''Action Comics'' #1 ( cover dated June 1938) is the first issue of the original run of the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

/ magazine series ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/ magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications ...

''. It features the

first appearance In American comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character. These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status. Reader interes ...

of several comic-book heroes—most notably the

Jerry Siegel Jerome Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, i ...

and

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster (; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992), professionally known simply as Joe Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 (c ...

creation, Superman—and sold for 10 cents (). It is widely considered to be both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book in the world. ''Action Comics'' would go on to run for 904 numbered issues (plus additional out-of-sequence special issues) before it restarted its numbering in the fall of 2011. It returned to its original numbering with issue #957, published on June 8, 2016 ( cover-dated August) and reached its 1,000th issue in 2018. On August 24, 2014, a copy graded 9.0 by CGC was sold on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

for $3,207,852 USD; it was the first comic book to have sold for more than $3 million for a single original copy.

''Action Comics'' #1 was an anthology, and contained eleven features: * " Superman" (pp. 1–13) by

and

. * "Chuck Dawson" (pp. 14–19) by H. Fleming. * " Zatara Master Magician" (pp. 20–31) by Fred Guardineer. * "South Sea Strategy" (text feature, 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 the Five Star Reporter" (pp. 46–51) by Will Ely. * " Tex Thompson" (pp. 52–63) by

Bernard Baily Bernard Baily (April 5, 1916 – January 19, 1996)
at the

Sheldon Moldoff).

Publication

Published on April 18, 1938The copyright date of ''Action Comics'' #1 was registered as April 18, 1938.
See ( cover dated on June 30, 1938), by

National Allied Publications National Comics Publications, Inc. (also known as NCP or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company, and the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied P ...

, a corporate predecessor of DC Comics, it is considered the first true superhero comic; and though today ''Action Comics'' is a monthly title devoted to Superman, it began, like many early comics, as an anthology. ''Action Comics'' was started by publisher

Jack Liebowitz Jacob S. Liebowitz (; born Yacov Lebovitz October 10, 1900 – December 11, 2000)Christopher Knowles, author of '' Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes'', compared the cover to '' Hercules and the Hydra'' by

Antonio del Pollaiuolo Antonio del Pollaiuolo ( , , ; 17 January 1429/14334 February 1498), also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo or Antonio Pollaiuolo (also spelled Pollaiolo), was an Italian painter, sculptor, engraver, and goldsmith during the Italian Rena ...

Superman

In January 1933,

wrote a short prose story titled " The Reign of the Superman", which was illustrated by his friend

and self-published in a science fiction magazine. It told the story of a bald villain with

telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

powers. Trying to create a character they could sell to newspaper syndicates, Siegel re-conceived the "superman" character as a powerful hero, sent to Earth from a more advanced society. He and Shuster developed the idea into a comic strip, which they pitched unsuccessfully. National Publications was looking for a hit to accompany their success with '' Detective Comics'', and did not have time to solicit new material. Jack Liebowitz, co-owner of National Publications, told editor

Vin Sullivan Vincent Sullivan (June 5, 1911 – February 3, 1999Vincent Sullivan
at the

...

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 Sheldon Mayer (; April 1, 1917 – December 21, 1991) was an American comics artist, writer, and editor. One of the earliest employees of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications, Mayer produced almost all of his comics wor ...

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. The original panels were rewritten and redrawn to create the first page of ''Action Comics'' #1: # Baby Superman is sent to Earth by his scientist father in a "hastily-devised space ship" from "a distant planet" which "was destroyed by old age". # After the space ship lands on Earth, "a passing motorist, discovering the sleeping baby within, turned the child over to an orphanage". # The baby Superman lifts a large chair overhead with one hand, astounding the orphanage attendants with "his feats of strength". # When Superman (now named Clark Kent) reaches maturity, he discovers that he can leap 1/8 of a mile, hurdle 20-story buildings, "raise tremendous weights", outrun a train, and "that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin". # Clark decides that "he must turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind, and so was created 'Superman', champion of the oppressed...." Two new panels offering a "scientific explanation of Clark Kent's amazing strength" were added. The panels do not identify Superman's home planet by name or explain how he was named Clark Kent. The next twelve pages showed Superman attempting to save an innocent woman about to be executed while delivering the real murderess, bound and gagged, and leaving her on the lawn of the state Governor's mansion after breaking through the door into his house with a signed confession; coming to the aid of a woman being beaten up by her husband, who faints when his knife shatters on Superman's skin; rescuing

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...

