Action Comics #1000

Action Comics #1000 came out back in April. Not only was it the 1000th issue of Action Comics, but DC also timed the scheduling of the series so that its publication would coincide with the 80th anniversary of Action Comics #1 (I can't prove that's why Action has been shipping semi-monthly for a while now, but that's a pretty big coincidence if it's not).

Because of this, DC released #1000 as an 80-page giant that featured several different stories that celebrated the scope of Superman's history. One of the stories really took that to heart and told a reality-bending tale with shout-outs to several Superman adaptations over the years.

“Never-Ending Battle” by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

The first to be seen was the black Superman shield that first appeared in the Fleischer cartoons from the 40s. Although we've seen this S recently, this is the first time to my knowledge that it's appeared on a full Superman outfit in a canon comic book.

Next up is a black-and-white adventure that clearly represents Superman and the Mole Men (1951), the pilot to the Adventures of Superman tv series, and technically the first Superman theatrical film.

Eventually, Superman gets caught in a fight of multiple versions of himself, one of which is clearly the Superman that appeared in Super Friends (1978). You can tell by the simpler lines, lack of shading, and the distinctive spit curl.

Finally, there's these depictions of The Phantom Zone, the Fortress of Solitude, and Jax-Ur & Mala.

I've had the flat-square Phantom Zone and the crystalline Fortress of Solitude on this blog before, and in the same post, even. This version of Jax-Ur has likewise been seen before. Mala, however, is brand new. She and Jax-Ur first appeared in the Superman: The Animated series episode "Blasts from the Past, Part 1" (September 1997), and although they're both based on Kryptonian characters from the comics, Mala was originally a male.

(Note: “Actionland!” by Paul Dini and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez also included two canon immigrants, but one of them, the Mechanical Monsters, has already been featured on this site in a more concretely canon capacity, and the other, Miss Gsptlsnz's looks, will be featured in two weeks.)

So yeah, this post is kind of two months late, but it's completely fine because it's just celebrating the 80th anniversary of Action Comics #1's cover date. See? Totally works!