The Omega Men are a fictional team of extraterrestrial superheroes who have appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics . They first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #141 (June 1981), and were created by Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton .
107-655: After appearances in Green Lantern , Action Comics and The New Teen Titans , the Omega Men were featured in their own comics series which ran for 38 issues from April 1983 to May 1986. During its run, writer Roger Slifer and artist Keith Giffen created the mercenary anti-hero Lobo . Later creators included writers Doug Moench and Todd Klein (who also lettered later issues in the run), artists Tod Smith, Shawn McManus and Alex Niño , and inkers Mike DeCarlo , Jim McDermott and Greg Theakston . Members of
214-487: A naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko , Don Heck , and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with
321-498: A tabloid -sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology , it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow-peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought
428-498: A Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman , was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon 's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the " superheroes " that would follow. In early 1939,
535-735: A collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer . The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats , in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault 's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley , starring
642-521: A copy of Action Comics #1 (June 1938) sold at auction for $ 3 million, besting the $ 317,000 record for a comic book set by a different copy, in lesser condition, the previous year. The sale, by an anonymous seller to an anonymous buyer, was through the Manhattan-based auction company ComicConnect.com. Although DC had initially announced Marc Guggenheim as writer of the title following the War of
749-488: A crossover arc with the Superman series, entitled " Up, Up and Away! " which told of Clark Kent attempting to protect Metropolis without his powers until eventually regaining them. The " Last Son " storyline was written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner , the director of the 1978 film Superman: The Movie , and was pencilled by Adam Kubert . This story introduces the original character, Christopher Kent , and adapts
856-429: A gorilla and his strip was renamed Congorilla . The introduction of Supergirl by Otto Binder and Al Plastino occurred in issue #252 (May 1959). Following this debut appearance, Supergirl adopted the secret identity of an orphan "Linda Lee" and made Midvale Orphanage her base of operations. In Action Comics #261 (February 1960), her pet cat Streaky was introduced by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney . Supergirl joined
963-599: A gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority . The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century. Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$ 1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect
1070-637: A history of the Superman canon as it existed at the time and was published in the Dollar Comics format. The superheroine Vixen made her first appearance in Action Comics #521 (July 1981). To mark the 45th anniversary of the series, Lex Luthor and Brainiac were both given an updated appearance in issue #544 (June 1983). Lex Luthor dons his war suit for the first time in the story "Luthor Unleashed!" and Brainiac's appearance changes from
1177-573: A major artist on Superman. Under editor Mort Weisinger , the Action Comics title saw a further expansion of the Superman mythology. Writer Jerry Coleman and Wayne Boring created the Fortress of Solitude in issue #241 (June 1958) and Otto Binder and Al Plastino debuted the villain Brainiac and the Bottle City of Kandor in the next issue the following month. Gradually, the size of
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#17327727732271284-603: A million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books. In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston , created the female superhero character Wonder Woman , who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942. MLJ 's Pep Comics debuted as
1391-498: A policeman who talked in rhyme. The series saw the introduction of several characters and themes that would become longstanding elements of the Superman mythos. Lois Lane made her debut in the first issue with Superman. An unnamed "office boy" with a bow tie makes a brief appearance in the story "Superman's Phony Manager" published in Action Comics #6 (November 1938), which is claimed to be Jimmy Olsen 's first appearance by several reference sources. New superpowers depicted for
1498-510: A profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era. The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did
1605-442: A promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish
1712-524: A rescue mission and all are killed. In The New 52 , a modified version of the Omega Men dubbed The Omegas was introduced. The new group consists of young aliens under the tutelage of Zealot . Each of the aliens' parents were enslaved by Lobo , and they are united in seeking revenge on the marauder. In 2015, as part of the "DC You" revamp of the DC Comics, a new Omega Men series was launched. The new series, which lasted 12 issues, retroactively replaced
1819-520: A superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics . Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring
1926-494: A ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in
2033-402: A third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were
