Action Comics, Vol. 1

#1AN

Superman Day Facsimile 2025 Foil Variant

Release: Apr 16, 2025

Cover: Jun 2025

Creators

Writer	Jerry Siegel, Sven Elven, Fred Guardineer, Ken Fitch, Will Ely, Homer Fleming, Russell Cole
Artist	Sven Elven, Fred Guardineer, Bernard Baily, Joe Shuster, Will Ely, Homer Fleming, Russell Cole
Cover Artist	Joe Shuster
Editor	Vincent Sullivan
Editor in Chief	Vincent Sullivan

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While I already had a facsimile edition of this issue that I’d picked up a while back, that version was scaled down to fit the standard size of a modern comic, whereas this special edition for Superman Day, and as the start of the “Summer of Superman” synergistic marketing blitz for the upcoming movie, retains the original Golden Age dimensions.

This places it somewhere in the middle between a standard modern comic and a magazine-sized comic, though somewhat closer to the latter.

As is typical when it’s an option, I went with the foil version. Why? Why not? Might as well just give in to excess.

I have the main story that serves as the introduction of the Man of Steel – and which actually ends on a cliffhanger – reprinted in various other collections, but being a facsimile, this contains not only that story but several others and also reprints the original ads.

Kids in 1938 got a lot for their 10 cents, as besides introducing the world to Superman – and, of course, Lois Lane – the comic has stories featuring cowboy hero “Chuck” Dawson, crimefighting magician Zatara, a two-page installment of a prose story (with illustrations), a comic strip style character called Sticky-Mitt Stimson, the Adventures of Marco Polo, versatile young athlete “Pep” Morgan, Scoop Scanlon, Five Star Reporter, and Tex Thompson.

The issue is rounded out by a one-page feature called Stardust which provides trivia about and illustrations of some of the stars of Tinsel Town, and even the inside back cover features Odds ‘N Ends about some of the greats in the world of baseball, such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

With the exception of the Scoop Scanlon story, the Odds ‘N Ends feature, and the “Chuck” Dawson story, all of the features are in full color.

In the case of the “Chuck” Dawson story, the inside front cover advertises a contest – with a $25 prize – calling on readers to color in the first page of the story and then *gulp* tear out the page and mail it in.

As for the main event, the story opens with a page that provides a quick synopsis of who Superman is and how he is so strong, leaving out any mention of his upbringing by Jonathan and Martha Kent, and explaining his great strength as being the result of being from a planet whose inhabitants were millions of years more advanced than us.

The story itself is, well, action-packed, starting out with Superman bursting into the governor’s mansion to save the life of an innocent woman who’s about to be executed. As Clark, we see him – at The Daily Star – being tasked with finding out anything he can about this mysterious “Superman” character and insisting that no one can, then heading off to rescue a woman from an abusive husband.

Then the timid Clark manages to ask Lois Lane out on a date that ends with Lois disgusted by Clark’s cowardice and as the victim of a kidnapping, from which Superman rescues her. For all the good it does her, as even though their boss is eager to learn more about Superman he doesn’t believe Lois’s story.

Clark is then assigned to cover a war in South America, but he goes instead to Washinton D.C., where he tumbles onto a plot to get the U.S. embroiled in the war in Europe. The story ends with Superman trying to get the details from a shady lobbyist, with the two of them seemingly falling to their doom as the not-yet-able-to-fly Superman makes a single bound that isn’t quite far enough to reach the building he was leaping to, not over.

It’s interesting to look at this issue not only because of its place in history but also just for the form and style of it, because while it represents a seismic shift due to the introduction of one of the most famous fictional characters in the world, as a comic, it was in that transitional period between comic books simply being collections of comic strips pasted together and developing their own style and storytelling language.

Indeed, the origins of comic books as a collection of strips is apparent in the blurb that appears at the end of the story to get everyone hyped for the next exciting issue.

And so begins the startling adventures of the most sensational strip character of all time: Superman! A physical marvel. A mental wonder. Superman is destined to reshape the destiny of a world!

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