SUPERMAN CREATOR JERRY SIEGEL SIGNED LAWSUIT LETTE Memorabilia
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Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel Signed Lawsuit Letter Over Comics Conspiracy Plot
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Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel Signed Lawsuit Letter Over Comics Conspiracy Plot
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A 15% BUYER'S PREMIUM WILL BE ADDED TO THIS ITEM AT CONCLUSION OF THE AUCTION
Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel Signed Lawsuit Letter Over Comics Conspiracy PlotThis signed letter from Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel is a page of rare correspondence from one of the most vicious feuds in comics history -- as Siegel (having already possibly heard from comics attorney Dave Alterbaum) attempts to calmly detail his claims of internal politics leading to yet another lawsuit against National (later DC) Comics!
This embittered letter -- dated Dec. 12, 1951 -- was written to National executive Paul Sampliner at the offices of the Independent News Co., where Sampliner also oversaw National's distribution. The Superman scripter was in the midst of a poison-pen campaign to shame the National executives who'd paid him and artist Joe Shuster $130 for the rights to Superman in 1938. Here, however, a restrained Siegel accuses pioneering comics editor Jake Liebowitz of conspiring to have him fired as Superman's primary writer.
This lost artifact also has Siegel blasting legendary editors Whitney Ellsworth and Mort Weisinger as co-conspirators in "turning down so many of my Superman scripts." (In a 1947 telegram, Siegel had complained to Liebowitz that Weisinger had turned down a pitch later used for the Green Arrow.) Siegel adds that Liebowitz "WANTED me off Superman, so his buddy Ellsworth could step into my shoes." The letter is still a surprising twist in the Siegel saga, having been written just weeks after he sent out letters accusing Sampliner of living "in a swanky hotel" while Siegel and his wife were "destitute" and in a "small, crowded apartment without funds."
Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel Signed Lawsuit Letter Over Comics Conspiracy PlotThis signed letter from Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel is a page of rare correspondence from one of the most vicious feuds in comics history -- as Siegel (having already possibly heard from comics attorney Dave Alterbaum) attempts to calmly detail his claims of internal politics leading to yet another lawsuit against National (later DC) Comics!
This embittered letter -- dated Dec. 12, 1951 -- was written to National executive Paul Sampliner at the offices of the Independent News Co., where Sampliner also oversaw National's distribution. The Superman scripter was in the midst of a poison-pen campaign to shame the National executives who'd paid him and artist Joe Shuster $130 for the rights to Superman in 1938. Here, however, a restrained Siegel accuses pioneering comics editor Jake Liebowitz of conspiring to have him fired as Superman's primary writer.
This lost artifact also has Siegel blasting legendary editors Whitney Ellsworth and Mort Weisinger as co-conspirators in "turning down so many of my Superman scripts." (In a 1947 telegram, Siegel had complained to Liebowitz that Weisinger had turned down a pitch later used for the Green Arrow.) Siegel adds that Liebowitz "WANTED me off Superman, so his buddy Ellsworth could step into my shoes." The letter is still a surprising twist in the Siegel saga, having been written just weeks after he sent out letters accusing Sampliner of living "in a swanky hotel" while Siegel and his wife were "destitute" and in a "small, crowded apartment without funds."