The check that bought Superman

[swapto]

This is really just amazing. amazing given it's purpose, amazing it survived, amazing that is still legible/in one piece. Just wow...

 

+ 1

[Cat-Man_America]

Looks like Action 1 9.0 wasn't the best they could do for the upcoming Comic Connect auction. Astounding piece of comic book history here:

 

 

 

 

 

On May 24 1626, Peter Minuet bought an island for $24 worth of goods. That island later became known as Manhattan.

 

On December 19, 1919, the New York Yankees bought a baseball player from the cash-strapped Boston Red Sox. That player was Babe Ruth.

 

On March 1 1938, DC Comics gave two young men from Cleveland $130 for the rights to a comic character named Superman. That $130 check essentially created a billion dollar industry and set in motion nearly 70 years of legal battles that continue to this day.

 

Much has been made of the original 1938 $130 payment to Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster. Did DC Comics take advantage of two eager young men looking for their big break in the comic business or was this unequivocally fair business practice between comic book writers and publishers in a 1938 America? Whatever you believe, the $130 check is the quintessential symbol of this debate for the ages.

 

But what ever happened to the check? The consensus has always been that this 1938 check had been simply lost to time. Thrown out by some DC employee without a second thought. Or so it had been thought. . . .

 

The check exists!

 

This March 1, 1938 Detective Comics check, signed by Jack Liebowitz is made payable to Jerome Seigel and Joe Schuster. (You would think that the payment for a character as important as Superman, DC would have spelled Siegel and Shuster's name correctly!) The check, in the amount of $412, includes an accounting of the items being paid for. At the very top is "Superman $130," Next is the payment for the June 1938 Detective Comics at $210. Following that are payments of $36 each for Adventure Comics and More Fun. It would also appear that DC Comics used this check as evidence in their 1939 lawsuit against Victor Fox, given the fact that the evidence stamp from this case is clearly visible on the reverse of the check, as are the actual endorsement signatures of Siegel and Shuster themselves.

 

The final clincher is that the check exactly matches the signed agreement between DC and Siegel and Shuster, which transfers to DC "exclusive right to the use of Superman "in consideration of $130." The date of this agreement is March 1, 1938. The same date as the check.

 

I think it may be pressed

.

 

You were right the first time, ...trimmed, but not the check.

[bluechip]

I bet Mark Zaid would love to own this.

 

Yep, I have it on good authority that he would.

 

The most important legal document in the history of the comic-book industry.

 

Did CC say how it was acquired?

 

Jerry Weist had a lot of Siegel's stuff, including the same typewriter (which he offered to me at a price I can't recall but I wasn't interested and I bought some other things instead). I wonder if he knew about (or owned) the Superman 1 and just didn't mention it. I think at the time Siegel was still alive.

 

Since Jerry passed recently, and so did Joanne Siegel, it could be that these items were until recently in the possession of one or the other.

 

[Hibou]

That is awesome!

 

Thanks for posting it...

[tonytiger]

Can't get this check out of my mind. It's like I am thinking of a girl in high school. Like a crush.

[dem1138]

It's hard to downplay this check. It literally is one of the most important historical documents in all of comics history. It belongs in a musuem and would be a centerpiece of any important comics/superhero exhibit.

 

Whatever it sells for is cheap because comics are still new in a historical perspective so the relevance of this won't be as recognized now as it will be in 20+ years.

 

 

 

[etanick]

it will go for a crazy price. No where near what the Action 1 9.0 will get but the final price will shock all of us. There is really no proxy to measure the value so it will come down to a few very deep pocket players that will not give up easily.

[tonytiger]

Estimates? Four figures easy, but could it break 10K?

 

Could this check be worth more than a really really nice Hulk #181? Hard to believe.

[dem1138]

Estimates? Four figures easy, but could it break 10K?

 

Could this check be worth more than a really really nice Hulk #181? Hard to believe.

 

Depends on the buyer/market. If it's a comic person buying this as a novelty item then no. But if it's a collector of historical documents that understands the importance of it, then certainly yes.

[Theagenes]

That is really, really cool!

[markseifert]

I've seen a comment from another board stating that the page rate Wheeler-Nicholson started Siegel and Shuster at on More Fun was $6/page, and that that seems not to have changed by the time of the More Fun payment on this check from Liebowitz. Does anybody offhand know the source of the starting page rate info from Wheeler-Nicholson?

[ComicConnect.com]

We were blown away when we first saw this piece of comic book history. We will have a small article regarding this amazing find in our November Event Auction catalog. In all likelihood, this historic piece will be offered in our early 2012 Event Auction catalog.

 

Rob Reynolds

Director of Consignments

[etanick]

thank God...more time to save

[markseifert]

. This does also raise some timeline and procedure questions.

 

So the check was cut March 1. Action 1 is cover-dated June and apparently on stands in April. So he was paying them well in advance of release date.

 

To throw out a contemporary comparison point from the industry, I've always presumed from the Jacquet book notations that he was cutting his checks as he was noting the amounts in the printed books (it would seem slightly unwieldy record-keeping otherwise -- to pay them at one time and make notations of it at a much different date). And it's certainly not unusual for a publisher or manufacturer to pay out at the time that the product is made and going on sale, and cash flow from it is imminent.

 

But it would seem that Liebowitz had a different procedure. Or if not, he used a different procedure in this case.

[tinynascarfan-migration]

that check is a true piece of history which rightfully belongs in a museum to be preserved forever, its a one of a kind piece, which forever altered the comic book industy as much as stan lee and jack kirby ever did.

[MrBedrock]

Estimates? Four figures easy, but could it break 10K?

 

Could this check be worth more than a really really nice Hulk #181? Hard to believe.

 

Depends on the buyer/market. If it's a comic person buying this as a novelty item then no. But if it's a collector of historical documents that understands the importance of it, then certainly yes.

Interesting. So historical document collectors pay more for comic book related stuff than comic novelty buyers.

 

So it's those damn document guys who have been buying all the high grade Action 1s.

[dem1138]

Estimates? Four figures easy, but could it break 10K?

 

Could this check be worth more than a really really nice Hulk #181? Hard to believe.

 

Depends on the buyer/market. If it's a comic person buying this as a novelty item then no. But if it's a collector of historical documents that understands the importance of it, then certainly yes.

Interesting. So historical document collectors pay more for comic book related stuff than comic novelty buyers.

 

So it's those damn document guys who have been buying all the high grade Action 1s.

 

But you're assuming that those two collectors are mutually exclusive and they are not. Mark Zaid is a perfect example.

[markseifert]

 

Does ComicConnect show a photo of the signed agreement?

 

Here's a low rez scan of the signed agreement from another online source. I haven't heard yet whether this has surfaced for auction as well, but obviously this isn't a clean new scan of the original document:

 

[dem1138]

 

Does ComicConnect show a photo of the signed agreement?

 

Here's a low rez scan of the signed agreement from another online source. I haven't heard yet whether this has surfaced for auction as well, but obviously this isn't a clean new scan of the original document:

 

 

Interesting. Seems like a good attorney could have poked a thousand holes into that document and gotten Seigel and Shuster their intellectual property rights (if they were even actually properly assigned to DC in this document) of Superman returned to them. And no mention of television, movie, or other commercial assignments.

 

If I recall correctly, there are follow up documents that secure the character for DC quite a bit more firmly.

[Moondog]

It was always speculated that DC had this check - that it was hidden away deep in the bowels of DC's offices. After all, THEY wrote the check, and after it cleared it was returned to them. I can't imagine their ever letting this check out of their possession since it showed that DC considered Superman work-for-hire, and S&S signed off.

 

I can't wait to hear the story!