegel emails to Waid).
51 NATIVE SON: Joe also got a commemorative plaque designating the street where he lived Joe Shuster Lane, with Lois Lane connecting Jerry’s street to Joe’s. Joanne never was able to get the permanent memorial for Jerry that she wanted in Cleveland and to which she promised to donate his typewriter, scripts, glasses, and half of his ashes. Cleveland fans are working on a Superman exhibit for the airport there and hoping to unveil Superman license plates. They and others also raised $110,000 to restore Jerry’s house, and they set up a Siegel and Shuster Society (Sangiacomo, “Superman Creator’s Widow Seeks Memorial,” Cleveland Plain Dealer; Sangiacomo, “Joanne Siegel Dies,” Cleveland Plain Dealer; author interview with Jamie Reigle).
52 JERRY’S WILL: The irony of Michael Siegel’s death is that his half sister, Laura—someone he never had any relationship with and was jealous of—inherits his estate, because he had no will and she is his closest living relative (Probate Court documents, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 2006). The estate was valued at $250,000—but that didn’t include Michael’s share of whatever settlement there is in the lawsuit against DC Comics, which would likely be worth millions.
53 WARREN PEARY WILL: Warren is the executor of Joe Shuster’s estate, and it is in that capacity that he is trying to reclaim the copyright to Superman. The sole beneficiary of that estate, however, is Warren’s mother, Jean Shuster Peavy, who suffered a severe stroke in recent years and has other health issues.
54 CONTINUED TO SAG: “DC Comics Month-to-Month Sales,” www.comicsbeat.com; and “Superman Sales Figures.”
55 REMAINING AUDIENCE: Gabilliet, Of Comics and Men, 208, 357. Just how much a part of the culture comic books have been is suggested by the fact that, over the last seventy years, more than 150,
000 individual issues have been published in America.
56 IN THE PHILIPPINES: Gayle, “Obsessed Superman Fan Has Cosmetic Surgery to Look Like His Hero,” dailymail.co.uk.
57 COLLECTORS STILL: Sanchez, “Superman Comic Saves Family Home from Foreclosure,” abcnews.go.com; and “Rare Superman Comic Sells for Record $2.16M US,” cbc.ca.
58 FAT PRICES: Hake, Official Price Guide to Pop Culture Memorabilia.
59 WORLD AND OURSELVES: It was easier to contemplate Superman as a Russian after we had won the Cold War.
60 CENTRAL PARK AND: This is a paraphrase of Denny O’Neil’s quip that Gotham is Manhattan below 14th Street at 3 A.M., November 28, in a cold year. Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 110th streets on the brightest, sunniest July day of the year.
Actor Michael Caine says Superman is how America sees itself, Batman is how the rest of the world sees us.
62 CARY BATES: At twenty years, Bates is the longest-serving Superman writer, versus seventeen for Jerry Siegel and sixteen for Alvin Schwartz. Bates actually reached twenty-two years if we count his earliest year selling DC story ideas for Superman, and his most recent Superman story—“The Last Family of Krypton”—in 2010. The longest-lasting artist, hands-down, was Curt Swan, at thirty-eight years.
63 RENOUNCE HIS AMERICAN: Action 900, which unleashed a firestorm of criticism when Superman said he planned to renounce his citizenship, was actually a story about his affirming his global connections, the way he had been almost since the beginning. It also was about his standing shoulder-to-shoulder with human rights demonstrators in a repressive Iran and, by extension, the rest of the Middle East and the planet. And while he might have been distancing himself from the American government, it is unlikely he would ever move away from the American people (“The Incident,” Action Comics No. 900). Goyer, the writer of this comic book, also is the screenwriter for the new Superman movie due out in 2013.
64 “HOLD FAST TO”: Hughes, Collected Poems, 32.
65 COMICS WAS SUBSUMED: Familiar figures remain in charge of key divisions, with chief creative officer Geoff Johns running the comic-books-to-movies operation, and co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee in charge of comic books. Here is what today’s corporate ladder looks like: Time Warner, Inc., is up top. Warner Bros. Entertainment is one of its divisions, along with Time, Turner Broadcasting, and Home Box Office. Under Warner is DC Entertainment, under that is DC Comics, and helping hold it (and everything else) up is Superman.