Action comics

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Superman logo since the 1960s

The Action Comics (now also called Action Comics featuring Superman ) are the first comic series to publish stories about the comic hero Superman . It was first featured in its first issue (# 1), which was labeled June 1938 . In fact, however, the premiere edition was already released between April 18th and (possibly actual date) May 3rd.

The second series has been running since 2011 with Action Comics (Vol. 2) .

history

List of the first seven issues of Action Comics with their cover date and (presumably) copyright date for the Library of Congress . The actual release date is shortly after the copyright date.

overview

With an unbroken publication history since June 1938, Action Comics (Vol. 1) was - with the exception of Detective Comics (Vol. 1) , which appeared since 1937 - the longest-running American comic book series published to the present day. In other words, with the exception of Detective Comics, no other American comic series could claim to have been published continuously as a regularly published periodical for over 75 years. With over 900 issues, Action Comics was, even before Detective Comics, the American comic series with the second highest number of issues after the Four Colors series by Dell Comics , which, however, only appeared from 1939 to 1962, but most recently had issue number 1354. In addition to the 904 numbered Action Comics issues, the two issues # 0 (October 1994; between # 703 and # 704) and # 1,000,000 (November 1998; between # 748 and # 749) come as special issues. In the fall of 2011, both Action Comics and Detective Comics started in a new series at # 1.

Start time

While the Superman series was “only” one of several features appearing in the Action Comics in the first editions of the series, within a few months the stories about the “Man of Steel” became by far the most popular of the series contained in the Action Comics (Others were the stories about the magician Zatara or about a policeman who only speaks in rhymes). As a result, the number of pages that the Superman stories put into the total length of an Action Comics issue increased continuously until Superman became the main feature of the series. Likewise, the Superman character “monopolized” the title pages or covers of the series within a few months, on which a Superman motif has always been seen since 1940, while this “privilege” has since then monopolized the title characters of other stories - with the exception of a brief period in 1988 has never been granted again.

At the end of the 1950s, practically all of the remaining features that had nothing to do with Superman (such as Congo Bill or Tommy Tomorrow ) disappeared in favor of the stories about the "man of steel" from Action Comics that have since been - apart from very rare backup stories - constitute the sole content of the series.

Action Comics Weekly

Between 1988 and 1989, Action Comics, based on the British comic magazine 2000AD, was published as an anthology series under the title Action Comics Weekly for almost a year . Issues # 601 to # 642 were affected by this.

During this time, only two pages per issue - which contained short stories drawn by Curt Swan - were devoted to the Superman character , while the rest of the significantly expanded booklets were filled with stories about other characters. The features included in Action Comics Weekly included Green Lantern - the only feature appearing in every issue - and the alternating, "rotating" stories about Black Canary , Blackhawk , Catwoman , Deadman , Phantom Lady , Phantom Stranger , Secret Six , Speedy and Wild Dog .

In 1989 the anthology concept and the weekly publication mode were abandoned and Action Comics returned to appearing on a monthly basis and exclusively printing Superman stories.

End of the first and start of the second series

When all DC Comics' comic franchises were shut down for a restart of the DC universe in 2011, Action Comics was affected too. In the fall, # 904 was the last issue of the original series, and after 73 years there was a new # 1 as one of 52 comic series as part of this comprehensive reboot .

On April 18, 2018, for the 80th anniversary of the series, issue # 1000 was published, in which Superman returned to his traditional costume with red "underpants" and yellow belt. The hardcover book 80 Years of Superman Deluxe Edition was published parallel to Action Comics # 1000, which was published in addition to the regular cover with many cover variants (including motifs from eight decades) .

meaning

A comic book dealer with an Action Comics # 1 original (Comic Con, New York 2014)

Action Comics # 1 is often referred to as the most expensive and most wanted comic book in the world and in this context it is also called the Mona Lisa of comics or the Holy Grail of the comic world . The three editions in the best known condition repeatedly achieved top prices.

One example in great condition sold for $ 1,000,000 in February 2010 . That was the first time a comic had reached a seven-figure figure. In 2011, actor Nicolas Cage , a well-known comic book collector, auctioned an issue of Action Comics # 1. The booklet, in almost perfect condition (the comic book rating and restoration company CGC gave the comic a 9.0 on a scale of 10), was stolen from Cage's house in 2000 and not found again until 2010. It reached a new record price of $ 2.16 million. A third edition, also in almost perfect condition (9.0), was auctioned on eBay in 2014. The not uncontroversial issue, which was previously unknown to collectors, achieved the previous maximum price of 3.2 million US dollars (as of August 2015; the equivalent of around 2.4 million euros ).

An estimated 50 to 100 copies of the comics originally printed in an edition of 200,000 still exist today. The magazine cost 10 cents in 1938 . It is also trading in very bad shape today for at least $ 100,000.

In the first edition of this series, Superman made his first appearance in the form we know him to this day, although great changes have been made to his powers over time. The cover picture of the first issues of Action Comics, which has been adapted , parodied or hommaged over and over again , is famous. It shows Superman heaving an automobile over his head and crashing it into a rock in dynamic movement.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Comic Legends: Was Action Comics # 1 Really Released on April 18th? In: CBR . April 23, 2018 ( cbr.com [accessed April 27, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Internet auction: record price for Superman first edition. (No longer available online.) Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 23, 2010, archived from the original on February 26, 2010 ; Retrieved March 12, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Nicolas Cage's Superman Comic Nets Record $ 2.1 Million at Auction. The Hollywood Reporter (Lewis, Andy), November 30, 2011, accessed July 17, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Was there a flaw in the Action Comics No. 1 grading? (No longer available online.) The Boston Globe (Hopp-Bruce, Heather), August 25, 2014, formerly original ; accessed on July 17, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bostonglobe.com  
  5. ↑ Superman's debut, Action Comics No 1, sells for $ 3m. The Guardian (Cain, Sian), August 25, 2014, accessed July 17, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Action Comics # 1 (us). Simpsonspedia, July 8, 2009; accessed November 7, 2012 .