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DC Comics

 
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DC Entertainment Inc.

Contact Information
DC Entertainment Inc.
1700 Broadway, 7th Fl.
New York, NY 10019-5905
NY Tel. 212-636-5400
Fax 212-636-5481

Type: Subsidiary
On the web: http://www.dccomics.com

Look! Up at that building in New York City! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's comic empire DC Entertainment! The world's #2 comic book publisher (behind longtime nemesis Marvel) controls 30% of the market and owns the rights to what is arguably the best-known roster of superheroes, including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. DC publishes about 90 monthly comics and licenses the rights to its characters for use in movies, TV shows, books, and other products. Other operations include comic imprints WildStorm and Vertigo, as well as the iconic "MAD" magazine. Owned by movie studio Warner Bros., DC was created in 1934 as National Allied Publications. Its first title was "Detective Comics" (thus the initials DC).

Officers:
President: Diane Nelson
EVP Finance and Operations: Patrick Caldon
SVP Sales and Marketing: Steve Rotterdam

Competitors:
Image Comics
Marvel Entertainment
Topps Company

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Company History:

DC Comics Inc.

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Founded: 1935 as National Allied Publications
SIC: 2721 Periodicals; 6794 Patent Owners & Lessors

DC Comics Inc. is the world's largest comic book company and is perhaps best known for publishing the adventures of Superman and Batman. The history of DC is in many ways the history of American comic book publishing; its dominance during the 1990s is a testament to the enduring appeal of comic book superheroes, whose marketability in a variety of formats--including the big screen, television, video games, and CD-ROM--appeared to be boundless.

In 1934, Eastern Color Printing (ECP) began publishing news-strip comics reproductions in Famous Funnies. Imitators soon included King Comics and Popular Comics. In 1935, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson published New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1, the first all-original comic book. Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications (NAP), attracting such talent as Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth. By 1938, Wheeler-Nicholson sold to Liebowitz/Donenfeld; Ellsworth left; and only Sullivan remained at NAP.

Donenfeld traveled, building distribution. Liebowitz released 200,000 copies of Action Comics #1/1938, in which Sullivan published the first appearance of Siegel and Shuster's Superman and Fred Guardineer's Zatara. Created by two "kids" from Cleveland, Superman solidified the industry. The comic, selling for a dime then, was worth six figures in the 1990s.

Initially created in 1932 for Science Fiction, a fanzine the two published, Superman coincided with Hitler's rise to power and vow to create a race of Nietzschean "supermen." The first Superman was a bald villain! The second was sans cape but a crime-fighter. The "real" Superman came in 1934, with alter-ego Clark Kent named for Clark Gable. Superman reappeared on the cover of 500,000 copies of Action Comics #7, and was selling a million copies by 1939. Siegel and Shuster opened a studio, and Superman got his own title, becoming a McClure-syndicated news-strip in 1939, appearing in 300 daily newspapers worldwide by 1941, and then appearing regularly until 1966.

In May 1939, Bob Kane's Batman--created from such images as da Vinci's flying machine, The Bat Whispers (1930), The Mark of Zorro (1921), and Dracula (1931)--debuted in "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" (Detective Comics #27). Sullivan promptly bought the character, though left later that year to start his own company.

Liebowitz rehired Ellsworth and also hired Weisinger and Jack Schiff from the pulps. But the comics flood was only beginning. NAP accountant Victor Fox quit, opened offices, and hired Will Eisner for Wonder Man (Wonder Comics, 1939). NAP sued and the title was canceled after one issue. Fox created The Blue Beetle later that year.

Liebowitz, with M(axwell) C(harles) Gaines, created All American. Gaines, who, in 1933 at ECP, helped develop the first comic books, thought to sell them at newsstands, and also worked at The McClure Syndicate repackaging news-strips into comic books with Sheldon Mayer, the two who recommended Superman to NAP in 1938. Mayer would also create Scribbly for All-American Comics and hire Joe Kubert. All American also featured Jon L. Blummer's Hop Harrigan and Bud Fisher's Mutt and Jeff.

