The March to 1,000

It was November 1963.

When I visited my Grandma & Grandpa Martin at their lakefront cottage, I would get a handful of change, walk a few cottages down the lane to a little grocery store, and there I would spend my money on a variety of things.  Candy, gum, science fiction magazines, and most especially, comic books.

I stumbled across a new issue featuring one of my favorites, Superman.  He had gotten himself into another fix trying to protect his secret identity, Clark Kent.  This time he was baled out by the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, who posed in the disguise of Clark Kent at a crucial time.  He promised to never reveal Superman's secret identity.  And if you couldn't trust the President, who could you trust?*

It was not long after the comic was released that JFK was assassinated.  It was on the stands when the assassination occurred.  That is what that comic, Action Comics #309, is known for.

Action Comics #309.  When the collector's boom of the 90s hit, no one would touch a comic with that high of a number.  People speculating on the value of a comic would only be interested in #1's, and the introduction of new characters.

Not me.  Not in 1963.  I was fascinated by that high of a number.  Action Comics began in 1939 and had been published continuously, on a monthly basis.  I dreamed about the opportunity to go back and get the earlier stories, but mostly I imagined what it be like to see that number grow and grow and grow, someday hitting #1,000.  I knew that would take a long, long time, but I was patient.  It was something to watch approach, and anticipate someday seeing.

Then comic companies lost their minds.  As sales fell, the only thing they could think of was to flood the markets with #1s.  If that meant starting their older titles with new number 1s, pretending (I guess) that they were new titles so they would get a temporary jolt in sales.

I sold comics in the 90s, and I remember kids coming in excited, wanting to sell their treasured Spider-Man #1.  But it wasn't The Amazing Spider-Man from 1962.  It was a re-launch of the title in the 90s.  I had to explain to them, in an attempt to sell to speculators instead of readers, they had flooded the market with millions of copies, and they were worth at best cover price.


The madness continued to grow and infect more and more comics.  Eventually, even the mighty Action Comics fell and was renumbered at #1.  My dream of seeing issue #1,000 was shattered.  And most comics didn't just renumber once.  Many did it, again and again, rebooting every few years.  Marvel got so bad, they did it almost every year, frightened to death over having a comic that went over the issue #12.

I complained.  I wanted the return of what I called legacy comics.  Other fans would scoff at me, claiming numbering was irrelevant.  I was even banished from one comics book group that I was participating in.  No one wanted to hear me complain about it.

Comic sales continued to plummet.  Comic bookstores were becoming as rare as, well, near mint issues of Action Comics #1.  Even as movie sales based on comics soared, the comics they were based on crashed in sales.  Decades ago, the most successful comics sold in the millions.  Now, only a handful break 100,000 in sales.

Then, a couple of years ago, with DC's most recent reboot, they decided to restore the numbering on two of its legacy titles, Action Comics, and Detective Comics.  I was back in the hunt!  Just as I was finally giving up comics, they drew me back into the game!  Not only that, the stories were improved, restoring the vitality of the entire Superman family.  Superman was married to Lois again, and even had a young child, with powers, a kind of SUPERBOY!

And in just the last few months, Marvel has restored the original numbering on virtually their entire line of comics!  Amazing Spider-Man approaches #800, Captain America #700, Daredevil #600.

I couldn't be happier!

And now, Action Comics has hit #991, and #1,000 is just right around the corner.

What I dreamed about happening way back in November 1963 is about to happen!

Woohoo!



*offer now void.