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Superman was the creation of two teenagers from Cleveland, Ohio: Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster, both children of Jewish immigrants.  They were students at Glenville High School when they met in 1931, a pair of shy, awkward and unpopular kids who shared an interest in the adventure and science fiction stories of the pulp magazines of the day, and comic strips, specifically a genre called the adventure comic, such as Phillip Nolan's ''Buck Rogers'', Alex Raymond's ''Flash Gordon'', and Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Tarzan''.  Jerry was the writer, submitting articles for the school newspaper.  Joe was the artist, his illustrations complementing Jerry's work.  The pair not only developed into a good friendship, but into a powerful collaboration as well; one would go to the others house each night to discuss, plan, sketch, and hatch out new stories and refine current ones.  Their plan was to create a comic strip and live comfortably on the fame and fortune it would provide, but two events would curtail it considerably: the [[Great Depression]], which threw millions of Americans out of work, and the death of Jerry's father on June 2, 1932, as a result of an armed robber.

Superman was the creation of two teenagers from Cleveland, Ohio: Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster, both children of Jewish immigrants.  They were students at Glenville High School when they met in 1931, a pair of shy, awkward and unpopular kids who shared an interest in the adventure and science fiction stories of the pulp magazines of the day, and comic strips, specifically a genre called the adventure comic, such as Phillip Nolan's ''Buck Rogers'', Alex Raymond's ''Flash Gordon'', and Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Tarzan''.  Jerry was the writer, submitting articles for the school newspaper.  Joe was the artist, his illustrations complementing Jerry's work.  The pair not only developed into a good friendship, but into a powerful collaboration as well; one would go to the others house each night to discuss, plan, sketch, and hatch out new stories and refine current ones.  Their plan was to create a comic strip and live comfortably on the fame and fortune it would provide, but two events would curtail it considerably: the [[Great Depression]], which threw millions of Americans out of work, and the death of Jerry's father on June 2, 1932, as a result of an armed robber.

In 1932 the boys created a periodical, titled simply ''Science Fiction''.  An anthology magazine, it was by mail-order only, and was printed off a mimeograph machine the boys had access to.  The January, 1933 issue had a story called "The Reign of the Super-Man",<ref>http://archive.org/stream/ReignOfTheSuperman/RSM#page/n0/mode/2up</ref> in which the central character was a bald villain who used his mental powers for personal gain.  "As a science-fiction fan, I knew of the various themes in the field," Siegel said.  "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."<ref>http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012/06/1933s-reign-of-superman-first-superman.html</ref>

In 1932 the boys created a periodical, titled simply ''Science Fiction''.  An anthology magazine, it was by mail-order only, and was printed off a mimeograph machine the boys had access to.  The January, 1933 issue had a story called "The Reign of the Super-Man",<ref>http://archive.org/stream/ReignOfTheSuperman/RSM#page/n0/mode/2up</ref> in which the central character was a bald villain who used his mental powers for personal gain.  "As a science-fiction fan, I knew of the various themes in the field," Siegel said.  "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."<ref>http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012/06/1933s-reign-of-superman-first-superman.html</ref> Part of the reason for creating this rendition of the character was out of criticism towards [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], in particular his concept of the Ubermensch from his philosophical tract ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.

A few months after publication, their idea of a powerful villain evolved into a powerful hero.  They were familiar with the legendary strongmen of mythology, so naturally their hero would have physical, rather than mental, power.  Eventually, they decided on an alien from a doomed planet, who appeared on earth "Moses-like", with fantastic strength and abilities, who would fight for the common man; the death of Jerry's father also weighed in, with the result that their new character would appear in the nick of time, someone powerful enough to right all wrongs.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-08-25-superman-creators_N.htm ''USA Today'' Online]</ref>  The boys' first attempt at publishing their character would occur a year later, with a boast of "the most astounding fiction character of all time" on the cover, as the hero comes to the rescue of someone at the mercy of an armed robber.  With the name "Superman" bestowed on him, they intended to follow in the same direction that other comic artists have done: do a daily and Sunday strip for syndication in newspapers.  Despite being ground-breaking - no previously-published fictional character had even come remotely close to what would eventually be called a "super hero" - the boys were repeatedly rejected by the publishers they had submitted it to.

A few months after publication, their idea of a powerful villain evolved into a powerful hero.  They were familiar with the legendary strongmen of mythology, so naturally their hero would have physical, rather than mental, power.  Eventually, they decided on an alien from a doomed planet, who appeared on earth "Moses-like", with fantastic strength and abilities, who would fight for the common man; the death of Jerry's father also weighed in, with the result that their new character would appear in the nick of time, someone powerful enough to right all wrongs.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-08-25-superman-creators_N.htm ''USA Today'' Online]</ref>  The boys' first attempt at publishing their character would occur a year later, with a boast of "the most astounding fiction character of all time" on the cover, as the hero comes to the rescue of someone at the mercy of an armed robber.  With the name "Superman" bestowed on him, they intended to follow in the same direction that other comic artists have done: do a daily and Sunday strip for syndication in newspapers.  Despite being ground-breaking - no previously-published fictional character had even come remotely close to what would eventually be called a "super hero" - the boys were repeatedly rejected by the publishers they had submitted it to.