Action Comics and Curt Swan. Following the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", writer/artist John Byrne relaunched the Superman franchise in "The Man of Steel" limited series in 1986. "Action Comics" became a team-up title with issue #584 (January 1987) featuring Superman and the New Teen Titans. Other costars during this period included the Phantom Stranger, the New Gods, the Demon, Hawkman, the Green Lantern Corps, the Metal Men, Superboy, Big Barda, Mister Miracle, Booster Gold, the Martian Manhunter, the Spectre, Lois Lane and Lana Lang, Checkmate, Wonder Woman, and Man-Bat. The first "Action Comics Annual" was published in 1987 and featured
Batman action figures of Batman action figures. These figures were only released in Japan in 2003, but DC Direct released the same figures in America in 2004. Later, another Japanese toy company, Takara, created a new line of Batman action figures under their long lived Microman Toyline, which was sold in the U.S. market in the 1970s under the name Micronauts. Featuring more articulation than the Yamato line, these figures also saw their American debut in 2004. In 2003, Mattel won the rights to produce Batman and other DC Comics character figures from Hasbro. Before losing control, Hasbro released its final sets of