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About This
Series:
Issues:
If it
wasn't for Superman, "Action Comics" would never have enjoyed such a
long run. That's a fact. If a comic book title lasts five
years, it's considered a "good run". "Action Comics" has lasted
over 70 years! Wow! Issue #1 was released in April, 1938
(cover dated June). It was with that first issue that the
character of Superman was introduced. Unlike most popular
characters in fiction, Superman hit the ground running. He was
popular right from the start, and has never let up. The very
cover of this comic issue has become a symbol of pop-culture history,
and has often been imitated. The publisher of "Action Comics" was
first called Detective Comics, Inc. Then it was called National
Comics. National Periodical Publications was the next name.
Then came the name DC Comics, which is what it's known as today.
The series was originally intended to be an anthology series, with short stories of several heroes. Not all of them were super. As a matter of fact, Superman was the first "superhero" as the term became known. Actually, superheroes came long before Superman. The first superhero of contemporary fiction is probably The Shadow, who debuted in 1930 on radio. Technicalities aside, Superman is truly the first superhero of his kind, with cape and costume and the ability of flight. In the early days of "Action Comics", Zatara the magician also appeared. His more popular crimefighting daughter, Zatanna the magician, came out in the 1960s. A hero called Vigilante enjoyed a healthy run in the series, as did Tex Thomson, who was later called Mr. America, and then The Americommando. Humorous adventures like the rhyming policeman Hayfoot Henry were also shown. Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were two other characters that backed up the most popular feature, Superman. Interesting enough, Congo Bill was given the abilitity to swap bodies with a gorilla, and he later became known as Congorilla.
How did "Action Comics" become a strictly Superman or Superman-related magazine? The publisher did not want to raise the cover price from the long-standing 10 cents. The only way to keep the price at 10 cents was to decrease the number of pages. That meant a lot of the smaller features had to go. Superman was always going to stick around, so he was the main feature. For a while, it was just Superman, Congorilla, and Tommy Tomorrow. But then, something "super" happened. The character of Supergirl was introduced in issue #252 (May, 1959). Soon after Supergirl's ground-breaking debut, the other features that weren't Superman or Supergirl were crowded out altogether. Other superheroes have appeared as Superman's backing feature from time to time, but generally "Action Comics" has remained a Superman comic.
For less than a year, from 1988 to 1989, the title of the series was changed to "Action Comics Weekly" and, yes, it was published weekly from issues #601 to #642. The experiment of making "Action Comics" an anthology book with other superheroes failed, and from #643 on it's been called "Action Comics", again. During the "Weekly" era, Superman appeared in every issue, but only in two-page stories. He was the only character to appear in every issue of the "Weekly" run.
An attempt to boost the popularity of "Action Comics Weekly" before its launch was the cancellation of DC's title, "Green Lantern Corps". The adventures of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern were continued in "Action Comics Weekly". This move was a failure, as many readers complained of the poor quality in stories. Due to the widespread complaint, DC released a "Green Lantern Special" in 1988 that tied in with the events going on in "Action Comics Weekly". Green Lantern was soon moved out of "Weekly", into "Green Lantern Special" #2 in 1989. This special concluded the plots from his adventures in "Weekly". The character of Green Lantern was relaunched with a limited series in 1989 called, "Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn". A new, ongoing series started in June of 1990, "Green Lantern" (Series 3).
Sadly, comic books as a medium took a bad turn in the mid-1990s and the slump has lasted to this day. "Action Comics" pretty much survives on its name alone, as do the two major comic publishers DC and Marvel. Comic books past the early 1990s are mostly toilet, and drastic, often terrible things, have been done to our favorite superhero characters in attempts to keep them popular. Superman is no exception. As a matter of fact, he's probably received the brunt of it. Since Superman returned "from the dead" in comics in 1993, nothing has been right. You had the long-haired Superman for a number of years that didn't fit the character. The "Death of Clark Kent" storyline was a rather grim move. Then there was the "Blue Superman" and "Red Superman" that was just bizarre. As of early 2009, with issue #875, Superman was replaced as the major feature in "Action Comics". He moved from Earth to New Krypton, and the heroes to replace him in "Action Comics" became Nightwing and Flamebird.
Superman's been reworked in a number of ways, but the way he's most popularly portrayed is the way we like him best. Hopefully DC will come to their senses someday and give us the Superman we know and love in new, interesting comic stories and other media.
The series was originally intended to be an anthology series, with short stories of several heroes. Not all of them were super. As a matter of fact, Superman was the first "superhero" as the term became known. Actually, superheroes came long before Superman. The first superhero of contemporary fiction is probably The Shadow, who debuted in 1930 on radio. Technicalities aside, Superman is truly the first superhero of his kind, with cape and costume and the ability of flight. In the early days of "Action Comics", Zatara the magician also appeared. His more popular crimefighting daughter, Zatanna the magician, came out in the 1960s. A hero called Vigilante enjoyed a healthy run in the series, as did Tex Thomson, who was later called Mr. America, and then The Americommando. Humorous adventures like the rhyming policeman Hayfoot Henry were also shown. Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were two other characters that backed up the most popular feature, Superman. Interesting enough, Congo Bill was given the abilitity to swap bodies with a gorilla, and he later became known as Congorilla.
