Review of
The Artist Behind Superman: The Joe
Shuster Story, by Julian Voloj and Thomas Campi ISBN
9781629917771
Five out of five stars
A tale of struggle to get the proper credit
One of the
greatest comic book characters ever created is Superman, the character alone is
a billion dollar enterprise. This icon was created by two young men named Jerry
Siegel and Joe Shuster, with Siegel doing the storylines and Shuster the
artwork. Their original work was done during the depth of the Depression in the
United States and at first they struggled to get the character published.
Almost unknown is how much the Superman character evolved until they finally
arrived on the origin from the planet Krypton.
For decades,
Siegel and Shuster received very little compensation for their creation of
Superman, not even an acknowledgement that they created the character. It was
only in the 1970’s that they began getting credit, both textual and financial
for their creation of Superman. The success of the first Superman movie
starring Christopher Reeve was the impetus for Warner Brothers to finally
acknowledge that Siegel and Shuster deserved additional compensation for their
creation.
As the title
suggests, this graphic novel is largely about Joe Shuster and his struggles,
although there is much about Siegel as well. It is a story of the creative energy
of youth, being forced to sell for what was a pittance, being denied credit and
finally receiving acknowledgement of their achievement.
This graphic
novel should be read by all people interested in the history of comics,
including those that are considering making it a career. There is an enormous
amount of talent in the comic book industry, yet, as this book shows, that is not
enough in order to succeed. It takes a bit of business cynicism as well and in
some cases, decades of persistence.
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