The Comics Code

In a recent panel on Zoom for Kickstarter and Patreon supporters, The Comics Code creator/host Graeme Burk talks with co-producers Graham Kibble-White and Andy Hicks about how the idea for The Comics Code came to be, the process of researching Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's story, and the biggest surprises, and challenges, making a podcast like this. We also speak with composer (and script con...

It’s the season finale. By the mid-1960s, Jerry Siegel was seeking work outside his uncredited scripting on Superman. He briefly landed an assignment for Archie Comics’ revival of their superhero line, but the work didn’t last. When Jerry sued in 1966 to renew the copyright on Superman, DC Comics fired him once again. Unable to adapt to a rapidly changing comics industry, Jerry moved to California...

After losing their battle for the rights to Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster watched their lives begin to unravel. Their next venture, Funnyman, arrived with great fanfare... but was cancelled within a year. Jerry briefly became editorial director for Ziff-Davis’ comics line, but he was unprepared for the role and was dismissed quickly. By the end of 1951, he was in dire straits. Claiming he...

In the 1940s, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster found themselves battling increasing editorial pushback from Superman’s owners—who criticized Joe’s artwork and bristled at Jerry’s story ideas. Tensions peaked when editorial spiked a story in which Superman reveals his secret identity to Lois Lane… though they later repurposed its key plot element, a meteorite that robs Superman of his powers, to introd...

Superman may be an icon today, but his publishers weren’t completely convinced he’d catch on. After Action Comics #1, they didn’t even put him on the cover again for several issues. But the Man of Tomorrow became an instant sensation. During 1939 and 1940, Superman made it onto the radio and was doing booming business being licensed as toys. Superman was a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving pa...

As Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster struggled to get Superman published, their first major work appeared in New Fun Comics — the first comic book to feature all-original material. Publisher Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson encouraged their creativity but rarely paid them. Over the next three years, the pair built their portfolio with characters like Dr. Occult and Slam Bradley, who debuted in the new t...

For decades, writer Jerry Siegel told the story of Superman’s birth as a flash of inspiration during one restless summer night. But the real story is far more complex—and far more fascinating. In this episode, we create a timeline outlining the untold history of Superman’s creation, tracing the hero’s evolution between 1933 and 1935 through four distinct versions written by Siegel in his late teen...

This season, we’re kicking off our deep dive into the hidden history of comics with an epic seven-part story about Superman’s forgotten origins... and the two young creators who changed pop culture forever. In this opening episode, we first encounter Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as history remembers them: the kids fresh out of high school who invented Superman, who signed away the rights to the ch...

From author and podcaster Graeme Burk comes a podcast that dives deep into the stories behind the stories of the first hundred years of comics — the creators, the controversies, and the cultural impact of a medium that shaped modern mythology. Using spoken word, interviews, archival audio, dramatic readings, and original soundscapes, The Comics Code uncovers the hidden history of comics — includin...