杰里·西格尔

杰里·西格尔（Jerome "Jerry" Siegel，1914年10月17日—1996年1月28日）是一位美国漫画家，他与乔·舒斯特共同创作出DC漫画的代表性超级英雄《超人》。西格尔还与其他人共同创作出“幽灵”。西格尔还创作出超级英雄军团中最早的十名成员。 他还另有乔·卡特（Joe Carter）与杰瑞·艾斯（Jerry Ess）等笔名。

1996年1月28日，西格尔因心肌梗死去世，终年81岁。

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( SEE-gəl; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. With Bernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC character The Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess.

Biography

Early life

Siegel was born on October 17, 1914, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York in 1900, having fled antisemitism in their native Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire. His father was born Mikhel Iankel Segalovich and his mother was born Sora Meita Khaikels, but they changed their names to Michael and Sarah Siegel after moving to the United States. Jerry was the last of six children (Isabel, Leo, Minerva, Roslyn, and Harry). His father was a tailor and owned a clothing store. On June 2, 1932, Michael was punched hard in the chest by a shoplifter and suffered a fatal heart attack, while Sarah died of a heart attack on August 17, 1941.

Siegel's family moved to the Jewish neighborhood of Glenville, Cleveland, in 1928, and he attended Glenville High School. As a sci-fi fan, he created the first sci-fi fanzine in 1929 called Cosmic Stories, containing stories he had written and that the pulp magazines Amazing Stories and Science Wonder Stories rejected when he tried to publish with them. At about age 16, while at Glenville, he befriended Joe Shuster. Siegel described his friendship with the similarly shy and bespectacled Shuster: "When Joe and I first met, it was like the right chemicals coming together." They shared a love of science fiction, adventure fiction, and movies.

Siegel and Shutter both graduated from high school in June 1934.

Early work for DC Comics (1935–1943)

Unable to afford college, he worked various delivery jobs, all the while courting publishers. In the summer of 1935, still living in Cleveland, he and Shuster began selling comic-book stories to National Allied Publications, the primary precursor of DC Comics, in New York.

Siegel and Shuster had been developing the Superman story and character since 1933, hoping to sell it as a syndicated newspaper comic-strip. But after years of fruitless soliciting to the syndicates, Siegel and Shuster agreed to publish Superman in a comic book. In March 1938, they sold all rights to Superman to the comic-book publisher Detective Comics, Inc., another forerunner of DC, for $130 ($2,973 when adjusted for inflation).

Siegel and Shuster later regretted their decision to sell Superman after he became an astonishing success. DC Comics now owned the character and reaped the royalties. Nevertheless, DC Comics retained Siegel and Shuster as the principal writer and artist for the Superman comics, and they were well-paid because they were popular with the readers. For instance, in 1942 they together earned $63,776.46 (equivalent to $1,300,000 in 2025). Siegel bought a house in University Heights and a car.

Siegel was conscripted into the United States Army on June 28, 1943. His service number was 35067731. He was trained at Fort George G. Meade, where he was trained as an "Airplane Engine Mechanic, a Film Editor, Motion Picture Cutter, Public Relations Man or Playwright (Motion Picture Writer) or Reporter". He was posted in Honolulu, where he was assigned a writing job at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. He focused mainly on comedy columns. Siegel was discharged on January 21, 1946, at the rank of Technician 4th Grade.