Superman The Action Comics Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions) [Hardcover]

DC Comics (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 1998 | Series: Superman: The Action Comics Archives (Book 1)

When the last son of Krypton was sent to Earth, one of the greatest legends of all time was born. This book collects some of the earliest tales of Superman as they were first published. Written and drawn by his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, included here are the orginal first appearances of Lois Lane and Superman's alter ego Clark Kent, as well as the Man of Steel's first use of his x-ray vision.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (May 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563893355
• ISBN-13: 978-1563893353
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.7 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The comic book that started it all with The Man Of Steel!, September 19, 2001

By 

B. Mah "Bill" (Edmonton, AB, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman The Action Comics Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions) (Hardcover)

Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1 in June, 1938. He became an instant sensation with readers, and started the superhero trend.

Superman: The Action Comics Archives volume 1 reprints only the Superman stories from Action Comics #1, and #7-20 (issues 2 thru 6 were reprinted in early issues of Superman). These stories featured a Man of Steel who did anything to get justice done, including escaping from Police whenever they get on his trail! He didn't have all the superpowers that his modern version has today, or that modern version's sense of justice.

Superman fought normal criminals in his early years, before getting a regular rogues gallery like arch mastermind Lex Luthor, the alien Brainiac, Bizarro, The Prankster, etc. One villain who became Superman's first recurring foe in this book was the Ultra-Humanite. A sinister villain who was thwarted by the Man of Steel many times.

Read the classic stories from comics' Golden Age that started it all in Superman: The Action Comics Archives!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Zeus of modern American mythology..., June 24, 2006

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Superman The Action Comics Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions) (Hardcover)

Superman has flown through American culture for nearly seventy years. He has appeared in almost every twentieth century entertainment medium: comics, television, and movies. With such ubiquity and staying power, it's probably fair to say that Superman stands as the Zeus of modern American mythology. Not only that, as Comic historian Mark Waid says in this book's introduction, Superman vicariously fulfills nearly every person's hidden dream of invincibility. Nothing can touch this guy. Not crooks with guns, not the law (who also have guns), not corrupt politicians (who might have guns), not even larger than life supervillans. In short, Superman embodies the American principle that "in America you can do what you want." If you're Superman, this is definitely true. How many people wouldn't want to shed their vulnerable human skins for that kind of power?

Superman has become an all-out good guy in his later years. Now he works with the law, and dishes out justice by the book. For those familair with only this late Superman, the stories in this volume will produce gaping, eye-widening shock. In these early stories Superman takes the law into his own hands and metes out justice on his own eye-for-an-eye terms. In the first story, Superman drags a corrupt Senator on a terrifying trip from building to building and live power line to live power line. "I wonder if we can jump all the way to that building?" he asks. "NO DON'T" his captive pleads. He jumps and says "Missed -- doggone it!" while the politician writhes in agony. Over a series of live wires Superman man says "Oops! Almost touched that pole!" The Senator gives out a "Ye-eow!" By the hands of Superman, criminals receive the same treatment they dish out to their victims. A man involved in rigging a circus gets tossed into the air until he confesses. A wisecracking office mate gets his clothes torn off as retribution. Many get hit hard, one gets dropped into tar, a governor gets abducted from his bed to hear the confession of a corrupt workhouse superintendent that Superman has locked in the "hot box". Superman faces a man sneaking out to gamble, crushes his watch and tells him, "See how easily I crush your watch in my palm? If you don't quit gambling I'll look you up and give your neck the same treatment." The early Superman was a bully for justice. He used brute force to clean up crime. Even against the police and the army (see issue 8). Nothing stops him.

The first half dozen stories feature Superman cleaning up human corruption. Evil businessmen and organized crime mafiosos get what's coming to them (usually in the form of Superman's fists). He helps out everything from a failing circus and a deceived oil company to a cab company victimized by protection money hoodlums. Most of the stories hail him as "friend of the helpless and oppressed." But he doesn't really receive any real challenges until the "Ultra-Humanite" (a proto Lex Luthor) appears. This arch-villain delivers some memorable but quaint lines such as "I am known as 'The Ultra-Humanite'. Why? Because a scientific experiment resulted in my possessing the most agile and learned brain on earth! Unfortunately for mankind, I prefer to use this great intellect for crime. My goal? Domination of the world!!" Superman's new enemy basks in his depravity. He knows he's evil and he loves it. From this point on most of the corrupt rackets broken up by Superman have the "Ultra-Humanite" behind them. And the not so subtle social commentary of the early issues morphs into a battle of good (Superman) over evil (Ultra). Ultra represents Superman's evil alter-ego. Every time Superman destroys him, he returns. He even gets his "mighty brain" transplanted into a female Hollywood celebrity's "young vital" body (a rather amusing scene). Superman changes forever in this volume. The last stories point to the future of the comic: larger than life villains who also have superpowers and flailing egos. Gone forever are the days when Superman merely "cleaned up" towns of human crime by taking the law into his own hands. A huge metamorphosis.

Not only that, Superman's powers would later increase. Here he doesn't fly, but only leaps. His x-ray vision hasn't yet evolved into laser penetrating retinas. At this time the Superman of today remains slightly unrecognizable. Lois Lane doesn't even appear all that often. And there's absolutely no mention of Krypton or Kryptonite (but the reworked first story in "Superman Archive Volume 1" does). Superman has not yet obtained his famous Achilles' heel.

This volume reprints the original Action Comics, including Superman's very first appearance, but with a hitch: issues two through six appeared in the "Superman" comic that appeared in 1939. DC reprinted these in "Superman Archives Volume One" and only summarize the stories here. So a gap appears after the first issue. Regardless, this volume still remains a lot of fun to read. It shows how one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable figures in modern American culture got his start. And though Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster, both died in the 1990s their creation still lives inexorably on with no signs of stopping.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Man of Tomorrow!, June 24, 2001

By 

Kerry Lawless (Hayward, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman The Action Comics Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions) (Hardcover)

When Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two teenage kids from the slums, first read Philip Wylie's Gladiator they were shocked. Its premise was that even a superhero couldn't really do much to correct the injustice within society. The Superman they created not only disproved Wylie's premise, but also took the fight to the bad guys in violent and irresistible ways. A bad guy wouldn't rat out his boss; Superman tossed him out a skyscraper window and played catch with him all the way down. Nobody said no to Superman for very long. This pre-World War II Superman is very different than his modern cousin. He was the culmination of the mythic hero (think Samson) set in an economically depressed society that had a powerful faith that the future would be better. (The modern Superman comes from a very different place: Jor-el the father gave Kal-el, his only begotten son (think Jesus), so the world might be a better place.) The stories in this book show the world's first and best superhero. I've been reading and collecting Superman since the fifties, and this book thrills me. There is no greater high in comics than the genesis of Superman!