Superman 1

[sfcityduck]

Also, don't forget Superman 1 was the first comic book devoted to a single character superhero. It's a pretty important book.

 

Fixed.

 

What came first, Skippy's Own Book of Comics?

 

Yep. And, looking just at DC, the single character Mutt & Jeff 1 came out the same time as Superman 1.

 

Superman 1 is also not the first comic book devoted to a single superhero comprised of original material as it was reprints. I'm not sure what the first single superhero character all original comic book was -- maybe Superman 2?

 

Superman 1 has a few pages of new or re-worked material, but you're right, mostly it's reprints of the Superman stories from Action 1-4. Superman 3 has the Action 5-6 stories. I think Superman 2 consisted of newspaper strips re-worked to fit the comic book page.

 

Was the Skippy book newsstrip reprints?

 

I believe Skippy was newsstrip reprints. [so was Mutt & Jeff, I think.] Batman 1 was all original, did it come out before Superman started running all original material? Was there another all-original single superhero title before Batman 1?

[adamstrange]

Also, don't forget Superman 1 was the first comic book devoted to a single character superhero. It's a pretty important book.

 

Fixed.

 

What came first, Skippy's Own Book of Comics?

 

Yep. And, looking just at DC, the single character Mutt & Jeff 1 came out the same time as Superman 1.

 

Superman 1 is also not the first comic book devoted to a single superhero comprised of original material as it was reprints. I'm not sure what the first single superhero character all original comic book was -- maybe Superman 2?

 

Superman 1 has a few pages of new or re-worked material, but you're right, mostly it's reprints of the Superman stories from Action 1-4. Superman 3 has the Action 5-6 stories. I think Superman 2 consisted of newspaper strips re-worked to fit the comic book page.

 

Was the Skippy book newsstrip reprints?

 

I believe Skippy was newsstrip reprints. [so was Mutt & Jeff, I think.] Batman 1 was all original, did it come out before Superman started running all original material? Was there another all-original single superhero title before Batman 1?

 

Skippy and some other single-character books (Detective Dan, Red Eagle etc) were not superheroes.

 

It looks like Batman 1 (Spring 1940) is the best candidate for all original superhero material. Superman 1, 2 and 3 were daily strip reprint and Superman 4 (Spring 1940) was partial daily strip reprint. Wonder and Amazing Man were not single-character content books.

[Straw-Man]

Also, don't forget Superman 1 was the first comic book devoted to a single character. It's a pretty important book.

 

first use of white-caps, too.

[nearmint]

Also, don't forget Superman 1 was the first comic book devoted to a single character. It's a pretty important book.

 

first use of white-caps, too.

 

[Ted Knight]

Based on the premise laid out in the beginning, this feels like a comics general thread. I get that all three books are GA... but it feels kind of comics general.

 

Snob

 

Okay, fair enough. It's just not the sort of well thought out, educated discussion topic that I'm used to in GA. It's also kind of a ridiculous statement. I want this book but I don't like that it's more expensive than other books.

 

Does anyone really equate the importance of the first dedicated superhero comic(and also the most widely known by far) to Captain America 1 or even Bat-man 1? To say nothing of that fact that it's widely known to be scarce and even scarcer in high grade? I'm not even really a big fan of Superman comics, but it's pretty obvious why Superman 1 is so much more popular and in demand.

 

But yes, I am being kind of snobby today. Thanks for the reality check, Scrooge.

[Scrooge]

To be fair to the OP, it took me a while to understand as well why Supes commands such a price. I've always come at the issue from the: "But, it's a reprint" side of the equation and did discount it as less important. Then, after hanging out around here, did I start to understand the significance and scarcity.

 

Still, like the OP, I sure wish these books were more affordable, I'd love to own a Cap # 1 ...

[Cat-Man_America]

 

Still, like the OP, I sure wish these books were more affordable, I'd love to own a Cap # 1 ...

 

+1 (thumbs u

[Baz]

Still, like the OP, I sure wish these books were more affordable, I'd love to own a Cap # 1 ...

 

So would most of us

 

But hey, aren't Batman #1, Superman #1, and Action #1 affordable after today's releases?

 

[Spiderphill]

Still, like the OP, I sure wish these books were more affordable, I'd love to own a Cap # 1 ...

 

So would most of us

 

But hey, aren't Batman #1, Superman #1, and Action #1 affordable after today's releases?

 

 

Can't beat restored prices (thumbs u

[rjpb]

Does anyone know the print runs of Batman #1 and Captain America #1?

 

I've read that all three printings of Superman #1 added up to 900,000 copies, which seems like a lot, but I suppose the Bats and Cap runs might even have been higher given the exploding popularity of Superhero books in 1940/41.

 

I wouldn't read too much into the census numbers for deducing comparative scarcity.

Action #1 had a print run of 200,000 with sales of approximately 130,000, but has 50 graded copies compared to Supe's 91. It's possible that the survival rate for Action #1 was 2 to 3 ties higher than Superman #1 in relation to sales, but I'm not convinced that even with high dollar, high profile books that the census is a thoroughly accurate measure of relative scarcity.

 

One can argue the fine points of what specifically Superman #1 was a first of, but it was clearly a game changer in that publishers realized that a character original to comic books could succeed wildly outside an anthology format.