Superman or Action Comics

[moviewizard]

hi guys I just wanted to know what the differance was between superman in action comics, and the Superman comics.

[the4thpip]

Action Comics started in 1938 as an anthology series with Superman as its cover feature for the first issue. It soon became clear that Superman was the biggest hit the young comic book medium had ever seen, and he soon featured on every cover of Action Comics, and in 1939 DC started a separated Superman series. But Superman remained the main feature of Action Comics as well, which was an anthology through most of its existence. I think it was from the late 70s to 1988 when it first became a Superman only book. Then it went back to an anthology and was published weekly from issues #601-642, then it became a Superman solo book again, which it still is.

[umbc8]

These days, there really isn't that much of a difference (other than the creative teams working on them). Although, the idea is that Superman is supposed to contain more superhero-ish stories, while Action is supposed to be more action oriented. Right now though, with the Superman writer working on some of the fill-in issues of Action, they're kinda indistinguishable.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

The main difference these days is that Superman is a monthly comic whereas Action Comics never comes out on time or is a fill-in issue.

[Karl O'Neill]

both are well written at the moment,

if it came down to it, i would go for Action comics.

[Belfast_Fanboy]

but are both in continuity or is one in continuty and the other seperate? Like Batman is the official continuty and Batman DC is in same time but seperate storylines and doesnt usually ahve the big reveals unless its a cross over?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Both Action Comics & Superman take place in the same continuity, just at different periods of time. In other words, Superman chronicles Supes' exploits on Monday thru Thursday, whereas Action Comics chronicles Friday thru Sunday. Or something like that.

[Predator]

As long as this thread is on the topic of current Superman runs, where is a good place to start for both Busiek and Johns' works? Up, Up, and Away looks like the obvious bet; is it a good story? If not, what would be better? I'm just looking for good Superman stories.

[dreyga2000]

From what I understnad their both more or less the same thing they just allow to Superman to be in two solo storylines at once thus selling more...

[umbc8]

Answering some of the previous questions: Up, Up & Away is a great place to start, since it is written by both writers & kinda helps to set up the direction both books are currently using.

Both books are in the exact same continuity, they're just taking place at slightly different times. Both books have referenced each other, even when they weren't doing fill-ins. The idea is that if something happens to a character in one book (new haircut, injury, etc), that change is reflected in the other book.

Both Batman books are in continuity as well, they're just telling different kinds of Batman stories. Batman tells bigger, longer, action-packed stories, while Detective tells shorter, detective stories. Both are official continuity.