

FAMOUS FIRST EDITION #C-26
1974
I sent away for this oversized reproduction of the first issue of ACTION COMICS from 1938, fearing that I might miss it otherwise. (I needn’t have worried–my local 7-11 even had one of those big cardboard display racks for DC’s Treasury Editions, it turned out.) The book arrived in a massive cardboard envelope. It was, I believe, the first comic book I ever got in the mail.
My critical faculties weren’t all that developed at the age of seven, so I didn’t find the contents particularly crude. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster made up in energy and excitement what they lacked in polish and professional experience. I was frustrated, however, that the first Superman story ended with a Continued Next Month, since there was no FAMOUS 2nd EDITION program.