Action Comics No. 1 introduced the character of Superman to the world in June 1938 so making it arguably the most important comic book ever to be published. The comic quickly seized the imagination of America's youth and within the space of a year sales for each issue had rocketed from 200,000 to 500,000. Word of Action Comics' popularity quickly spread throughout the industry encouraging rival publishers to rush into print their own superheroes.

It had taken Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster over five years to have their character accepted by a publisher. After trying virtually every newspaper in America, they managed to pursuade M.C. Gaines, the country's leading publisher of cartoon strips and comic books to run a feature after he found himself a story short on the eve of launching his new book, Action Comics, in 1938.

At first Gaines refused to accept that Action Comics' success was solely attributable to Superman, believing instead that it was one of the other characters in the book that had caused the jump in circluation. Worried that the American public might refuse to buy a comic which featured a man with superhuman powers wearing red shorts over a blue bodysuit, Gaines ordered Superman be taken off the front cover. It was only after market research indisputably established that Superman was responsible for Action Comics' success that Gaines reinstated him on the cover of Action Comics No. 5.

Superman received his own comic book in the summer of 1939.