Editing Superman (section)

===Comic books===
{{See also|List of Superman comics}}
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 |caption1          = ''[[Action Comics]]'' [[Action Comics 1|#1]], the comic that first featured Superman. Original copies fetch the highest of prices for comic books at auction.<ref name="15million">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/comic-with-first-superman-story-sells-for-15m-1930852.html |title=Comic with first Superman story sells for $1.5m |work=[[The Independent]] |date=March 30, 2010 |access-date=March 30, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100402104134/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/comic-with-first-superman-story-sells-for-15m-1930852.html |archive-date= April 2, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>
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 |image2            = Superman issue 6 1940.jpg
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 |caption2          = The cover of ''[[Superman (comic book)|Superman]]'' #6 (Sept. 1940) by [[Joe Shuster]], the original artist and co-creator
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Since 1938, Superman stories have been regularly published in periodical comic books published by [[DC Comics]]. The first and oldest of these is ''[[Action Comics]]'', which began in April 1938.<ref name=actioncomics1copyright/> ''Action Comics'' was initially an anthology magazine, but it eventually became dedicated to Superman stories. The second oldest periodical is [[Superman (comic book)|''Superman'']], which began in June 1939. ''Action Comics'' and ''Superman'' have been published without interruption (ignoring changes to the title and numbering scheme).<ref name=gcd-action1938>[http://www.comics.org/series/97/ ''Action Comics''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223222919/http://www.comics.org/series/97/ |date=February 23, 2016 }} at the Grand Comics Database.</ref><ref name=superman1939>[http://www.comics.org/series/116/ ''Superman''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160227153800/http://www.comics.org/series/116/ |date=February 27, 2016 }} (1939–1986 series) and [http://www.comics.org/series/3345/ ''Adventures of Superman''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305150736/http://www.comics.org/series/3345/ |date=March 5, 2016 }} (1987 continuation of series) at the Grand Comics Database.</ref> Several other shorter-lived Superman periodicals have been published over the years.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/series/name/Superman/sort/chrono/ "Superman"-titled comics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305202812/http://www.comics.org/series/name/Superman/sort/chrono/ |date=March 5, 2016 }} at the Grand Comics Database.</ref> Superman is part of the [[DC Universe]], which is a [[shared universe|shared setting]] of superhero characters owned by DC Comics, and consequently he frequently appears in stories alongside the likes of [[Batman]], [[Wonder Woman]], and others.

More Superman comic books have been sold in publication history than any other American superhero character.<ref name="sells">{{cite web |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/583041/best-selling-comic-books/ |title=Best-selling comic books of all time worldwide as of February 2015 (in million copies) |website=Statista |access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> Exact sales figures for the early decades of Superman comic books are hard to find because, like most publishers at the time, DC Comics concealed this data from its competitors and thereby the general public, but given the general market trends at the time, sales of ''Action Comics'' and ''Superman'' probably peaked in the mid-1940s and thereafter steadily declined.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comicsbeat.com/unbalanced-production-the-comics-business-in-the-1940s/ |title=Unbalanced Production: The Comics Business in the 1940s |website=The Beat |first=Carol|last= Tilley |date=March 1, 2016 |access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> Sales data first became public in 1960, and showed that Superman was the best-selling comic book character of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name=DallasEtAl2013p208/><ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 163: "It did work. In 1960, the first year in which sales data was made public, Superman was selling more comic books than any other title or character, and he stayed on top through much of the decade.</ref><ref>Comichron. [http://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales.html Comic Book Sales By Year] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723085633/http://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales.html |date=July 23, 2016 }}</ref> Sales rose again starting in 1987. ''Superman'' #75 (Nov 1992) had over 23 million copies sold,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/thesp-trio-eyes-nurse-superman-may-fly-1117480870/|title=Thesp trio eyes 'Nurse'; 'Superman' may fly |date=Sep 29, 1998 |website=Variety.com}}</ref> making it the best-selling issue of a comic book of all time, due to a media sensation over [[The Death of Superman]] in that issue.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 245: "Journalists, along with most of their readers and viewers, didn't understand that heroes regularly perished in the comics and almost never stayed dead."</ref> Sales declined from that point on. In March 2018, ''Action Comics'' sold just 51,534 copies, although such low figures are normal for superhero comic books in general (for comparison, ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #797 sold only 128,189 copies).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2018/2018-03.html |title=2018 Comic Book Sales to Comic Book Shops |publisher=Comichron |access-date=July 8, 2018 }}</ref> The comic books have become a niche aspect of the ''Superman'' franchise due to low readership,<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 294: "The remaining audience [by 2011] was dedicated to the point of fanaticism, a trend that was self-reinforcing. No longer did casual readers pick up a comic at the drugstore or grocery, both because the books increasingly required an insider's knowledge to follow the action and because they simply weren't being sold anymore at markets, pharmacies, or even the few newsstands that were left. [...] Comic books had gone from being a cultural emblem to a countercultural refuge."</ref> though they remain influential as creative engines for the movies and television shows. Comic book stories can be produced quickly and cheaply, and are thus an ideal medium for experimentation.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 212: "So Jenette [Kahn] and her business-savvy sidekick, Paul Levitz, started viewing comics as creative engines rather than cash cows, able to spin off profitable enterprises in other media."</ref>

Whereas comic books in the 1950s were read by children, since the 1990s the average reader has been an adult.<ref>{{harvp|Scivally|2007}}. ''Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway'', p. 166: "Whereas in the 1950s, the average comic book reader was 12 years old, by the 1990s, the average comic book reader was 20. A mere decade later, in 2001, the average age of comic book readers was 25."</ref> A major reason for this shift was DC Comics' decision in the 1970s to sell its comic books to specialty stores instead of traditional magazine retailers (supermarkets, newsstands, etc.) — a model called "direct distribution". This made comic books less accessible to children.<ref>{{harvp|Gordon|2017}}. ''Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon'' p. 164</ref>