2140-439: A three-month hiatus on two separate occasions. The first of these occurred during the summer of 1986, with issue #583 bearing a cover date of September, and issue #584 listing January 1987. The regular Superman titles were suspended during this period to allow for the publication of John Byrne's six-issue The Man of Steel limited series. Publication was again suspended between issues #686 and #687 (February and June 1993) following
2247-508: A true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands ". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930. In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines , sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg , and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut , company Eastern Color Printing —which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as
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#17327727732272354-777: A way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies , but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , and the Bell-McClure Syndicate . These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith 's Mutt and Jeff , Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka , and Percy Crosby 's Skippy . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as
2461-461: A year. In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr. ) published The Funnies , described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than
2568-539: Is not yet trusted by Metropolis citizens and wears a basic costume consisting of a caped T-shirt, jeans and work boots. The first issue has had five printings as of March 2012. The first story arc of the relaunched series, entitled Superman and the Men of Steel for the collected edition, begins very early in Superman's career as he starts making a name for himself as a champion of the oppressed in Metropolis. He captures
2675-580: Is only available in the Vega Star system. The planets of the Vega Star system as a result, have been wholesale enslaved by the alien corporation. Several worlds, whose inhabitants resisted the Citadal, were subjected to genocide: survivors of the genocide from these worlds, became the Omega Men. The group is led by Primus, recast as a wealthy pacifist who was imprisoned by the Citadel to silence him. Due to
2782-464: Is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined
2889-608: The Atom . Between issues #423 (April 1973) and #424 (June 1973), the series jumped ahead by one month due to DC's decision to change the cover dates of its publishing line. A new version of the Toyman was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan in issue #432 (February 1974). Issues #437 (July 1974) and #443 (Jan. 1975) of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format. Martin Pasko wrote issue #500 (October 1979) which featured
2996-667: The Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space . Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics , also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ),
3103-517: The Golden Age of Comic Books . Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character—conceived initially as a newspaper strip . Superman was originally a bald madman created by Siegel and Shuster who used his telepathic abilities to wreak havoc on humanity. He appeared in Siegel and Shuster's fanzine Science Fiction . Siegel then commented, "What if this Superman
3210-613: The Human Torch , and the Sub-Mariner , briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics ' Young Romance and with Young Love , the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers. Dell 's comic books accounted for
3317-461: The Legion of Super-Heroes in issue #276. She acted for three years as Superman's "secret weapon", until her existence was revealed in Action Comics #285 (January 1962). In the view of comics historian Les Daniels , artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a "new look" to the character that replaced Wayne Boring's version. Bizarro World first appeared in
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3424-949: The New Teen Titans . Other costars during this period included the Phantom Stranger , the New Gods , the Demon , Hawkman and Hawkwoman , the Green Lantern Corps , the Metal Men , Superboy , Big Barda , Mister Miracle , Booster Gold , the Martian Manhunter , the Spectre , Lois Lane and Lana Lang , Checkmate , Wonder Woman , and the Man-Bat . The first Action Comics Annual
3531-685: The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954. In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on
3638-580: The United States , on average 32 pages, containing comics . While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics , which included the debut of the superhero Superman . This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II . After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw
3745-615: The Vega system , a planetary system with twenty-five habitable planets, which as of the early 1980s had been ruled for millennia by the Citadelians, a race of warriors cloned from the First Citadelian, the demi-godlike son of X'Hal. The Citadelians established a tyrannical regime based in a fortress moon known as the Citadel. The Citadel then set about to conquer the younger races of Vega. Originally there were only two races in
3852-663: The Yellow Kid . The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend , measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly , did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted
3959-406: The " Reign of Doomsday " storyline. The final issue of the original series was Action Comics #904. The title was relaunched from issue #1, as part of 2011's The New 52 by the creative team of writer Grant Morrison and artist Rags Morales . As with all of the books associated with the relaunch, Clark Kent appears younger than the previous incarnation of the character. Action Comics focus on
