Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Anyone remember where this was originally published?

http://superman.nu/a/superman.php

I think it may have been in a DC comic.

I've been contacted by a publisher trying to get copyright info and publication permission for it, and unfortunately, I don't have any info!  I typed this one in so long ago that I forgot where I got it from... :?

:s:

Nemo: The Classic Comics Library #2.

kdb

Thanks.

:s:

It looks like that article in question is actually a compilation of Siegel quotes that I stitched together from various sources, although it's possible that all of the quotes are from that 1983 Nemo #2 interview as you state.  I just haven't managed to sift all of them out yet.

:s:

I thought it had been published in a science fiction magazine that Siegal & Shuster put out on their own, a magazine where they reviewed sci-fi stories & films, & which, I believe, Julius Schwartz had a letter published in one of its early issues in the early 1930s. I may have understood that wrong, cause if I was right I'm sure Rao would have known (Are you asking where 'The Reing of the Superman' was 1st published?) The better question is why was it attributed to a Herbert Fine?

Every paragraph but the last one appears in the NEMO interview, though some are worded slightly differently -- possibly editing for clarity, possibly Siegel telling the same stories over and over, so his wording started to get almost identical with each iteration.  For instance:

Interview:
Well, as a science-fiction fan, I knew of the various themes in the field.  The superman theme has been one of the themes ever since Samson and Hercules; and I just sat down and wrote a story of that type—only in this story, the Superman was a villain.

Edited Essay:
As a science fiction fan, I have long been very familiar with the various themes in the field. The superman theme has been one of them ever since Samson and Hercules. I just sat down and wrote a story of that type - only in this first story, the Superman was a villain.

Interview:
It occurred to me: What if I was real terrific?  What if I had something special going for me, like jumping over buildings or throwing cars around or something like that? 

Essay:
So it occured to me: What if I was really terrific? What if I had something special going for me, like jumping over buildings or throwing cars around or something like that?

Interview:
Carter was able to leap great distances because the planet Mars was smaller that the planet Earth; and he had great strength.

Essay:
Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter was able to leap great distances while on Mars because the planet was smaller than Earth, and so he had great strength.

If the last line appears somewhere in the interview, I didn't spot it.  But for the most part, that text, in substantially-similar form, appears in NEMO in that order -- it's edited down, but not moved around.

***

kdb

It sure looks a lot like something I might have done, but I have no idea why nor have I any memory of having done it.  I probably got the last line from somewhere else, also lost to memory.

I wonder where that leaves the copyright status...

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