How the Superman Celebration was born

This weekend was the 32nd annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. I didn't go but I did find this 2/3/79 articlette in the now-defunct Washington Star about the humble beginning of the event:

The Jerry Siegel Race, part 3 of 3

First read part 1 and part 2.

In February 2008, five months before Boys of Steel came out, I pitched my Jerry Siegel Race idea to the wonderful Glenville Development Corporation and they liked it. They earmarked a tentative month for the event. They sent the letter I’d written to the celebs. They suggested that we look for a corporate sponsor and mentioned one company in particular that was looking for a health initiative to fund. Running is healthy! I imagined that whatever sponsor we got would foot the bill for the race T-shirts.

I also pitched the Jerry Siegel Race to the organizers of the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois, which I was planning to attend that June. Of course, that would not take place on the actual route, but would still be a sixth of a mile accompanied by John Williams.

Eventually, I even planned to do a third race in my town, sponsored by the local independent bookstore.

However, none of the races happened. Here's why:

Cleveland—It was hard for me to do as much as I wanted to do from afar and I wouldn't have asked anyone else to take on the responsibility. (Though my primary inspiration with the race was not to raise money but rather to do some small part to unify an historic community, I was thrilled when, later that year, a superstar team led by author Brad Meltzer fundraised on a far greater scale that my race ever could have. The newly formed Siegel & Shuster Society and friends collected more than $100,000 to restore Jerry's house and install commemorative markers at both Jerry's and Joe's sites.)

Metropolis—A town official ended up nixing the race because the road chosen for the route would have had a cable (yes, I do remember it being a single cable) strung across it for another aspect of the Superman Celebration. That was a safety concern. (Somehow marathons with thousands of entrants and probably as many potholes, among other little bumps, go on anyway.)

Hometown—I was following up on too many promotional ideas at once and that one—though among my favorites—was set aside. I could tackle most of the other ideas on my own but that one would require help and, again, I didn’t want to burden anyone at the time.

Yet I remain determined to make a Jerry Siegel Race happen one day, particularly in Cleveland. In fact, I’m quite certain it will, and I’ll be running it with a big smile, in a hurry to get to one of those Superman mini-pizzas.

Magazine covers and pop culture museums

Coincidence 1 of 2

Hard as it is to believe, Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman is the first standalone biography (for any age) of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. (They’ve been a part of more involved comics histories, of course, but they’d never had a book to themselves.)

Why was I the fortunate one who got to benefit from this odd oversight?

Because my uncommon last name sounds like one of Superman’s colleagues?

Because one of my high school friends turned out to be Lois Lane’s grandson?

Because my daughter has the same name as Superman’s Kryptonian mother—though I swear I didn’t remember that when we named her?

Or is it because of March 14, 1988?

That day was a milestone for both Superman and me. It was the date of the issue of Time magazine that featured Superman’s 50th anniversary on the cover.

It was also my 16th birthday—when a boy becomes a man. Wait, that’s 13…or is it 18? No, 21…

Regardless, sixteen is significant because it’s the age You’ll Believe a Man Can Drive.

I had first become acquainted with Superman a decade earlier, but I like to believe it was on that day when our destinies synced up. Exactly twenty years later, Boys of Steel came out.

Coincidence 2 of 2

This also involves Superman and also requires mention of a(nother) high school friend, a one Mr. Barker. (Stay with me—I’m also not done with Coincidence 1 of 2.)

Unlike most of my friends, I was not able to line up a post-college job before graduating. So I went to my hometown, Cheshire, Connecticut. It’s lovely, but not a place with much opportunity for a young person who wants to work in the popular arts.

After a demoralizing summer of fruitless searching, I finally landed a position at Abbeville Press, a book publisher in New York. (This was the company at which I would publish my first book and meet my future wife.)

A couple of years later, I learned that the Barker Animation Art Gallery and the Barker Character, Comic, and Cartoon Museum opened…in Cheshire. A world-class collection of pop culture prints and obscure memorabilia, side by side…in Cheshire.

(I asked my high school friend Barker about it, and the founders are his cousins.)

My parents had left Cheshire soon after I moved to New York, so I rarely went back. When I did, if I saw the Barker comic compound, it was only from my passing car. Always in a hurry but not always with good reason, I never stopped.

Flash forward to 2008. To promote Boys of Steel, I went to the 30th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois, also a lovely town but even sleepier and more remote than Cheshire. Yet it does boast a pair of rather unusual tourist attractions.

