It’s the season finale. By the mid-1960s, Jerry Siegel was seeking work outside his uncredited scripting on Superman. He briefly landed an assignment for Archie Comics’ revival of their superhero line, but the work didn’t last. When Jerry sued in 1966 to renew the copyright on Superman, DC Comics fired him once again. Unable to adapt to a rapidly changing comics industry, Jerry moved to California and took an entry-level job as a mail clerk with the California Public Utilities Commission, earning $7,000 a year. Back in New York, Joe Shuster was barely getting by, taking whatever menial work he could find... when he could find it at all.

It took nearly a decade for Jerry’s copyright appeal to wind its way through the system, and he remained publicly silent as his circumstances grew more desperate. When the appeal was rejected in 1975, Jerry was told he might still receive some sort of financial settlement from Superman’s owners... but nothing came. Instead, he learned that Superman was about to become the subject of a multi-million-dollar blockbuster film.

Jerry then issued a nine-page press release placing a “curse” on Superman and the upcoming movie. The resulting publicity brought him to New York, where artists Neal Adams and Jerry Robinson launched a public campaign on behalf of Siegel and Shuster. They negotiated with Warner Communications, who were now the owners of Superman. to grant the creators a lifelong pension and restore their names to the character after decades of anonymity. Just before Christmas 1975, a deal was struck. In 1978, Siegel and Shuster’s names appeared in the opening credits of Superman: The Movie, which both men saw at its premiere.

Finally, Graeme Burk travels to Cleveland to visit the new monument to Jerry and Joe and to the neighborhoods where Superman’s creators grew up. There, he reflects on Jerry and Joe's lives, their legacy... and the immense cost of their contribution to American popular culture.

Featuring interviews with Brad Ricca, Elliot S. Maggin, Brian Cronin, Bonnie Siegler and Helene Stapinski.

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster), Andy Hicks (Jack Liebowitz), Bill Evenson (Bob Greene), Drew Meyer (Jim Warren), Shannon Dohar (Joanne Siegel), Julie Hopkins (Mary Murphy), Michael Powell (John Sherwood) and Chip Sudderth (Neal Adams).

Sound design, music and music editing for this season was by Andy Hicks. Graphic design and our logo was by Graham Kibble-White (Both of whom co-produced this series).

Our theme song and additional scoring for this episode was by Jack Kibble-White.

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Chip Sudderth, Deborah Stanish and Michael Powell.

You can read the sources for this episode on our website⁠⁠.

Season 2 of The Comics Code is coming in 2026.

After losing their battle for the rights to Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster watched their lives begin to unravel. Their next venture, Funnyman, arrived with great fanfare... but was cancelled within a year. Jerry briefly became editorial director for Ziff-Davis’ comics line, but he was unprepared for the role and was dismissed quickly. By the end of 1951, he was in dire straits. Claiming he had been blackballed from the industry and unable to find work, Jerry spiraled, firing off angry letters to Superman’s owners... and his anger and desperation nearly landed him in serious legal trouble.

Joe fared no better. Work was scarce, and at one point he resorted to illustrating the fetish zine Nights of Horror. Eventually, he was barely scraping by, reduced to menial jobs. Jerry, meanwhile, found a lifeline thanks to the intervention of his wife, Joanne, who convinced DC Comics to bring him back as an uncredited writer in the late 1950s. There, Jerry helped shape one of the first modern super-teams, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and penned some of the most memorable Superman stories ever written, including "Superman’s Return to Krypton" and "The Death of Superman."

Featuring interviews with Brad Ricca, Mark Millar, Brian Cronin, Elliot S. Maggin and Bonnie Siegler

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster) Andy Hicks (Jack Liebowitz), Shannon Dohar (Joanne Siegel), Joy Piedmont (Virginia Sheward) and Drew Meyer (Joe Simon)

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Martin Hajovsky and Tom Dickinson

⁠You can read our sources for this episode on our website⁠⁠.

In the 1940s, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster found themselves battling increasing editorial pushback from Superman’s owners—who criticized Joe’s artwork and bristled at Jerry’s story ideas. Tensions peaked when editorial spiked a story in which Superman reveals his secret identity to Lois Lane… though they later repurposed its key plot element, a meteorite that robs Superman of his powers, to introduce Kryptonite years later on the Superman radio show.

As Superman begins to his film career in a series of revered animated films, an interview in the Saturday Evening Post soon thrust Siegel and Shuster’s financial disputes with the publishers into the public eye. While Jerry was serving in World War II, Superman's owners went ahead and used his pitch for a “Superboy” series without his permission... or compensation. After the war, Jerry returned determined to fight back, suing Superman’s owners over Superboy and over their original Superman contract. But when the legal battle failed, Siegel and Shuster found themselves cut off from the hero they had created.

Featuring interviews with Brad Ricca, Brian Cronin, Bonnie Siegler and Helene Stapinksi.

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Andy Hicks (Jack Liebowitz), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster), Tom Dickinson (Whit Ellsworth), Drew Meyer (John Kobler) and Francis Bradley (Judge Addison Young).

You can read our sources for this episode on our website⁠.

