DC Comics

DC Comics, is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. A subsidiary of Time Warner, DC is responsible for such famous characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and their teammates in the Justice League. For decades, DC Comics has been one of the two largest American comic book companies, along with the Marvel Comics. The initials "DC" were originally an abbreviation for Detective Comics, and later the official name. DC Comics should not be confused with British comic publisher D.C. Thomson.

Originally located in New York City at 432 Fourth Avenue, DC has been successively headquartered at at 480 and later 575 Lexington Avenue; 909 Third Avenue; 75 Rockefeller Plaza; 666 Fifth Avenue; and 1325 Avenue of the Americas (in 1992). DC took over several floors when it moved to 1700 Broadway in the mid-1990s, relocating there with fellow Time Warner property MAD Magazine, which moved there from 485 Madison Avenue.

History

Origins

The corporation is an amalgamation of several companies. National Allied Publications was founded by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1934 to publish Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (Feb. 1935), later known as New Fun and More Fun. The first American comic book with solely original material rather than comic strip reprints, it was a tabloid-sized, 10-inch by 15-inch, 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought the comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the future creators of Superman, who began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval" and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", the supernatural-crimefighter adventure "Dr. Occult".

Wheeler-Nicholson added a second magazine, New Comics, which premiered with a Dec. 1935 cover date and at close to what would become the standard size of Golden Age comic books, with slightly larger dimensions than today's. That title evolved into Adventure Comics, which continued through issue #503 in 1983, becoming one of the longest-running comic-book series.

His third and final title was Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated Dec. 1936, but eventually premiering three months late, with a March 1937 cover date. The themed anthology series would become a sensation with the introduction of Batman in issue #27 (May 1939). By then, however, Wheeler-Nicholson was gone. In 1937, in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld â€" who was as well a pulp-magazine publisher and a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News â€" Wheeler-Nicholson was compelled to take Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective #1. Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners. The major remained for a year, but cash-flow problems continued, and he was forced out.

Shortly afterward came the launch of what would have been his fourth title, National Allied Publications' Action Comics, the premiere of which introduced Superman (a character with which Wheeler-Nicholson was not directly involved; editor Vin Sullivan chose to run the feature after Sheldon Mayer rescued it from the slush pile).

National Allied Publications and Detective Comics, Inc., soon merged to form National Comics, which in 1944 absorbed an affiliated concern, Max (Charlie) Gaines' and Liebowitz's All-American Publications. Liebowitz then consolidated National Comics, Independent News, and related firms into National Periodical Publications, the direct precursor of DC.Jones, Gerard. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (Basic Books, 2004; trade paperback ISBN 9780465036578), p. 223 Later that decade, Gaines was bought out and left to form , better known as EC. National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961.

Despite the official names National Comics and National Periodical Publications, the logo "Superman-DC" was used throughout the line, and the company known colloquially as DC Comics for years before the official adoption of that name.

Golden Age

Cover of Action Comics #1, which featured the debut of Superman, the first superhero. Art by Joe Shuster.

Wheeler-Nicholson's company pioneered the American comic book, publishing the first such periodical consisting solely of original material rather than reprints of newspaper comic strips, starting with Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (Feb. 1935), called New Fun after the first issue. The evolving company was also the first to feature superheroes, beginning with Action Comics #1 in 1938. When the sales of the title proved unexpectedly strong and market research confirmed that the character, Superman, was the major reason, a period called the Golden Age of comic books began. In reaction, the company introduced such other popular characters as Batman, and Wonder Woman, and the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America.

In light of this spectacular success, the company began to aggressively move against imitators for copyright violations by other companies such as Wonderman which was purposefully created to a blatant copy of Superman. This extended to the company suing Fawcett Comics for their top character who was the top selling character in the market, Captain Marvel for copying Superman despite the fact that the parallels were more tenuous. This started a years long court battle that ended in 1955 when Fawcett capitulated and largely ceased publication of their comics.

When the superhero genre faded in the late 1940s, the company focused on other genres, such as science fiction, Westerns, humor and romance. They largely avoided the crime and horror trends of the time, thus avoiding the backlash against crime and horror comics in the 1950s. A handful of the most popular superhero titles (most notably Action Comics and Detective Comics, the medium's two longest-running titles) continued publication.

Silver Age

In the mid-1950s, editorial director Irwin Donenfeld and publisher Liebowitz decided that, even though they weren't publishing superheroes much anymore, the trademarks needed to be maintained. They directed editor Julius Schwartz to come up with a new Flash story of to be printed as a one-shot in issue #4 (Oct. 1956) of the experimental title Showcase. Instead of reviving the old character, Schwartz had writers Gardner Fox and Robert Kanigher, penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Joe Kubert update and modernize the concept. The Flash's civilian identity, costume, and origin were all changed for a modern audience. Much to the publishers' surprise the issue sold, and more stories were scheduled. The new treatment proved popular enough that it soon led to similar revamping of Green Lantern, and the introduction of an updating of the Justice Society of America superhero team as the modern all-star team Justice League of America. Showcase #4 heralded what is commonly referred to as the Silver Age of comic books.

