412 check Superman sold
Stephen Fishler, chief executive of ComicConnect.com and Metropolis Collectibles in New York, said today that the 1938 check was auctioned online to an unnamed buyer.
"Two people were battling it out over the check," he said of the furious last minute bidding that lifted the price from its start of $1 last month to the final bid Monday night.The check was made out to Siegel and Shuster and deposited. It includes a line item for $130 showing DC paid for full ownership and rights to Superman.
Siegel and Shuster created Superman together while teenagers in Cleveland, Ohio, in the early 1930s. His first appearance was in "Action Comics" No. 1 in April 1938.
And even though the check changed hands, a legal dispute over creator’s rights to Superman has raged since then and is far from settled.
The canceled check was saved by a DC Comics staffer in the 1970s and sat undisturbed in a desk drawer for 38 years.
The check from DC Comics is made out to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and includes a line item for $130, showing DC Comics paid for full ownership and rights to Superman.With the franchise now world famous and worth billions of dollars, that looks like a shrewd buy.
Siegel and Shuster created Superman together while teenagers in Cleveland, Ohio, in the early 1930s. The superhero’s first appearance came in “Action Comics” No. 1 in April 1938. The pair would later attempt to win back the rights to Superman in court, as it morphed into a money-spinning global industry.
The check was exhibited in a court case in the 1970s, during the final attempt by Siegel and Shuster to retrieve the rights to Superman. The pair failed however, and by the time the first Superman movie came out in 1978, Shuster was working a low paid job for a courier company.
Shuster passed away in 1992, and Siegel in 1996, but the heirs of the two have made fresh attempts to snatch back the rights. Vincent Zurzolo, the co-founder of ComicConnect, told Reuters:
I know, I know, we don’t know much about “Man of Steel” and I’m jumping to conclusions, But, bare with me, we can exaggerate and try to guess where this movie is going from the movie costume.Now, this new design could’ve been great. But it missed the mark in a few details:
The colours: Superman is supposed to inspire. He needs to wear bright colours so we can see him from far away. He ios a beacon of hope in a dark world. He can’t be dark like Batman, it doesn’t work like that!
Brighten the colours. Doesn’t neeed to be as bright as Donner’s movies. But, brighter than this. Everyone I showed pictures from the movie, people who were not comics readers, felt he looked evil.
Is that the look you are going for, WB? General public thinking it’s an evil Superman?
Pipping: there is some weird pipping around the suit. Does not look good. and it ties with the…
Bracelet: really!? Superman wearing Wonder Woman’s bracelets? That’s just too busy a design for a simple, middle America type, like Clark.
These two elements combine to give a military look to Superman’s costume. With the scaly feel, it makes his costume look too alien. It’s not an uniform sent with him by his birth parents. It’s an homage to his home world, tied together with his humble farm boy origins.
All these makes me feel like they are going for a soldier look, not a superhero. Superman is the reason we use the word superhero. They seem to be going for a darker look, closer to the “bad boy” Superman people in the DC Comics offices are trying to push down our throat in the comics.Up there, we have some very good fan made alterations to the costume. I’d make the shorts a bit bigger. But, even if you remove the shorts, you can see that it improves with brighter colours. i’d remove the pipping and the bracelets too, if I was any good with Photoshop. 1
But they are not going for that, unless they change it during post-production.
And that worries me because, to me, he should be the big boy scout people complain he is. He serves a purpose in the DCU and in the real world too.Oh! I do love the S emblem old school feel. Edited in the picture to look brighter.
One personal example: growing up, I was always one of the tallest, strongest guys in my age group. In school, I could use my size to intimidate people, kinda like it seems they are trying to show superman as, an intimidating force. Being a superman fan, I chose to help the smaller kids.
That’s one of the reasons I’m a fan of the character. Even in a dark, corrupt world, he believes in people.
and, like the new DCU, this looks like a cynical Superman. One ready to sound like one of those “Jersey Shore” meat-heads, ready to pick a fight just for the fun of it.
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