Superman may be an icon today, but his publishers weren’t completely convinced he’d catch on. After Action Comics #1, they didn’t even put him on the cover again for several issues. But the Man of Tomorrow became an instant sensation. During 1939 and 1940, Superman made it onto the radio and was doing booming business being licensed as toys. Superman was a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, and a live-action Superman drew crowds at a Superman Day the New York World’s Fair... while creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster could only watch from the sidelines, having signed away their rights.

When Siegel and Shuster asked for a raise, Detective Comics' publishers Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz shut the boys down. The duo received only 40% of a newspaper-syndication deal that almost certainly involved behind-the-scenes collusion. Back in Cleveland, Jerry and Joe searched for love, while in Germany, Jerry found himself the subject of a review in a Nazi propaganda paper.

Featuring interviews with Mark Millar, Diana McCallum and Brad Ricca

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Andy Hicks (Jack Liebowitz), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster) and Alex Kennard (Das Schwarze Korps)

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Warren Frey and Andrea Burk

You can read our sources for this episode on our website.

As Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster struggled to get Superman published, their first major work appeared in New Fun Comics — the first comic book to feature all-original material. Publisher Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson encouraged their creativity but rarely paid them. Over the next three years, the pair built their portfolio with characters like Dr. Occult and Slam Bradley, who debuted in the new title, Detective Comics. But Wheeler-Nicholson’s new business partners — a printer and publisher with mob ties named Harry Donenfeld, and his ruthless business manager, Jack Liebowitz — forced Wheeler-Nicholson out just before launching his new book, Action Comics. When the McClure Syndicate recommended Superman to Donenfeld and Liebowitz, the character became the new comic’s lead feature. Only Siegel and Shuster had to give away all rights to Superman — in exchange for just $130 for the first story in Action Comics #1.

Featuring interviews with Bonnie Siegler, Helene Stapinski and Brad Ricca

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster), Drew Meyer (Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson) and Andy Hicks (Jack Liebowitz)

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Heather Berberet and Chris Fosten.

⁠You can read the sources for today's episode on our website⁠.

For decades, writer Jerry Siegel told the story of Superman’s birth as a flash of inspiration during one restless summer night. But the real story is far more complex—and far more fascinating. In this episode, we create a timeline outlining the untold history of Superman’s creation, tracing the hero’s evolution between 1933 and 1935 through four distinct versions written by Siegel in his late teens and brought to life by three artists: Joe Shuster, Leo O’Mealia, and Russell Keaton. Each version -- from a human made superhuman through experimentation to a time traveler sent from Earth’s doomed future -- brought the character closer to the Superman we know today. Along the way, Jerry and Joe answered an ad placed by a teenage girl named Jolan Kovacs (later Joanne Carter Siegel), and found their model for Lois Lane.

Featuring interviews with Brad Ricca and Brian Cronin.

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Shannon Dohar (Joanne Siegel) and Drew Meyer.

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Emily Tersoff, Drew Walko and Ari Lipsey .

You can read the sources for today's episode on our website⁠.

This season, we’re kicking off our deep dive into the hidden history of comics with an epic seven-part story about Superman’s forgotten origins... and the two young creators who changed pop culture forever. In this opening episode, we first encounter Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as history remembers them: the kids fresh out of high school who invented Superman, who signed away the rights to the character for just $130, and who spent decades afterward fighting for recognition, ultimately living in near-poverty by the mid-1970s.

From there, we go back to Jerry and Joe's beginnings: two shy, sci-fi-obsessed teenagers meeting at Glenville High School in Cleveland in the early 1930s, bonding over pulp magazines, early comics, and a shared dream of making their own. That dream led to their homemade fanzine Science Fiction, produced on the school mimeograph machine. Its third issue featured their story “The Reign of the Super-Man,” about a destitute who is briefly transformed into a godlike figure... called "The Superman" This starts Jerry and Joe on the road to their greatest creation... and everything that followed.

Featuring interviews with Mark Millar, Brad Ricca, and Bonnie Siegler.

Historical readings were by Jason Miller (Jerry Siegel), Warren Frey (Joe Shuster), Drew Meyer and Francis Bradley. 

Special thanks to our supporters: David Matthewman, Francis Bradley, Julie Hopkins, Jim Sangster, William Hopkins, Martin Hajovsky and Tom Dickinson.

You can read the sources for today's episode on our website.

From author and podcaster Graeme Burk comes a podcast that dives deep into the stories behind the stories of the first hundred years of comics — the creators, the controversies, and the cultural impact of a medium that shaped modern mythology.

Using spoken word, interviews, archival audio, dramatic readings, and original soundscapes, The Comics Code uncovers the hidden history of comics — including tales that have never been fully told.

Season One launches with “Jerry and Joe,” a seven-part saga about the creators of Superman. Discover how two teenage dreamers from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, created the world’s greatest hero, only to lose him for just $130. 

Featuring guests Mark Millar, Brad Ricca, Bonnie Siegler & Helene Stapinski, Diana McCallum, and Brian Cronin — The Comics Code is an immersive documentary experience that brings the history of pop culture to life.

The Comics Code — debuting October 28.