By Special Arrangement

Rather than burdening @Applejack and her much appreciated Office Hours (a standout as some of the best customer service ever in the history of customer service), I’m going to throw this one to @HubCityQuestion (who, ironically, given the name, has proven time and time again to have all the Answers).

I’m curious as to what the deal is with the “By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family” in the book credits when Superman is featured? I took a long sabbatical from comics and returned with the advent of DCU and MU on tablets to find this added credit. I assume it’s a legal issue, but I was curious if there is an interesting story behind it nonetheless.

I suppose I could Google it, but, hey, the forums are fun here! Thank you!

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I think the exact details are sealed, but basically the Siegel family finally won their longstanding lawsuit against DC and secured part ownership of the Superman copyright.

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It’s kind of a rough story. The Siegel family has been attempting to sue DC for Superman royalties for many decades now. But the contract Jerry and Joe originally signed to give DC the rights to Superman was ironclad, and there’s really not a lot of wiggle room to provide dividends for their contributions. In 1992, a court finally found in the Siegel family’s favor, awarding $25,000 a year to the Siegel estate. Part of the contract settlement involved including that language in all further Superman appearances to ensure the upholding of the new arrangement. In 2013, shortly before Superman’s 75th anniversary, that stipulation went into effect.

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Thank you both!

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