“Krypto, take me home,” Superman tells his mighty mutt in the opening of the new Superman movie.
Home in this case is the Fortress of Solitude, but that’s not his real home. Neither is Smallville, or Metropolis. It’s Cleveland, Ohio.
Superman was created in 1934 by two highschoolers from the Glenville suburb of Cleveland named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They created the world’s first superhero, and with him invented a whole new genre of fiction.
Their names may not be as recognizable as Stan Lee or even Jack Kirby, but they’re household names in Cleveland, which on Saturday, August 2, dedicated a new Siegel & Shuster Superman Plaza downtown. Located in front of the Huntington Convention Center, at the corner of Ontario Street and St. Clair Avenue, the plaza features an awe-inspiring 9.5-foot statue of Superman flying, mounted atop an 18.5-foot pillar.
It also features lifesize sculptures of Siegel and Shuster, as well as Joanne Siegel, the original model for Lois Lane and later Jerry’s wife. There’s also a replica phone booth containing Clark Kent’s discarded clothes.
It’s the perfect time to celebrate the character and his creators. With the new movie officially a hit, DC Comics’ successful “Summer of Superman” initiative, a forthcoming Krypto the Superdog series of shorts on HBO Max, the Supergirl movie coming out next summer, My Adventures with Superman animated series renewed for season 3, and the recent news that work has already begun on a follow-up film, Supermania is in full swing.
It’s a recognition that’s long overdue.
Siegel (1914–1996) and Shuster (1914–1992) were both children of Jewish immigrants who fled Europe, both were mild-mannered, shy, unpopular and bespectacled. They based Clark Kent mainly on themselves, while Superman was their wish fulfillment. He wasn’t just their creation; he was their embodiment in fiction.
Famously, they struggled for years to sell their revolutionary idea, until National Comics Publications (DC today) needed filler for a new series and threw it in. Superman debuted in June 1938’s Action Comics #1, in what Time magazine dubbed “one of 80 days that changed the world.”
Siegel and Shuster were paid $130 ($3,000 today) for the strip, but with it sold the rights to their brainchild, in perpetuity. Disgruntlement grew, they sued to reclaim ownership, failed, and were fired, their byline removed from any appearance of the character.
They spent the following three decades in poverty and declining health, until a public shaming campaign ahead of the 1978 movie convinced DC (by then owned by Warner Bros.) to award them an annuity and benefits, as well as restore their byline: “Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.”
The hardship and heartache the pair endured is part of their story, making the Plaza dedication ceremony all the more joyous, as a celebration of their remarkable legacy.
“It’s absolutely a measure of justice,” Super-scribe Mark Waid told IGN in an email. “Now, hopefully, their names will be as recognizable to folks as Stan Lee’s.”
The road to creating the tribute plaza was itself long and bumpy, however.
In 2007, a Superfan and a real-life Clark Kent, Michael Sangiacomo, then a reporter and columnist for the Plain Dealer, began writing articles calling on the city to recognize this special heritage. The same year, he helped establish The Siegel & Shuster Society together with their family members and others, to honor them and their creation. (Full disclosure: I’m a member and was nominally involved in the campaign.)
In 2009, the Society restored Jerry Siegel’s childhood home, where the idea of Superman was born, adding commemorative plaques. It’s now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s currently a private home, but the Society hopes to one day turn it into a museum. A few blocks away, the fence around where Joe Shuster’s home stood was also renovated, and now displays 16 metal plaques with the first Superman story from Action Comics #1.
In 2011, the Society campaigned the county to rename the streets they grew up on Jerry Siegel Lane, Joe Shuster Lane and Lois Lane. They followed in 2012 with a permanent Superman exhibit at the Cleveland airport, and in 2013 convinced the State of Ohio to issue a Superman-themed license plate.
But for all the Society’s accomplishments, the white whale of a Superman monument in Cleveland continued to elude them for more than a decade. Eventually, after location changes, fundraising letdowns and initial lackluster response from city hall, a yearslong crowdfunding campaign managed to raise the required $2.2 million. (DC and Warner Bros. Discovery approved the project but were not directly involved.)
Serendipitously, James Gun decided to film Superman’s Metropolis scenes in Cleveland. “It was perfect timing!” Gary Kaplan, Jerry Siegel’s cousin and president of the Siegel & Shuster Society, told IGN. It gave a much-needed boost, which also allowed the dedication ceremony to coincide with the movie’s release.
The plaza itself was designed by architect Nick Slaughterbeck of the firm Moody Nolan, and the statues by renowned sculptor David Deming, who’s also the former president of the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Deming set out to create a Superman statue like no other. “I wanted it to be unique,” he told IGN. “I didn’t want him to look like all the other Superman sculptures around the world, standing akimbo and fully painted.”
