ACTION COMICS 1

'''Action Comics #1''' is a DC Comic that was published in April 1938 (cover-dated June). It featured the debut of the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creation Superman. It is considered the first true Superhero comic, and though today ''Action Comics'' is a monthly title devoted to Superman, it began as an anthology.^[1]

Contents

Contents

Superman

Collectibility

Cultural references

References

Contents

★ "'Superman'" (pp. 1 - 13) by Siegel and Shuster.

★ "'Chuck Dawson'" (pp. 14 - 19) by H. Fleming.

★ "'Zatara Master Magician'" (pp. 20 - 31) by Fred Guardineer.

★ "'South Sea Strategy'" (pp. 32 - 33) by Captain Frank Thomas.

★ "'Sticky-Mitt Stimson'" (pp. 34 - 37) by Alger.

★ "'The Adventures of Marco Polo'" (pp. 38 - 41) by Sven Elven.

★ ''"Pep" Morgan'' (pp. 42 - 45) by Fred Guardineer.

★ "'Scoop Scanlon Five Star Reporter'" (pp. 46 - 51) by Will Ely.

★ "'Tex Thompson'" (pp. 52 - 63) by Bernard Baily.

★ "'Stardust by 'The "Star-Gazer'" (pp. 64)

Superman

In January 1933, Jerry Siegel wrote a story entitled "The Reign of the Supermen." Siegel and Joe Shuster then created a comic book entitled "The Superman" later in 1933. A Chicago publisher expressed interest, but didn't follow through, and in frustration, Shuster tore up all the pages of this comic except for the cover. Later, in 1934, Siegel had trouble falling asleep and decided to pass the time creating dramatic elements for a comic strip. Building on his previous ideas, he envisioned a child on a far-off planet named Krypton, where all the residents had super powers. Krypton would soon explode, and the boy was sent to Earth by his father and became Superman.^[2]
The Superman section of ''Action Comics'' was made up of a cut up comic strip. Siegel and Shuster had shopped Superman around as comic strip, but were continually turned down. National Publications was looking for a hit to accompany their success with ''Detective Comics'', and didn't have time to solicit new material. Jack Liebowitz, co-owner of National Publications told editor Vin Sullivan to create their fourth comic book. Because of the tight deadline, Sullivan was forced to make it out of inventory and stockpile pages. He found a number of adventurer stories, but needed a lead feature. Sullivan asked former coworker Sheldon Mayer if he could help. Mayer found the rejected Superman comic strips, and Sullivan told Siegel and Shuster that if they could paste them into 13 comic book pages, he would buy them.^[3]
The original five panel comics strip was cut apart, rewritten, and redrawn to create the first page of ''Action Comics'' #1.
# Superman's rocket ship leaving an exploding Krypton.
# No copies exist, but it most likely depicted the rocket ship being discovered on Earth, and the baby Superman being taken to an orphanage.
# No copies exist, but it most likely displayed the baby Superman's strength; lifting a chair as a baby.
# Superman in costume but without his cape is shown racing a train.
# Superman in his costume, hovering over a city.
Siegel rewrote and extended the fourth panel into panels 4, 5, and 6 on the first page, and Joe Shuster created three new drawings for them. Instead of racing the train in his costume, he is dressed as Clark Kent. Siegel and Shuster decided that they would not show him in his costume until he had officially adopted his Superman alter-ego. Shuster also redrew panel 7. Finally, two new panels (8 and 9) were inserted to complete the first page.^[4]
Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character (originally conceived as a newspaper strip) without success. The writer and artist had worked on several features for National Periodical Publications' other titles (Slam Bradley in Detective Comics, for example) 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. 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.

Collectibility

As of Sept 2007, ''Action Comics'' #1 is the most valuable comic for a given condition, followed by ''Detective Comics'' #27 and ''Superman'' #1.^[5][6]
Less than 100 copies of ''Action Comics'' #1 are known to exist.^[7]
There are five known copies with a grade above VG (CGC 4.0), with a single issue having the best grade of VF+ (CGC 8.5).^[8]
In 2003 Stephen A. Geppi, owner of Diamond Comic Distributors, offered up to $1,000,000 for a near mint (CGC grade 9.4) copy of ''Action Comics'' #1 at the First Annual Las Vegas Comic-Con. There are however no known copies in that grade.

Cultural references

In the Homer's Barbershop Quartet episode of The Simpsons, Homer sees a copy of Action Comics #1, along with the United States Declaration of Independence and an Inverted Jenny postage stamp at a yard sale all for 5¢ and tosses them aside as "junk". These items, because of their immense historical value and rarity would be worth more than $1,380,000 US.
In the Homie the Clown episode of The Simpsons, Krusty the Clown uses a variety of highly valued items to light his cigarettes, including a $100 bill and a copy of Action Comics #1.

References

1. Action Comics
2. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SUPERMAN!
3. Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #83
4. From Papers to Comics to Papers
5. Nostomania's 100 Most Valuable Comic Books
6. World’s Most Valuable Comic Books.
7. Million Reward For Rare Comic Book Offered By Baltimore Business Executive
8. Mastro to Offer “Forgotten” Action #1