Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster
By Craig Yoe, Introduction by Stan Lee
How did you come across Nights of Horror and the artwork seen in this book?
I spend a lot of time searching for old, rare comics art material online these days, but that’s usually best for going after items you already know about. Nothing beats combing through the vanishing flea markets, antique shows, and book sales for that once-in-a-lifetime discovery of material you never could have guessed existed. I first found these beautifully illustrated materials at a rare book sale in a dusty “adults only” box offered by an otherwise respectable dealer.
What was your first reaction when you first realized whose work this was?
“Oh, my God, Joe Shuster!” The art was unsigned, but just as a criminal can be identified by his fingerprints, an artist’s work, even without a signature, can be unmistakable to the trained eye. This erotica had Joe Shuster written all over it. Because it’s by him, the art looks as if Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Lex Luthor were in a porno flick—but of course it’s not really them at all! Soon after my discovery I showed this material to a high-up big shot at DC Comics who exclaimed, “Oh, my God, Joe Shuster!”
What were some of the discoveries you made in researching the background story on this material?
The main discovery is the fact that Joe Shuster, the artistic creator of Superman and virtually the whole comic book industry, created smut. Showcasing that art is an amazing book in and of itself. But as I started to research this I discovered lots more blockbusters at every turn. In 1954, four Jewish juvenile delinquents, called by the press the Brooklyn Thrill Killers, horsewhipped girls in the park and set vagrants on fire and murdered them. The anti-comics crusader, Dr. Fredric Wertham (who wrote Seduction of the Innocent), was drafted by the courts to interview the brains of the gang, Jack Koslow, who sported a Hitler mustache and was a follower of Nietzsche. Wertham found Koslow was a fan of Superman and was inspired by the Nights of Horror books to commit his heinous crimes while dressed like a super hero. The police raided the bookshops in Times Square that carried Nights of Horror. The publisher, Eddie Mishkin, a Gambino-connected mobster, took the obscenity case all the way to the Supreme Court, where he lost. These books were banned in New York City! However, nobody—Wertham, the police, or the court—connected the dots to Joe Shuster. And now this book, after fifty-plus years, blows the whole incredible story wide open.
Does the discovery of this artwork fill in any missing pieces to Shuster’s biography?
All previous accounts of Joe Shuster’s fate after the 1948 trial to reclaim rights for Superman depict him drifting off into nothingness. There are only vague references to his becoming a messenger boy. Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster reveals a fascinating side of Shuster no one has known until now.
How do you think comic book fans will react to seeing this other side of Shuster, and how does it change our perception of him and Superman?
To start, there’re maybe a stronger sexual and violent sides to the Man of Steel that we haven’t really considered. But these revelations about Shuster’s Nights of Horror art don’t detract from his sterling reputation in any way. We do learn he was more than a children’s comic book creator. Now we know he also drew hard-hitting, noirish, sexually charged comic book–style illustrations to excite and to titillate adults. To some followers of Shuster’s work this will be a controversial and difficult revelation. But I think the majority of Joe Shuster’s many superfans, of whom I consider myself a big one, will appreciate him all the more.
About the Author:
Craig Yoe has been called “the freaking Indiana Jones of comics,” and a “twisted archivist of the ridiculous and the sublime.” Publishers Weekly, while they call his work “brilliant” and Yoe “a madman/visionary” says Yoe is “ruining America’s youth.” Yoe runs the New York design firm YOE! Studio with Clizia Gussoni, with clients from MTV to Microsoft. Yoe’s over thirty books include The Art of Mickey Mouse, which was a Time magazine book of the year and boasted an introduction by John Updike. Yoe has won the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, two Addys, the Mobius, and an Eisner Award from the comics industry. Yoe is a popular speaker on creativity, and has curated art exhibits around the world. Yoe was summed up by Animation Magazine as “Dr. Seuss on Acid.”
Joseph “Joe” Shuster (July 10, 1914–July 30, 1992) was a Canadian-born Jewish comic book artist. He later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and is best known for co-creating Superman, the first super hero, with boyhood pal and writer Jerry Siegel. Published by DC Comics in Action Comics no. 1 (June 1938), Superman lay the groundwork for the entire comic book industry. Shuster’s iconic artwork was as dynamic as the Man of Steel himself. Playwright and cartoonist Jules Feiffer, in his seminal work The Great Comic Book Heroes, opined that “Shuster represented the best of old-style comic book drawing. His work was direct, unprettied—crude and vigorous; as easy to read as a diagram.” The Joe Shuster Awards, which started in 2005, were named in his honor to recognize the achievements of Canadian creators, publishers, and retailers in the field of comic book publishing.