Copyright DC Comics Inc.
Action Comics #1 came out in 1938, and by giving the world Superman, transformed the comic book fad into the comic book industry.
By Andrew Smith
Tribune Content Agency
As almost everyone knows, Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938. And now, 80 years and 999 issues later, Action Comics #1000 has arrived.
That’s a lot of action!
DC Comics is celebrating by expanding Action Comics #1000 to 80 pages, featuring 10 different covers and 10 stories by an all-star line-up of writers and artists. While the first nine stories are celebratory, the tenth is revelatory, with superstar writer Brian Michael Bendis (fresh from rival Marvel Comics) beginning his run on the Man of Tomorrow by introducing a mystery about Krypton’s destruction. Bendis’ story will continue in a six-issue, weekly Man of Steel miniseries, followed by a re-launch of Superman and, of course, Action Comics #1001.
But that, as they say, is not all. DC released Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman in March, a 384-page hardcover collecting significant or outstanding stories that have appeared in Action over the last eight decades, interspersed with observations and essays by the likes of Jules Feiffer, David Hajdu (The Ten-Cent Plague) and Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese).
Taken together, these stories suggest the rich history of Action Comics. Here to flesh out those stories are 12 fun facts to know and tell about Action Comics:
1) While Superman gets all the headlines, there was another important character introduced in Action Comics #1 who has had equal longevity: Lois Lane. While Perry White, the Daily Planet, Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor would make their debuts later, the “ace newshen” appeared in 1938 right alongside Clark Kent at the Daily Star. Inspired by movie reporter Torchy Blaine, Lois was smart, competent and career-oriented – a rare type of female character in the 1930s, whose presence inarguably contributed to the Man of Steel’s success.
2) Since Action Comics was an anthology, like most comics in the ‘30s, a whole passel of other characters debuted in the first issue. Some – like Zatara, Master Magician (a Mandrake the Magician rip-off), and Tex Thomson (called both Americommando and Mr. America) – had relatively long careers. Others – like rancher Chuck Dawson, reporter Scoop Scanlon and boxer Pep Morgan – did not.
3) Action Comics isn’t the first American title to reach 1,000 issues – that honor goes to Dell’s Four Color, which ran 1,365 issues from 1942 to 1965. Experts tend to discount that achievement, though, because Four Color was a different format from all other American comic books: It featured a different headliner every issue; it had no regular publishing schedule (sometimes coming out two or three times in a month under different names); it was neither a solo series nor an anthology; and it didn’t even print its title on the cover. (When a 1947 reader bought Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr, for example, he or she was really buying “Four Color” #161.) So Action Comics, which has starred Superman and related characters for 1,000 issues, is really in a class of its own.
Copyright DC Comics Inc.
Action Comics #1000 is an 80-page celebration of Superman and the comic book that started it all.
4) While Action is the first DC title to reach issue #1,000, it is not the publisher’s longest-running title. Detective Comics debuted in 1937, beating Action by a year. Batman debuted in 1939, giving Detective a star that would carry it to the present. But Action stole a march on its older brother, going weekly for roughly a year, beginning in May 1988. Detective will hit issue #1,000 in 2019.
5) The publisher of Action Comics #1 was officially named National Allied Publications, and soon changed to National Periodical Publications. Most fans at the time, though, knew the company as “DC.” That was because those initials were on every National book’s cover, identifying it as being from the same publisher as the popular Detective Comics. In 1977, the company finally acknowledged reality and officially changed its name to DC Comics Inc. – pretty much what everyone had always called it anyway.
6) Three other popular features joined Action over the years, and became somewhat identified with the title: Vigilante (a Western-themed hero), Congo Bill (a jungle explorer) and Tommy Tomorrow (a cop in the future). All were eventually squeezed out, though, as National – and all other comics publishers – kept dropping page count to keep the price of comics at 10 cents. By the early 1960s the books couldn’t shrink any more, and that’s when prices started to go up.
Copyright DC Comics Inc.
Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman is a hardback collection of significant stories from Action Comics #1-1000.
7) Congo Bill was notable for its longevity. Joining the Action lineup in 1941, the explorer and his buddy, Janu, enjoyed jungle adventures in Action until 1960. It probably helped that in 1959 Bill gained the power to switch minds with a giant, golden gorilla, which made him a sorta superhero. The renamed “Congorilla” strip had life even after Action Comics, moving for a time to Adventure Comics.
8) The years 1958 and ’59 were a big time for Action Comics, introducing Bizarro, the Bottle City of Kandor, Brainiac, the Fortress of Solitude, Krypto and Supergirl.
Most other DC heroes underwent a number of changes in the late 1950s as well, with Aquaman, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman getting new origins, and Atom, Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman being reinvented as new characters. By 1962 DC editorial decided that characters events from prior to the late 1950s existed on a parallel planet called “Earth-Two,” while the 1960s versions of the heroes lived on “Earth-One.” Pay attention; this will be important later.
9) When Supergirl arrived, she immediately became the main back-up feature (and the only one after 1960). Initially, Superman put her in a orphanage disguised as brunette Linda Lee, and instructed her to remain hidden from the world as his secret weapon. Yes, that sounds pretty cruel, but maybe a bachelor with a one-bedroom apartment in Metropolis (and a giant ice cave in the Arctic) didn’t feel capable of raising a teenage girl. Anyway, Supergirl finally “came out” in 1962. The Maid of Steel remained a regular feature in Action until 1969, when she moved to Adventure Comics.
10) In 1978, Superman and Lois Lane got married in Action Comics. Well, not OUR Superman and Lois Lane, but the characters from the parallel world Earth-Two. See, I told you that was important!
11) In 1991, Clark Kent revealed his secret identity to Lois Lane. This revelation has waffled back and forth through various reboots, but by and large it has stuck. The current versions of Superman and Lois Lane are married, with a son named Jon.
12) In 2011, DC Comics rebooted their superhero universe, including Superman. Changes included renumbering Action Comics, with issue #904 followed by a new Action Comics #1. Fortunately, this tragic decision was reversed when Action Comics (second series) #52 was followed with Action Comics #957 in 2016.
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Replies
"In 2011, DC Comics rebooted their superhero universe, including Superman. Changes included renumbering Action Comics, with issue #904 followed by a new Action Comics #1. Fortunately, this tragic decision was reversed when Action Comics (second series) #52 was followed with Action Comics#957 in 2016."
Baron Von Nitpicky sez: "Tragic" to me would involve somebody dying. I might have used "misguided" or "dimwitted", myself.
Action Comics #1 was published through Detective Comics, Inc.
I hadn't heard of the Torchy Blane movie series before reading this. Apparently, three actresses played her. The 1938 movie, Torchy Blane in Panama, starred the actress Lola Lane, which strengthens the inspiration idea.