Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Jerry Siegel in Word [sic] War II

For what will most likely be my last post of 2009, I'll take an approach common this time of year: looking backward and looking forward at once.

As for looking back, here is a scan of a photograph a friend recently forwarded, asking for any background I might know about it:

A Stars and Stripes photographer took it and it is his son, Tony Ebert, looking for information. The photo was labeled "Siegel and Green 'Super GI" and dated 12/1/44. Superman co-creator and original writer Jerry Siegel (the darker-haired one in the photo) was drafted in 1943 and didn't ship overseas. Though I do have a few more details about his military service in my research notes, I don't believe I have much if anything on his work for Stars and Stripes. (It wasn't an aspect I planned to include in Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman.)

Unfortunately, my friend did not save Tony's e-mail address. I wanted to contact Tony before posting this, both simply to talk but more importantly to ask permission. I did contact everyone I found
online with his name, but as of yet have not heard back from the one in question. Hopefully I still will, and in the meantime, I decided to post the photo with this explanation. If I can't find the right Tony, perhaps this way he can find me.

Please do not repost or publish this photo without including some form of this explanation, and check back here for a possible update, if I get one.


As for looking forward...in my last post of 2008, I teased that 2009 would be the year of a Bill Finger announcement. I was close. I think it will instead come in January.

3 comments:

Boswell said...

This is a photograph taken in late 1944 at the Midpacifican offices in Honolulu. Siegel was a writer on the paper from the time of his arrival in Hawaii in August 1944, to May 1945, when the paper was shut down upon the commencement of the Pacific Edition of Stars and Stripes. Siegel and Green are looking at "Super G.I.," which ran for 14 weeks in Midpacifican from 12/30/44 to 3/17/45, before ceasing mid-storyline. This is one of a number of photos I have seen from the same shoot, another is here (http://tinyurl.com/m9k6k5z) and shows Siegel, Green and other staffers reviewing what appears to be the first installment of Super G.I.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Thanks so much for this thorough insight, Boswell!

Boswell said...

I went through my copies of Midpacifican and can confirm that the strip Siegel and Green are working on is the first installment of Super G.I. published on December 30, 1944 in Midpacifican. Also, the artwork just above Siegel's right hand is of Superman and Super G.I. shaking hands (Superman says "Welcome to the comic strips, Super G.I.! You've got some super adventures ahead of you!"), which appeared above the masthead on the cover of the same edition.