Instead, Deming cast his out of stainless steel. “He’s the Man of Steel!” he pointed out. “Plus, steel built this city.” (Cleveland was known for its iron and steel industry from the mid-19th century through the late 20th century.)
It’s also the first statue depicting Superman in flight, which was a challenge given that it weighs 2,500 pounds, Deming said.
It’s held up by a blue pylon, which gradually tapers to give it the forced perspective of a tall building, he explained. It’s also intended to gently evoke the crystals at the Fortress of Solitude, with protruding red and yellow dashes to complete the color scheme and add a sense of movement.
When it came to designing Superman’s look, Deming said: “I first gave him the original triangle symbol, but it wasn’t as iconic.” He went with the classic serifed symbol instead, and based his likeness on “a timeless quality,” consciously steering away from similarity to any one art style or actor. The statues of Jerry, Joe and Joanne, meanwhile, are made of bronze, the medium Deming is known for.
On the morning of the unveiling, over 200 invitees, including Siegel and Shuster family members, were joined by an animated crowd of another 200 fans. Some were in cosplay, though most wore the red capes reading “Cleveland” that were handed out.
As the covers were pulled off the statues, a live orchestra played John Wiliams’ Superman theme, to enthusiastic cheers. “It’s overwhelming,” Laura Siegel Larson, Jerry Siegel’s daughter, teared up when delivering her speech. “These three extraordinary real-life heroes… on the outside looked like everybody else, but on the inside had real strength and courage.”
She told IGN: “I especially love that Deming captured the moment in their lives when they were young and filled with hope, and in that moment they are literally watching the statue of Superman take flight several feet from them!”
Kaplan was ebullient. “I feel like a superhero!” he told IGN. “Seeing that statue makes my heart soar higher than even Superman could hope to fly,” Waid said. “Being there, under that blue sky with so many people, I had no idea it would be that good,” Brad Ricca, Siegel & Shuster Society founding board member and author of Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster–the Creators of Superman, told IGN.
“I don’t look at the plaza as Jerry, Joe, and Joanne looking up at Superman,” Ricca added. “I look at it as them kind of bringing him to life… it’s no longer two stories — that of the creators and their dream — but it’s all the same story now. That’s the way it should be.”
Famed Superman artist Jon Bogdanove said: “Everyone on Earth knows Superman, but relatively few know the two Cleveland teenagers who created him. It is only right that their hometown should honor the memory of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in this way. I wish they were still alive to see this!”
“My dad would say, ‘I always believed Superman would be an enormous hit and I was right,’” Siegel told IGN. “I’m very happy that Cleveland wants the world to know the Man of Steel and Lois Lane were created here, and I hope… [the statues] inspire people everywhere to believe that if they keep doing good things and helping others, they can make the world a better place.”
“Superman has always been a symbol of our better nature, using his power for good, for all people,” Paul Levitz, former president and publisher of DC Comics, told IGN. “And he’s an immigrant who improved our world. Those are good models at this divisive time.”
Superman artist Rags Morales agreed. He told IGN: “While we seem to be struggling day in and day out to define what is proper and heroic these days, it’s always nice to see something as simple a concept as Superman to remind us that it’s just being our best selves.”
It’s what Superman does, and what every person interviewed said they hope the new plaza will do; remind us to look up in the sky.
Super Sly
The Siegel & Shuster Superman Plaza includes a statue replica of a phone booth, with Clark Kent’s discarded clothes inside. Eagle-eyed visitors might notice that the press card tucked in Kent’s fedora reads “The Cleveland Evening News.”
It’s a clever nod to Action Comics #2 (July 1938), in which Kent worked for the fictional Cleveland Evening News.
Kent first wrote for the Daily Star in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), named after the Toronto Daily Star (Toronto Star today), where co-creator Joe Shuster worked as a newsboy before moving to the U.S.
But Superman was created in Cleveland, and creators Siegel & Shuster pitched the comic strip locally, situating their character’s adventures there.
Most likely, this was left as an oversight when they later reused the strip for the comic book.
Clark Kent’s great metropolitan newspaper didn’t become the Daily Planet until the second episode of the radio serial (February 14, 1940), and in the comics in Action Comics #23 (April 1940).
Special thanks to Bobb Dorr and the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at The Arcade.
Image credits: Roy Schwartz, Mark Slankard, IGN.
Roy Schwartz is a pop culture historian and critic. His work has appeared in CNN, New York Daily News, The Forward, Literary Hub and Philosophy Now, among others. He is the author of the bestseller Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero and co-producer of the award-winning documentary JewCE: The Jewish Comics Experience. Follow him at royschwartz.com and on Instagram, X and Facebook @RealRoySchwartz.
