Most comic fans have heard the story of two young men named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who invented Superman in the mid-30s and changed pop culture forever - but what some people might not have heard is the turbulent story of what happened behind the scenes, and how a growing list of frustrations led Superman's creators to sue DC Comics for the rights to Superman and Superboy.

Superman's debut in June 1938's Action Comics #1 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster changed the world. The character's success was unprecedented, spinning off into radio, movie serials, animated shorts, newspaper strips and more. In a sea of talking animals, detectives and vigilantes, Superman burst onto the scene as the first true comic book superhero, inspiring the debut of every superpowered character that would follow. Superman was so successful that DC Comics formed a new company called Superman, Inc. to handle the merchandising that the character demanded. The success of Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster's creation had the youth of America clamoring for anything Superman-related that they could get their hands on.

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Superman's Troubled Path to Super-Boyhood

Superman early comic

Given the character's popularity, only six months after Superman's debut in November 1938, Jerry Siegel started to pitch a newspaper strip based on Superman as a boy to further capitalize on the Superman craze, which was rejected. Siegal again tried to pitch Superboy by presenting a full comic book script of his first adventure in December 1940, but DC again effectively declined. Despite these rejections, DC produced a Superboy ashcan in late 1941. Producing an ashcan was a common publishing practice wherein the publisher would take interior art and covers from existing comics, and "publish" a few copies with a new title in order to secure the title for future publications. Ashcans are considered some of the rarest and most valuable comics on the collectors' market.

After being the primary credited Superman writer for four years, Jerry Siegel was drafted into the U.S. Army on June 28, 1943, though he would continue to send in scripts and plots for Superman to DC while in the army. DC supplemented Siegal's now less frequent scripts with those written by Don Cameron, as well as Batman's co-creator Bill Finger. Superboy first appeared in January 1945's More Fun Comics #101 using the script that Siegal had pitched in 1940, and was fleshed out by Cameron, though Siegal was allegedly not informed. The Superboy feature was drawn by Joe Shuster, who on October 1, 1944, sent Siegel a letter (as related in Lauren Agostino and A.L. Newberg's Holding Kryptonite: Truth, Justice, and America's First Superhero), saying:

Jerry, there is something quite important in the wind here, and I want to write about it and give you a firsthand picture. I was assigned to do a 5 page release of the feature SUPERBOY to be used in MORE FUN COMICS. This feature, I know, is one of your original ideas which you tried to get out last summer... Since then, nothing was said about it until the assignment was given to me. I've just finished the job and have been trying to get a copy to send to you.

The Superboy story featured in More Fun Comics #101 temporarily replaced the previous issue's twin detective comic, Henry Boultinof's Dover and Clover, who would return again in the following issue. More Fun Comics #102 featured another Superboy story, erroneously credited to Siegal, with Dover and Clover permanently replacing another Jerry Siegal character who was among the first DC superheroes, the Spectre. Superboy stories from More Fun Comics #102 onward were written by Don Cameron, but credited to Siegel until his return from the war.

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Trouble on the Home Front

After More Fun Comics #107, all of the title's superhero comics were transferred to Adventure Comics starting with issue #103. Adventure Comics #103 had a cover date of January 1946, which happened to be the same month Jerry Siegal returned from the war, ensuring it would be on the stands in time for his return. When Siegal returned from the war, he was reportedly infuriated that DC was using a character he pitched without his permission. Brad Ricca's Super Boys reports that his frustrations grew as he was prohibited from continuing his work from his Cleveland studio, with DC insisting he move to New York. After another year of writing Superman, and with frustrations growing, Siegel convinced Shuster to join him in launching a lawsuit in April 1947 demanding $5,000,000 and the rights to Superboy and Superman.

Strangely - a month before Siegel launched the lawsuit - March 5, 1947 saw the release of Superman #46, which contained the only Superboy story Siegel officially wrote for DC at that point (not counting the script that was allegedly used without his permission), with Superboy appearing in Superman's flashbacks as he visits his grown-up schoolmates. This may have proved the tipping point for Siegel. One of Siegel's former war colleagues Fred G. Beers recalled working with him on the military newspaper Stars & Stripes during their tour of duty in an article collected by the Cherokee Strip Museum.

When I worked with Jerry on Stars & Stripes in 1944-45, he spent every offduty hour writing letters to lawyers and others in a futile attempt to establish his share of ownership in the Superman bonanza. It was a sad spectacle for those of us who had come to know him as a colleague.

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This recollection matches the timeline of when Siegel received the Superboy news from Shuster and indicates Siegel had intentions to sue even before his return from the war. Siegel however didn't sue for more than a year after his return, continuing to work for the company, so it's very possible that being asked to include Superboy in Superman #46 was the push he needed.

Superboy's Custody Battle

Superman in court

Even after launching the lawsuit for Superman and Superboy's rights in April, it would be a while before Siegel and Shuster had their day in court. As summarized in JOANNE SIEGEL and LAURA SIEGEL LARSON v. TIME WARNER INC., the matter finally went to court on November 21, 1947, and was resolved on April 12, 1948, with the judge ruling in Siegel's favor for ownership of Superboy, along with entitlement to any and all income Superboy had generated up until that point, which was to be overseen by a third-party accountant. The judge also ruled in favor of Siegel and Shuster receiving compensation for Superman royalties they believed were being withheld from them, also overseen by a third-party accountant, and ordered DC to immediately cease publication of all Superboy stories. The Judge also ruled that DC owned Superman himself, but the case was an overall win for Siegel and Shuster.

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Then, for an unknown reason, Siegal and Shuster settled with DC and granted them the rights to Superboy for the relatively low amount of $100,000, which mostly served to cover their legal fees. Why they decided to settle for this low of a sum after they were legally entitled to more is up for debate, with some speculating that after the lengthy legal proceedings, they couldn't afford to wait for more money and decided to take less sooner. After the hard-fought battle Siegel and Shuster waged in court, this move is puzzling and must have happened quickly after the verdict, because DC did not halt production of Superboy stories, which continued to be published in Adventure Comics uninterrupted during the course of the trial. After the settlement, on May 21, 1948, the judge revised his April ruling. Unsurprisingly, the legal woes over Superman soured Siegel and Shuster's relationship with DC, and their contracts ended and were not renewed before the lawsuit was settled, with Siegel's last Superman story appearing in January/February 1948's World's Finest Comics #32.

With April 1949's Superboy #1, Superboy became one of the only new superhero titles to succeed since the end of World War II in a time where the popularity of superheroes was waning, and his comic would remain in print for 260 issues before changing its title to Legion of Super-Heroes in 1980. Had DC been more transparent with Superman's creators, the legacy of Superman and DC Comics might be very different, given that a relationship that produced one of pop culture's most successful characters - and which might have produced more - was over. The story of how Superboy grew out of the success of Superman and the drama between his creators and DC Comics is a saga in and of itself, but one that at its core continues to play out in modern day comics, as the creators of ideas that go on to inspire billion-dollar movies fight for true recognition and fitting compensation.

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Sources: Holding Kryptonite: Truth, Justice, and America's First Superhero, Super Boys, Cherokee Strip MuseumJOANNE SIEGEL and LAURA SIEGEL LARSON v. TIME WARNER INC.