National's other characters, who had not been cancelled, were similarly spruced up. Mort Weisinger oversaw the Superman family of titles and introduced many new characters, such as Supergirl, Bizarro and Brainiac that established many of the elements that still influence the feature to this day. Jack Schiff was somewhat less successful with Batman, introducing Batwoman, Bat-Girl and Bat-Mite, and attempting to modernize the strip with science fiction elements. Eventually the book was given to Julius Schwartz who brought in a New Look and an emphasis on Batman as a detective. Meanwhile, editor Robert Kanigher successfully reimagined Wonder Woman as a title aimed at young girls, featuring a whole family of Wonder Woman characters having fantastic adventures in a mythological context.

The Batman TV show sparked a tremendous increase in comic sales, but afterwards sales began to decline. In 1967, Batman artist Carmine Infantino became the company's editorial director. Faced with declining sales, in part because of the growing popularity of Marvel Comics, he attempted to remedy the situation with an infusion of new titles and characters, and recruited major talents such as Steve Ditko and promising newcomers such as Neal Adams. DC comics went from being writer driven to artist driven as all new editors hired were artists: Joe Kubert, Dick Giordano, Mike Sekowsky, Jack Kirby.

Green Lantern #76 (April 1970), the first issue of an acclaimed run that delved into social commentary in the genre. Art by Neal Adams.

The new editors tried to capture the youth market by only using writers under the age of thirty. Yet while the new employees strove for sophisticated storytelling and characters, they had little experience in the industry, and their work's relative lack of professionalism hampered their efforts. Some new talent, however, such as Dennis O'Neil, who worked on Green Lantern and Batman, became industry lights. Nevertheless, the period was plagued by short-lived series that started out strong, but petered out rapidly. The new comics, aimed specifically at the fan market, failed to sell. One theory as to the cause of this, is that local comic distributors, who did not want to handle the low profit items anyway, were simply giving the books to speculators who were stockpiling them for the back issue market. Thus, the more popular a book, the lower its sales. In addition, the talent involved often tended to leave established titles after a few issues considering they had little incentive to stay with their creations since they were largely paid per page regardless of the sales performance of their books.

New Gods, flagship title of Jack Kirby's "Fourth World" mythos.

In 1970, Jack Kirby defected from Marvel to create his most artistically ambitious creation, The Fourth World titles, in which he attempted to create an original sophisticated sub imprint that could appeal to a loyal fan audience. However, sales did not meet management's expectations, and as they had little faith in the concept, the venture was prematurely cancelled, although the characters and concepts would become integral to the DC Multiverse. Kirby went on to create the successful series Kamandi, when he was directed by the publisher to come up with something resembling Planet of the Apes.

In addition, Captain Marvel was also revived in the 1970s as an initially licensed property under the title, Shazam!. However, the property could not recapture its old popularity, although a saturday morning live action television adaptation was popular and the character would largely retain a noted place in the DC Universe to this day.

Late 1970s and 1980s

In 1969, National Comics merged with Warner Bros/7 Arts. The new corporate management replaced Infantino with Jenette Kahn, a former children's magazine publisher, in January 1976.

During this time, DC attempted to compete with Marvel by dramatically increasing its output, a move the company called the "DC Explosion". This included series featuring new characters, such as Firestorm and Shade, the Changing Man, and several non-superhero titles. Afterward, however, Warner pulled the plug and dramatically cut back on titles, firing many staffers in what industry watchers dubbed "the DC Implosion".

Seeking new ways to boost market share, the new management of publisher Kahn, vice-president Paul Levitz, and managing editor Dick Giordano addresses the issue of talent instability. To that end â€" and following the example of Atlas/Seaboard Comics and such independent companies as Eclipse Comics â€" DC began to offer royalties. In addition, the company created the publishing concept of the limited series that allowed flexible arrangements for storylines that could be successful without the pressure of immediately following them up on an indefinite basis.

The New Teen Titans, the series credited in beginning the revitalization of DC Comics.

These policy changes immediately paid off with the success of The New Teen Titans by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George PÃ©rez, two popular talents with a history of success. Their superhero team comic, which emulated the character based ensemble series structure of Marvel's X-Men in its own way, earned significant sales in part due to the stability of the team, who kept with the title for years. In addition, the team took advantage of the limited-series option to create a spin off title, Tales of the New Teen Titans, to present the origins of their original characters without having to break the narrative flow of their main series or obliging them to double their work load with another ongoing title.

