Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the seven hundred and fifty-fourth installment where we examine comic book legends and whether they are true or false.

As usual, there will be three posts, one for each of the three legends.

NOTE: If my Twitter page hits 5,000 followers, I'll do a bonus edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed that week. Great deal, right? So go follow my Twitter page, Brian_Cronin!

COMIC LEGEND:

Superman's logo was originally designed for a Jewish college fraternity

STATUS:

False

Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1 in the Spring of 1938, but he might have made a surprising appearance in an unusual place BEFORE that comic book - in a scrapbook at a Jewish college fraternity!

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met each other in Cleveland, Ohio, but people sometimes misunderstand just HOW connected that Shuster remained to his native Canada. Shuster was very close to his cousin, Frank Shuster, who attended the University of Toronto in the late 1930s. Shuster would regularly visit Frank (who later went on to become a popular comedian in Canada as part of the comedy team of Wayne and Shuster with comedian Johnny Wayne) and the two would spend a lot of time watching movies together.

When Shuster became a major success with Superman in the very late 1930s, his visits to Toronto reduced, but before he hit it big he frequently visited his cousin. During one of those trips, Shuster drew a version of Superman featuring the logo of Beta Sigma Rho.

Beta Sigma Rho was a Jewish fraternity that started at Cornell University in 1910 that remained in action for a number of decades before it eventually merged with some other Jewish fraternities. Here's a 1950s Cornell University example of the Beta Sigma Rho frat...

In an article for Forward in 2013, Michael Kaminer wrote about how the Jewish Archives of Ontario received a scrapbook donated to them from a Beta Sigma Rho frat member. It is unclear exactly WHEN the drawing was made, but it is likely that it was around 1937, which is when Shuster more commonly visited his cousin.

This led the article (and the Archives) to at least jokingly wonder whether this design predated Superman's official design, and that's not the case, as Shuster had the classic design for Superman already locked into place by the end of 1936.

The cover is also reminiscent of a 1940 Superman cover by Shuster...

So it's possible that the drawing was made as late as 1940.

In any event, it's an amazing piece of comic book history either way.

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Check out some other legends from Legends Revealed:

1. Did Nightmare on Elm Street Originally Have a Happy Ending?

2. Was the First Movie Vampire With Fangs Not Until the 1950s?

3. Was the Assistant in Frankenstein Really Named Igor?

4. Was Nightmare on Elm Street Seriously Inspired by the 1970s Pop Hit “Dream Weaver”?

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Check back soon for part 2 of this installment's legends!

And remember, if you have a legend that you're curious about, drop me a line at either brianc@cbr.com or cronb01@aol.com!