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Something New Just Discovered Regarding DC Ashcans

Started by Moondog,

29 posts in this topic

Moondog

Moondog

Posted
Posted

I was going through some papers last night - mostly from the 1992-1996 period. This was a very tumultuous time for me. Superman died in 1992 and the corresponding speculation that preceded it and followed it made comics a very hot commodity. And a chain of comics stores like Moondog's was very attractive to companies that wanted to be "the next Disney". I sold Moondog's to Classics International Entertainment in April of 1994. As I said it was a crazy time - there were so many meetings and deals and wackiness that I lost track of some things entirely, or overlooked the significance of other things.

 

So I'm just thumbing through a stack of papers when I see a package that Michael Uslan had sent me back in '94-'95. It was stuck in the middle of a folder full of stock prospectuses and other stuff that at one time were important.

 

Besides being a comics writer and film producer, Uslan was the first person to teach an accredited comic book writing class in college at Indiana University. The text book for that class was titled: "A Study Guide for P.C.1: The Comic Book in America" which was written by Uslan (it's OP and unavailable I checked Amazon and Abebooks).

 

Uslan had sent me excerpts of his book because he had read about my ashcan collection and thought he could shed some light on the Action Comics/Action Funnies puzzle. Back in the early '70s Uslan had spent a good deal of time with Sol Harrison and his interviews with Sol were directly responsible for a generous portion of the historical background of DC in his book..

 

I was paging through this fascinating account when a section that was underlined jumped out at me. Here's what he wrote:

[Regarding the publishing of the first Superman story]:

 

Donenfeld thought the concept too unbelievable, but was persuaded to try it. He wasn't sure what to call his new book. In order for the book to be protected under copyright law, it had to be published; thus a few dummy copies, called 'ash-cans', were run off.

 

"Donenfeld, who wished to protect all possible variations of his book's name since he was not sure which to use, made 'ash-cans' of four different titles. The first was ACTION COMICS, the second DOUBLE-ACTION COMICS, the third TRIPLE ACTION COMICS, and the fourth ACTION FUNNIES. Donenfeld chose the first name, and Gaines went to press with the first issue, dated June, 1938."

 

So it seems the puzzle is solved! Action Funnies and Action Comics were created at the same time (or certainly close to it). And Double Action was an ashcan - not a regulary published title. Wow, wouldn't it be cool to find the Triple Action Comics ashcan!!!

 

By the way, there is a LOT of other good material in this book (I will be happy to pay $100 for a copy if anyone has one) for instance all the print runs of Action 1-16 are listed as well as the print runs of Superman 1 and 2.

 

Action 1 had print run of 200,000 and a sell through of 130,000 - an impressive 65%. The print run of each subsequent issue was increased and by issue 16 it was an incredible 725,000 copies with an 87% sell through!

 

Regarding Superman 1, Uslan goes on to say that there were 3 print runs. 500,000, 250,000 and 150,000. These 900,000 copies do not account for its scarcity though...since one would assume with so many copies printed - it would be much more common.

 

Uslan goes on to say that Superman 2 was the first comic book to sell over 1,000,000 copies.

 

And to think this stuff was sitting in a folder for the past 10 years!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here. I hope you find this little bit of info interesting.

 

--Gary

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Great stuff, Gary. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Now, get back to reading through the rest of your unopened mail in case you find any other nuggets of comics history! makepoint.gif

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Moondog

Moondog

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HOC:

 

I almost included a mention of that in my post! smile.gif

 

At least Marvel had 3 characters (reprinted though) in their book. I'm pretty sure Harry Donenfeld was more interested in the AMOUNT of "action" in his titles...

 

"...This just isn't ACTION - it's DOUBLE ACTION ....no wait....TRIPLE ACTION - yeah, that's it!" headbang.gif

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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"...This just isn't ACTION - it's DOUBLE ACTION ....no wait....TRIPLE ACTION - yeah, that's it!" headbang.gif

 

Yeah, it's pretty amusing. Where does it end, one wonders?

 

With the big gun fad of the 90s we could've had Triple-Barreled Action Tales. Your shotgun has double barrels but mine goes up to three. Or eleven.

 

Cheers,

Marc

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Norrin_Radd

Norrin_Radd

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"...This just isn't ACTION - it's DOUBLE ACTION ....no wait....TRIPLE ACTION - yeah, that's it!" headbang.gif

 

Yeah, it's pretty amusing. Where does it end, one wonders?

 

With the big gun fad of the 90s we could've had Triple-Barreled Action Tales. Your shotgun has double barrels but mine goes up to three.

 

But mine goes up to four. wink.gif

 

mts40_b.jpg

 

 

Great info, Moondog. thumbsup2.gif

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Ian_Levine

Ian_Levine

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So it seems the puzzle is solved! Action Funnies and Action Comics were created at the same time (or certainly close to it). And Double Action was an ashcan - not a regulary published title.

 

Of course there would have been an ashcan of Double Action to secure the copyright.

It doesn't stop there being a separate colour cover for Double Action 1 which was different to the ashcan, in the same way as the ashcan of Action 1 is different to the actual published cover.

The fact that we then had a Double Action 2 is further proof.

 

I wouyld have thought that having an ashcan first was the logical assumption that the eventual artwork for the first issue WOULD be different to the ashcan.

 

After all, it was in every other case.

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