Summary

• No, the creators of Superman & Batman never collaborated on each other's comic stories due to workload and lack of crossover content.
• Finger worked on Superman stories. Siegel never worked on Batman, but included him in Superman stories.
• Bob Kane only worked on Batman, Joe Shuster only on Superman.

Comic Book Questions Answered is a feature where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com). Today, we look into whether the creators of Superman and Batman ever worked on a comic book story starring the OTHER iconic superhero.

An important thing to keep in mind about the Golden Age of Comics is that things were extremely decompartmentalized. Comic books were mostly large anthologies consisting of a certain amount of 10-12 page features, and most of the features were by distinctive creative teams, so no one was thinking beyond their specific features. Even when Superman grew so popular that he received his own ongoing series (which, as I've repeated a few times recently, DC didn't even originally think could be maintained as an ongoing series, because the idea of an ongoing series devoted to just one superhero was seen as quite unlikely at the time), the basic effect was the same, 10-12 page features, only now there were MORE of them, and they might appear in Action Comics, or they might appear in Superman.

Due to the constant need for short stories, writers like Bill Finger and Gardner Fox became famous for their collections of interesting facts that you could possibly hang a story on (like let's say there is a certain type of poison that has interesting effects, then Finger could write a Batman story where Batman is injected with said poison. Stuff like that). Because of the way these stories were produced, there was very little overlap between books, so there were very rarely crossovers and guest appearances in other titles (obviously, the Justice Society of America team-ups were the notable exception). Therefore, it would be hard to imagine creators famous for one superhero would do a story starring another one, but that's just what reader Todd G. wanted to know, asking, "Did Siegal and Shuster ever produce a Batman story? Did Kane and Finger ever pen a Superman?" Let's find out!

Did Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ever do a Batman comic book story?

Did Bill Finger and Bob Kane ever for a Superman comic book story?

Right off the bat, let's get it out of the way that no, neither the creators of Superman ever did a Batman comic book story, nor did the creators of Batman ever do a Superman story. Joe Shuster, as you may or may not know, had problems keeping up with the deadlines on the Superman features almost as soon as they started, due to eyesight issues, so Shuster very soon was farming out a lot of his Superman work for DC. By the time that he and Siegel were officially pushed out in the late 1940s for trying to regain the copyright to their creation, Shuster was effectively done as a mainstream comic book artist, although he and Siegel first tried a new superhero, Funnyman, after being fired by DC.

Shuster continued to work in comics through the mid-1960s, but mostly horror comics or other underground works (like some S&M comics, for instance). By the end of the 1960s, Shuster was working as a deliveryman, and he was effectively blind by the time that he and Siegel finally cut a deal with Warner Bros. that gave them a regular stipend in 1976.

Amusingly, here's a Superman sketch Shuster did FOR Bob Kane...

Kane, meanwhile, only did Batman stories. World's Finest Comics did not feature Batman and Superman team-ups until the 1950s, by which point neither Kane nor Shuster were drawing comic books for DC (Kane was still "officially" drawing for DC, but had other artists draw his work for him, to take advantage of the lucrative page rate he got from DC).

Okay, so that's the answer, Todd! No. However, I guess we can try a LITTLE bit more than that, just for clarity's sake...

Did Jerry Siegel ever write a Batman story?

Did Bill Finger ever write a Superman story?

Bob Kane never drew a Superman story (and never even drew a story with Superman IN it), and Shuster never drew a Batman story (over a Superman story with Batman in it), but did Siegel and Finger ever write stories featuring the other iconic hero?

Finger actually was the REGULAR writer on Superman for a while there in the late 1940s. He wrote some notable stories for the series, including Superman's 10th anniversary story (it was Finger who wrote the story where Superman learns of his Kryptonian heritage). He wrote some other cool Superman stories, as well, including one I featured in a recent Look Back.

As for Siegel, he never wrote a Batman comic book story proper, but after Siegel returned to DC to start writing for the Superman books again in the late 1950s/early 1960s, he worked the Dark Knight into a few stories. The first one was a Supergirl backup in 1960's Action Comics #270 (art by Jim Mooney), where Supergirl seemingly saves Batman and Robin's life (the whole thing is some elaborate ruse. I'll write about it in the future)...

A couple of months later, Batman had a more prominent role in a Siegel story in Superman #142 (art by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye), where he and Supergirl helped Superman maintain his secret identity...

Siegel wrote a few other Superman stories with Batman in it, including the legendary imaginary story, "The Death of Superman." He never did a Batman story proper, though.

Thanks for the question, Todd! If anyone else has a comic book question they'd like to see answered, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!