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Chapter Four Attack of the Clones THE GOLDEN AGE: ATTACK OF THE CLONES 21 Superman, the first comic-book superhero, also became the first comicbook character to have a title named after him. Before this, comic books bore titles like More Fun Comics, Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Detective Comics, and so on. These rather generic-sounding designations were purposefully vague, because in those days each comic book housed five or six short features, which could be any combination of humor, adventure, Western, or any other type of strip. If Superman’s debut in Action Comics #1 had tanked, for example, Action Comics #2 would have included another feature in Superman’s place. Superman #1of the summer of 1939 was different, however. DC clearly had enough faith in its colorful Man of Steel to make him the star of his own book, even if he still starred alongside a handful of other features. However, in this case, he had a permanent day job in Superman and couldn’t be booted out if the book didn’t sell well. Not that that was an issue. On January 16, 1939, even before he got his own title, Superman made his debut as a daily newspaper strip. This must have excited Siegel and Shuster, who had originally developed the character for the newspaper syndicates. And McClure’s handling of the Superman strip was not a coincidence. It was the McClure executive Max Gaines who, on the advice of his assistant Sheldon Mayer, had originally recommended Superman to DC. McClure allowed DC to oversee the editorial supervision of the Man of Steel’s newspaper strip, an unusual amount of creative freedom for a comic-book publisher (comic books were considered far below newspaper strips on the creative totem pole). Siegel and Shuster, meanwhile, had sold the rights to their character to DC in 1938 for $130, their flat fee for that first 13-page story in Action Comics #1. By late 1939, they were paid regularly for writing and drawing Superman’s adventures in Action Comics, Superman, and the newspaper strip. By any standard, this was a good deal of steady employment for the two formerly impoverished kids, but they had signed a work-for-hire contract. This meant that Superman’s creators had reduced themselves to the status of hired guns on their own character and received no In 1939, In 1939, Superman was the first example in comic books of synergy. “Hey, kids, eat your corn flakes and you’ll get muscles like this!” (Well, exercising and cutting out junk food wouldn’t hurt either….) licensing fees, ownership, or residuals. This would later cause quite a bit of turmoil for both Superman’s creators and DC. And starting early on in Superman’s Action Comics run, a portion of Shuster’s income went toward paying the art assistants that made up his Clevelandbased studio. This was the only way he could meet the harsh deadlines brought on by working on his various Superman-related projects (and it didn’t help that even in those days, his eyesight wasn’t that great). Some of these assistants, such as Ira Yarbrough and Wayne Boring, would establish themselves as brilliant Superman artists in their own right. Meanwhile, Superman’s licensing fees were being paid to DC publisher Harry Donenfeld’s corporation, Superman, Inc. And soon those fees started stacking up. In 1939, membership buttons for the Superman of America club were created. If you paid the dime membership fee and joined, you also received a certificate and were eligible to enter contests and win prizes like Superman sweatshirts and rings. Also in 1939, the actor Ray Middleton was hired to portray Superman at a personal appearance during the New York World’s Fair (the theme of the fair, fittingly enough for Superman—sometimes known as the Man of Tomorrow—was “the future”). Middleton was the first actor to play Superman, but far from the last. By the early 1940s Superman toys, radio shows, and animated cartoons were all the rage. There was no denying it: this Man of Steel was powerful. And several other publishers sought to duplicate that power. Victor Fox was a cigar-chomping braggart who looked at the cash cow that was Superman and decided he wanted some milk. Before long, he started his own company, Fox Features Syndicate. Not being a writer or artist himself but knowing what he wanted, Fox hired Eisner & Iger Studio, a shop run by Will Eisner and S...

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