Panels without dialogue and narration were exceedingly rare in the Golden Age, which was a time of super-condensed, exposition-heavy stories. Jerry Siegel, however, while not using them in every story, seemed to make more use of them than other writers of the time. It often worked to great effect, especially when the artist was able to deliver a dynamic piece of art to carry the panel, as Joe Shuster did here. SOCK!
In keeping with the spirit of Halloween (or is that the Halloween spirits?), today we’re teaming up with several other comic-focused blogs to highlight tales of fright and suspense sure to liven up your day (or maybe just scare your pants off).
Jerry Siegel’s writing talents went beyond the cape-and-tights pack that Superman led. What are perhaps Siegel’s most-enduring creations other than the Man of Steel, Doctor Occult and the Spectre, are prime-pickings for Halloween favorite stories. We’ll talk more about the Spectre’s creation in the future, but today’s tale is the Ghostly Guardian’s fourth appearance, originally published in MORE FUN COMICS #55. While untitled at the time, it has since been given the title, “Zor!”
Writer: Jerry Siegel
Artist: Bernard Bailey
Editor: Whitney Ellsworth
Jim Corrigan and Wayne Grant are summoned by the manager of First National Bank and told to arrest a clerk for embezzlement. During their investigation, Corrigan uses his ability to read minds, deducing that the real guilty party is the bank’s bookkeeper, Simmons.
Not taking well to being found out, Simmons pulls a gun, holding all three men at bay. Invisible to all, however, the ghostly form of the Spectre emerges from Corrigan’s body, confronting Simmons as he tries to escape. Unable to see the Ghostly Guardian, the bank manager and Grant think Simmons might be going mad as he speaks to the Spectre. Simmons tries firing his gun, but the Spectre wills it not to fire, and then gives Simmons an eerie ultimatum.
After depositing Simmons in jail, Corrigan and Grant leave for a night off when Corrigan is viciously run down in the middle of the street by two criminals intent on revenge. Grant thinks his partner is no more, but is surprised to find him unharmed. Little do he or the criminals know, though, that the Spectre is hot on the criminals’ tails.
As the cowardly would-be murderers flee, they are shocked as the the Ghostly Guardian appears on the hood of their truck… his eyes staring at them with a penetrating stare.
The shock causes the truck to plummet off a nearby cliff. But, to the amazement of the criminals and the Spectre, hangs momentarily in mid-air, before backing up and setting gently down on the road again. While puzzling over what could have caused the freak phenomenon, the Spectre is confronted by a dark figure, who introduces himself as “Zor!”
“Like yourself,” Zor says, “I am a spirit confined to Earth — only thru the centuries, I have spread evil upon this world!” And soon, the two ghostly spirits are locked in combat.
When Zor inexplicably disappears, the Spectre resumes his residence within Jim Corrigan, but puzzles over the mad ghost’s words.
At just that moment, Zor transforms himself into the image of Corrigan and approaches Corrigan’s fiancée, Clarice Winston. Zor tells Clarice he’s been a fool and invites her to run away and elope… and the two drive off, with Clarice little knowing the deadly danger she’s in.
Corrigan arrives at Clarice’s home only to find her gone. The Spectre then streaks out into the night, soon catching up the car. Though “Corrigan” (Zor) appears to be driving, the forms of the Spectre and Zor hover above the car, with the dark ghost taunting the Spectre, before escaping — along with the car — into another dimension in a brilliant burst of energy.
As the Spectre puzzles over where Zor and Clarice have gone, the car streaks through the blackness of the void. Frightened, Clarice turns, but faints when she sees the man driving the car is not her fiancée as she believed, but the monster Zor! Shortly, Zor has carried her into his castle and makes devious plans… when the madman gets a surprise of his own.
The Spectre implores the Voice for help in rescuing Clarice and Zor is summoned before him, only to disappear once again. Now granted the power to traverse dimension on his own, the Spectre soon appears before Zor’s castle stronghold, little knowing Zor has laid a trap for him inside. Upon entering the castle, the Spectre is caught in a brilliant shaft of light — and frozen in place!
“Yes,” Zor mocks, “And thru the centuries you will be forced to listen to Zor fling taunts at the prince of fools who thought he could outwit me!”
Desperate to free himself and save Clarice, the Spectre makes Zor an offer — if he is freed, he will give Zor the written formula for creating life! Unafraid, Zor accepts and releases the Spectre. But the Ghostly Guardian capitalizes, lunging at Zor and the two again engage in a fierce battle. Zor quickly gains the upper hand and goes after the formula… but the Spectre then springs a trap of his own!
