DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. (or simply DC) is an American comic book company. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery., which itself is owned by Time Warner. Its first well-known comics were such as Action Comics, Detective Comics, All Star Comics, and Sensation Comics. They introduced three well-known superheroes: Superman (1938), Batman (1939), and Wonder Woman (1941). DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies. It is best well-known for making "superhero" comic books. Their first comic under the DC banner was published in 1937, and is very famous in the modern art subject Graphics.

Most of its publications take place within the fictional DC Universe and feature iconic heroic characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Shazam, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Cyborg, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Supergirl, the Atom, and Blue Beetle; as well as fictional teams including the Justice League, the Justice League Dark, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Suicide Squad, the Justice Society of America, the Young Justice, and the Teen Titans. The universe also features well-known supervillains such as Lex Luthor, the Joker, Catwoman, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, Cheetah, Black Adam, the Riddler, Captain Cold, Brainiac, Bizarro, Gorilla Grodd, General Zod, Sinestro, Black Manta, Darkseid, Ra's al Ghul, Doomsday, Harley Quinn, and Bane. The company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Fables and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo and now DC Black Label.

The initials "DC" came from the company's popular series Detective Comics, which featured Batman. DC had its headquarters at 1700 Broadway, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. DC Entertainment moved its headquarters to Burbank, California in April 2015.

Its top rival is Marvel Comics (the publisher of Spider-Man and Hulk) which was acquired in 2009 by The Walt Disney Company, WarnerMedia's main competitor. They shared approximately 70% of the American comic book market in 2017, though this number may give a distorted view since graphic novels are excluded. With the sales of all books included, DC is the second biggest publisher, after Viz Media, and Marvel is third.

DC Comics has adapted its characters to different forms of media, including action figures, animated and live-action movies, animated and live-action television series, and video games, which have made them even more popular.

History

Origins (1930-1934)

National Allied Publications, owned by entrepreneur Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson made its publishing debut with a tabloid-sized magazine titled The Big Comic Magazine, dated February 1935. Beginning with the publisher's second title, New Comics (December 1935), its publications began to be closer in size to the one that would be used in the so-called Golden Age of American comic books, a size slightly larger than current comic magazines. The latter title would later be renamed Adventure Comics, which would continue until issue #503 in 1983, becoming one of the longest-running comic series at that time.

In 1937, due to debts owed to a printing plant belonging to Harry Donenfeld, a magazine distributor, Donenfeld became a partner with Wheeler-Nicholson in order to begin publishing Detective Comics, an anthology of mainly adventure comics. Thus, DC Comics (short for Detective Comics) was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz (Donenfeld's accountant) as owners. Wheeler-Nicholson remained with the company for a year, but continued to struggle financially and was forced to resign. Shortly thereafter, DC Comics bought the remainder of National Allied at a bankruptcy auction.

DC Comics soon launched a new title, Action Comics, which featured Superman in its first issue . In its first issue, cover-dated June 1938, Action Comics was the first comic magazine to feature a character whose archetype would soon become known as a "superhero," and it proved to be a best seller. DC Comics, the publisher, would soon introduce such characters as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. DC Comics emerged from the union of two publishers: All-American Publications and Detective Comics, Inc. which merged in the late 1930s to become National Comics (later known as National Periodical Publications). By this time "DC" was simply an informal logo used regularly on the covers of its publications.

Golden Age (1938-1956)

Action Comics began publishing superhero comics in 1938. It was a huge success, and spawned stories about Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and even the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America. By the late 1940s, the superhero genre began to wane and the company attempted to focus on other genres such as science fiction, westerns, humor, and even romance comics. DC stayed away from some of the biggest trends in the comics market at the time: crime and horror stories. When these stories became unpopular in the 1950s, DC did not face the same problems as other publishers that had exploited these editorial lines. Throughout this period DC continued to publish some superhero titles, notably: Action Comics, Detective Comics, All Star Comics, Sensation Comics, World's Finest Comics, Trinity, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the two longest-running regular comic book publications in history.

Silver Age (1956-1965)

Under the editorial direction of Julius Schwartz in the late 1950s, the company began a revival of the comics industry known as the Silver Age of Comics with the return of old characters such as the Flash in a modern version adapted to modern times. Titles such as Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, and other supporting characters soon emerged sharing a science fiction point of view. The superhero team was revitalized this time under the name of the Justice League of America. Comics were extremely popular and DC enjoyed a prominent position in the market.