(who also debuts in this issue) from a gangster who abducted her after she rebuffed him at a nightclub, which leads to the cover scene with the car; and going to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to investigate a Senator who he suspects is corrupt, prompting a confession by leaping around high buildings with the terrified man, which leads into the next issue. All the while, Clark tries to keep Superman out of the papers.

Collectibility

Action comics 1 cgc 9-point-0 vincent zurzolo

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The publ ...

'' estimated in 2012 that only 50 to 100 original copies of ''Action Comics'' #1 exist. In an April 2021

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

article, Vincent Zurzolo, COO of ComicConnect.com, an online auction and consignment company, said that it was estimated that about 100 copies of the issue were still in existence. ''Action Comics'' #1 has set several sales records for comic books. On February 22, 2010, a copy of ''Action Comics'' #1 CGC Grade 8.0 sold at

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 million, becoming the first million-dollar comic book. The sale, by an anonymous seller to an anonymous buyer, was through ComicConnect.com. On March 29, 2010, ComicConnect.com sold another copy for US$1.5 million, making it the most expensive and most valuable comic book of all time. The copy sold is the third highest-graded copy from the CGC, which stands at 8.5 VF+ grade, which Zurzolo said was among the best-kept copies. As of 2011, there were six known Comic Guaranty LLC (CGC)-graded copies with a grade above VG (CGC 4.0), with only one issue having the grade of VF/NM (CGC 9.0) at that time. EC and '' Mad'' publisher

William Gaines William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...

, whose father was also a comic book publisher and had business dealings with DC Comics at the time ''Action Comics'' #1 was published, claimed in a ''

Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'' interview that he at one point had dozens of copies of the issue around his house, but they were probably all thrown out. Another copy, rated CGC 5 ("Very Good/Fine"), was discovered in July 2010 by a family facing foreclosure on their home while packing their possessions. Estimated by ComicConnect.com to sell as high as $250,000, the comic fetched $436,000 at auction, saving the family's home. One copy was stolen from American actor

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

, an avid comic book collector, in 2000. In March 2011, it was found in a storage locker in the San Fernando Valley and was verified by ComicConnect.com to be the copy sold to him previously. Cage had previously received an insurance payment for the item. A copy which sold for $2.16 million on November 30, 2011 through ComicConnect.com is believed to have been this same one, having been noted as stolen in 2000 and recovered in 2011. ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' mentioned in its March 23, 2012 issue that a movie was in development based on the theft of Cage's copy of the comic book and would be titled ''Action No. 1''. The screenplay was a spec script written by ''

Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American comedy television series airing on Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic actors playing the police officers. Thomas Lennon, Ro ...

'' creators

Robert Ben Garant Robert Ben Garant (born September 14, 1970), credited earlier in his career as Ben Garant, is an American screenwriter, producer, director, actor and comedian. He has a long professional relationship with Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silve ...

and

Thomas Lennon Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series ''Reno 911!'' Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major st ...

and sold to

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

. They will produce along with Peter Principato and Paul Young. A CGC 9.0-graded comic, with white pages, was auctioned for sale on

in August 2014. The seller Darren Adams, a comic book store owner in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-large ...

, had purchased the issue from the estate of a man who had originally bought the issue from a newsstand on its release in 1938. The original buyer lived in high altitudes in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

and stored the comic in a stack with others, which provided the optimal "cool, dry and dark" conditions that lent well to a comic's age, according to Adams. The comic changed hands twice prior to the auction; first sold as part of an estate sale when the original purchaser died forty years after its publication, and then to a third person who held the comic for about thirty years. Some years prior to the auction, Adams was contacted by this third person, and seeing the pristine condition of the comic, purchased it for a "seven figure sum". He held onto the comic for a few years before deciding to sell it, keeping the existence of it otherwise a secret, even rejecting a $3 million offer to buy the comic outright. On his decision to sell, he opted to use eBay instead of other comic auction houses such as

Heritage Auctions Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, mu ...

