“He put his dad’s killer?” I ask.
“He had to deal with it somewhere,” the curator repeats.
“So he put his dad’s killer in the pages of a comic book?”
“Y’know where he got the name Lois Lane from? Lola Lane, one of Jerry’s favorite actresses. Y’know where he got Clark Kent from? His favorite actor, Clark Gable, combined with his brother-in-law’s name, Kent Taylor. All writers steal from their own lives. Why can’t the same be true here?”
“But to say he hid some secret message about his own father’s death—”
“Why else would he tear up and supposedly destroy that original art?” the curator asks.
“Maybe Joe was embarrassed by the art. You said they were devastated by the rejections.”
“Jerry spent years getting rejections on his short stories—he submitted and got rejected by every sci-fi fanzine on the planet. And when it came to Superman, he kept and preserved every single rejection letter they got—they reprinted them in Famous First Edition years ago. So even if Joe Shuster ripped all the art apart—even if he thought the work was embarrassing or amateurish—you really think a pack rat like Jerry didn’t save the pieces? His father had been murdered—for all we know, right in front of his eyes—this is where all his inspiration came from.”
“Says who?” Naomi challenges. “A bunch of fanboy psychologists who—no offense—are just a little too obsessed with their favorite superhero?”
The curator stands there a moment, once again blinking, and I wonder if he’s about to—
“Y’know how much Jerry and Joe sold the rights to Superman for? One hundred and thirty dollars. A few years after that, they were fired by DC Comics, and their names were removed from all references as creators. Over the next decade, as Superman raked in millions, Joe started going blind, while Jerry became so poor he couldn’t afford to eat out for dinner. Eventually, the publisher realized what a PR disaster it would be if they let Superman’s creators die of starvation, so they gave Jerry another shot. And in 1960, Jerry wrote a story called Superman’s Return to Krypton!”
“Oooh, was that in Superman Number 62 or 63?” Naomi asks.
“It was in Number 141, actually—and don’t make fun just because it’s a comic book,” he shoots back, more annoyed than ever. “In the story, Superman travels back in time to his home planet and gets to see his real father, Jor-El. The hardest part for Superman, though, is that he knows that Krypton is about to explode—so these are his last moments with his dad. Even worse, he knows that if he stops the planet from exploding and saves his family, then he will never exist as Superman on Earth. He doesn’t care, though. He’s so happy living on Krypton—being reunited with his dad—that when the planet starts to rumble and shake, he decides he’d rather die with his father than lose him again,” the curator says as we all listen silently. “It was Jerry’s most constant battle: the life you live versus the life you leave behind.”
It’s the first time I see my dad looking directly at me.
“But fate is fate,” the curator continues, “and at the last moment, the grown Superman gets knocked into a second rocket and is launched away, safe from harm. And the story ends with him returning to Earth, knowing that he can save everyone around him, but he can never save his own father. This was the story Jerry Siegel wrote when he was allowed to return to his creation. So don’t tell me he wasn’t obsessed with the death of his dad.”
My father continues to stare at me. I break away from the look to stare straight at the curator. “That’s what you were looking for before when you were flipping through the comic,” I say, pointing my cuffed hands toward the empty wax-paper sleeve. “These attic copies of Action Comics—what makes them so valuable isn’t the comic itself or the typed address outside. . . .”
“Exactly—it’s what the most devoted of collectors hope to find hidden inside.” The curator nods. “The remaining, torn-up pieces of Jerry Siegel’s most personal story. His greatest tragedy hidden inside his greatest success.”
“So you think that’s what Timothy was chasing?” Naomi asks. “That’s the reason he wanted this comic?”
“It’s certainly priceless.”
“Maybe,” Naomi says. “But if The Superman—if this story was so important, why would Jerry ever leave those pieces rotting in his attic?”
“Same reason he left ten pristine copies of Action Comics Number 1 up there. People forget,” the curator replies.
“You’re telling me you never hid money from yourself and then forgot where it was?” I ask Naomi.
“This is more important than money,” she shoots back.
“Mmm . . . she’s right,” the curator says. “But that’s why he kept it, and sealed it in wax paper, and locked it in the attic. Besides, when Jerry died a few years back, they went through the rest of his belongings. There’s no record of that first story. It’s gone. These few attic copies are the only hiding spots left.”
“And how many copies are accounted for so far?” I ask.
“Again, the rumor is there were ten copies to start, though that could be wrong. The first one was found in the seventies, right after the first Superman movie hit. Then a Baltimore collector found two more, both at garage sales. Another was found in London, and another was bought by some wealthy doctor in China,” he says as I think back to the stethoscope in the coffin. “So I think seven total, including yours and the one we have here in the Superman Today exhibit.”
I look over at the security monitors and spot Serena backtracking through the exhibit hall. We’ve been gone for fifteen minutes. She’s smart enough to not call our names. But she’s gonna start panicking soon.
“Here’s the other thing that makes no sense,” Naomi interrupts. “How would Jerry even know how his father died?”
“Maybe he witnessed it,” my father whispers, staring long and hard at me.
I’m about to turn away. But I don’t. Some things need to be faced.
My dad leans forward in his chair, his cuffed hands still shaking. He plants his elbows on his knees, as if he’s in midprayer. But the look in his eyes—it’s the same frozen look he had when I saved him in Alligator Alley. Back then, I thought it was shock or just relief. It’s not.
I’m sorry, he says with nothing more than a glance. After nineteen years.
Naomi stares at me a moment—not judging, just staring, her tall frame looking even taller with my dad seated in front of her. She doesn’t offer the reassuring nod. She scratches at her short, choppy hair and turns away. But there’s no question we just gave her a piece of our own puzzle. One she didn’t have before.
“Okay, so if young Jerry knew what happened, why didn’t he go to the cops?” she asks.
“Same reason that for the past eighty years they told that heart attack story to their own family,” the curator says. “Whatever was going on, there was clearly something Jerry’s family didn’t want said. And it’s a secret still lost to history.”
“Could it have anything to do with Cain?” my dad blurts, his apology long gone.
“Cain?” The curator looks confused. Naomi stays silent, glancing down at the carpet. Whatever she knows, she’s not trusting us just yet.