However, by the early 1960s, Marvel Comics, a former minority publisher, was beginning to capture a significant share of the comics market with a creative team consisting of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko. DC was slow to react to Marvel's success, which focused on more complex characters and greater story continuity. DC began to gain a reputation for a simplistic, old-fashioned style. Through the addition of departing Marvel artists such as Steve Ditko and newer writers such as Neal Adams, DC increasingly moved toward a more modern approach to superhero comics.

Late 1960s and early 1970s

Logo from 1977-2005, known as "DC Bullet".

By the late 1960s, many of DC's older artists were retiring, and many were asking for improvements in their health and pension plans. In an unprecedented move, DC fired most of its older staff and replaced them with younger artists, many of whom had grown up under the influence of Marvel comics. On the one hand, the new employees developed new and more complex characters with richer and more sophisticated stories, but on the other hand, their relative lack of experience and professionalism prevented them from developing a high-quality product.

Some of these artists went on to become acclaimed DC writers, such as Dennis O'Neil, who worked on the Green Lantern and Batman series. This period was filled with new titles that started off strong, only to lose steam as the artists gained experience and could afford to leave the company for better-paying jobs.

Jack Kirby, who had recently left Marvel, began an ambitious project entitled Fourth World, in which he attempted to create a minor imprint for DC that would attract a loyal audience. Conflicts with the company's management led to the premature cancellation of this project, although many of its characters and ideas would become vital elements of the DC Universe.

Affiliate of Kinney National Company/Warner Communications (1967–1990)

In 1967, National Periodical Publications was purchased by Kinney National Company, which purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1969. Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets in 1972 (as National Kinney Corporation) and changed its name to Warner Communications Inc. (today WarnerMedia).

To compete with Marvel's success, DC began a campaign of producing numerous new titles including new superheroes and comics far removed from this classic theme. In addition, the concept of limited series was introduced to publish miniseries without the cost of developing large projects. The so-called "DC explosion" was not very successful, causing serious problems for the company.

In early 1980, new publishing director Jenette Kahn, her vice president Paul Levitz, and publisher Dick Giordano decided to improve conditions for artists employed by the company by offering rewards such as royalties to encourage the arrival of established talent.

The new Teen Titans series by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez was an immediate success with great stability from its creative team, enjoying great popularity among fans for many years.

The success of this minor title caused the company to reconsider much of its other production lines. The result was highly successful limited series, now considered great DC classics, such as Crisis on Infinite Earths, which lightened up part of the already excessively dense DC Universe and revisited classic characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman. In 1989, the company also began publishing older hardcover collections under the title: DC Archive Editions.

Other limited series such as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns or Alan Moore's Watchmen brought a new group of fans to DC. The originality of these series attracted a significant number of readers, seriously jeopardizing Marvel's editorial superiority at the time.

Meanwhile, British writer Alan Moore had revitalized the minor horror series Saga of the Swamp Thing and introduced a number of British talents to the American comics world, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. The result was a steady stream of sophisticated horror and dark material that would culminate years later in the establishment of the Vertigo line of adult comics.

1990s

DC experienced a brief period of very high sales in the early 1990s thanks to speculative takeovers of some very popular stories from other publishers. Some of DC's classic titles became enormously popular with stories in which Superman was killed and then resurrected, and Batman faced the destruction of Gotham City. The success was only temporary and soon the company ran into serious sales problems.

DC's Piranha Press and other comics lines were introduced in the 1990s in an attempt to diversify DC's presence in an increasingly specialized comics market. During this period, non-traditional contracts with works whose rights remained in the hands of their authors or the acquisition of rights to publish stories from other companies increased. The production of original graphic novels also increased. The Vertigo line was aimed at an adult audience with more literary tastes, far from the stigma of children's or young adult stories that plagued superhero comics. DC also purchased Jim Lee's Wildstorm Comics, with characters such as Grifter, keeping its publications separate and respecting its previous style. In the late 1990s, the America's Best Comics line was added, created by Alan Moore and which included titles such as Tom Strong and Promethea.

2000s

Beginning in 2000, comic book sales that had been languishing throughout the previous decade began to revive slightly. DC diversified its publications in an attempt to reach new markets. In March 2003, DC Comics acquired the publishing and merchandising rights to the popular fantasy series Elfquest (previously published by creators Wendy and Richard Pini under the Warp Graphics logo). In 2004, DC began selling manga under the CMX imprint and acquired the rights to publish graphic novels from various European companies in North America, including series such as A.D. and Humanoids. It also relaunched some of its most popular comics in specific lines aimed at younger audiences. Between 2005 and 2006, DC once again revamped its long roster of superheroes with Infinite Crisis, which revamped many of the classic concepts. This revamp reached its definitive conclusion in 2008 with Final Crisis.

