by Michael Sangiacomo
Retired Plain Dealer Reporter
More than a decade of work to bring a larger-than-life statue of Superman to his hometown is within our grasp.
Next spring, locals and visitors to our fair city will be able to look up in the sky at the statue of Superman in flight, poised atop an equally distinctive pedestal outside the convention center, appropriately enough it will be just across the street from the Cleveland Justice Center on Ontario Avenue.
It did not happen by accident, but through the efforts of artist David Deming working collaboratively with the Siegel and Shuster Society.
The non-profit Siegel and Shuster Society, formed in 2006 to honor Cleveland teenagers and Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, has launched a campaign to raise $2.2 million for the statue project. In addition to the Man of Steel, there will be statues of Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster and Jerry’s wife, Joanne, as well as an enigmatic telephone booth with a suspicious pile of clothes and eyeglasses outside of it.
The statues will seem like an obvious addition to the Cleveland landscape, but getting to this point took years of work and frustration.
Back in the 1990s, when I was a reporter for The Plain Dealer, I asked the city administrations of several mayors why the city did not embrace its Superman heritage. Where was the billboard of Superman welcoming people to his birthplace? Where was the “Birthplace of Superman” slogan on city advertisements and proclamations?
In most cases they looked bewildered. Some were not even aware that Superman was created right here in the Glenville neighborhood. Each interview ended with assurances that something would be done. It never was.
How could Cleveland ignore that fact that not only Superman, but the whole genre of superhero comics was born here in 1938 when Superman graced the cover of the first issue of Action Comics?
I harangued the city about its apathy in my weekly comics column in the Plain Dealer comics to no avail. Then in 2006 I decided the problem was I was being too darn polite. With the editor’s permission, I took off the gloves and wrote a scathing full-page column calling out the city for its inaction and indifference and declared that it was time for us regular folks to take the matter into our own hands. I proposed we meet and form a group and demand recognition for the Man of Steel, or barring that, do it ourselves.
And out of that call to arms, which attracted more than 100 people to a meeting at Positively Cleveland, the Siegel and Shuster Society was born.
The society successfully convinced Ohio and DC Comics to make official Ohio Superman license plates, making us the only state selling them (take that, Illinois, home of Metropolis.)
Next, the society created the Superman Welcoming Center at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and assisted in the renovation of the home of Siegel at 10622 Kimberly Ave. in Glenville. With the aid of TV star, novelist, comic writer and all-around Superman fan, Brad Meltzer, we raised more than $111,000 from fans around the world for the renovation.
On top of that, the society helped with the Cleveland Public Library’s three-floor Superman exhibit a few years ago which drew record crowds. The library still has a permanent Superman exhibit on the second floor with a prototype of the Superman statue that will soon be on display at the convention center.
The statue project has been a dream of the Siegel and Shuster Society from the beginning, and it almost happened years ago. We ran into multiple issues to secure a specific location for the statue. Each time, our dreams of finding a statue location were brought to a halt for reasons outside of the Society’s control. But we didn’t give up.
It was a fortuitous meeting with Cuyahoga County Commission President Pernel Jones Jr. and me at a comic show that got the idea rolling again. Knowing my newspaper and society background, Jones wanted to know what the county could do to help the society build a Superman statue.
Dozens of meetings, presentations and brainstorming sessions with society members, county politicians and, most important, sculptor David Deming finally ended with an agreement, a location and a fundraising plan. Our goal is to unveil the Tribute Plaza in April 2025.
And here we are, the one accomplishment that eluded the society is now within reach.
Actually, it’s in YOUR hands.
Support The Siegel & Shuster Tribute Plaza, and bring Superman home.
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