Why I Chose Action Comics

[Brandon Shepherd]

On April 18, 1938, a new feature magazine was published, a magazine called Action Comics.

 

The third and final focus of my journal series on my discovery of Superman reflects on the theme of my comic collection, Action Comics. One day, during a routine trip to Sam's with my family, I was in the book area where I found a small, pocket size book, a book called Superman in Action Comics: Featuring the Complete Covers of the Second 25 Years. There was no divine light eliminating this booklet, and no choir humming, but this book was the lone copy, and out of place on a very long table of new releases, paper backs and generic how to books. I thumbed through it and had to have it, I took it to my dad. My mom was always the 'yes'; parent, so I was preparing for the scrutiny of a lecture form my dad about how I will need to do more yard work, and how he and my mother did not have it as good as my sister and I and so on, so I was surprised when he smiled and said yes, I could get this. I think this was sometime in 1995, Superman was still new to me. The first cover pictured in this pocket book is Action Comics #301, cover dated June, 1963 and goes to cover #600, May, 1988. With a great introduction by Mark Waid and 25 years worth of covers to flip through, my imagination was set for overtime. I saw names like Curt Swan, Neal Admas, Nick Cardy, John Bryne and several other cover artists. As I flipped through the covers I would think things like, "so this is how Superman looked when mom and dad were my age" or how Superman used to wear a really short cape. Also, after discovering a comic book used to cost 12 cents, I would look at a jar of change and think about how many comics I could have gotten 30 years ago with this pocket change. As I was also starting to follow the monthly Superman comics in 1994, the issues from the Byrne run (cover #'s 584 to 600) were the only covers that I could come close to connecting with; every other cover had a Superman that was not familiar to me. Several months later, I was at a gift shop at Kings Island, an amusement park in Cincinnati, OH, where I found volume one of Superman in Action Comics. I did not expect to find this at an amusement park, like the second volume, my parents instantly agreed to let me get it. The best part about having volume one was getting to see Superman in his early years, where it all began. I liked the World War II covers and my parents and I laughed at the many goofy covers from the forties and fifties. I had often wondered if my grandparents recalled seeing Superman comics when they first came out, they would have been at the right age for reading comics in 1938. I loved seeing Superman from a time when he was still new, when it was impressive to show a youthful and invulnerable character on a comic cover. Superman seem to have a bit of youthful cockiness to him, a constant smirk, this was a sharp contrast from the middle aged man with a slightly receding hairline, who looked like he still had some muscle from his days in the navy, but drank a lot of beer with his meat and potatoes, and would appear often dumbfounded on the covers of the sixties. I would grow out of comics for a while, get back into them again, discover new characters and titles but I would always come back to these two pocket books. These books were never tucked away and forgotten about. My first CGC comic was a '90s issue of Detective Comics, I purchased this in 2006, the piece was not expensive and purchased with the intent of learning about something new. It would be another year or so before I realized that I would do better to have a focus, the slabs I had were random issues, with a few '80s examples of Action Comics. At this time, Batman and X-Men slabs in 9.8 from any era seemed expensive, 9.8 books from the '70s also seemed elusive and expensive (this has changed considerably) but Superman books seemed to be more affordable. After seeing various Superman titles in grade, I realized that the most appealing covers were the ones with Action in the title, this had been in front of me the entire time, Action Comics became the theme and focus of my CGC collection, especially the covers I used to look at all the time in those two pocket books. Happy Birthday, Action Comics!

 

See more journals by Brandon Shepherd

[SW3D]

Hey Brandon,

 

How does one send a Birthday Card to Superman? Do we mail it to the Fortress of Solitude, the Daily Planet, or care of the Justice League?

 

Or can we collectively wish him a Happy Birthday through Social Media channels?

 

I wonder if he's on Facebook or Twitter?

 

75 years and running... incredible... or simply Super!

 

You may like this website link: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-superman-110901-1.html

 

Happy Birthday Superman!

 

SW3D

[adamstrange]

I have those volumes and those are a good way to get introduced to what came before. Thanks for sharing your story. (thumbs u

[Brandon Shepherd]

Hey Brandon,

 

How does one send a Birthday Card to Superman? Do we mail it to the Fortress of Solitude, the Daily Planet, or care of the Justice League?

 

Or can we collectively wish him a Happy Birthday through Social Media channels?

 

I wonder if he's on Facebook or Twitter?

 

75 years and running... incredible... or simply Super!

 

You may like this website link: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-superman-110901-1.html

 

Happy Birthday Superman!

 

SW3D

 

I'm taking the social media route, nice link by the way!

[Brandon Shepherd]

I have those volumes and those are a good way to get introduced to what came before. Thanks for sharing your story. (thumbs u

 

Thanks, I found the ones for Detective Comics years later, but they can't touch Action Comics!

[Tnerb]

Brilliant Story.

 

While I think every comic book collector has some story about Superman I particularly like yours. Mine Started with the movie back in 78' and I did pick up some comic books from the Action Comics line. Issue numbers 503 and 507 predominantly come to mind. It was eventually Marvel comic books that swayed my allowance but I would pick up a Superman book here or there, Byrne's Superman run comes to mind.

 

Thank you for Sharing

[adamstrange]

I have those volumes and those are a good way to get introduced to what came before. Thanks for sharing your story. (thumbs u

 

Thanks, I found the ones for Detective Comics years later, but they can't touch Action Comics!

 

 

Don't be dissin' Bats. They're both awesome

 

About the same time as those little editions, DC published a couple coffee table books "The Golden Age of Superman" and "The Silver Age of Superman." They are inexpensive and have fewer images but do more full page reproductions of covers.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Superman-Greatest-Covers/dp/0896600424/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366488565&sr=1-2&keywords=golden+age+of+superman

[Brandon Shepherd]

No dissin' of Bats intended, I should be more specific and clarify, since I got the Detective books as a teen, I really liked them, they just couldn't touch the nostalgia of getting the Action books as a kid.

 

I saw one of the coffee table books at Mile High Comics a few years back, I should have picked it up then.

[Brandon Shepherd]

Brilliant Story.

 

While I think every comic book collector has some story about Superman I particularly like yours. Mine Started with the movie back in 78' and I did pick up some comic books from the Action Comics line. Issue numbers 503 and 507 predominantly come to mind. It was eventually Marvel comic books that swayed my allowance but I would pick up a Superman book here or there, Byrne's Superman run comes to mind.

 

Thank you for Sharing

 

Thanks Tnerb, I hear you on the allowance swaying one way, I tried to jump into other storylines like Batman (Knightfall/Knightquest/Knightsend) and X-Men: Age of Apocalypse. With Superman taking priority, I could only get these issues here and there so I would never have the complete story.

[adamstrange]

No dissin' of Bats intended, I should be more specific and clarify, since I got the Detective books as a teen, I really liked them, they just couldn't touch the nostalgia of getting the Action books as a kid.

 

Just busting you.