Adventure Comics #504Media Release -- July 25, 2009 – SAN DIEGO, CA – The Comics Arts Conference presents "The (Strange) State of Siegel and Shuster Scholarship," which will take place at the 2009 Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 25 from 1-2 p.m. in Room 30AB.

Over seventy years ago, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two nobody Clevelanders, created the first true comics superhero: Superman. But what do we really know about the two creators that isn't just wide-eyed, over-romanticized mythology? Siegel and Shuster were self-trained, self-motivated, and sometimes completely out of their league. Meet three people who are doing exactly the same thing:

Craig Yoe, the Indiana Jones of Comics, whose highly-acclaimed Arf! series, the recent Boody, and Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster have garnered intense interest from NPR, Time, and even The National Enquirer. He will talk about how he found and authenticated bizarre fetish art done by the supposedly-blind Shuster during the 1950s. New art will be shown! Lauren Agostino, who stumbled across one of the holy relics of Superman lore: the original pitch script to Superboy. Along with unveiling never-before-seen artifacts from the 1947 lawsuit, Agostino will detail her own incredible story of going from a paralegal mother of two to being a guardian of this material that she wants to share with Superman fans everywhere. Moderated by Brad Ricca, writer/director of the Siegel and Shuster documentary Last Son, who will share some of the happenings going on in Cleveland to think about and honor Siegel and Shuster, the panel will explore how the story of The Boys may indeed be best served by a slightly askew, slightly irreverent, and altogether interesting approach.

About the San Diego Comic Con

The San Diego Comic-Con is celebrating its 40th anniversary of costumes, camaraderie, and heroic imagination. The International Independent Film Festival is a juried event of genre-related films from all over the world. As Comic-Con celebrates its 40th anniversary, it is worth noting that it probably would not exist without Siegel and Shuster's famous creation. Film Festival: http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_iff.shtml

About Craig Yoe

Early in his career, he was Senior Designer for toy think tank Marvin Glass & Associates, where he worked on toys like Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Pony (he also liked to play with My Little Pony, but that's another story). He was recruited by Jim Henson to be Creative Director and later VP/General Manager of the Muppets, working on everything from TV shows to theme parks. After Henson's death, Craig declined a lucrative job offer from Disney to make his own magic with Clizia Gussoni and YOE! Studio!

About Lauren Agostino

Lauren was a paralegal working in New York when she stumbled across the original file folder for the 1947 Superman lawsuit in the trash. Rescuing it, she threw it on a bed and forgot about it. But it kept bugging her so she started looking into it – and found original letters, documents, and the original pitch script to Superboy. Lauren became mesmerized by the story the documents told and has become not only a protector of the material (which will change many of our views about Siegel and Shuster), but committed to sharing it with Superman fans everywhere.

About Brad Ricca

At Case Western Reserve University, Ricca publishes and lectures on American authors and literature, and he teaches a college course on comic books. Ricca is a founding member of the Siegel and Shuster Society, which, with novelist Brad Meltzer, helped raise more than $100,000 to restore Jerry Siegel's boyhood home. His film on Siegel and Shuster, Last Son, will screen at the San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, July 25 from 7:35-8:50 p.m. in Room 26AB.

Websites:

http://secret-identity.net/

http://www.lastson.com