4066-637: The "Death of Superman" and "Funeral for a Friend" storylines, before Action Comics returned in June 1993 with the "Reign of the Supermen" arc. The series was published weekly from May 24, 1988, to March 14, 1989. (See detail in The Modern Age section above.) The temporarily increased frequency of issues allowed Action Comics to further surpass the older Detective Comics in the number of individual issues published. It surpassed Detective Comics in
4173-535: The 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published. Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton , Dell , Gold Key , Harvey Comics , and Tower . Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following
4280-457: The 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story. In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics , Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen , had
4387-527: The 1970s when that series was bimonthly for a number of years. This change lasted from issue #601 to issue #642. During this time, Superman appeared only in a two-page story per issue; he was still the only character to appear in every issue of the series. An issue #0 (October 1994) was published between issues #703 and #704 as part of the Zero Month after the "Zero Hour: Crisis in Time" crossover event. There
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4494-542: The 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses. The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck ,
4601-476: The 1991 story wherein Clark Kent finally revealed his identity as Superman to Lois Lane . Several major Superman storylines crossed over with Action Comics including "Emperor Joker" in 2000 and " Our Worlds at War " in 2001. John Byrne returned to Action Comics for issues #827–835 working with writer Gail Simone in 2005–2006. After the " One Year Later " company-wide storyline, Action Comics had
4708-520: The 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking
4815-598: The American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom . While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist , or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds. Particularly in superhero comic books,
4922-615: The Blackhawks (in flashback), Deadman, and the Phantom Stranger. The story ran counter to DC editorial policy at the time as it portrayed Hal Jordan and Clark Kent as old friends who knew each other's secret identities. This was not considered canon in 1989 and Gaiman was unwilling to change this aspect of the story (as each serial in ACW was edited by different editors, continuity was not being maintained by DC editorial). The story
5029-678: The CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952). The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance , television properties, and Westerns . Detective, fantasy , teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955. In
5136-479: The Citadel corporation forces Kyle to surrender his white power ring upon meeting him (for "security" reasons; in truth, due to him coveting the ring for his own selfish desires). Shortly afterwards, Kyle is kidnapped by the Omega Men, who fake his death and then force Kyle to join them on a tour of the Vega Star System so he could see the evil of the Citadel and expose their sins. Kyle eventually realizes
5243-609: The Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use " Bronze Age " to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp. The development of the " direct market " distribution system in
5350-412: The Omega Men also appeared in the 2004 eight-issue Adam Strange limited series , as well as the 2005 Infinite Crisis lead-in 6-issue limited series, Rann-Thanagar War and the 2008 follow-up Rann-Thanagar Holy War . In 2006 they had their own six issue limited series with Tigorr, Doc, Elu, Broot and Ryand'r - written by Andersen Gabrych and art by Henry Flint . The Omega Men hail from
5457-474: The Superman stories from the given issues. Action Comics #684 was part of " The Death of Superman " storyline which won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for "Favorite Comic Book Story" for 1992. Action Comics #687–691 were part of "The Reign of the Supermen" storyline, which won the same award for 1993. American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in
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#17327727732275564-410: The Supermen limited series, he was replaced by Paul Cornell . Cornell featured Lex Luthor as the main character in Action Comics from issues #890–900 and Death appeared in issue #894, with the agreement of the character's creator, Neil Gaiman . In April 2011, the 900th issue of Action Comics was released. It served as a conclusion for Luthor's "Black Ring" storyline and a continuation for
5671-632: The Vegan system, the primitive Branx and the pacifistic Okaarans, but the Psions used Okaaran DNA to create the other twenty-three races of Vega such as the Tamaraneans , Euphorixians, Aelloans, Karnans, and the Changralyns. The Omega Men were assembled as a group of renegades and representatives of conquered Vegan worlds to fight Citadelian aggression. Pre- Infinite Crisis the team was based on
5778-407: The angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man , Hulk , X-Men and Fantastic Four . This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This
5885-408: The art may be divided between: The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline , finalizing it with a script . After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have
5992-416: The attention of the military and scientist Lex Luthor, who are both interested in testing his capabilities as well as discovering what kind of threat he represents. Following the completion of Morrison's storyline, writer Andy Diggle and artist Tony Daniel became the new creative team on the title with issue #19. Unlike the previous issues, the setting for the Action Comics series would now take place in
