SUPERMAN 1939 DAILY STRIP INTERNAL DOCUMENT Memorabilia
VF: 8.0
(Stock Image)
SOLD ON: Monday, 09/30/2024 10:08 PM
$1,800
Sold For
21
Bids
PUBLISHER: --
COMMENTS: Superman Daily Strip 1939 Internal Memo to Jerry Siegel about Missed Deadlines
Boston newspaper memo to McClure Newspaper Syndicate asking for better villains in first year of "Superman" daily strip
Read Description ▼
Boston newspaper memo to McClure Newspaper Syndicate asking for better villains in first year of "Superman" daily strip
DESCRIPTION
Superman Daily Strip 1939 Internal Memo to Jerry Siegel about Missed Deadlines
Boston newspaper memo to McClure Newspaper Syndicate asking for better villains in first year of "Superman" daily stripThis rare internal document from 1939 is a fascinating look at how the newspaper industry dealt with the success of Superman, as a Boston executive raises concerns about the work of young co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster!
Lincoln O’Brien — who’d go on to become a major media magnate — concedes that the “Superman” daily strip is a “definite success...among adults as well as the kids.” He warns, however, that Siegel’s strips were already becoming repetitive. (The letter is dated April 20, 1939, just two days after the first anniversary of Action Comics #1 being published.)
“I am afraid,” writes O’Brien, “our people will quickly pall of Superman carrying motor boats and beating up gangsters unless we introduce a little more variety in his action. Couldn’t we have a different sort of problem for Mr. Superman to solve?”
As it turned out, O’Brien probably felt vindicated in the coming years. Lex Luthor (and other mad scientists) would begin to appear in Superman’s comic books. Lex himself would show up in Superman’s daily strip by 1941, where artist Leo Nowak would make comics history by mistakenly drawing him as completely bald.
Boston newspaper memo to McClure Newspaper Syndicate asking for better villains in first year of "Superman" daily stripThis rare internal document from 1939 is a fascinating look at how the newspaper industry dealt with the success of Superman, as a Boston executive raises concerns about the work of young co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster!
Lincoln O’Brien — who’d go on to become a major media magnate — concedes that the “Superman” daily strip is a “definite success...among adults as well as the kids.” He warns, however, that Siegel’s strips were already becoming repetitive. (The letter is dated April 20, 1939, just two days after the first anniversary of Action Comics #1 being published.)
“I am afraid,” writes O’Brien, “our people will quickly pall of Superman carrying motor boats and beating up gangsters unless we introduce a little more variety in his action. Couldn’t we have a different sort of problem for Mr. Superman to solve?”
As it turned out, O’Brien probably felt vindicated in the coming years. Lex Luthor (and other mad scientists) would begin to appear in Superman’s comic books. Lex himself would show up in Superman’s daily strip by 1941, where artist Leo Nowak would make comics history by mistakenly drawing him as completely bald.