This successful revitalization of a minor title led the editorship to look at doing the same to their entire line comics. The result was the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, which gave the company an opportunity to dismiss some of the "baggage" of its history, and revise major characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman. Yet DC did not abandon their history completely. In 1989, they began publication of the DC Archive Editions, a series created to collect their early, rare issues into a permanent hardback format.

Meanwhile, British writer Alan Moore had re-energized the minor horror series Saga of the Swamp Thing, and his highly acclaimed work sparked a comic book equivalent of rock's British Invasion, in which numerous British talents, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison, came to work for the company. The resulting influx of sophisticated horror and dark fantasy material led not only to DC abandoning the Comics Code for particular titles by those talents, but also to the later establishment in 1993 of the Vertigo imprint for mature readers.

Acclaimed limited series such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Alan Moore's Watchmen, also drew attention to changes at DC. This new creative freedom and the attendant publicity allowed DC to seriously challenge the dominance of Marvel.

The late 1980s also saw the dying out of many successful DC war genre titles, including venerable series that had been in print since the 1960s. These titles, all with over 100 issues and none of which survived past 1985, included Sgt. Rock, G.I. Combat, The Unknown Soldier, and Weird War Tales.

1990s

The comics industry experienced a brief boom in the early 1990s, thanks to a combination of speculative purchasing of the books as collectibles and several storylines which gained attention from the mainstream media. DC's extended storylines in which Superman was killed and Batman was crippled, resulted in dramatically increased sales, but the increases were as temporary as the substitutes, and sales dropped off as industry sales went into a major slump.

DC's Piranha Press and other imprints in the 1990s were introduced to facilitate diversification and specialized marketing of its product line. They increased the use of nontraditional contractual arrangements, including creator-owned work and licensing material from other companies. They also increased publication of trade paperbacks, including both collections of serial comics and original graphic novels.

The Vertigo line was aimed at an older and more literary audience, largely free of the "kid stuff" stigma its main superhero line still held. DC entered into a publishing agreement with Milestone Media, which gave the company a line of comics featuring a more culturally and racially diverse range of superhero characters; although the Milestone line ceased publication, it yielded the popular animated series Static Shock. Paradox Press was established to publish material that would be considered "mainstream" in the book trade - including the large-format Big Book of... series, and crime fiction such as Road to Perdition - but paradoxically remained a niche in the comics industry. DC purchased Wildstorm Comics from Jim Lee and maintained it as a separate imprint with its own style and audience. Likewise they added the Wildstorm imprint America's Best Comics, created by Alan Moore, including the titles Tom Strong and Promethea.

2000s

In March 2003, DC acquired publishing and merchandising rights to the long-running fantasy series Elfquest, previously self-published by creators Wendy and Richard Pini under the Warp Graphics banner. The following year, DC established the CMX imprint to reprint translated manga, and temporarily acquired the North American publishing rights to graphic novels from European publishers 2000 AD and Humanoids. It also rebranded its younger-audience titles with the mascot Johnny DC.

Starting in 2004, DC began laying groundwork for a "sequel" to Crisis on Infinite Earths, promising substantial changes to the DCU. In 2005, the company published several limited series establishing increasing conflicts between the heroes of the DCU, with events climaxing in the limited series Infinite Crisis. Afterward, DC's ongoing series jumped one year forward in their story continuity, with DC publishing a weekly series, 52, that would graduatlly fill in the gap.

Also in 2005, DC launched an "All-Star" line, featuring some of DC's best-known characters and existing in an alternate universe without the long and convoluted continuity of the DCU. All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder launched in July 2005; All-Star Superman in November 2005; and All-Star Wonder Woman announced to follow.

In 2006, affiliate CMX began publishing the webcomic Megatokyo' in print form, and Warner Bros. released the film Superman Returns.

Logo history

DC logos.

DC's first logo appeared on the March 1940 issues of their titles. The letters "DC" stood for Detective Comics, the name the company used at the time. The logo was small and did not have a background. It simply said, "A DC Publication".

The November 1941 DC titles introduced an updated DC logo. This version was almost twice the size of the first one, and also was the first version with a white background. The name of Superman was added to "A DC Publication", effectively acknowledging both Superman (the company's flagship character) and Batman (star of Detective Comics). This logo was also the first version to occupy the top left corner of the cover, where the logo has usually resided ever since. The company referred to itself in its advertising as "Superman-DC".

In November 1949, the logo was modified, incorporating the company's current name (National Comics Publications) into the logo. This logo would also serve as the round body of Johnny DC, DC's mascot in the 1960s.

In October 1970, the circular logo was briefly retired in favor of a simple "DC" in a rectangle with the name of the title, or the star of the book (i.e. many issues of Action Comics said "DC Superman"). An image of the lead character either appeared above or below the rectangle. For books that did not have a single star, such as House of Mystery or Justice League of America, the title and "DC" appeared in a stylized logo, such as a bat for House of Mystery. This use of characters as logos helped to establish the likenesses as trademarks, and was similar to Marvel's contemporaneous use of characters as part of their cover branding.

