Joe Shuster was born July 10, 1914 of Jewish Ukrainian and Dutch ancestry in Toronto, Canada. In 1924 his family left Canada and moved to America, where they settled in Clevend, Ohio. He met Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) in high school, where they collaborated as writer and artist of cartoons for the school newspaper. They were both inspired by the fantasy and science-fiction published in pulp magazines like Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. as well as in newspaper comic strips Buck Rogers and Popeye.
The October 1935 issue of NEW FUN #6 included Siegel & Shuster's first published comic "Henri Duval of France." There followed of their collaborative comics. "Federal Men" "Dr. Mystic" "Bart Regan, Spy" "Slam Bradley" Radio Squad" until the first historic appearance of "Superman" in the June 1938 issue of Action Comics #1.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of Superman, the "Man of Steel" whose 1938 appearance marked the beginning of a long tradition of caped superheroes in American comics. Launched in Adventure Comics issue #1, Siegel was the feature's first scriptwriter and Shuster was the artist. Laying the foundations for Superman's entire mythos, they gave him an origin story, a home city – Metropolis – and introduced characters still used in 'Superman' comics today, including Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Jor-El, and Lex Luthor. Superman not only became one of the most iconic comic characters of all time, he spawned an entirely new and quintessential American genre, superhero comics. An entire industry was built around comic books about humanitarian crusaders with superhuman powers, most of them taking elements from tropes pioneered by Siegel and Shuster. The duo was directly responsible for turning DC Comics into one of the major comics companies in the world, yet in later years had to fight in court to receive recognition, credit and royalties for their creation.
In 1939 King Features Syndicate carried the comic strip "Superman" in newspapers all across the nation, at which point the original intentions of Siegel and Shuster were sensationally fulfilled.
The Shuster Studio was opened in 1939 to handle the production challenge of creating a syndicated daily newspaper comic strip, as well as to provide new material for comic books. The studio was located at 10609 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1943 the Shuster Studio moved to NYC.
In 1948 Siegel & Shuster sold the right to Superman to DC Comics and then started a new comic strip "Funnyman" for the Bell Newspaper Syndicate.
In the 1950s Joe Shuster contributed to Charlton's "Crime & Justic," "Racket Squad in Action," and "Hot Rods & Racing Cars."
In the late 1950s Joe Shuster began to lose his eye sight and eventually went blind.
Joe Shuster died at the age of seventy-eight on July 30, 1992 in Los Angeles, California.
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JOE SHUSTER SHOP ARTISTS from 1939 - 1948
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1939 to 1942
Bernard Bailey
Wayne Boring
Paul Cassidy
Ed Dobrotka
Paul Lauretta
Hi Mankin
(Dennis Neville)
Leo Nowak
Frank Shuster (lettering)
John Sikela
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1943 to 1945
Jack Burnley
Fred Ray
Stan Kaye –inker
Pete Riss
Sam Citron
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1946 to 1948
Gerald Altman
Dick Ayers
Ernie Bache
George Roussos (inker)
John Sikela
Marvin Stein
Ira Yarbrough
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