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Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel Poison-Pen Poems Sent to Threaten National Comics Executives Over Lawsuits
bitter poems sent by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel to threaten National Comics executives with cooperation over plagiarism lawsuits



This letter from Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel is a troubling artifact from one of the most vicious feuds in comics history. Towards the end of 1951, Siegel began a campaign of poison-pen letters threatening National Comics executives Harry Donenfeld, Jack Liebowitz, and Paul Sampliner — remaining embittered that Siegel and artist Joe Shuster sold the rights to their character for $130 in 1938.

This particular letter, however, consists of five poems in which Siegel threatens the National executives with cooperating with various plagiarism lawsuits made against the Man of Steel. "The Gladiator" was written to threaten National executives with the notion of Siegel being willing to testify that he had plagiarized sci-fi novelist Philip Wylie while creating Superman. The other taunting poems include a reference to National's lawsuit against Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel.

A ":cc" at the bottom reveals that the original of this letter was sent to Liebowitz, and copied to Donenfeld, Sampliner, and prominent copyright attorney Horace Manges. The letter also reveals that Siegel had included a letter from 1939 that Liebowitz had sent Siegel. Whatever was in that letter is lost to time, with a decision made to not include it in National's legal files.