DC's "100 Page Super-Spectacular" titles and later 100-page and "Giant" issues published from 1972 to 1974 featured a logo that was exclusive to these editions, the letters "DC" in a simple sans serif typeface, in a circle. (A variant had the letters in a square.)

The July 1972 DC titles featured a new circular logo. The letters "DC" were rendered in a block-like typeface that would remain through later logo revisions until 2005. The title of the book usually appeared inside the circle, either above or below the letters.

In December 1973, the logo was modified, adding the words "The Line of DC Super-Stars" and the star motif that would continue in later logos. This logo was placed in the top center of the cover from August 1975 to October 1976.

When Jenette Kahn became DC's publisher in late 1976, she commissioned graphic designer Milton Glaser to design a new logo. Popularly referred to as the "DC bullet", the logo first appeared on the February 1977 DC titles. Although it varied in size and color and was at times cropped by the edges of the cover, or briefly rotated 45 degrees, it remained essentially unchanged for nearly three decades.

1987 test logo.

In July 1987, DC released variant editions of Justice League #3 and The Fury of Firestorm #61 with a new DC logo. It featured a picture of Superman in a circle surrounded by the words "SUPERMAN COMICS." These variant covers were released to newsstands in certain markets as a marketing test to see if using Superman would boost sales. ^[1]On May 8, 2005, a new logo was unveiled, debuting on DC titles starting in June 2005 with DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1 and the rest of the titles the following week. In addition to comics, it was designed for DC properties in other media, such as Batman Begins, Smallville, Justice League Unlimited, collectibles, and other merchandise. The logo, which some have dubbed the "DC spin", was designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios.

Noteworthy creators

Superman (left) and Batman (right), two of DC Comics' most recognizable superheroes. Pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Scott Williams.

In roughly chronological order

* Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (Superman)
* Bob Kane and Bill Finger (Batman)
* Martin Nodell and Bill Finger (Green Lantern)
* Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert (Flash)
* William Moulton Marston (Wonder Woman)
* Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger (Aquaman)
* Jack Kirby (New Gods, The Demon)
* Julius Schwartz (editor)
* Gardner Fox
* Jerry Robinson (Batman)
* Dick Sprang (Batman)
* Wayne Boring (Superman)
* Jim Mooney (Supergirl)
* Mort Weisinger (editor)
* Joe Kubert (Sgt. Rock)
* Carmine Infantino (The Flash)
* Gil Kane (Green Lantern, the Atom)
* John Broome (Green Lantern)
* Murphy Anderson (Superman)
* Curt Swan (Superman)
* Dick Dillin (Justice League)
* George Klein (Superman, Legion of Super-Heroes)
* Nick Cardy (Teen Titans)
* Steve Ditko (The Creeper, Blue Beetle)
* Neal Adams (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow)
* Dennis O'Neil (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow)
* Marshall Rogers (Batman)
* Dick Giordano (Batman)
* Vince Colletta (DC art director; Jack Kirby's initial Fourth World inker)
* Archie Goodwin
* Jim Shooter (Legion of Super-Heroes)
* Paul Levitz (Legion of Super-Heroes)
* Keith Giffen (Legion of Super-Heroes, Justice League International, 52)
* Marv Wolfman (The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths)
* George PÃ©rez (The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths)
* Doug Moench
* Gerry Conway (Batman, co-creator of Firestorm)
* Steve Englehart
* Roy Thomas (Justice Society revival)
* Alan Moore (Watchmen, Swamp Thing)
* Frank Miller (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One)
* John Byrne (Superman, Wonder Woman)
* John Ostrander (Suicide Squad)
* Jerry Ordway (Superman, The Power of Shazam!)
* Dan Jurgens (Superman)
* Roger Stern (Superman)
* Mike W. Barr (Camelot 3000)
* Chuck Dixon (Nightwing)
* Barbara Kesel
* Karl Kesel (Superman)
* Neil Gaiman (The Sandman)
* Alan Grant (Lobo, Batman)
* Grant Morrison (Animal Man, Doom Patrol, All Star Superman, Seven Soldiers, 52)
* Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, The Flash)
* Alex Ross (Kingdom Come, Justice)
* James Robinson (Starman)
* Devin Grayson (Titans, Nightwing)
* Geoff Johns (Infinite Crisis, Teen Titans, JSA, The Flash)
* Jeph Loeb (Batman)
* Greg Rucka (Checkmate, Wonder Woman, 52)
* Jim Lee (Superman, Batman)
* Gail Simone (Birds of Prey, Superman, The All-New Atom)
* Jamal Igle (Firestorm)
* Judd Winick (Outsiders, Batman: Under the Hood)
* Kurt Busiek (Superman, Astro City, Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis)