Action Comics

Action Comics
Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the debut of Superman. Cover art by Joe Shuster.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	List Monthly: #1–904 (Vol. 2) Monthly: #1–52 (vol. 1 cont.) Twice Monthly: #957–present
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	List (Vol. 1) June 1938–October 2011 (Vol. 2) November 2011–July 2016 (vol. 1 cont.) August 2016–present
Number of issues	List (Vol. 1) 906 (#1–904 plus issues numbered 0 and 1,000,000) and 13 Annuals (Vol. 2) 57 (#1–52 plus issues numbered 0 and 23.1 through 23.4) and 3 Annuals (vol. 1 cont.): 10 (#957-966) (as of December 2016 cover date)
Main character(s)	Superman
Creative team
Writer(s)	List Vol. 1: Jerry Siegel Robert Bernstein Otto Binder Jim Shooter Elliot S. Maggin Cary Bates Martin Pasko Len Wein George Pérez John Byrne Roger Stern Marv Wolfman Kurt Busiek Gail Simone Greg Rucka Vol. 2: Andy Diggle Scott Lobdell Grant Morrison Greg Pak (vol. 1 cont.): Dan Jurgens
Penciller(s)	List Vol. 1: Joe Shuster Wayne Boring Al Plastino Jim Mooney Ross Andru Curt Swan Dick Dillin Dick Giordano Mike Grell Kurt Schaffenberger Gil Kane Irv Novick John Byrne George Pérez Stuart Immonen Bob McLeod Pasqual Ferry Talent Caldwell Ivan Reis Joe Prado Ed Benes Adam Kubert Pete Woods Gary Frank Eddy Barrows Vol. 2: Rags Morales Tony Daniel Andy Kubert Aaron Kuder
Inker(s)	List Vol. 1: Murphy Anderson Tex Blaisdell Frank Chiaramonte Dick Giordano Bob Oksner Brett Breeding Denis Rodier Ty Templeton Vol. 2: Rick Bryant John Dell
Collected editions
Superman Chronicles Vol 1
Superman Chronicles Vol 2
Superman in the Forties
Archives Vol 1
Archives Vol 2
Archives Vol 3
Archives Vol 4
Archives Vol 5

Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters as the term is popularly defined. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications and as National Periodical Publications, before taking on its current name of DC Comics. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the longest-running comic books with consecutively numbered issues. A second volume of Action Comics with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016. Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957 (Aug. 2016).

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster saw their creation, Superman (also known as Kal-El, originally Kal-L), launched in Action Comics #1 on April 18, 1938 (cover dated June), an event which began the Golden Age of Comic Books. Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character originally conceived as a newspaper strip without success. Superman was originally a bald madman created by Siegel and Shuster who used his telepathic abilities to wreak havoc on mankind. He appeared in Siegel and Shuster's book Science Fiction. Siegel then commented, "What if this Superman was a force for good instead of evil?" The writer and artist had worked on several features for National Allied Publications' other titles such as Slam Bradley in Detective Comics 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. After seeing the published first issue, publisher Harry Donenfeld dismissed the featured strip as ridiculous and ordered it never to be on the cover of the series again. Subsequent reports of the first issue's strong sales and follow up investigations revealed that Superman was the reason, thus the character returned to the covers, becoming a permanent presence in issue 19 onward.