All three of the founding members had prior experience in self-publishing[4] and had worked together to publish small press comic books under Pryor's PKD Media imprint.

[9] Princeless, featuring the teenage Princess Adrienne (a princess who decides that she does not need a prince to rescue her and becomes a hero in her own right), became a major hit for the company, garnering five nominations in the 2012 Glyph Comics Awards[10] ("Story of the Year", "Best Writer", "Best Artist", "Best Female Character" and "Best Cover") and two nominations at the 2012 Eisner Awards ("Best Single Issue" and "Best Publication for Kids"),[11] giving the company both industry and worldwide recognition.

Also in October, 2011, Action Lab launched Globworld, its first digital-only title,[12] based on the MMORPG specifically designed for children.

February, 2012, marked Action Lab's largest single-month expansion since the publisher's inception, in which they released two graphic novels and a trade paperback: the graphic novels Exo-1 and the Rock-Solid Steelbots, with story and art by Daniel J. Logan, and script by Shawn Pryor, and Monsters Are Just Like Us, with story and art by SuperUgly, and Space-Time Condominum, a trade paperback collecting the first "season" of Dave Dwonch's webcomic of the same name.

The first issue was released digitally during Super Bowl XLVII[16] In 2021, Action Lab was the subject of numerous claims of late payments and predatory contracts.