, believing the auction site would reach a wider audience and was a better fit for the pop culture nature of the piece. After discussions with the site, Adams and eBay also arranged to donate 1% of the sale to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, reflecting on

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film '' Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey ...

's role as Superman in motion pictures. The auction ended on August 24, 2014 and sold for over $3.2 million. At the time, it was the highest value ever paid for a single issue of a comic book. The purchasers were Vincent Zurzolo and Stephen Fishler, the owners of Metropolis Collectibles; Zurzolo expected the value of the near-mint comic to continue to increase in time. The record for the highest amount paid for a copy was narrowly broken again on April 6, 2021, when ComicConnect.com announced that another copy of the issue was sold for $3.25 million in a private sale. The seller of the copy had purchased it in 2018 for slightly over $2 million.

Reprints

The first reprint of ''Action Comics'' #1 was published in 1974 as part of the "Famous First Editions" series. Beginning in the mid-1970s, DC reissued several of its most popular

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

comics as "Famous First Editions". These reprints were oversized, roughly double the size of the original editions, and had a cardboard-like cover. The interior, however, was an exact reprint of the original comic, right down to the ads. As a result, the ''

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ''The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (or ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'') is an annually published comic book price guide widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing in the ...

'' has, since the 1970s, published a warning advising that attempts have been made to pass off the reprint, stripped of its ''Famous First Edition'' cardboard cover, as an actual #1. However, the Guide does not cite any actual instances of this. DC reprinted ''Action Comics'' #1 in 1988 as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of Superman that year. This edition reprinted only the Superman story, with a 50¢ U.S.A. cover price. The complete issue was reprinted in 1998 with an additional half-cover featuring the Superman stamp from the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

's "Celebrate the Century" commemorative stamp series along with a "First Day of Issue" cancellation. It was sold by the U.S. Postal Service, shrinkwrapped, for $7.95. The complete issue, save for the inside front, inside back, and outside back cover, was reprinted in 2000 as part of DC Comics' '' Millennium Edition'' series of reprints of famous DC comics. The 1988, 1998 and 2000 reprints were published to the page-size standard of the 1988–2000 period, and not the larger page size utilized by ''Action Comics'' in 1938.

Relaunches

In September 2011, DC Comics canceled all of its monthly books, and relaunched 52 new ongoing titles, with a completely new fictional continuity, an initiative branded

The New 52 The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the " Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC canceled all its existing titles and debuted 52 new serie ...

. This included ending the original 73-year run of ''Action Comics'' with issue #904, October 2011 (on sale August 24, 2011). The first issue of ''Action Comics'' volume 2, with a cover date of November 2011, went on sale September 7, 2011. The New 52 version of ''Action Comics'' #1 went through five printings. The fifth printing, which went on sale March 28, 2012, is cover-dated May 2012 in both the UPC box on the cover and the indicia, with no mention of its original November 2011 cover date. In 2016, as part of the

DC Rebirth DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using the end of The New 52 initiative in May 2016 as its launching point, DC Rebirth restored the DC ...

relaunch, DC restored ''Action Comics'' original numbering, releasing ''Action Comics'' vol. 1 #957 after ''Action Comics'' vol. 2 #52. Subsequently, a commemorative poster celebrating 1,000 issues of ''Action Comics'' was released in 2018, which retroactively listed all issues of the ''New 52'' ''Action Comics'' vol. 2 with their cumulative issue numbers. As a result, ''Action Comics'' vol. 2 #1 is now also considered to be ''Action Comics'' vol. 1 #905 overall.

References

{{Superman publications 1938 in comics Superman titles Individual issues of comic series April 1938 events