Action Comics

Supercbbox|
title=Action Comics


caption="Action Comics" #1 (June 1938), the debut of Superman. Cover art by Joe Shuster.
schedule=Monthly
format=
ongoing=y
multigenre=y
Anthology = y
Superhero = y
publisher=DC Comics
date=June 1938 - present
issues=868
main_char_team=Superman
writers=Current:
Geoff Johns
artists=Gary Frank
pencillers=
inkers=
letterers=
colorists=
creative_team_month=
creative_team_year=
creators= Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
TPB=Superman Chronicles Vol 1
ISBN=1401207642
TPB1=Superman Chronicles Vol 2
ISBN1=1401212158
TPB2=Superman in the Forties
ISBN2=1401204570
TPB3=Archives Vol 1
ISBN3=1563893355
TPB4=Archives Vol 2
ISBN4=1563894262
TPB5=Archives Vol 3
ISBN5=1563897105
TPB6=Archives Vol 4
ISBN6=1401204082
TPB7=Archives Vol 5
ISBN7=1401211887
subcat=Superman
sort=Action Comics

"Action Comics" is an American comic book series which introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics, Inc., and later as National Comics and as National Periodical Publications, before taking on its current name of DC Comics, a subsidiary of Time Warner.

Publication history

uperman

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster saw their creation, Superman, AKA Kal-El (originally Kal-L), launched in Action Comics #1 in April 1938 (cover-dated June). (Approximate present-day value (In "near mint" condition):$1,380,000 USD.)Fact|date=March 2008 Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character (originally conceived as a newspaper strip) without success. Superman was originally a bald madman created by Siegel and Shuster who used his telepathic abilities to wreak havoc on mankind. He appeared in Siegel and Shuster's book "Science Fiction". [Gerard Jones, "Men of Tomorrow" pp82-84 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7] Siegel then commented, "What if this Superman was a force for good instead of evil?" The writer and artist had worked on several features for National Periodical Publications' other titles (Slam Bradley in Detective Comics, for example [Gerard Jones, "Men of Tomorrow" pp120 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7] ) and were asked to contribute a feature for National's newest publication. They submitted Superman for consideration, and after re-pasting the sample newspaper strips they had prepared into comic book page format, National decided to make Superman the cover feature of their new magazine [Gerard Jones, "Men of Tomorrow" pp124 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7] . The dynamic "Man of Tomorrow" was an instant hit, and he permanently changed the medium of comic books and comic strips by formalizing a new fantasy subgenre. "Action Comics" was soon followed by the "Superman" comic book series in 1939, along with a wealth of other comics starring numerous costumed superheroes. The cover to Action Comics #1 remains one of the most homaged covers of all time.

As of 2008, "Action Comics" is still in publication, surpassing a milestone of 850 issues. This makes it the second-highest-number American comic book series, after Dell Comics' "Four Color". Despite being continually published since 1938, it is not the longest-running American comic book; that distinction belongs to "Detective Comics".

Hiatus, name changes, publication changes, and special numbering

" arc. (The two "Funeral for a Friend" issues, #685 and #686 featured the cover announcement of "Super"girl" in "Action Comics" highlighting the passing of Superman. [ [http://comics.org/covers.lasso?seriesID=97&skip=600&show=50 "Action Comics" covers at the Grand Comics Database] . Accessed July 18, 2008]

In 1988, DC Comics tried unsuccessfully to return the format of the comic to an anthology and publish it on a weekly basis. After May, 1988's landmark issue #600, issues #601-605 all bore August cover dates. The "Action Comics Weekly" experiment lasted only until the beginning of March 1989, however, and after a short break, July's issue #643 brought the title back onto a monthly schedule.Miller, J. J., Thompson, Maggie, Bickford, Peter & Frankenhoff, Brent, "The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books", 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) - "Action Comics", pp. 35-44] (However, the temporarily increased frequency of issues allowed "Action" to further surpass the older "Detective Comics" in the number of individual issues published. It originally passed "Detective Comics" in the 1970s when that series was bi-monthly for a number of years.)

Another departure from a strict monthly schedule were the giant-size Supergirl reprint issues of the 1960s (published as a 13th issue annually): issues #334 (March 1966), #347 (March/April 1967), #360 (March/April 1968), and #373 (March/April 1969).

An issue #0 (October 1994) was published between issues #703 and #704 as part of the Zero Month after the Zero Hour crossover event and issue #1,000,000 (November 1998) during the DC One Million crossover event in October 1998 between issues #748 and #749.

