The Long Gestation of Superman (2 of 3)

Rocking the bald look almost a decade before Luthor did.

QUICK JOURNAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I’ve got some good submissions over last weekend—will be sending out notes and responses this morning! Thanks for your patience.

… … … … …

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s first “Superman” story was no comic-book tale, no comic-strip tale, not even a professional job. They self-published “The Reign of the Superman” in a fanzine—the 1932 equivalent of putting it on AO3. They were eighteen.

Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization lasted five issues, with Siegel as editor and Shuster as art editor—really sole artist. Siegel wrote this breathless intro for the first issue:

WEIRD! FANTASTIC! FUTURISTIC!
Science must serve Civilization; SCIENCE FICTION shall serve science! Foremost authors have combined to present the stupendous marvels of
FUTURE SCIENCE
reinforced by a wealth of imagination… Theories run rampant with their amazing plausibility in SCIENCE FICTION!

No one’s ever walked out of a Superman movie saying, “Oh, my God, it was so…plausible!” But the origins of the character do take inspiration from scientific factoids like the properties of different suns and the gravity of exoplanets.

“The Reign of the Superman” (written under pseudonym Herbert S. Fine) blends Siegel and Shuster’s interest in alien worlds with a more down-to-earth science—performance-enhancing drugs.

The bread-line! Its row of downcast, disillusioned men; unlucky creatures who have found that life holds nothing but bitterness for them. The bread-line! Last resort of the starving vagrant.

With a contemptuous sneer on his face, Professor Smalley watched the wretched unfortunates file past him. To him, who had come of rich parents and had never been forced to face the rigors of life, the miserableness of these men seemed deserved. It appeared to him that if they had the slightest ambition at all they could easily lift themselves from their terrible rut.

Smalley promises the vagrant Bill Dunn a new suit and a home-cooked meal. He neglects to mention he’s seasoned the meal with extract of meteorite. Gotta test its effects on humans, you see. For science.

The first effect is to give Dunn mind-reading powers, leading him to escape Smalley’s clutches. With further powers of clairvoyance, prophecy, and mind control for which distance is no object, Dunn soon amasses a fortune. When Smalley catches up to him, they struggle over the one remaining dose of meteor dust. Dunn wins, Smalley dies.

This story’s sole sympathetic character is reporter Forrest Ackerman (named for Siegel’s friend, Science Fiction contributor, and fellow sci-fi pioneer). Dunn mesmerizes and imprisons Ackerman before he can expose any of Dunn’s secrets. Dunn stokes rage in minds the world over, almost sparking a world-destroying war—but then sees his own future.

“That vision! That glimpse into the future! Myself tomorrow—sleeping in the park. Once more just Dunn—Dunn the vagrant, the down-and-outer!” The Superman drew a hand across his eyes. “It’s the drug! Its influence will be gone in an hour, exhausted! And I can't duplicate the drug unless I can reach the Dark Planet where lies the needed element. And there is not time enough for that!”

The arrogant, confident figure had departed. Instead, there now stood, a drooping, disillusioned man.

Dunn raised his head and regarded the mute reporter. "I see, now, how wrong I was. If I had worked for the good of humanity, my name would have gone down in history with a blessing—instead of a curse.” He approached the chair and tampered with some mechanism on its side. “In fifteen minutes you will be automatically released and I—” he grinned wryly, “I shall be—back in the bread-line!”

The story doesn’t explain how Dunn’s wealth evaporates along with his powers. But hey, let’s say he kept it all in a safe with a complex combination lock only a “Superman” could remember.

Such plot holes are worth excusing, because the story bristles with the imaginative energy that’s Siegel and Shuster’s trademark. Highlights include a montage of mental voices Dunn overhears as his powers come in, a scene of peace-loving diplomats transformed into screaming nationalists, and the circular twist ending. “Back in the bread-line” indeed. (Full text here. Scans here.)

Sadly, this story foreshadows the rags-to-riches-to-rags arc of Siegel and Shuster’s own lives. But even though it has no hero—just two villains, a witness, and assorted victims—some heroic values peek through. Siegel mocks Smalley for his pampered belief the downtrodden are just lazy. And Dunn realizes, albeit too late, that he should have used his powers for the betterment of others. Future Supermen would follow that insight rather than Dunn’s example.

Next: The Superman who died by fire.