6099-478: The bandwagon in 1960. In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America ), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics . With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated
6206-474: The book. They were still fighting the Spider Empire. A vision by one of their new members, a precog, results in them waiting in a Rannian space station for some time; their ultimate purpose to meet Adam Strange. It was in this storyline that the first Doc is discovered to be a Durlan assassin. Doc himself is presumed slain. In the recent Omega Men mini-series, it had been revealed that upon returning to
6313-631: The character had a brief run as the backup in World's Finest Comics . Julius Schwartz became the editor of the series with issue #419 (December 1972) which also introduced the Human Target by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino in the backup feature. The Green Arrow and the Black Canary became a backup feature in #421 and ran through #458, initially rotating with the Human Target and
6420-541: The classic Superman film villains, General Zod , Ursa and Non into the regular DC Universe continuity. Issue #851 (August 2007) was presented in 3-D . Starting with issue #875 (May 2009), written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Eddy Barrows , Thara Ak-Var and Chris Kent, took Superman's place as the main protagonists of the comic, while Superman left Earth to live on New Krypton. A Captain Atom backup feature began in issue #879 (September 2009). On February 22, 2010,
6527-501: The comic books. An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic . It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books . American comic books are one of the three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books . The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. Historically,
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#17327727732276634-534: The comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman . The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural -crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult . In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled
6741-432: The countercultural era. Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s. Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote
6848-464: The country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent , where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety,
6955-451: The cover feature of their new magazine. After seeing the published first issue, publisher Harry Donenfeld dismissed the featured strip as ridiculous. He ordered it never to be on the cover of the series. 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. Initially, Action Comics
7062-575: The darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics , Dark Horse Comics , and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics . This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as " A Death in the Family " in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin ), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of
7169-420: The death of the Citadel's leadership caste. Meanwhile, Kyle, who had assumed the alias of "Green Man" during the time with the Omega Men, regains his White Lantern ring and is ultimately banished back to Earth by the Omega Men when he fails to convince them to spare the leaders of the Citadel. Action Comics Action Comics is an American comic book / magazine series that introduced Superman , one of
7276-464: The early days of Superman's career, while the Superman series focus on Superman's present. Superheroes at large have appeared only in the past five years, and are viewed with at best, suspicion, and at worst, outright hostility. The storyline in Action Comics takes place about a year before the events of Justice League #1, and was referred to by DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio as "DC Universe Year Zero" while JL operates as "Year One." The Man of Steel
7383-471: The early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name— Disney comics by Barks were signed " Walt Disney ". In
7490-522: The end of its initial run, Action Comics was no exception, and the first issue of the new series was released on September 7, 2011. In February 2016, it was announced that as part of the DC Rebirth relaunch, Action Comics would resume its original numbering system, starting with issue #957 (Aug. 2016) and ship on a twice-monthly schedule. The Action Comics series is included in many trade paperbacks and hardcovers. These generally reprint only
7597-429: The familiar green-skinned android to the metal skeletal-like robot in the story "Rebirth!". Keith Giffen 's Ambush Bug character made appearances in issues #560, #563, and #565. Action Comics #579, written by Jean-Marc Lofficier and drawn by Giffen, featured an homage to Asterix where Superman and Jimmy Olsen are drawn back in time to a small village of indomitable Gauls. Schwartz ended his run as editor of
7704-444: The final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer. The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors , the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers. Another aspect of
7811-760: The first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc. , which later merged into National Comics Publications (later 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. The second volume of Action Comics beginning 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
7918-492: The first time for the character included X-ray vision and super-hearing in issue #11 (April 1939) and telescopic vision and super-breath in issue #20 (January 1940). Luthor , a villain who would later become Superman's arch-enemy , was introduced in issue #23 (April 1940). The original Toyman was created by writer Don Cameron and artist Ed Dobrotka in issue #64 (September 1943). By 1942, artist Wayne Boring , who had previously been one of Shuster's assistants, had become
