I was wondering what's the story behind Double Action Comics? I know there is a #2 but, is there a #1?
I was wondering what's the story behind Double Action Comics? I know there is a #2 but, is there a #1?
An issue 1 is not known to exist. DOUBLE ACTION might have been an ashcan issue--all of the interior pages were in black and white, and the material was all reprints from earlier Major Malcolm Nicholson publications. It was probably some kind of legal shell game. Maybe Detective Comics, Inc.--Harry Donenfeld's operation--wanted to assert copyright over material that was questionable in terms of ownership. It's just one of those many oddball comics that got published in the heady days of the comic book boom. I wouldn't let it keep you up at night worrying over the thing.
Ashcan comics were mostly created by publishers to obtain rights for a comic book TITLE, even when they had no plans to publish that title in the immediate future themselves. The success of Action Comics #1 impelled DC to register the title DOUBLE ACTION. This was a fairly common practice in the early days for properties that were highly profitable. It wasn't widespread because it cost the publisher money to do so. There were probably more ashcan versions registered or planned to be registered that are now all forgotten compared to the amount we know of. Comicbook Marketplace Magazine many years ago did an exhaustive article on this topic
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