From: [c--e--r] at [dcez.com] (Craig Wiener)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.dc.universe,rec.arts.comics.misc,alt.comics.superman
Subject: Jerry Siegel Obituary
Date: 31 Jan 1996 23:03:32 GMT

I got this from Reuter via Yahoo.  (Is Arthur Spiegelman Art Spiegelman of
"Maus" fame?)

Jerry Siegel, Co-Creator Of 'Superman,' Dies At 81

By Arthur Spiegelman

NEW YORK (Reuter) - Jerry Siegel, who as a teen-ager in the Depression
co-created Superman and started a craze for comic book superheroes that has
never abated, has died at age 81, the publishers of Superman comics said
Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for DC Comics said Siegel died Sunday at his home in Los
Angeles of heart failure. Joseph Shuster, the Canadian immigrant who drew
the comic strip which Siegel wrote, died in 1992 at age 78, also in Los
Angeles.

The two childhood friends, both science fiction fanatics, had just graduated
from Glenville High School in Cleveland in 1934 when they created ``The Man
of Steel,'' a gentleman more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall
buildings in a single bound and faster than a speeding bullet.

It took them four years to sell the idea to National Allied Periodicals,
which also bought the rights to the characters Siegel and Shuster created
for less than $200.

The two men earned a fairly lucrative salary drawing and writing the comic
books until 1947 when they sued for more money and were fired.

They never wrote or drew the Superman comic books again and were reported
near poverty in the early 1970s when the first of major new series of
Superman films came out.

After a protest by comic book artists around the country, Warner, which
owned DC Comics, put the two men on a pension which rose into the six
figures over the years.

While Siegel's and Shuster's fortunes rose and fell, Superman, an immigrant
from the planet Krypton, achieved the American dream.

He became a star in virtually every form of media from comic books to films
to television, spawning many imitators from Captain Marvel to Wonder Woman,
Batman and Spiderman.

Mike Carlin, the current editor of Superman comics, said Siegel was always
very supportive.

``When we killed Superman off in 1992, he was very supportive. He said it
was a good way to shake things up,'' Carlin said. ``He understood, he was a
writer. All the writers at DC Comics were very happy because 'Daddy'
approved.''

Superman was later brought back to life through the one-time only use of a
Kryptonian healing chamber -- but only after tens of thousands of fans
registered their protests.

Siegel is survived by his wife Joanne, a model for the original Lois Lane, a
daughter, a son, and two grandsons.

Reuters/Variety