The experiment that was New Fun had not yet imploded, so Wheeler Nicholson sought to expand his readership while minimizing the costs needed to secure writers and artists for original material. The result was The Big Book of Fun Comics, a stand alone 48 page reprint of New Fun # 1-4 with a cardboard cover. The special comic was advertised in regular issues of New Fun, though the idea of an "annual" consisting of reprinted material did not survive this first installment.

Considered the first true superhero book, Action Comics arrived on the scene in 1938 and remains the longest-running comic book in history. Though Action Comics began as an anthology, collecting a variety of tales, over the past few decades it has become a monthly title dedicated to it's launch character, Superman.