Originally, Action Comics was an anthology title featuring a number of other stories in addition to the Superman story. Zatara, a magician, was one of the other characters who had their own stories in early issues. (Zatanna, a heroine introduced in the 1960s, is Zatara's daughter.) There was also the hero Tex Thomson, who eventually became Mr. America and later the Americommando. Vigilante also enjoyed a lengthy run in this series. Sometimes stories of a more humorous nature were included, such as those of Hayfoot Henry, a policeman who talked in rhyme. Gradually the size of the issues was decreased as the publisher was reluctant to raise the cover price from the original 10 cents, so there were fewer stories. For a while, Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were the two features in addition to Superman (Congo Bill eventually gained the ability to swap bodies with a gorilla and his strip was renamed Congorilla), but soon after the introduction of Supergirl in issue #252 (May 1959) the non-Superman-related strips were crowded out of Action altogether. Since then, it has generally been an all-Superman comic, though other backup stories such as The Human Target occasionally appear.

Action Comics Weekly (1988-1989)

For slightly less than a year in 1988-1989, the publication frequency was changed to weekly and the title became Action Comics Weekly, and was an anthology format series; this change lasted from issue #601 to issue #642. During this time, Superman appeared only in a two page story per issue; however, he was still the only character to appear in every issue of the run.

To boost the profile of Action Comics Weekly, prior to its launch DC cancelled its ongoing Green Lantern title Green Lantern Corps, and made Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his adventures exclusive to Action Comics Weekly. The move was largely a failure, as many fans felt the Action Comics Weekly stories were of extremely poor quality. During the Action Comics Weekly run, a Green Lantern Special was published in 1988, tying in with the events happening in Action Comics Weekly. Green Lantern was soon moved out of the title, with Green Lantern Special # 2 (1989) published concluding the story plots from Action Comics Weekly, and the character was relaunched with a limited series in 1989 (Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn), followed up by a new ongoing series in June 1990 (Green Lantern Vol. 3).

The rest of these issues featured rotating serialized stories of other, mostly minor, DC heroes, as try-outs that led to their own limited series. Characters with featured stories in the run included Black Canary, Blackhawk, Catwoman, Deadman, Nightwing, Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler), Phantom Stranger , Secret Six, Speedy, and Wild Dog.

Issue #650 was originally intended to feature an encounter between Clark Kent and Hal Jordan penned by writer Neil Gaiman, but it was canceled due to an editorial decree and Action returned to monthly publishing. The story dealt with the friendship between Hal Jordan and Superman, and their knowledge of each others' secret identities and the origin of the Alan Scott battery. This was not considered canon in 1989, so the story was never published. But it was finally published as Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame one-shot in 2000.