2006 Comic Book News Archives

Siegel Family with Bryan Singer

May 29, 2006: Gerard Jones Responds to Joanne Siegel

You'll recall that on May 23 we published an open letter from Joanne Siegel, wife of the late Jerry Siegel, regarding comments made by the late Michael Siegel, Jerry's son from a previous marriage. Mrs Siegel's letter addressed concerns she had with material published in the book Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones.

Gerard Jones responded directly using the comments facility on this website on the open letter from Joanne Siegel. In case you missed it, click "Read More" below to see... here's what Gerard wrote:

    Dear Mrs. Siegel:

    Thank you very much for your comments on my book, Men of Tomorrow, and the statements that Michael Siegel asked me to pass on to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I know my book would have benefitted tremendously from your knowledge, and I hope you can help me straighten out errors for future editions. I already have some corrections ready for the next revision supplied to me by Marlene Spanner Goodman, one of Jerry Siegel's nieces, and I am eager to hear from anyone who can help me make the book more accurate. Obviously no one knows more about the life and career of Jerry Siegel than you. (I do understand, though, that you and your daughter are at work on your own book, and that this prevents you from sharing too many details yet.)

    Men of Tomorrow proved to be an extraordinarily difficult book to write; there are so many conflicting versions of every story, and so many of the people involved have either passed away or were unable to speak on the record for a variety of reasons. Throughout the writing I was motivated by my love of comics and my deep appreciation for your late husband's colossal contributions to them, but I'm sure I missed the mark in many places. I regret any pain I caused.

    I do still believe that I did the right thing by passing on Michael Siegel's comments, whether they were founded in fact or only his and his mother's imagination. Michael seemed to me to be a sad man, very lonely and very angry about many things. For the last few decades of his life he felt that he'd been constrained from telling what he believed to the be the truth. It may be that that constraint was all in his head, just as it may be that none of his anger was justified. But when he wrote to me he was ill, already predicting that he would die soon, and he wanted to tell the story of his life as he understood it. Apparently it was my book that inspired enough anger in him to do that. I felt that I couldn't close the door on him.

    My own conversations with Michael were complicated. He would sometimes make a statement and then insist that he hadn't made it, or hadn't meant it as I'd understood it. He seemed primed to believe that everyone was out to misrepresent him, and we had to go through the process of disentangling misunderstandings a few times. By the time of our last emails, late last year, he seemed to feel that I understood the story he wanted the world to hear. It may well be that everything he believed was untrue, and certainly everything he said was colored by anger and overstatement, but it wasn't just malice that made him want to say what he did. I truly believe he was trying to make sense of his life.

    Again, thank you for your letter. I am currently writing an article noting errors and areas of disagreement in my book, as well as preparing changes for the next edition, and I will certainly make use of your letter. Any further comments will be enormously appreciated. And again, I regret any distress my book has caused.

    Good luck to you in your ongoing battle for your family's rightful legacy.

    Gerry Jones



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