Clarice saved, the Spectre hurtles back across the dimensions and later, as Corrigan, visits his fiancée. He comforts the woman, dismissing the entire episode as a nightmare. Clarice implores him to stay, but Corrigan declines…
One of the biggest things I take away from this story is the atmosphere Siegel and Bailey were able to convey.
When you read Siegel’s Superman stories from this period, even the sillier ones, they are big and brash. There’s a frenzied energy about them. You can almost hear a brassy score… the Sammy Timberg theme in the background as Superman goes after the villain. When everything is firing on all cylinders, it’s the best Saturday afternoon nickel serial ever printed on the comic book page.
Siegel’s strength in writing shines through here given just how different the atmosphere is with this story. The music evoked with this is the eerie strings and the low hum of an old organ. They keep you on your toes and in suspense as to what’s coming next.
Siegel’s narration and dialogue set the scene as well. There’s no brash, in-your-face superheroics here. Sure, there’s a criminal, a damsel in distress and a rescue at the end. But this is story is decidedly darker in tone than anything Siegel wrote with Superman, particularly around this time.
Siegel’s Spectre stories are generally not considered early horror stories. And this was published a full decade before they boom and heyday of EC and horror comics. However, you can definitely see the seeds of such being sewed in this story.
To his credit, Bailey also does his part. While his art lacks the energetic action of Shuster or dynamic layouts of someone such as Bob Kane and his studio, Bailey’s sparse art adds a creepy air of solitude and solemness to scenes. By Bailey’s hand, the grim scowl never leaves the Spectre’s face and Corrigan, while more inviting than his ghostly counterpart, broods behind a layer of darkness and mystery.
– DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #6 (1971)
– Golden Age Spectre Archives, Vol. 1 (2003)
– DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #6 Replica Edition (2004)
Unfortunately, because this story was first reprinted in 1971, a time when neither Siegel or Shuster were being credited by DC Comics, Siegel’s name was removed from the opening splash. This modification and lack of credit has remained in subsequent reprints.
This story was published during what is perhaps the busiest period in Siegel’s writing career.
In addition to the Spectre story, MORE FUN COMICS #55 contained a six-page “Radio Squad” story. Other Siegel-written features published in the same month included a six-page “Spy” story and a 10-page “Slam Bradley” story in DETECTIVE COMICS #39, an eight-page “Red, White and Blue” story in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #15 and a four-page “Federal Men” story in ADVENTURE COMICS #50.
And, of course, there was a 13-page “Superman” story in ACTION COMICS #25, where, for the first time, Lois tries to uncover the Man of Steel’s true identity. And, outside of comics, the Superman daily and Sunday newspaper strips, both written by Siegel, were going full steam. (SUPERMAN was going at this time, as well, but did not have an issue this month due to being a bi-monthly title at the time.)
I want to thank Chad Bokelman over at Corps Conjecture for allowing the blog and me to play along in this Halloween crossover. It was a whole lot of fun! And special thanks to Rob Kelly at Aquaman Shrine and Garrey Adams at Gotham Knights Online for the crossover’s custom graphics!
As mentioned earlier, several blogs have joined forces to look at the various spooky or Halloween-themed stories. Be sure to visit the other blogs to see how they spotlight their favorite heroes!
– The Atom in “Shrinking From The Past” @ Power of the Atom
– Aquaman in “Dead Calm” @ The Aquaman Shrine
– Batman in “Bough Breaks” @ Gotham Knights Online
– Booster Gold in “Seeing Ghosts” @ Boosterific
– The Creeper in “What Creeps Out the Creeper? @ DC Bloodlines
– Firestorm in “Shoe Shine… Back from the Dead” @ Firestorm Fan
– The Flash in “Haunts” @ Speed Force
– Green Lantern in “The Corpse Corps” @ Corps Conjecture
– Green Lantern in “The Legend of Driq” @ The Indigo Tribe
– The Justice League of America in “Life Itself” @ The Captain’s JLA Blog
– The Martian Manhunter in “Heart’s Afire” @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
– The Phantom Stranger cosplay @ I am the Phantom Stranger
– Ragman in “Tattered Remnants” @ Ragman: DC’s Tatterdemalion of Justice
– The Spectre in “Zor!” @ Siegel & Shuster: Mythmakers
– Superman in “The Death Sentence” @ Great Krypton!
– Swamp Thing in “Ghost Dance” @ The Blog From the Bog
– Vixen in “Role Model” @ Justice League Detroit
– Wonder Woman in “The Distance Gone” @ Diana Prince is the New Wonder Woman
I love seeing random comic panels. Whether it be Superman, Batman, Aquaman or another hero, there’s something very fun about brief, arbitrary looks into various eras and aspects of the character. I started the Super-Random Super-Panel feature over at Great Krypton! last May and have had a blast with it. To help spice up this blog and keep the content flowing in between longer, more meaningful posts, today we kick off the idea here with weekly random looks into stories written by Jerry Siegel, illustrated by Joe Shuster or, on very special occassions, both!