Being the “official” home of Superman, it is home to the world’s only Superman Museum. It also has the Americana Hollywood Museum. I marveled at the seemingly endless array of pieces this place houses, including collectibles related to superheroes, film noir, science fiction, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, James Bond, probably Jesse James for all I know. Life-sized models of classic monsters, TV Guide issues, old board games, movie props, and more kitsch are arranged high and thick in room after room.

I was astounded that such a collection was assembled in this unassuming town. Some of the people who lived nearby probably didn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of it, or even know about it. I remember thinking that the town was lucky to have this sprawling time capsule of pop culture icons in their collective backyard and remember thinking how much I would’ve loved to have lived near a place like it when I was a kid.

Flash forward to this past weekend. It just so happened to be the 31st annual Superman Celebration and I just so happened to be not in Metropolis but in Cheshire. For the first time, I went inside the Barker Character, Comic, and Cartoon Museum. But I felt like I was back in the Americana Hollywood Museum.

It hadn’t occurred to me that they could be two of a kind—maybe the only two of their kind in the world?

And one of these rare places, a place I would’ve loved to visit as a kid and work for as a young adult, was in my hometown…just too late for me.

But not in every way.

In the fall I will be doing a Boys of Steel event at the Barker Museum…

…which, incidentally, perhaps coincidentally, displays a copy of the March 14, 1988 Time.

Talking about "Boys of Steel" in the rain

This short interview filmed on a digital camera under an overhang during a rainstorm at the Superman Celebration begins at 1:52:



The interviewer is the kind Steve Younis, maestro of the Superman Homepage. We'd met in person for the first time mere moments before. He introduces me as "Mike." He did correct himself with no prodding, but even if he hadn't, it's still better than spelling "Marc" with a "k."

Superman Celebration: the rundown

From June 12 to June 15, I was among the nicest people I have met in recent memory. Combine the homespun charm of a small Midwestern town with the attentive enthusiasm of serious Superman fans and everyone is treated like a VIP. Thank you to those who personally made me feel welcome and made sure I was fed and hydrated and air-conditioned and well-positioned. 

Here's a quick look at the experience, first by the numbers, then by the pictures. 

• Hours it took to drive from St. Louis to Metropolis: 3
• Highway signs for Cracker Barrel restaurant I passed: at least 5
• Wrong turns my GPS gave me: 1 (if I'd listened to it, I would have ended up in the Ohio River)
• Degrees when I arrived: 94
• Degrees when I left: 96
• Babies dressed as Superman: dozens
• Dogs dressed as Superman: at least 2
• People dressed as dogs: I think I saw 1
• Percentage of people dressed as Superman who lack Superman's physique: 98%
• Times I dressed as Superman: 0
• Times I dressed as someone from the 1940s: 1 (sort of; see below)
• Pieces of Superman merchandise I bought: 1 (see here)
• Presentations I gave: 3
• Minutes each presentation lasted: 30
• People who e-mailed me during my presentation to tell me they were sitting in my presentation: 1
• Copies of Boys of Steel I raffled off: 2
• Homemade bookplates I signed: more than 100 
• Boys of Steel postcards I started with: 4,800 
• Postcards I left with: 0 * 
• Times people asked if they could buy Boys of Steel right then: too many (only because I didn't have books)
• Items signed by Siegel and Shuster up for bid at the Superman charity auction: at least 3
• Of those, items I won: 0
• Of those, items I bid on: 0
• Highest amount one sold for: $600
• Amount an unbound advanced reader's copy of Boys of Steel sold for: $110
• Nights I had beer for dinner because food was no longer being served: 1

Now for photos. (Spoiler alert: I'm not posting those typical street festival scenes with half the crowd dressed as superheroes; you can see those on many other sites.) The second of two highway signs for Metropolis that I saw:

Appropriately, the first sign I saw when I got off the highway:

Welcome sign (sorry for the distorted head; I took this myself at too-close range):

One of approximately ten signs like this I passed (see note above about distorted head):

The writers' panel:

photo credits: Sue Schnitzer

I didn't see this while I was there; a kind new friend e-mailed it to me. Note the rare correct spelling of all names:

photo credit: Michelle Lyzenga; correct spelling credit: Kevin Williams

One of my talks:

photo credit: Lin Workman

My humble station:

The first non-press person to own a copy of Boys of Steel (he won the first of two raffles):

The 1940s ball:

photo credit: Michelle Lyzenga

Allison Mack, who stars as Chloe Sullivan on the TV show Smallville, graciously allowing herself to be exploited:

The event ended on Father's Day:

One last note: I'm happy to report that every audience I spoke to heartily applauded at the first mention of Siegel and Shuster. I'm glad they knew that without those two, Metropolis, IL, might be just another town sandwiched between Cracker Barrels.

