WHAT I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT SUPERMAN
Superman was originally a villain? Who knew, eh?
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (illustrations) in 1932, 'The Reign of Superman' pulls an early Frankenstein with Professor Ernest Smalley pulling unremarkable Bill Dunn out of a breadline with promises of a real meal if he participates in an experiment. The long and short of it is that he manages to give Dunn super powers and he goes- to cliché it up a notch- mad with power. Dunn kills Smalley and starts a crime spree of his own. Unfortunately, the powers were temporary and he eventually loses them. Dunn then returns to the breadline- forgotten and unremarkable as ever.
Now that's a story. Unfortunately, it was a one shot wonder and made an appearance in a relatively modest science fiction magazine at the time.
The character was rewritten as the noble embodiment of all that is good and awesome and slightly nauseating in 1933 and made his first real appearance in 1938 thanks to DC Comics. Of course, they also fired Siegel and Shuster in 1946 and removed their names and credit as the creators of Superman, but that's the business eh?
Anyway long story short, Superman is now a little bit more interesting.
Another... amusing facet of his history? He didn't particularly appeal to the Nazi's.
Here are some excerpts from the translated version of the article "Jerry Siegel Attacks" archived from Das schwarze Korps (The SS Newspaper). Call it Nazi War Propaganda, popular opinion of the time or a good old fashioned hissy-fit. The purpose and intent of the article is irrelevant for this post. The author only intends to bring to light the comic element of absurdity by the quoting of the article.
The excerpts of the article are quoted, exactly as they were found:
"Jerry Siegel, an intellectually and physically circumcised chap who has his headquarters in New York, is the inventor of a colorful figure with an impressive appearance, a powerful body, and a red swim suit who enjoys the ability to fly through the ether. The inventive Israelite named this pleasant guy with an overdeveloped body and underdeveloped mind “Superman.” He advertised widely Superman’s sense of justice, well-suited for imitation by the American youth."
"On this page we present you with several particularly unusual examples of his activities. We see Superman, lacking all strategic sense and tactical ability, storming the West Wall in shorts. We see several German soldiers in a bunker, who in order to receive the American guest have borrowed old uniforms from a military museum. Their faces express at once both desperation and cheerfulness."
"We see this bicepped wonder in a rather odd pose, bending the barrels of Krupp guns like spaghetti. “Concrete can’t stop me,” he shouts in another picture as he knocks the tops off pill boxes like overripe tomatoes. His true strength only shows itself in flight, however. He leaps into the air to tear the propeller from a passing German airplane."
"A triumphant final frame shows Superman, the conquerer of death, dropping in at the headquarters of the chatterboxes at the League of Nations in Geneva. Although the rules of the establishment probably prohibit people in bathing suits from participating in their deliberations, Superman ignores them as well as the other laws of physics, logic, and life in general. He brings with him the evil German enemy along with Soviet Russia.
Well, we really ought to ignore these fantasies of Jerry Israel Siegel, but there is a catch. The daring deeds of Superman are those of a Colorado beetle. He works in the dark, in incomprehensible ways. He cries “Strength! Courage! Justice!” to the noble yearnings of American children. Instead of using the chance to encourage really useful virtues, he sows hate, suspicion, evil, laziness, and criminality in their young hearts.
Woe to the American youth, who must live in such a poisoned atmosphere and don’t even notice the poison they swallow daily."
And that's how much Superman pissed off the Nazis.
Respect.
Disclaimer:
The quoted article is part of the German Propaganda Archive- property of Professor Randall Bytwerk, Communications Arts and Sciences, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The sources for the article and the comic in questions are given below. The excerpts have been extracted for the sake of clarity and length and have not been changed or tampered with. No monetary benefit is being derived via this post.