8025-483: The introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency , which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there
8132-428: The issues was decreased. The publisher was reluctant to raise the cover price from the original 10 cents and reduced the number of stories. For a while, Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were the two features in addition to Superman. Writer Robert Bernstein and artist Howard Sherman revamped the "Congo Bill" backup feature in issue #248 (January 1959) in a story wherein the character gained the ability to swap bodies with
8239-628: The late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across
8346-484: The lead writer on the series, as well as its companion series Superman . Action Comics is the longest-running DC Comics series by number of issues, followed by Detective Comics . A departure from a strict monthly schedule was four giant-size Supergirl reprint issues published as a 13th issue annually: issues #334 (March 1966), #347 (March–April 1967), #360 (March–April 1968), and #373 (March–April 1969). Action Comics has not had an uninterrupted run, having been on
8453-433: The major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing. Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed
8560-408: The new creative team on the series with issue #25 (Jan. 2014). This series concluded with issue #52 (July 2016), which was part of the "Final Days of Superman" storyline which depicted the death of the "New 52" version of Superman. As part of DC Comics' DC Rebirth relaunch in June 2016, Action Comics reverted to its original numbering beginning with Action Comics #957. Written by Dan Jurgens ,
8667-547: The planet Kuraq. The Omega Men are important peacekeepers in their sector because the Green Lantern Corps is not allowed into Vegan space, due to a long-standing agreement with the Psions. The Omega Men made a return appearance in the Adam Strange mini-series. Still led by Tigorr, with veteran members Broot, Doc, Elu, Artin and Harpis. They were joined by a group of new members whose names were given, but not identified in
8774-533: The power and influence over thousands of worlds, the Citadel has framed the Omega Men as terrorists and murderers. The reach of the Citadel even ascends to Earth: after making contact with the US Military, to broker a deal to sell them metal from the Vega Star System, the US Government secretly sends Kyle Rayner to broker a deal with the Citadel at the start of the twelve issue series. However, the head of
8881-475: The present. Diggle announced his resignation as the writer of the series shortly before his first issue went on sale. Diggle left the title with only one issue completed (he would be co-writer for #20 and co-plot issue #21), with Daniel taking on full scripting and art duties for the two following issues completing the three-part story arc "Hybrid". Scott Lobdell wrote the series after Diggle and Daniel's departure. Writer Greg Pak and artist Aaron Kuder became
8988-447: The previous "New 52" Omega group in canon. The series, written by Tom King , rebooted the entire story of the Omega Men. In the new canon, the Citadel is now an interplanetary corporation. The Citadel, exploiting the chaos from the destruction of Krypton, has begun selling thousands of worlds rare metal that can be used to "stabilize planetary cores" to prevent a world from exploding ala Krypton. The rare, planetary core stabilizing metal,
9095-559: The process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition. The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix , continued somewhat in
9202-505: The publication of Robert Crumb 's irregularly published Zap Comix . Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint , Kitchen Sink , Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in
9309-650: The red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium . When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics , to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as
9416-580: The regular cover, blank variant cover, eight covers spanning eight decades from the 1930s-2000s, nineteen other variant covers from variant artists, and a hardcover Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman Deluxe Edition . Brian Michael Bendis became the new writer for the Action Comics series starting with issue #1001. Starting with issue #1029, the title became a part of the Infinite Frontier relaunch in March 2021. Phillip Kennedy Johnson became
9523-639: The remains of Tamaran with Ryand'r (who was not part of the team in the Adam Strange mini-series), the Omegans are attacked by the Darkstar zombies of Lady Styx and all but five of them died. The Omega Men have been seen fleeing L.E.G.I.O.N. robots during a hostile takeover ousting Vril Dox . An alternate future has the Earth taken over by a new Nazi movement. A division of Omega Men participates in
9630-653: The run included the Black Canary , Blackhawk , Captain Marvel , Catwoman , Deadman , Nightwing , the Phantom Lady , the Phantom Stranger , the Secret Six , Speedy , and Wild Dog . Titles spun off from Action Comics at this time included a Catwoman miniseries and a Blackhawk ongoing, in both cases by the same creative teams that worked on the weekly serials. During and after Action Comics Weekly' s run, two Green Lantern Special s were published in late 1988 and
9737-629: The satirical Mad —a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code. DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas ) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash
9844-749: The second in spring 1989, the latter special wrapping up the storylines from the Green Lantern serials in Action Comics Weekly . Each issue featured a two-page Superman serial, a feature that, according to an editorial in the first weekly issue, was intended as a homage to the Superman newspaper strips of the past. The final issue of the weekly was originally intended to feature a book-length encounter between Clark Kent and Hal Jordan by writer Neil Gaiman . While Gaiman's story primarily teamed up Green Lantern and Superman, it also featured other characters from Action Comics Weekly , including
9951-441: The series ships twice-monthly and serves as a continuation of the comic book series Superman: Lois and Clark , which featured the pre- Flashpoint Superman alongside his wife, Lois Lane, and their son, Jon Kent . For the series' 1000th issue —released on April 18, 2018, the 80th anniversary of the premiere issue—DC returned Superman to his traditional costume with the red trunks and yellow belt. Action Comics #1000 collects
10058-530: The series with issue #583 (September 1986) which featured the second part of the " Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? " story by Alan Moore and Curt Swan. Following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths , writer/artist John Byrne relaunched the Superman franchise in The Man of Steel limited series in 1986. Action Comics became a team-up title with issue #584 (January 1987) featuring Superman and
10165-408: The size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm). This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4. In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches. The format of
10272-456: The story "The World of Bizarros!" in issue #262 (April 1960). Writer Jim Shooter created the villain the Parasite in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966). Mort Weisinger retired from DC in 1970 and his final issue of Action Comics was issue #392 (September 1970). Murray Boltinoff became the title's editor until issue #418. Metamorpho was the backup feature in issues #413–418 after which
10379-581: The success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman , who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books . It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half
10486-793: The title and was joined by scripter Roger Stern the following month. As writer of the series, Stern contributed to such storylines as "Panic in the Sky" and " The Death of Superman ". He created the Eradicator in Action Comics Annual #2 and later incorporated the character into the "Reign of the Supermen" story arc beginning in The Adventures of Superman #500. The Eradicator then took over Action Comics as "the Last Son of Krypton" in issue #687 (June 1993). Stern wrote
10593-417: The tradition of the earlier underground comics , while others, such as Star Reach , resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist. This so-called " small press " scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in
10700-422: The truth about the Citadel and with the Omega Men's help, crash an interview with the head of the Citadel, in order to air recorded footage of the Citadel destroying an entire populated planet that had been mined dry of the rare metal. The move clears the Omega Men's good name but fails to stop the Citadel's activities in the Vega Star System. A final battle between the Citadel and the Omega Men then ensues, ending in
10807-408: Was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it. While the creators of comics were given credit in
10914-431: 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 . They were asked to contribute a feature for National's newest publication. They submitted Superman for consideration. After re-pasting the sample newspaper strips they had prepared into comic book page format, National decided to make Superman
11021-464: Was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower . The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of
11128-491: Was an anthology title featuring several other stories in addition to the Superman story. Zatara , a magician, was one of the other characters who had his own stories in early issues. There was the hero Tex Thompson , who eventually became Mr. America and later the Americommando . Vigilante enjoyed a lengthy run in this series. Sometimes stories of a more humorous nature were included, such as those of Hayfoot Henry ,
11235-493: Was an issue #1,000,000 (November 1998) during the " DC One Million " crossover event in October 1998 between issues #748 and #749. On June 1, 2011, it was announced that all series taking place within the shared DC Universe would be either canceled or relaunched with new #1 issues, after a new continuity was created in the wake of the Flashpoint event. Although being DC's longest running series, having reached issue #904 at
11342-713: Was published in 1987 and featured Superman teaming with Batman in a story written by Byrne and drawn by Arthur Adams . A DC Comics Bonus Book was included in issue #599 (April 1988). From May 24, 1988 – March 14, 1989, the publication frequency was changed to weekly, the title changed to Action Comics Weekly , and the series became an anthology. Prior to its launch, DC cancelled its ongoing Green Lantern Corps title and made Green Lantern and his adventures exclusive to Action Comics Weekly . The rest of these issues featured rotating serialized stories of other DC heroes, sometimes as try-outs that led to their own limited or ongoing series. Characters with featured stories in
11449-621: Was pulled and a different story, written by Elliot S. Maggin , was run. Gaiman's story was finally published as a one-shot in Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame in November 2000. The Action Comics Weekly experiment lasted only until the beginning of March 1989 and after a short break, issue #643 (July 1989) brought the title back onto a monthly schedule. Writer/artist George Pérez took over
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