Rights to Superman sold for 130 bucks.

[SUP-Ronin]

When purchased from Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster, back in the day, by Detective Comics. Talk about kicking yourself in the Arse.

Now, the check itself sold for 160k.

Here's a link to the article.

BBC News - Cheque that bought Superman rights sold for super price

[The Toyroom]

Great Krypton!

[Adam West]

I saw that the other day....I don't think they revealed the seller either. Someone who worked for D.C. comics that kept it after it was going to be pitched and kept it in a top drawer of his dresser for decades.

[MegoSteve]

Honestly, that seems really cheap to me compared to what Action #1 sells for.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I still don't understand why Siegel and Shuster sold Superman for $130 when they suspected he would be the hit he became. If they had no idea, I could understand it. But Shuster drew Superman promoting all sorts of products while they were shopping it around as a comic strip. And they had other work from DC at the time, so they weren't unemployed and THAT desperate.

Chris

[huedell]

I still don't understand why Siegel and Shuster sold Superman for $130 when they suspected he would be the hit he became. If they had no idea, I could understand it. But Shuster drew Superman promoting all sorts of products while they were shopping it around as a comic strip. And they had other work from DC at the time, so they weren't unemployed and THAT desperate.

Doesn't matter whether they were desperate or not.

It was the 19 THIRTIES for cripes' sake

Different era... different perceptions for intellectual property potential.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, but they idolized the comic strip creators, and while none of them owned the strips or the characters, most of the creators of the great comic strips didn't seem to have the problems Siegel and Shuster had from the mid-40s on.

Chris

[huedell]

^Yeah, but they idolized the comic strip creators, and while none of them owned the strips or the characters, most of the creators of the great comic strips didn't seem to have the problems Siegel and Shuster had from the mid-40s on.

Chris

Are you saying that from AFTER the time SUPERMAN hit big,
that the creators of the great comic strips didn't seem to have the problems
Siegel and Shuster had?

[Earth 2 Chris]

Most of the great comic strip creators didn't end up in abject poverty like Siegel and Shuster...and they also didn't have such problems BEFORE. They must have signed some kind of contract that kept them in the red at some point. Bob Kane was a peer of Siegel and Shuster and never wanted for money. I'm saying Siegel and Shuster were apparently bad businessmen, despite their belief in their product.

Chris

[Adam West]

How about Kirby?

[Earth 2 Chris]

Kirby was by his own admission, not much of a business man.

While he didn't benefit from his creations as he should have, he wasn't totally blackballed by the industry like Siegel and Shuster were for years.

Chris

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Comics back in the day were the red headed stepchildren of the comic strips. It's something I've never understood, but there it is. Comic strips were always portrayed as a respectable artform, comics the material of choice for lowbrows. Hence why Wertham's attack on comics led to outrage and self-censorship of comic books, but bad guys still dropped like flies in the Dick Tracy strip.

Don C.