The 1000 Issue Club!!!

[Air Wave]

And there you have it, the only two titles to make it to 1000, but only thanks to legacy numbering. Will they make it to 1100?

DETECTIVE COMICS (1937)***
ACTION COMICS→ACTION COMICS WEEKLY→ACTION COMICS (1938)***

***Only because of legacy numbering

[Jim Kelly]

Since Dell doesn't publish comic books anymore, maybe the publisher could acquire FOUR COLOR--also known as FOUR COLOR COMICS or DELL FOUR COLOR. According to the Grand Comics Database the last issue number was 1354, but the issue they list prior to that was 1350. That was the second run of FOUR COLOR--legacy renumbering would put the issue number even higher.

[Air Wave]

Since Dell doesn't publish comic books anymore, maybe the publisher could acquire FOUR COLOR--also known as FOUR COLOR COMICS or DELL FOUR COLOR. According to the Grand Comics Database the last issue number was 1354, but the issue they list prior to that was 1350. That was the second run of FOUR COLOR--legacy renumbering would put the issue number even higher.

If only.......

[Brad]

I expect them to make it to 1100. It would take a seismic shift in DC's publishing operations to not make it.

Also, I like how Detective pulled back out ahead of Action a handful of years ago. Detective started earlier, but Action passed it in the 1970's.

[Digifiend]

Since Dell doesn't publish comic books anymore, maybe the publisher could acquire FOUR COLOR--also known as FOUR COLOR COMICS or DELL FOUR COLOR. According to the Grand Comics Database the last issue number was 1354, but the issue they list prior to that was 1350. That was the second run of FOUR COLOR--legacy renumbering would put the issue number even higher.

How did they manage that? Was it a weekly?

[Jim Kelly]

How did they manage that? Was it a weekly?

Rather than explain myself, I'll copy and paste from the Grand Comics Database:

Notes

Dell usually published multiple issues of this series per month, with different features in each issue. As a series, it was held together mostly by its numbering--only the early 1940s issues carried the continuing title "Four Color"; preceding and successive issues changed titles every issue to match their contents. By convention, the entire series is referred to as "Four Color" or "Four Color comics".

For unknown reasons Dell restarted the numbering on the Series in 1942, leading fans to refer to the "first series" and "second series" or "Series I" (see Four Color (Dell, 1939 series)) and "Series II" (this series). Early issues have "Four Color Comic" on the cover. Last with this notation is #101.

The following issues were apparently never published: 1217, 1228, 1277, 1292, 1314-1327, 1329, 1331, 1334, 1338-1340, 1342-1347, 1351-1353.

More than one issue could come out on the same day and they weren't released in strict numerical order.

[Air Wave]

I expect them to make it to 1100. It would take a seismic shift in DC's publishing operations to not make it.

Also, I like how Detective pulled back out ahead of Action a handful of years ago. Detective started earlier, but Action passed it in the 1970's.

I thought it was when ACTION went weekly but no...
Just did some random research and saw that both ACTION #450 & DETECTIVE #450 had the same cover date, August 1975. So that took some doing on DC's part. When did ACTION take over? Was it a monthly and DETECTIVE a bimonthly?

[CaptCleghorn]

I thought it was when ACTION went weekly but no...
Just did some random research and saw that both ACTION #450 & DETECTIVE #450 had the same cover date, August 1975. So that took some doing on DC's part. When did ACTION take over? Was it a monthly and DETECTIVE a bimonthly?

Yeah, Detective had a period when it was bimonthly.

[Jim Kelly]

Yeah, Detective had a period when it was bimonthly.

Yes, DETECTIVE COMICS was bimonthly between 1973 and 1975 (mostly during the 100 page period), for a bit in 1977, and then again between 1978 and 1980 (mostly during the Dollar Comics phase).

ACTION COMICS added an issue in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969 with a Giant in each year. The Giants mainly reprinted Supergirl stories. If they had added a Giant for DETECTIVE, it could have reprinted Robin stories. I don't know why they didn't do that, since this was during Bat-mania and those Giants would have sold through the roof.

[Air Wave]

Yes, DETECTIVE COMICS was bimonthly between 1973 and 1975 (mostly during the 100 page period), for a bit in 1977, and then again between 1978 and 1980 (mostly during the Dollar Comics phase).

ACTION COMICS added an issue in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969 with a Giant in each year. The Giants mainly reprinted Supergirl stories. If they had added a Giant for DETECTIVE, it could have reprinted Robin stories. I don't know why they didn't do that, since this was during Bat-mania and those Giants would have sold through the roof.

Now I'm going to have to research further to find the exact moment ACTION overtook DETECTIVE. And what about ADVENTURE? Where was that in the race?

[Jim Kelly]

Now I'm going to have to research further to find the exact moment ACTION overtook DETECTIVE. And what about ADVENTURE? Where was that in the race?

By rights, since it began before the other two, ADVENTURE COMICS should have been ahead in the numbering, but it fell behind in the mid-1940s, because it was no longer a monthly at that time. But by 1947 it had returned to monthly frequency. Yet DETECTIVE COMICS had pulled ahead in number by then, being seven issues ahead of ADVENTURE COMICS which was eight issues ahead of ACTION COMICS. Which is handy to know because you can figure out the number for the other two that month if you have the number of one.

For the January 1947 cover date, it's DETECTIVE 119, ADVENTURE 112, ACTION 104. For the January 1965 cover date, it's DETECTIVE 335, ADVENTURE 328, ACTION 320. And since these titles usually came out on the stands around the same time each month, you could always figure out what the numbers would be.

This was thrown off in 1966, when ACTION added a thirteenth issue as a Giant. Still, the difference between ADVENTURE and DETECTIVE held through 1969. In 1970, ADVENTURE didn't come out every month, so the gap between it and DETECTIVE started to close. The January 1972 cover dated issues were DETECTIVE 419, ADVENTURE 414, ACTION 408. But with the departure of Supergirl at the end of 1972, ADVENTURE became a bimonthly and stayed that way up until 1980 when it returned to monthly status.

[Brad]

Yes, DETECTIVE COMICS was bimonthly between 1973 and 1975 (mostly during the 100 page period), for a bit in 1977, and then again between 1978 and 1980 (mostly during the Dollar Comics phase).

Some titles went to a weird 8 issues per year schedule. According to MyComicShop, here are the totals per year: 1973-7, 1974-6, 1975-11, 1976-12, 1977-8, 1978-8, 1979-6, 1980-10, 1981-12.

[Brad]

Action passed Detective with #468 cover dated February 1977, when Detective skipped a month and stayed at #467.

[D.Z]

Do one for the 1 million issues for the memes.

[Jim Kelly]

Some titles went to a weird 8 issues per year schedule. According to MyComicShop, here are the totals per year: 1973-7, 1974-6, 1975-11, 1976-12, 1977-8, 1978-8, 1979-6, 1980-10, 1981-12.

Actually before the 1980s, monthly titles weren't that common. They tended to do a lot of bimonthly comics. But what's a step up from six times per year? Eight times per year. And there was a time there when most of their titles were either six times or eight times per year. Once they add a Giant to a title then it's nine times per year. This allows them to put out more titles during the peak sales periods (Christmas and the summer) and not as many the rest of the year.