Action Comics: Encyclopedia - Action Comics

Action Comics

Action Comics is the comic book series that introduced the world to 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.

Teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster launched their creation with Action Comics #1 in June of 1938. The character of the dynamic "Man of Steel" 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, and a wealth of other comics starring numerous costumed superheroes.

As of 2005, Action Comics is still in publication, having passed its 800th issue.

It is the highest numbered and second-longest running American comic book after Detective Comics; however, it cannot claim to have had an uninterrupted run as it went on hiatus for three months twice, in 1986 (when the regular Superman books were suspended during the publication of John Byrne's The Man of Steel miniseries) and again in 1992 (when the Superman books went on a 3-month hiatus following the "Death of Superman" and "Funeral for a Friend" stories). In 1988, DC Comics tried unsuccessfully to return the format of the comic to an anthology and publish it on a weekly basis, but it returned to a monthly format less than a year later. (However, the temporary increased frequency of issues allowed Action to surpass the older Detective Comics in the number of individual issues published.) Another departure from a strict monthly schedule were the giant-size Supergirl reprint issues of the 1960s (published as a 13th issue annually).

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 Thompson, who eventually became Mr. America and later the Americommando. 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 occasionally appear.

For a bit less than a year in 1988/89, the publication frequency was changed to weekly and the title became Action Comics Weekly; 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, prior to its launch DC cancelled its ongoing Green Lantern title Green Lantern Corps and made Green Lantern 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 and the character was quickly moved out of the title and relaunched with a new series in 1989.

The rest of these issues featured rotating serialised stories of other, mostly minor, DC heroes, as try-outs that led to their own miniseries. Characters with featured stories in the run included Catwoman, Nightwing, Secret Six, and Speedy.

The series has been recognized in the comics industry with a several awards. Issue 684 was a part of The Death of Superman story which was a top vote getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story for 1993. Issues 687 through 689 were part of the story The Reign of the Supermen which won the award that year. The 1,000,000 issue was a part of the DC One Million storyline which was a top votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 1999. Issues 780 through 782 were part of the Our Worlds at War storyline which was a top votegetter for the same award for 2002. The series also received a nomination for the Wizard Fan Award for Comics' Greatest Moment - 2001 for when "Superman defeats the Elite" in issue 775.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Action Comics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki