Nights of Horror

Nights of Horror is a series of fetish comic books, created in 1954 by publisher Malcla, drawn by comic artist Joe Shuster, who is also one of the original creators of Superman. The comic stories were written by an author under the pseudonym Clancy, who also used other pseudonyms for different issues of the books. The stories are based on situations of BDSM, bondage, torture, and sexual slavery, featuring both men and women as the tormentors and victims. The series was important in the conviction of Jack Koslow in 1954, during the trial of the Brooklyn Thrill Killers. The books themselves were seized and banned first by New York City, then by the State of New York for violating obscenity laws, and the case went to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court determined that the ban was not in violation of First Amendment Rights, and upheld New York's request for destroying copies of Nights of Horror. Shuster was never named as the illustrator until Gerard Jones published the information in 2004.

Joe Shuster began creating comic art and stories with his friend, Jerry Siegel, in the early 1930s, after becoming friends in high school. Shuster and Siegel first drew the story of Superman, the Man of Steel, in a hand typed fanzine for their school, called Science Fiction. Superman, the secret identity of Clark Kent, represented an ideal of the American man to Shuster and Siegel, with his muscular, bulletproof physique, foreign origins, and goals of helping to save America and the world from destruction. Both men were from Jewish immigrant families, and both were self described as quiet and meek, so creating a superhero that was strong, confident and won the girls over was a way for them to explore their own ideal selves in print. It was difficult to break into the comic world, but eventually, the two men found a publisher in called National Allied Publications (later DC comics), who wanted to create a book series called Action Comics. The editor, Harry Donenfeld, paid Shuster and Siegel $130 for the first story, and purchased the rights to Superman. Action Comics published its first issue in June 1938, to much success, beginning the industry of Superman. Unfortunately, Shuster and Siegel were paid less than what Donenfeld and DC earned from the success of the Man of Steel, though it differed between 50-90 percent per strip. Shuster also had weakening eyesight, making the work of drawing multiple comics difficult. After almost 10 years of drawing Superman for DC, with a want for more control over their work, and the stirrings of a moral war against comic books coming from senators, religious leaders and a children's psychiatrist named Dr. Fredric Wertham, Joe and Jerry decided to sue DC for the rights to Superman and a less popular character called Superboy. In the 1948 trial, the artists were awarded the rights to Superboy, but DC Comics would retain the rights to Superman, under the ruling that the original payment of $130 made the character a "work-for-hire proposition". Seigel and Shuster were devastated by the loss, leaving them jobless, and almost broke. A second attempt at creating an iconic superhero, called Funnyman, failed after only 6 issues.

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