By 1940, the distinctive DC circular logo (for Detective Comics) was appearing on NAP and All American comics. NAP created Superman Inc.--a licensing company--turning out hundreds of merchandise items and promotions. That year, Johnny Thunder and Gardner Fox creations The Flash and Hawkman debuted.

When Fawcett Publications debuted Captain Marvel (Whiz Comics), NAP promptly sued for similarities to Superman, fighting through 1953 before Fawcett settled, canceling Captain Marvel. In 1973 NAP acquired the rights to Captain Marvel, resurrecting him in Shazam!.

In 1941, The Adventures of Superman radio program began. Batman and Robin visited in 1945, beginning regular appearances, and the show ran until 1951.

A seven-minute animated film--Superman (1941)--appeared from Paramount Pictures. The first of 17, this Academy Award-nominated film was suggested to producer Max Fleischer, whose studio had created Betty Boop and Popeye.

Meanwhile, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon created Captain America for Marvel and Jack Cole's Plastic Man and Will Eisner's Blackhawk debuted for Quality Comics Group, both characters which NAP acquired (1956). Weisinger created Johnny Quick, Aquaman, and Green Arrow, the three moving to Adventure Comics.

William Moulton Marston, best known for creating the lie detector, due to an article the psychologist wrote attacking comics, was approached by Mayer to write comics. Marston agreed and Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8/1941, becoming lead character in Sensation Comics #1/1942 and graduating to Wonder Woman #1/1943.

After Pearl Harbor, Weisinger enlisted; Bert Christman (Sandman) died with The Flying Tigers; Superman and Batman promoted war bonds; Simon and Kirby created Boy Commandos before ending up in uniform themselves; and before Siegel joined up, he and Hal Sherman created The Star-Spangled Kid, who debuted in Star Spangled Comics #1, a series which also featured Liberty Belle and Siegel's Robotman.

In 1942, Superman villain The Prankster appeared; Random House published the first Superman novel; Wildcat debuted (Sensation Comics); and Hop Harrigan appeared on a radio show which ran until 1948.

Batman became McClure-syndicated in 1943. Wonder Woman and Hop Harrigan also had newspaper runs. Superman villain The Toyman debuted. Batman finally beat Superman to the punch, becoming the first NAP superhero with a live-action film. Columbia Pictures released a 15-part serial entitled Batman.

In 1944, DC hired Julius Schwartz--literary agent for H. P. Lovecraft--as story editor. Concurrently, Liebowitz bought out Gaines's share of All American, merging it with NAP. Gaines went with his son Bill to create EC Comics--which would release Tales from the Crypt, Mad (1952), and Mad Magazine (1955; sold to Premier Industries, 1962). The Three Mousketeers also debuted that year.

Superboy debuted in More Fun Comics #101/1945, graduated to Adventure Comics (1946), and got his own title (1949), the last of the important superhero titles of The Golden Age. Superboy introduced Lana Lang, but created contradictions (Supe was not a superhero until adulthood, did not meet Lois until Metropolis). Siegel and Shuster did not like the character, suing NAP (1947) for royalties, which they received, but left the company, creating a rift until 1975, when they were awarded compensation, pensions, and credit again on their creations.

From 1946 to 1949, NAP published Real Fact Comics to promote education through comics (with Pearl S. Buck among the writers). That year, NAP, All American, and other DC predecessors combined to form National Comics Publications (NCP).

Marston died in 1947; Kirby and Simon created a new Sandman; Mayer quit to return to drawing, and after World War II interest in superheroes began to slump. NCP canceled More Fun Comics, Flash Comics, All-Flash Comics, and dropped costumed characters from All Star Comics, Sensation Comics, and Star Spangled Comics. Action Comics, Detective Comics, and Adventure Comics continued with Superman, Batman, and Superboy.

