Dr. Valentino Zullo explores the Cleveland-created superhero’s origin story in honor of Superman’s 85th birthday. Dr. Zullo and Laura discuss some of the first-ever Superman comics; Superman’s early focus on fighting social inequities vs. super villains; how creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster came to dream up the famous superhero; and more.

Since the original episode aired, Superman has come home to Ohio: James Gunn filmed major parts of Superman (2025) in Cleveland and Cincinnati; the Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster Superman Plaza has been unveiled in downtown Cleveland, Siegel and Shuster are featured in a current exhibit at the Maltz Museum, and the premiere of Supergirl in Cleveland will feature a weekend of events with Mariko Tamaki.

Dr. Zullo is now Assistant Professor of English and Co-Director of the Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College. He is co-editor-in-chief of Rust Belt Studies and Associate Editor of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. He co-founded the Get Graphic! comics discussion program at Cleveland Public Library and is a board member of the Siegel & Shuster Society.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Twitter or on Facebook.