Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of "Boys of Steel" – the upcoming (July 22nd) picture book biography of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, is maintaining a work blog about the book. He recently revealed some research of his that turned up old photographs of the building where Joe Shuster grew up (and where he drew the original Superman stories). Here’s an excerpt:

In the decades of literature about the history of Superman, I’ve noticed an odd omission.

The house in which Jerry Siegel lived when he envisioned Superman is still standing. Cleveland protects it as a designated landmark. Anillustration of its interior is in Boys of Steel.

But Superman was not fully created in Jerry’s house. He was not fully created until Joe Shuster drew him.

Why hasn’t anyone published a picture of where Joe lived in 1934?

For starters, it’s no longer there. And since apparently no one knew its significance when it was torn down, it was just another derelict building, requiring no special archiving. Which meant it could take a lot of looking now to find a picture of it. After my research trip to Cleveland in January 2007, I can confirm that it took a heckuva lot of looking.

You can pre-order your copy of "Boys of Steel" at Amazon.com.