Sources:
Comic:
"How Superman Will End the War"; German Propaganda Archive, Retrieved from Look
http://www.archive.org/stream/HowSupermanWouldEndTheWar/look#page/n1/mode/2up
Article:
'Jerry Siegel Attacks"; German Propaganda Archive, Retrieved from Das schwarze Korps (25 April 1940, page 8) http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/superman.htm
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (illustrations) in 1932, 'The Reign of Superman' pulls an early Frankenstein with Professor Ernest Smalley pulling unremarkable Bill Dunn out of a breadline with promises of a real meal if he participates in an experiment. The long and short of it is that he manages to give Dunn super powers and he goes- to cliché it up a notch- mad with power. Dunn kills Smalley and starts a crime spree of his own. Unfortunately, the powers were temporary and he eventually loses them. Dunn then returns to the breadline- forgotten and unremarkable as ever.
Now that's a story. Unfortunately, it was a one shot wonder and made an appearance in a relatively modest science fiction magazine at the time.
The character was rewritten as the noble embodiment of all that is good and awesome and slightly nauseating in 1933 and made his first real appearance in 1938 thanks to DC Comics. Of course, they also fired Siegel and Shuster in 1946 and removed their names and credit as the creators of Superman, but that's the business eh?
Anyway long story short, Superman is now a little bit more interesting.
Another... amusing facet of his history? He didn't particularly appeal to the Nazi's.
Here are some excerpts from the translated version of the article "Jerry Siegel Attacks" archived from Das schwarze Korps (The SS Newspaper). Call it Nazi War Propaganda, popular opinion of the time or a good old fashioned hissy-fit. The purpose and intent of the article is irrelevant for this post. The author only intends to bring to light the comic element of absurdity by the quoting of the article.
The excerpts of the article are quoted, exactly as they were found:
"Jerry Siegel, an intellectually and physically circumcised chap who has his headquarters in New York, is the inventor of a colorful figure with an impressive appearance, a powerful body, and a red swim suit who enjoys the ability to fly through the ether. The inventive Israelite named this pleasant guy with an overdeveloped body and underdeveloped mind “Superman.” He advertised widely Superman’s sense of justice, well-suited for imitation by the American youth."
"On this page we present you with several particularly unusual examples of his activities. We see Superman, lacking all strategic sense and tactical ability, storming the West Wall in shorts. We see several German soldiers in a bunker, who in order to receive the American guest have borrowed old uniforms from a military museum. Their faces express at once both desperation and cheerfulness."
"We see this bicepped wonder in a rather odd pose, bending the barrels of Krupp guns like spaghetti. “Concrete can’t stop me,” he shouts in another picture as he knocks the tops off pill boxes like overripe tomatoes. His true strength only shows itself in flight, however. He leaps into the air to tear the propeller from a passing German airplane."
"A triumphant final frame shows Superman, the conquerer of death, dropping in at the headquarters of the chatterboxes at the League of Nations in Geneva. Although the rules of the establishment probably prohibit people in bathing suits from participating in their deliberations, Superman ignores them as well as the other laws of physics, logic, and life in general. He brings with him the evil German enemy along with Soviet Russia.
Well, we really ought to ignore these fantasies of Jerry Israel Siegel, but there is a catch. The daring deeds of Superman are those of a Colorado beetle. He works in the dark, in incomprehensible ways. He cries “Strength! Courage! Justice!” to the noble yearnings of American children. Instead of using the chance to encourage really useful virtues, he sows hate, suspicion, evil, laziness, and criminality in their young hearts.
Woe to the American youth, who must live in such a poisoned atmosphere and don’t even notice the poison they swallow daily."
And that's how much Superman pissed off the Nazis.
Respect.
Disclaimer:
The quoted article is part of the German Propaganda Archive- property of Professor Randall Bytwerk, Communications Arts and Sciences, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The sources for the article and the comic in questions are given below. The excerpts have been extracted for the sake of clarity and length and have not been changed or tampered with. No monetary benefit is being derived via this post.
Sources:
Comic:
"How Superman Will End the War"; German Propaganda Archive, Retrieved from Look
http://www.archive.org/stream/HowSupermanWouldEndTheWar/look#page/n1/mode/2up
Article:
'Jerry Siegel Attacks"; German Propaganda Archive, Retrieved from Das schwarze Korps (25 April 1940, page 8) http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/superman.htm