* 6/19/08 addendum: Jamie Reigle of Super Collectibles generously took a big stack of postcards off my hands to distribute to his customers. Please visit his site. He's got it all!

The only real Metropolis

In Superman mythology, there is only one Metropolis. In the United States, there is also only one Metropolis. Superman's Metropolis is in an unspecified state. America's Metropolis is in southern Illinois. Tomorrow, I'm going to the real one for the 30th annual Superman Celebration.

Naturally, I planned this trip to sell books. However, we will not have books there. An order was placed for 500 copies but we were unable to get them shipped from China (the book is scheduled to be released on July 22).

But I will still be selling books. I have several speaking slots over the four-day event. I have hundreds of postcards to distribute. (It will be sweltering and they'll make great lightweight little fans.) I made simple bookplates with a custom logo that I will sign and hand out; these may prompt people to buy a book next month (or pre-order online now) or else they'll have no logical place to stick it. I will also be raffling off two copies of the actual book, two of the three advanced copies I was sent.

I will report when back and possibly also when there. One thing I can already confirm: selling books without having books does have one advantage. No heavy lifting.

Summer of Superman

If you could fly, you'd probably spend most of your airborne time in the summer. Superman sure seems to.

He debuted in Action Comics #1, dated June, 1938. However, comics ship months earlier than their cover dates—court records name April 18 as the date this one did (for more on this, see my future blog entry of April 18, 2008). But to the casual observer, it's immortalized as a summer son.

As I build a marketing campaign for Boys of Steel, summer has been pivotal. I sold the manuscript in early March 2005, and among the first questions I asked my editor (it was halfway to a beg) was if we could get the book out in time for the Superman Returns premiere in June 2006. I knew that the relaunch of the film franchise would lead to both increased media attention to Superman and Superman-themed tabletops in bookstores (probably for no cost to publishers). Alas, I was told that was not likely to happen.

We blew right past summer 2006, and even summer 2007, before even seeing finished art. We are on track for summer 2008—but, another alas, not until the very last edge of it: August 26. While I'm thrilled we're less than half a year away from release, I'm also bummed that we're missing yet another summer. I will be involved with the following, but we're cutting it close, and here are some elaborations:

- Superman Celebration, Metropolis, Illinois, June - This is THE indispensable event for 75,000 diehard Superman fans (or perhaps 30,000 diehard Superman fans and 45,000 gracious Superman fan family members). It's held in the only living town in America named Metropolis and this year is not only the 70th anniversary of Superman and the 30th anniversary of Superman: The Movie but also the 30th anniversary of the Superman Celebration itself. I'll be there, and I'm working extra hard to make sure copies of the book will be, too. This will require drop-shipping them from China, which is as expensive as it seems. If we don't have enough books there, we'll be taking pre-orders, and either way, I'll be running what promises to be an unprecedented and really fun promotional event revolving around the book. Watch this space for the announcement.

- Summer of Superman, Cleveland, Ohio, June through September - Finally, Superman's real-world hometown is ramping up efforts to acknowledge their four-color legacy. Community leaders are already meeting and planning a series of diverse Supermancentric events from a comic convention to a screening of old Superman movies. My event is planned for August so that we will absolutely have books for it. And it will be similar yet even cooler than what I'm doing in Metropolis. You'll again have to check back for an explanation in the weeks to come.

- Comic-Con, San Diego, California, July - Random House (my publisher) will have a booth there and will be promoting the book, but we can't benefit immediately since it will not yet be for sale. Do people forget things more easily in the suffocating heat of summer? Even if so, I'm going for word of mouth stimulation and hopefully a panel seat, too.

- Six Flags, all summer - These amusement parks feature Superman rides. I pitched them to sell the book in their stores and online. They seem interested but the late-summer release date again presents a problem since most of their season is over by then. No matter. I've gotten quite used to saying "There's always next summer."

How does the Autumn of Superman sound?