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Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Superman | Tagged: contract, jerry siegel, lois lane, Suprboy
When Jerry Siegel Fought DC Over The Contract To Superboy & Lois Lane
This internal document hows how DC negotiated with Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel over Superboy and Lois Lane, Girl Reporter comics
Jerry Siegel was serving in the Army when he learned from Superman co-creator Joe Shuster that the comic book publisher Detective Comics Inc, later to be bought out by National Comics, and become DC Comics, had published the first Superboy story in a 1944 issue of More Fun Comics. Siegel had tried to pitch his own Superboy story in 1940 and wasn't convinced that Detective Comics even owned the rights to the younger version of Superman.
This internal document below, dated September 1946, demonstrates how Detective would continue negotiating with Siegel after returning to working on Superman duty. Detective Comics had paid Siegel for stories written by ghostwriters during his time in the Army. And in this document, handwritten notes address several of Siegel's objections to the company's original offer for him to script both Superboy and Lois Lane, Girl Reporter comic book stories.
The auction house ComicConnect is currently selling off several historical documents regarding Jerry Siegel. In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster famously sold all rights to Superman to their publisher for $130. Later Siegel and Shuster would sue, claiming royalties and ownership, a legal matter that was only finally settled by their families in recent years. You can catch up on other documents here.
They reveal how Siegel objects to the notion that Detective has "sole and exclusive ownership" of Superboy and Lois Lane, insisting that Detective Comics should only own the characters "for a term of contract." Siegel also insists on a minimum rate of $50 a page while requesting a kill fee for rejected manuscripts ad for only "reasonable" editorial supervision. Siegel's other demands include access to Detective Comics' accounting. An additional page in the auctioned document details Jerry Siegel's right to approve of Detective Comics making direct payments to Joe Shuster for artwork. Bids for this piece are currently at $210.
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