Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Superman | Tagged: Hannah Baker, jerry siegel, jerry siegel letters, joe shuster

When Superman Editor Hannah Baker Called Joe Shuster's Art Careless

The Superman newspaper strip's editor Hannah Baker also sent the following letter to Jerry Siegel on the 20th of April, 1939...

Published Sun, 06 Aug 2023 09:57:07 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Mon, 07 Aug 2023 05:38:04 -0500

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The auction house ComicConnect is currently selling off a number of historical documents from Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman, with Joe Shuster. Famously, in 1938, the pair sold all rights to Superman to their publisher for $130. Later Siegel and Shuster would sue, claiming royalties, something that was only finally settled by their families in recent years. You can catch up on other documents here. Yesterday, we looked at how Maxwell Charles Gaines of All-American Comics had rejected Superman in its entirety from Siegel and Shuster.

Other listings include the first and second drafts of the Superman daily newspaper strip contract with McClure Newspaper Syndicate, dated from the 22nd of September, 1938, with Siegel and Shuster responsible for the script and artwork. The Superman newspaper strip began on the 16th of January, 1939, and a separate Sunday strip was added on the 5th of November. At its peak, the Superman newspaper strip placed the strip in three hundred newspapers, with a readership of over 20 million. Rights to the artwork, storylines and characters are stated as reverting to Detective Comics. Bids for the contract are currently totalling at $86.

The Superman newspaper strip's editor Hannah Baker also sent the following letter to Jerry Siegel on the 20th of April, 1939, which originally accompanied another letter from the Houston Chronicle offering what Baker considered to be "excellent suggestions for improving the strip." And that she notes that "we must soon arrive at the point where criticism–constructive or otherwise–is not required" and complains about Joe Shuster's "careless" art that "fails to provide distinguishing characteristics for the various persons" adding that "the prize boner was pulled in the drawings received yesterday in which the scientist appeared with three entirely different faces in the course of six strips" which also only made the character look more like Superman… The admonishing letter is currently with bids of $24.