“Superman’s Cleveland”
Action Comics #900 Superman deannouces his U.S. citizenship. Will that last though?
If there are any plans to make “Superman’s Cleveland” a reality, it doesn’t appear to happen anytime soon.
“There is no project going on right now,” says Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Mike Sangiacomo, “The Siegel and Shuster Society is working on a Superman exhibit for Hopkins Airport, but there are no serious plans for a statue or anything else right now.”
Speculation that blueprints were being built for a section dedicated to the ‘man of steel ‘has not developed anytime soon and looks it will remain that way for the time being. Cleveland, Ohio was the birthplace of
Superman where co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster grew up and created the future pop culture icon.
Sangiacomo, a reporter for the Plain Dealer since 1989 and author of graphic novels such as Phantom Jack and Tales of the Starlight Drive-IN along with graphic designer Matt Kuhns developed “Superman’s Cleveland” a map land marking sites of important relations with Superman in downtown Cleveland.
“I started the project late last summer,” Kuhns says, “after reading an online story about one or two Superman-related landmarks in Cleveland which I’d been unaware of; after this I got curious and ended up discovering a whole list of such sites.”
The Map
“Superman’s Cleveland” is a map created by graphic designer Matt Kuhns of Modern Alchemy. The map contains several points of Superman land sites. Below is a google map of the possible point of “Cleveland’s Superman” map.
View “Superman’s Cleveland” in a larger map
• Jerry’s Siegel’s childhood house
• Action Comics #1 Panel where Joe Shuster’s house once stood
• The AT&T building rumor to be the inspiration of the Daily Planet
• Ohio’s Historical Plague honoring Siegel and Shuster’s work
• The Shuster studio
• The Cleveland Institute of Art (Where Shuster went to school)
• Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
•Jerry Siegel’s Home where him, his wife and son lived. As well as his ideas for Superman
• Glenville High School where Shuster and Siegel met
• Lakeside Place
“I’m a graphic designer by profession,” Kuhns added “I also like pursuing projects like this as a hobby, so in my spare time I researched, wrote and designed the ‘Superman’s Cleveland’ map .”
Will this ever happen?
On the map “Superman’s Cleveland”, a question mark indicated that a Superman museum could be developed in the near future, though no plans have been finalized by the city of by any contractor at this point. With people like Mike Sangiacomo, Matt Kuhns and Jon Dudas, owner of John and Carol’s comic shop in Cleveland, more people will continue to sponsor this possible production.
Dudas, gave out free copies of “Superman’s Cleveland” map in his store promoting the idea of honoring the “man of steel” in his birthplace. “I had thousand made at .26 cents each and give them away free” Dudas said.
It is very possible that Cleveland could honor its greatest son soon. A vision that Siegel and Shuster might not ever deem possible 73 years ago.
In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman and later sold the rights to DC comics for $130.