Upcoming: ‘Super Boys’ by Brad Ricca

This announcement is long overdue, but no less important — or exciting. Later this summer, a new, full-length biography about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster will be hitting the shelves: “Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — The Creators of Superman” by author Brad Ricca.

Here’s the official description from the publisher:

In the vein of Schulz and Peanuts, the first comprehensive literary biography of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, creators of the DC Comics superhero Superman and the inspiration for Michael Chabon’s Kavalier and Clay

Drawing on ten years of research in the trenches of Cleveland libraries, boarded-up high schools, and secret, private collections, and a love of comic books, Brad Ricca’s Super Boys is the first ever full biography about Superman’s creators. Among scores of new discoveries, the book reveals the first stories and pictures ever published by the two, where the first Superman story really came from, the real inspiration for Lois Lane, the template for Superman’s costume, and much, much more. Super Boys also tracks the boys’ unknown, often mysterious lives after they left Superman, including Siegel’s secret work during World War II and never-before-seen work from Shuster.

Super Boys explains, finally, what exactly happened with the infamous check for $130 that pulled Superman away from his creators—and gave control of the character to the publisher. Ricca also uncovers the true nature of Jerry’s father’s death, a crime that has always remained a mystery. Super Boys is the story of a long friendship between boys who grew to be men and the standard that would be impossible for both of them to live up to.

Clocking in at 432 pages, the book has already drawn praise, including being chosen as a Staff Pick in Diamond Comics’ Previews (catalog #297 June 2013; April 2013 cover). I’m curious to see how much the book will delve into Siegel’s and Shuster’s non-Superman work, both before and after Superman took flight. Given that this is only the second stand-alone biography about Siegel and Shuster, and the first in straight-up literary prose, much of that is unexplored territory — even in wider looks at comic book history.

Ricca, a professor at Case Western Reserve University and resident of Cleveland, is no stranger to the stories of Siegel and Shuster. In 2008, he released the film, “Last Son,” a documentary which delved deeper into their origins. I’ve never had opportunity to see the film, but it has been given high accolades, and was honored with the Silver Ace Award at the Las Vegas Film Festival in 2010.

“Super Boys” is set for a June 4 release from St. Martin’s Press and is now available for pre-order at fine book-sellers everywhere. Look for more information here as it becomes available.

In other bookshelf-addition news, as I first mentioned here, Marc Tyler Nobleman’s “Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman will be re-released this year in a special “Superman’s 75th anniversary” paperback edition. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the publisher’s website now all list the book has having been given a June 11 release date.

Don’t forget to pre-order your copy, get the original hardcover edition today or, better yet, both!