Action Comics has been published since April 1938 — almost without a break. As of October 2026 the series stands at No. 1102. Take “read Action Comics” literally and start at issue one, and roughly 1,100 comics lie ahead of you: 88 years of comics history spread across four ages, several relaunches and dozens of writers.
Which is why almost nobody reads the series straight through. Four entry points have emerged instead, each costing a different amount of time and money. This guide compares them. If you need the basics first, start with What is Action Comics?
Why starting is awkward
Three quirks make Action Comics harder to approach than an ordinary comic series.
- The numbering jumps. From 1938 to 2011 the count ran consecutively through No. 904. DC then launched a new No. 1–52 with the New 52, before Rebirth restored the historical count at No. 957 in 2016. So an “Action Comics No. 5” exists twice — once in 1938, once in 2012.
- Anthology first, serial later. In the early years the book collected short stories and Superman was only one of several features. Long arcs running across multiple issues only arrive with the Bronze Age.
- The old issues aren’t in print. Anything before the 1990s comes as a collector copy, a reprint or a collected edition — not as new stock in a shop.
Path 1: Start at the debut — No. 1 from 1938
The shortest sensible entry point is a single comic: Action Comics No. 1, on sale April 18, 1938 with a June 1938 cover date. It contains Superman’s first 13 pages, and with them the founding document of the whole genre. Thirteen pages are enough to grasp what Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented: the alien in everyday life, the secret identity, reporter Lois Lane.
An original is not an option — surviving copies sell for millions, most recently 15 million dollars for a CGC 9.0 copy. Two routes make the comic readable: a printed reprint or the Kindle edition. Which reprints exist and how faithful they are is covered in the reprint overview; the differences from an original are explained in original vs. reprint.
Path 2: The early years in one go — the Golden Age Omnibus
If you want the debut not in isolation but as an opening chapter, pick up Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1. The hardcover pairs the Superman story from Action Comics No. 1 with the issues that followed — around 784 pages, original English text, 125 US dollars list price.
This is the most honest way to experience the Golden Age: you watch a single feature turn into a series, see a Superman who leaps before he flies, and follow the character finding its final shape between 1938 and 1941. The downside is availability outside the US and the absence of translated editions. Contents and printings are detailed in our post on the Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1.
Path 3: Read only the key issues
The most pragmatic entry point skips the gaps and takes the key issues — the comics where something permanent happens. A compact reading list across the decades:
- No. 1 (1938) — Superman and Lois Lane debut. Context: history of the first issue.
- No. 23 (1940) — Lex Luthor arrives: the arch-enemy without powers.
- No. 242 (1958) — Brainiac steals the city of Kandor and brings science fiction into the book.
- No. 252 (1959) — Supergirl turns the Superman myth into an ensemble.
- No. 254 (1959) — Bizarro, the flawed duplicate, becomes a fixture.
- No. 775 (2001) — a modern high point: Superman against heroes willing to kill.
- No. 1000 (2018) — the first US comic book to reach the thousand mark.
- No. 1100 (2026) — the next legacy milestone under Mark Waid.
These eight issues don’t form a continuous plot, but they do form a legible line of development. The full list with everything in between is in the issues and milestones overview; what originals of these comics cost today is covered in what is Action Comics No. 1 worth?
Path 4: Join the current run
Action Comics is not a museum piece — it still ships monthly. As of October 2026 the latest issue is No. 1102 (on sale September 9, 2026), written by Mark Waid with art by Montos, in the middle of the “Kingdom of Zod” storyline. The US cover price is 4.99 dollars, and the next issue (No. 1103) is scheduled for October 14, 2026.
The rule of thumb for jumping on: don’t land mid-arc, but wait for the start of a storyline or an anniversary issue. DC announces both in advance in its solicits. We track the current status — writer, artist and release date — on the issues page.
Which path suits whom?
- Curious, small budget: path 1 — one comic, one hour, the historical core.
- Historically minded: path 2 — the omnibus shows a genre being invented.
- After an overview: path 3 — eight comics, 88 years, a clear through-line.
- Reading along monthly: path 4 — new each month, board at an arc’s start.
- Collecting rather than reading: a reprint plus a bag and board — see reprint editions compared.
Language and availability
The 1938 comic is in English, and so are the facsimile reprints and the Kindle edition. Translated Superman collections exist in many markets — in German-speaking countries Panini Comics publishes them — but they gather modern arcs rather than the 1938 debut. Historically, Ehapa translated many Action Comics stories from the 1960s onward, with Dino Comics holding the licence through the 1990s.
In practice: there is no way around the English original for the series’ history, while current Superman stories are widely available in translation. The language level of the Golden Age issues is lower than most people expect — short sentences, plain vocabulary, plenty of visual context.