Plans in Cleveland to celebrate the history of Superman have run into problems of Kryptonian proportions.

The Cleveland Free Times reports that efforts to restore the Glenville-neighborhood home of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and possibly establish a museum are caught in the middle of a dispute between the president of the city’s convention and visitors bureau and the ousted chairman of the Superman Committee.

Earlier this week Michael Levin, former chairman of the committee overseeing the “Summer of Superman” festivities celebrating the 70th anniversary of Superman, sent out an email criticizing Positively Cleveland President Dennis Roche for replacing him with local realtor Richard Pace:

“I have it all set up to go,” says Levin. “I have all the money raised. But Dennis can’t make any money that way. Instead, they’re going to scam as much money as possible and screw it up. Watch, they’ll go to the Port Authority to get money to build the museum and Pace will design it. This doesn’t smell fishy, this smells like dead fish.”

The Free Times notes that Terry Stewart — president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and former president of Marvel Entertainment — also is now involved, “negotiating with his former nemesis, DC Comics, for its blessing to host Superman events in town.”

Roche, who asserts he had no real influence on the appointment of Levin’s replacement, says, “We want this thing to grow. I don’t think a museum is achievable. But over the course of four or five years we could put together a large annual festival that draws people in from out of town to spend money in Cleveland.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Comic Books, Creators, DC Comics, Events, Fandom, Organizations, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.