Jerry and Joe Episode 1: Secret Origins

This season, we’re kicking off our deep dive into the hidden history of comics with an epic seven-part story about Superman’s forgotten origins… and the two young creators who changed pop culture forever. In this opening episode, we first encounter Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as history remembers them: the kids fresh out of high school who invented Superman, who signed away the rights to the character for just $130, and who spent decades afterward fighting for recognition, ultimately living in near-poverty by the mid-1970s.

From there, we go back to Jerry and Joe’s beginnings: two shy, sci-fi-obsessed teenagers meeting at Glenville High School in Cleveland in the early 1930s, bonding over pulp magazines, early comics, and a shared dream of making their own. That dream led to their homemade fanzine Science Fiction, produced on the school mimeograph machine. Its third issue featured their story “The Reign of the Super-Man,” about a destitute who is briefly transformed into a godlike figure… called “The Superman” This starts Jerry and Joe on the road to their greatest creation… and everything that followed.

Featuring interviews with Mark Millar, Brad Ricca, and Bonnie Siegler.

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster), Drew Meyer and Francis Bradley. 

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Martin Hajovsky and Tom Dickinson.

Check out the sources for today’s episode

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