First Appearances

* Superman: Issue #1.
* Tex Thomson: Issue #1.
* Lois Lane: Issue #1
* Zatara: Issue #1.
* Jor-El: Issue #1
* Ultra-Humanite: Issue #13
* Lex Luthor: Issue #23
* Prankster: Issue #51
* Toyman: Issue #64
* Brainiac: Issue #242
* Supergirl: Issue #252
* Metallo: Issue #252
* Streaky the Supercat: Issue #261
* Whizzy: Issue #287
* Comet the Super-Horse: Issue #292
* Parasite: Issue #340
* Inspector William Henderson: Issue #440
* Faora: Issue #471
* Vixen: Issue #521
* Blaze and Satanus: Issue #527 and #655
* Silver Banshee: Issue #595
* Livewire: Issue #835
* Chris Kent: Issue #844
* Non: Issue #845

Early anthology

Originally, "Action Comics" was an anthology title featuring a number of other stories in addition to the Superman story. Zatara, a magician, was one of the other characters who had their own stories in early issues. (Zatanna, a heroine introduced in the 1960s, is Zatara's daughter.) There was also the hero Tex Thomson, who eventually became Mr. America and later the Americommando. Vigilante also enjoyed a lengthy run in this series. Sometimes stories of a more humorous nature were included, such as those of Hayfoot Henry, a policeman who talked in rhyme. Gradually the size of the issues was decreased as the publisher was reluctant to raise the cover price from the original 10 cents, so there were fewer stories. For a while, Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were the two features in addition to Superman (Congo Bill eventually gained the ability to swap bodies with a gorilla and his strip was renamed Congorilla), but soon after the introduction of Supergirl in issue #252 (May 1959) the non-Superman-related strips were crowded out of "Action" altogether. Since then, it has generally been an all-Superman comic, though other backup stories such as The Human Target occasionally appear.

"Action Comics Weekly" (1988-1989)

For slightly less than a year in 1988-1989, the publication frequency was changed to weekly and the title became "Action Comics Weekly", and was an anthology format series; this change lasted from issue #601 to issue #642. During this time, Superman appeared only in a two page story per issue; however, he was still the only character to appear in every issue of the run.

To boost the profile of "Action Comics Weekly",Fact|date=July 2008 prior to its launch DC cancelled its ongoing Green Lantern title "Green Lantern Corps", and made Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his adventures exclusive to "Action Comics Weekly". The move was largely a failure, as many fans felt the "Action Comics Weekly" stories were of extremely poor quality.Fact|date=July 2008 During the "Action Comics Weekly" run, a "Green Lantern Special" was published in 1988, tying in with the events happening in "Action Comics Weekly". Green Lantern was soon moved out of the title, with "Green Lantern Special" # 2 (1989) published concluding the story plots from "Action Comics Weekly", and the character was relaunched with a limited series in 1989 ("Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn"), followed up by a new ongoing series in June 1990 ("Green Lantern" Vol. 3).

The rest of these issues featured rotating serialized stories of other, mostly minor, DC heroes, as try-outs that led to their own limited series. Characters with featured stories in the run included Black Canary, Blackhawk, Catwoman, Deadman, Nightwing, Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler), Phantom Stranger, Secret Six, Speedy, and Wild Dog.

The final issue of the weekly was originally intended to feature a book-length encounter between Clark Kent and Hal Jordan penned by writer Neil Gaiman.Fact|date=July 2008 While Gaiman's story primarily teamed up Green Lantern and Superman, it also featured other characters from Action Comics Weekly including the Blackhawks (in flashback), Deadman and the Phantom Stranger. The story ran counter to DC editorial policy at the time as it portrayed Hal Jordan and Clark Kent as old friends who knew each other's secret identities. This was not considered canon in 1989 (though other issues of Action Comics Weekly implied Hal and Clark were friends) and Gaiman was unwilling to change this aspect of the story.Fact|date=July 2008 The story was pulled and a different story was run. Gaiman's story was finally published as "" one-shot in 2000.

Collected editions

(generally reprint just the Superman stories from the given issues)

* "Superman Chronicles"
** Volume 1 reprints issues #1 - 13.
** Volume 2 reprints issues #14 - 20.
** Volume 3 reprints issues #21 - 25.
** Volume 4 reprints issues #26 - 31.
** Volume 5 reprints issues #32 - 36.
* "Superman in the Forties" reprints issues #1, 2, 14, 23, 64, 93 & 151.
* "Superman in Action Comics Archives"
** Volume 1 reprints issues #1, 7 - 20, and summarizes #2 - 6.
** Volume 2 reprints issues #21 - 36.
** Volume 3 reprints issues #37 - 53.
** Volume 4 reprints issues #54 - 68.
** Volume 5 reprints issues #69 - 85.

Awards

"Action Comics" #687 through 689 were part of "The Reign of the Supermen" storyline, which won the 1993 "Comics Buyer's Guide" Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story that year.

ee also

*Action Comics #1
*List of DC Comics publications

External links

* [http://www.dccomics.com/ DC Comics official site]
* [http://www.comic-covers.com/DC/DCA-B/Action/index.html Action Comics cover gallery]

References