Case professor's "Last Son" a documentary on Superman creators Siegel and Shuster
Sunday, July 20, 2008 Michael Sangiacomo
Not many people know that the father of Superman creator Jerry Siegel was killed in a robbery at his Glenville haberdashery in the early 1930s.
In "Last Son," the documentary on Superman by Case Western Reserve University professor Brad Ricca, the murder is not only explored, but solved.
That revelation is just a small part of the surprises in "Last Son," which will be shown at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Westfield Insurance Studio Theater in the Idea Center at 1375 Euclid Ave. as part of the IngenuityFest. It will be shown again at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 27, at the same location.
Both showings will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Ricca, an expert on all things Superman.
Ricca has been working on "Last Son" for several years, researching dusty archives and interviewing friends, relatives and associates of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Glenville buddies who created arguably the most recognizable literary character in the world.
"Last Son" is a Depression-era, coming-of-age story that explains Superman's historical, social and cultural significance by tracing his beginnings and the society in which he was created.
"Think about it: Why does the hero wear a skintight costume with underwear on the outside?" Ricca poses. "With boots? And a spit curl? And an S' on the chest?"
Ricca said his documentary answers those questions and the deeper one: Why was Superman created at all? Did that creation come from a single flash of inspiration as generally reported or was the creation more subtle?
Included in the documentary are:
New access to Siegel and Shuster's high school newspaper, the Glenville Torch, as well as personal papers and notebooks that reveal many new truths about the evolution of Siegel and Shuster as artists.
New evidence about Siegel and Shuster's first Superman story, not the one seen in "Action Comics" No. 1 in 1938, and "the shocking secret origin" of that first Superman story.
"Last Son" catalogs. The last visual remnants of Siegel and Shuster's Cleveland explores the role of the city's inhabitants, the economics and architecture played in the Superman mythos.
The rediscovery of Shuster's first published artwork -- which is not a comic.
The revelation of the identity of the real inspiration for Lois Lane. For years, several women in Cleveland have claimed to be the real Lois Lane. Ricca settles the matter and produces an important supportive artifact that had been missing for 70 years.
Excerpts from newly discovered films of Siegel and Shuster in domestic and professional settings, culminating "in the greatest day of their lives -- which was also the beginning of the end."
For more information, visit the "Last Son" Web site at
www.greendoorfilms.com
Reporter Michael Sangiacomo teaches a course in comic book history at Case with Brad Ricca.
