Written by Jerry Siegel, art by Joe Shuster - "K-Metal" "Superman" pages 2 and 4, Shuster Studio, 1940. Ink and White Paint on Paper.
Written by Jerry Siegel, art by Joe Shuster – “K-Metal” “Superman” pages 2 and 4, Shuster Studio, 1940. Ink and White Paint on Paper.

Jeff Reid discovered these two K-Metal pages on the wall at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum during the Larry Ivie exhibit in 2024. It was stated that this was the first time these pages had ever been seen by the public.

(The exhibit details can be found here)

Larry got these pages directly from Siegel or Shuster himself; and they are now in the hands of a private collecter.

There were also a few Superman sketches from Shuster included in the exhibit:

Superman Sketches by Joe Shuster:

Superman sketch by Joe Shuster
Superman sketch by Joe Shuster
Superman sketch by Joe Shuster
Superman sketch by Joe Shuster

The first six set of images below are the original photographs taken by Jeff, of the K-Metal pages that were enclosed behind glass and hanging on the wall:

Photographs of Page 2:

Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork - Page 2 - top third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork – Page 2 – top third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork - Page 2 - middle third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork – Page 2 – middle third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork - Page 2 - bottom third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork – Page 2 – bottom third

Photographs of Page 4:

Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork - Page 4 - top third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork – Page 4 – top third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork - Page 4 - middle third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork – Page 4 – middle third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork - Page 4 - bottom third
Secret of the K-Metal 1940 Shuster Studio Artwork – Page 4 – bottom third

Jeff gave copies of these photographs to Jon Morris, cartoonist and comics historian. Jon carefully digitaly manipulated them, aligned, and pasted the results together; crafting first the “original art” and then extracting from those a new “line art”:

Jon’s Reconstructed Pages 2 and 4:

Secret of the K-Metal, page 2, reconstruction of Shuster Studio 1940 artwork
Secret of the K-Metal, page 2, reconstruction of Shuster Studio 1940 artwork
Secret of the K-Metal, page 4, reconstruction of Shuster Studio 1940 artwork
Secret of the K-Metal, page 4, reconstruction of Shuster Studio 1940 artwork

In extracting the line work from these two reconstructions, Jon writes,

    “I’ve added nothing to the artwork. Jeff was able to provide several fairly decent photographs of the art, although at somewhat wonky angles. I was able to drop these into Photoshop and retrieve very clear images of the original art.

    “Process-wise, it was all about isolating the original ink-lines from the pencils and weathered paper. I did do some erasing where pencil lines came through, but I kept that to a minimum. I’d rather have the occasional pencil stroke show up than risk removing any of the finished art.”

Jon’s finished line-work for page 2 can be seen here and for page 4 here.

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