How did "Action Comics" become a strictly Superman or Superman-related magazine? The publisher did not want to raise the cover price from the long-standing 10 cents. The only way to keep the price at 10 cents was to decrease the number of pages. That meant a lot of the smaller features had to go. Superman was always going to stick around, so he was the main feature. For a while, it was just Superman, Congorilla, and Tommy Tomorrow. But then, something "super" happened. The character of Supergirl was introduced in issue #252 (May, 1959). Soon after Supergirl's ground-breaking debut, the other features that weren't Superman or Supergirl were crowded out altogether. Other superheroes have appeared as Superman's backing feature from time to time, but generally "Action Comics" has remained a Superman comic.
For less than a year, from 1988 to 1989, the title of the series was changed to "Action Comics Weekly" and, yes, it was published weekly from issues #601 to #642. The experiment of making "Action Comics" an anthology book with other superheroes failed, and from #643 on it's been called "Action Comics", again. During the "Weekly" era, Superman appeared in every issue, but only in two-page stories. He was the only character to appear in every issue of the "Weekly" run.
An attempt to boost the popularity of "Action Comics Weekly" before its launch was the cancellation of DC's title, "Green Lantern Corps". The adventures of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern were continued in "Action Comics Weekly". This move was a failure, as many readers complained of the poor quality in stories. Due to the widespread complaint, DC released a "Green Lantern Special" in 1988 that tied in with the events going on in "Action Comics Weekly". Green Lantern was soon moved out of "Weekly", into "Green Lantern Special" #2 in 1989. This special concluded the plots from his adventures in "Weekly". The character of Green Lantern was relaunched with a limited series in 1989 called, "Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn". A new, ongoing series started in June of 1990, "Green Lantern" (Series 3).
Sadly, comic books as a medium took a bad turn in the mid-1990s and the slump has lasted to this day. "Action Comics" pretty much survives on its name alone, as do the two major comic publishers DC and Marvel. Comic books past the early 1990s are mostly toilet, and drastic, often terrible things, have been done to our favorite superhero characters in attempts to keep them popular. Superman is no exception. As a matter of fact, he's probably received the brunt of it. Since Superman returned "from the dead" in comics in 1993, nothing has been right. You had the long-haired Superman for a number of years that didn't fit the character. The "Death of Clark Kent" storyline was a rather grim move. Then there was the "Blue Superman" and "Red Superman" that was just bizarre. As of early 2009, with issue #875, Superman was replaced as the major feature in "Action Comics". He moved from Earth to New Krypton, and the heroes to replace him in "Action Comics" became Nightwing and Flamebird.
Superman's been reworked in a number of ways, but the way he's most popularly portrayed is the way we like him best. Hopefully DC will come to their senses someday and give us the Superman we know and love in new, interesting comic stories and other media.
Issues:
#595: December,
1987. Superman fights the Silver Banshee. This was the
Silver Banshee's first appearance. She became more widely used in
the 1990s. This was a cool action story. It's a "Superman
gets killed" story, and DC did a lot of those before the supremely
popular "Death of Superman" storyline in 1992. Like all of the
"Superman gets killed" stories prior to "Death of Superman", it was a
ruse to defeat the villain. Silver Banshee believes she has
killed Superman. Superman's "ghost" defeats her. The ghost
turns out to be Martian Manhunter. It's a brilliant John
Byrne/Keith Williams creation, and a story in and of itself. The
battle doesn't continue in another issue, although debate of her return
is left wide open.
At this time in the series, "Action Comics" became a Superman team-up book. Superman was paired up with another character to fight evil, similar to Marvel Comics' "Marvel Team-Up" that starred Spider-Man with other characters. The guest hero in this issue was Martian Manhunter.
#638: February 7, 1989. The series was called "Action Comics Weekly" at this time. Besides the two-page Superman story, the features included Demon, Hero Hotline, Phantom Lady, Speedy, and Wild Dog. This issue doesn't impress me much. I do, however, get a kick out of the art in the Phantom Lady feature. It's a purposely silly story, with over-the-top, bosomy art. The artist for that feature is Chuck Austen.
I think "Action Comics Weekly" could have been a great success. It opened up so many possibilities for so many great characters. The execution was less than average. The writing of most of the stories was rushed, and made them largely uninteresting. The heck of it is, I'm more of a fan of short comic stories, but most of these just don't go anywhere. They might have been better off doing a short, original Superman story, with a reprint of any old superhero comic story as a backup feature to save time and keep up with the production schedule.
At this time in the series, "Action Comics" became a Superman team-up book. Superman was paired up with another character to fight evil, similar to Marvel Comics' "Marvel Team-Up" that starred Spider-Man with other characters. The guest hero in this issue was Martian Manhunter.
#638: February 7, 1989. The series was called "Action Comics Weekly" at this time. Besides the two-page Superman story, the features included Demon, Hero Hotline, Phantom Lady, Speedy, and Wild Dog. This issue doesn't impress me much. I do, however, get a kick out of the art in the Phantom Lady feature. It's a purposely silly story, with over-the-top, bosomy art. The artist for that feature is Chuck Austen.
I think "Action Comics Weekly" could have been a great success. It opened up so many possibilities for so many great characters. The execution was less than average. The writing of most of the stories was rushed, and made them largely uninteresting. The heck of it is, I'm more of a fan of short comic stories, but most of these just don't go anywhere. They might have been better off doing a short, original Superman story, with a reprint of any old superhero comic story as a backup feature to save time and keep up with the production schedule.