Action Comics
Despite my zero need for having multiple titles for the same character, I couldn't let 800+ issues of Action Comics come to an end on my watch. This venerable title deserves to keep going, but not as a home for Superman (who I've already placed in My52's Adventures of Superman).
I've decided to take advantage of this free title to bring back the concept of the anthology series. A publishing universe as grand as the DC Universe has a lot of characters that, while they maybe don't warrant a full, ongoing series still deserve to have the occasional story told. At the same time, any comic universe which doesn't want to grow stagnant will want to occasionally introduce new characters. An anthology series would provide for both of these needs.
It seems, though, that anthology series have been very hard to sustain in recent decades. I don't know when the most recent one was, but I remember muscling through some mediocre stories in Showcase '95 (or so) and an equal number of stories I just wasn't interested in.
"Hi, I'm Superman." "And I'm Batman, and we both debuted
in anthology comic series."
It seems, though, that anthology series have been very hard to sustain in recent decades. I don't know when the most recent one was, but I remember muscling through some mediocre stories in Showcase '95 (or so) and an equal number of stories I just wasn't interested in.
My plan here is to provide an anthology with a little more focus than just a grab bag of random characters and stories. Action Comics, as the birthplace of Superman, will tell stories of characters drawn from Superman's extended family (such as Jimmy Olsen or Supergirl) or characters who align with the bright, heroic action stories Superman embodies (such as Red Tornado or Booster Gold). Ideally fans will be more comfortable picking up this series if they already know the types of stories it will contain.
Structurally, each issue will feature two stories (both one-shots and story arcs), and in classic Arabian Nights style, will always feature one story ending that issue (a one-shot or concluding arc) and one story continuing (either just starting or in the middle of an arc). Personal experience with the 2003's Brave and the Bold team-up series showed that even when I didn't care about the characters teamed up, I still read it to see how the ongoing story developed.
Yes, even this one.
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