Appropriate for this inaugural edition, such is the case today:
The woman in red is Sally Norris, partner and fiancée to Bart Regan, the lead character in Siegel’s and Shuster’s “Spy” feature. Sally was gutsy, independent and persistent. A proto-Lois Lane, minus the crazy, if there ever was one.
In a move organized by the Siegel and Shuster Society, a display was unveiled Oct. 11 at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport honoring Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster and the creation of Superman in Cleveland. According to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, attendants at the unveiling included Siegel’s daughter, Laura Siegel Larson, Siegel’s cousin, Irving Fine, and Joan Sikela, daughter of artist John Sikela, who began working in the Shuster Shop in 1940 or 1941.
Comics Alliance has posted an up-close look at the display, which features a larger-than-life-size Superman statue, photos of Siegel and Shuster, an old-fashioned television that displays a short documentary about Siegel and Shuster, notations of places around Cleveland significant to Siegel and Shuster, and more.
The display marks the latest attraction recognizing that the city served as the boyhood home to both Siegel and Shuster, as well as the birthplace of all of their pre-World War II collaborations. While I wish the display spoke more of other work by Siegel and Shuster, it’s great to see such an eye-catching attraction paying tribute to two of Cleveland’s most famous sons!
Readers of a blog called Siegel & Shuster: Mythmakers probably have at least a tenuous bit of knowledge about who Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are. However, as this is is the Internet, visitors do, on occasion, wonder by sites with unfamiliar subject matters and pay a visit.
As the blog is still in its infancy, I thought it might be apt to address the question, “Who are Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster?” in hopes of giving newcomers — and even those with a passing familiarity with them — a basic primer.
To that end, here are a few recommended resources for checking out. One caveat is that most of these resources do place a heavy emphasis on their creation of Superman. But, still, they serve well as an introduction and basic primer to the men’s lives.
We’ll start off with the old standby: Wikipedia.
Both Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have individual entries — albeit rather lean ones, in my opinion — on the site. Skimming through the entries, I do see a few relatively minor discrepancies and errors. So, keep in mind that the standard Wikipedia validity disclaimer applies.
Another great read is the joint biography of Siegel and Shuster originally written by Jamie Coville. This biography pre-dates the Wikipedia and social media booms, as well as quite a bit of new information that has surfaced since it was written. At the time of its original posting, it was the most thorough biography on the men available on the Internet. Coville was kind enough to let me re-post it several years ago when his site, The History of Comic Books, went offline and, despite a few minor inaccuracies that have come to light, stands as an excellent bare-bones look at their lives.
In early 2011, I put together more complete, revised and expanded biographies of Siegel and Shuster and presented them in a four-part series in early episodes of my podcast, The Thrilling Adventures of Superman.
Parts one and two of the Jerry Siegel biography can be found in episode 10 and episode 12. Parts one and two of the Joe Shuster biography can be found in episode 15 and episode 16. I’ve learned much about podcasting and biographical research — not to mention Siegel and Shuster themselves — since doing these and hope to expand on them even more in the future. But, they still stand among my most favorite things I’ve ever done for the show.
Another highly recommended resource is Marc Tyler Nobleman’s book, “Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman,” an all-ages picture book about Siegel, Shuster and the creation of Superman — and the first, and so far only, stand-alone biography about the men.
While rather Superman-centric and giving little mention to other work from Siegel and Shuster, “Boys of Steel” still gets the highest possible recommendation. It is definitely something comic fans both young and old should check out. Nobleman really did his research for the book and produced an incredible piece of literature.
I was honored to be able to speak with Marc Tyler Nobleman on episode 75 of The Thrilling Adventures of Superman, where we discussed the book, its development, why Siegel’s and Shuster’s stories are worthy of a book and much more. Nobleman’s blog, Noblemania, also serves as a home to many behind-the-scenes stories concerning the research and promotion of the book, as well as things Nobleman discovered in his research that, for one reason or another, didn’t make it into the book.
Other books, such as “Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book” by Gerard Jones, “The Steranko History of Comics” by Jim Steranko, “The Great Comic Book Heroes” by Jules Feiffer, also touch on aspects of Siegel’s and Shuster’s lives and are recommended for those interested in a deeper look at how their stories fit into the broader history of comics.
So, many resources available for a basic look at the lives of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. With luck, more will become available in the future as more information surfaces. I’ll be sure to make note of them there when they do and, in the meantime, stay tuned to the blog for more looks at the lives and works of Siegel and Shuster.
 AboutSiegel & Shuster: Mythmakers is dedicated to celebrating the collective and individual lives, works and legacies of writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster. |
