If you are even remotely aware of comic book history, then you know that Glenville buddies Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created arguably the greatest superhero ever, Superman, in Cleveland in 1938 (this of course meant there were plenty of Cleveland references within their Superman comics as well).
But we are willing to bet that not many of even the biggest comic enthusiasts are aware of any of their other creations, either together as a team or separately for DC Comics and other publishers.
Since Siegel and Schuster lost several legal challenges to the legal rights to Superman, both men still had to work in and out of the comic industry to make a living, leading to some of the following superheroes they created either as a team, with other partners, or separately altogether.
Siegel and Shuster Characters Beyond the Man of Steel
Let’s start with, in our opinion the most notable of the lot: The Spectre, which Siegel created with Bernard Baily.
The Spectre is a divine entity who exacts vengeance on behalf of the Presence. He is bound to a human host body to help judge the wrongdoings he encounters, and then deciding upon a suitable justice to be dealt. The most notable host would be Gotham City detective James Corrigan, but my personal favorite “host” would have to be one-time Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who became the Spectre to redeem his actions as Parallax.
Speaking of the Presence, this character was also a creation of Siegel and Baily. The disembodied voice first appeared in More Fun Comics #52 in 1940.
Doctor Occult, nicknamed “the Ghost Detective,” was a creation of both Siegel and Shuster and published by DC Comics. He was an occult investigator who specialized in cases involving, you guessed it, the supernatural. Probably the most interesting thing about Doctor Occult is the fact that he is the earliest character in the DC universe and is often considered to be the first superhero.
While DC Comics still employed both Siegel and Shuster, they created what they thought would be the answer to an anticipated drop-off in superhero interest, the character Funnyman. They believed a comedic version of a hero would be the answer when interest in more conventional characters fell off. After losing the rights to Superman, the duo attempted to make a deal to retain all legal rights to Funnyman. DC passed and they took Funnyman to Magazine Enterprises, where its brief history ended after a mere six issues.
An interesting solo creation of Siegel’s sounded very familiar to me from the Golden Age: The Star-Spangled Kid. Sylvester Pemberton is child who adopts the superhero persona, but with an adult sidekick, Stripesy, alias Pat Dugan. Having adopted the identity to fight Nazism made us think a bit; where had we heard that before? Captain America, anyone?
Admittedly, at least from what I know of both the big two of Marvel and DC, there have always been very similar characters in both universes: Aquaman and Namor, Plastic Man and Mr. Fantastic, Green Arrow and Hawkeye. But I have to admit, research for this post was the first time I had heard of the Star-Spangled Kid. Maybe it was the name, but it just doesn't have the same zing to it as Captain America.
Slam Bradley, a hard-drinking, tough, brawling street detective is one of the earliest DC character creations that was originally conceived by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson and developed by the team of Siegel and Shuster just prior to their creation of Superman. It is also worth noting that Wheeler-Nicholson’s National Allied Publications, which later became DC Comics, is where the team of Siegel and Shuster got their start.
Bradley’s first appearance was in the Golden Age Detective Comics series. He started as a solo title but eventually did appear in several titles as a supporting character. Bradley had a soft spot working for female clients alongside his young sidekick, “Shorty” Morgan.
The Origins of Superboy and a Collection of Supervillians
Most notably is the story of Siegel’s creation of Superboy, first pitched to Detective Comics in 1938. The pitch about telling the stories of Superman as a boy was rejected. An “ashcan” comic, a publication produced to establish trademark/copyright rights, was produced in 1942 after a second attempt to establish the character with a full storyline in 1940. This undoubtedly led to Siegel later winning the rights to the character after losing Superman’s rights.
Superboy’s first published appearance was in More Fun Comics #101 in 1945 without Siegel’s consent as he was serving in the army in Hawaii. He learned of this publication in a letter from Shuster.
Siegel had a second tenure with DC from 1959-1966 where he created Legion of Super-Hero characters such as Brainiac 5, Invisible kid, Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl, Matter-Eater Lad, Chameleon Boy and Phantom Girl, along with their villain nemeses Saturn Queen, Cosmic King, and Lightning Lord of the, you guessed it, Legion of Super-Villians.