DC Entertainment

In September 2009, Warner Bros. announced that DC Comics would become a subsidiary of DC Entertainment, Inc., with Diane Nelson, President of Warner Premiere, becoming president of the newly formed company and DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz moving to the position of Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant there.

On February 18, 2010, DC Entertainment named Jim Lee and Dan DiDio as Co-Publishers of DC Comics, Geoff Johns as Chief Creative Officer, John Rood as EVP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development, and Patrick Caldon as EVP of Finance and Administration.

In May 2011, DC announced it would become the first comic-book publisher to begin releasing digital versions of their comics on the same day as paper versions. DC also announced a massive reboot on their DC Universe following their Flashpoint event.

Relaunch: The New 52

On June 1, 2011, DC announced that they were cancelling all series within the DC Universe and relaunching their comics line with 52 #1s, beginning with Justice League on August 31, 2011 (written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee, with the remainder of the series relaunching in September). After a period of financial troubles, the New 52 promotion ended in May 2015, but with the DC You initiative, these changes failed to take effect, severely impacting further cancellations that were consistently noticeable over the course of five years.

DC Rebirth

Once again taking the reins of the company's publications, DC Comics once again renews itself, implementing a new image that seeks to rescue the essence of the characters by committing to the return of the past and unifying it with the present, and that involves a retcon of The New 52 in the process.

Logo

DC's first logo appeared on the April 1940 issues of its titles. The small logo, with no background, read simply, "A DC Publication".
The November 1941 DC titles introduced an updated logo. This version was almost twice the size of the previous one and was the first version with a white background. The name "Superman" was added to "A DC Publication", effectively acknowledging both Superman and Batman. This logo was the first to occupy the top-left corner of the cover, where the logo has usually resided since. The company now referred to itself in its advertising as "Superman-DC".
In November 1949, the logo was modified to incorporate the company's formal name, National Comics Publications. This logo also served as the round body of Johnny DC, DC's mascot in the 1960s.
In October 1970, DC briefly retired the circular logo in favour of a simple "DC" in a rectangle with the name of the title, or the star of the book; the logo on many issues of Action Comics, for example, read "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 anthologies like House of Mystery or team series such as 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 its cover branding.
DC's "100 Page Super-Spectacular" titles and later 100-page and "Giant" issues published from 1972 to 1974 featured a logo exclusive to these editions: the letters "DC" in a simple sans-serif typeface within 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 remained 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, this logo was modified with the addition of the words "The Line of DC Super-Stars" and the star motif that continued 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", this logo premiered on the February 1977 titles. Although it varied in size and colour and was at times cropped by the edges of the cover, or briefly rotated 4 degrees, it remained essentially unchanged for nearly three decades. Despite logo changes since 2005, the old "DC bullet" continues to be used only on the DC Archive Editions series.
On May 8, 2005, a new logo (dubbed the "DC spin") was unveiled, debuting on DC titles in June 2005 with DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy No. 1 and the rest of the titles the following week. In addition to comics, it was designed for DC properties in other media, which was used for films since Batman Begins, with Superman Returns showing the logo's normal variant, and the TV series Smallville, the animated series Justice League Unlimited and others, as well as for collectibles and other merchandise. The logo was designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios and DC executive Richard Bruning.
In March 2012, DC unveiled a new logo by Landor Associates, consisting of a letter "D" peeling back to reveal the letter "C"; the logo was intended to visualize the concept of superheroes' "dual" identities, and be adaptable across different mediums.
In May 2016, in conjunction with the DC Rebirth, DC replaced the "peel" logo with a circular logo reminiscent of the 1972 logo.
In July 2024, DC unveiled an updated version of the Glaser's 1977 "Bullet" logo during San Diego Comic-Con, as well as an accompanying intro sequence featuring Superman for DC Studios.

Imprints

Current
- DC Black Label
- DC Horror
- DC Graphic Novels for Kids
- DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults
- Hill House Comics
- Milestone Media

Defunct
- All-Star
- Amalgam Comics
- America's Best Comics
- CMX
- DC Archive Editions
- DC Focus
- DC Ink
- DC Zoom
- Elseworlds
- Helix
- Impact
- Jinxworld
- Johnny DC
- Minx
- Paradox Press
- Piranha Press
- Tangent Comics
- Vertigo
- WildStorm Productions
- Wonder Comics
- Young Animal
- Zuda