'Action Comics' #1000 To Get a Hardcover Release Packed With Extras

Action Comics #1000 sold over 500,000 copies in its initial run, making it one of the best-selling books in recent DC history, so of course they will be doing additional printings of the landmark issue.

What's more, one of those reprints will be a hardcover collection that will add in new stories, scripts, sketches, and all 26 variant covers.

"We were blown away by the response to Action Comics #1000, and we wanted to gather together even more behind the scenes material such as sketches, scripts, etc. so fans can take a peek inside this historic release," said DC Publisher Jim Lee. "This is not only a must-have for any Superman fan, but also any fan of comics, entertainment or pop culture."

The hardcover, called The Action Comics #1000 Deluxe Edition, will be available not only in the direct market comic shops that carried Action Comics #1000 but also in bookstores, where Marvel and DC have largely abandoned the newsstands and have no presence for their serialized, ongoing comics.

Early reports were that DC would release a hardcover edition of Action Comics #1000 on the same day as the standard edition, but it later turned out that instead they released another hardcover celebration -- Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman -- that day, which reprinted numerous classic stories and featured a couple of unpublished stories and numerous text retrospectives.

Per DC's announcement, the Action Comics #1000 Deluxe Edition hardcover will feature previously unreleased story scripts, sketches and more. The book will be available for a cover price of $19.99.

"Not only was the release of Action Comics #1000 a huge step for DC, it was a momentous release for the industry as a whole," said DC Publisher Dan DiDio. "We heard from countless comic book shop owners that Action Comics #1000 brought fans into their shops like never before, as everyone wanted to be a part of this historic moment."

In our mostly-favorable review of the issue, ComicBook.com pointed out that it would have been nice for the book itself to have a little more recognition of its own "special-ness." That, it seems, will not be lacking in the hardcover edition.

The deluxe edition hardcover of Action Comics #1000 will include:

• All eighty pages featuring stories and artwork by Brian Michael Bendis/Jim Lee, Dan Jurgens/Norm Rapmund, Peter J. Tomasi/Patrick Gleason, Tom King/Clay Mann, Geoff Johns & Richard Donner/Oliver Coipel, Brad Meltzer/John Cassaday and Laura Martin, Marv Wolfman/Curt Swan, Louise Simonson/Jerry Ordway and more.
• A gallery of eighteen unique retailer variants (open to buy and retailer exclusives) and the eight decade-themed variant covers from artists including Dan Jurgens, Jim Lee, Dave Gibbons, Joshua Middleton and more.
• Scripts for each of the stories featured in ACTION COMICS #1000
• A side by side panel/page comparisons for the Peter J. Tomasi/Patrick Gleason story "Never Ending Battle"
• The original art for the Marv Wolfman/Curt Swan story "An Enemy Within"
• The Paul Levitz/Neal Adams story from ACTION COMICS: 80 YEARS OF SUPERMAN, "The Game"
• Design sketches from Jim Lee
• A complete reprint of the stories that started it all—the Superman stories ACTION COMICS #1 and 2 from 1938!

The Paul Levitz/Neal Adams story is included as part of Action Comics #1000 to those who bought the book digitally, but was not included in the print editions.

Dan Jurgens, the outgoing writer of Action Comics, told ComicBook.com in an interview, "Action #1 and Superman built this industry. They became the cornerstone of the industry and have served that way all along. And I think that's how we have to look at this. That obviously Detective Comics is going to make it to #1000 and that will be cool. But this is so unique in part because to me and I think to a lot of people it represents not just something for Superman but for the industry as a whole."

The Action Comics #1000 Deluxe Edition will be available on September 26 in comic book stores and on October 2 in bookstores and on Amazon.