In 1948, Superman debuted in film, appearing in Columbia's 15-chapter serial Superman, produced by Sam Katzman, who also produced Batman and Robin (1949) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950).

Other NCP characters appearing as Columbia serials included Hop Harrigan (1946), The Vigilante (1947), and Congo Bill: King of the Jungle.

The impact of TV and film was felt in comics, as evinced by such titles as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Adventures of Alan Ladd (1949); Feature Films and The Adventures of Bob Hope (1950); The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (1952-57); Jackie Gleason, (1956-58); Sgt. Bilko, (1957-60); The Adventures of Jerry Lewis (1957-71); The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1960-64); and Welcome Back, Kotter (1976).

George Reeves played Superman in the superhero's first feature film, Superman and the Mole Men (1951), serving as the pilot for the television series Adventures of Superman (1951-57).

In the 1940s and 1950s, westerns and animals gained popularity, with debuts of Western Comics, Tomahawk, and The Dodo and the Frog; and name changes from All-American Comics to All-American Western, All Star Comics to All Star Western, Funny Folks to Nutsy Squirrel, and Animal Antics to The Raccoon Kids. Dell Publishing bought Walt Disney, Walter Lantz, and Warner Bros. characters. NCP acquired The Fox and The Crow, based on Columbia's 1941 cartoon The Fox and the Grapes, and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen got his own title in 1954.

Mysteries and horror boomed, with Gleason's Crime Does Not Pay (1942), followed by DC's Gangbusters (1947), Mr. District Attorney (1948), Big Town (1950), House of Mystery (1951), and House of Secrets (1956); and EC's Tales from the Crypt. Science fiction also grew, with debuts of Strange Adventures (1950) and Mystery in Space (1951); war stories abounded, with Our Army at War, Star Spangled War Stories, and All-American Men of War (all 1952); and romance and teen comics popped up, with Prize Comics/Simon and Kirby's Young Romance (1947; acquired by DC, 1963), and DC's A Date with Judy (1947), Leave It to Binky, Here's Howie, Romance Trail (1949), Girls' Love Stories (1949), Secret Hearts, Girls' Romances, Falling in Love, and Heart Throbs (bought from Quality, 1955).

In 1954, with a booming comics industry, Dr. Fredric Wertham of Bellevue launched a Congressional inquiry when he blamed comic books and their gruesome, lurid covers for growing juvenile delinquency, and asserted that Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman were homosexual. Though the industry created the self-governing Comics Code Authority, EC Comics was essentially destroyed, as were other comics publishers.

Schwartz inaugurated The Silver Age of Comics when he revived Flash in 1956. In 1958, Lois Lane got her own title--Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane--as did The Challengers of the Unknown (April-May). Two years later The Justice League of America debuted. In 1961, Kirby and Stan Lee released The Fantastic Four; Donenfeld died; his son Irwin replaced him; and NCP changed its name to National Periodical Publications (NPP).

Getting their own titles were Hawkman (1964), Metamorpho The Element Man (1965), and Teen Titans (1966). In 1966, Superman hit Broadway with It's A Bird ... It's A Plane ... It's Superman! and returned to a cartoon series (1966-70), going on to Hanna-Barbera's Super Friends (1973-86). The superhero icon was also immortalized in paintings by both Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Concurrently, Batman debuted on television, appeared in a film and two animated TV series (1966, 1977), plus novels, collections of kids' letters to Batman, and every merchandise item imaginable.

NPP and Warner Bros. were purchased in 1968 by Kinney National Services. In 1972, NPP debuted Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson's innovative horror title Swamp Thing--which would become a cult hit movie (1982) and sequel (1989), as well as a spinoff TV series (1990), and animated miniseries (1991). That same year Tarzan came to DC.

In 1973, Prez, Plop!, and The Shadow appeared in print, and Aquaman launched a cartoon television series (1973-86), which included solo appearances by The Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Teen Titans, and The Justice League. Marvel's Dr. Strange appeared, and Captain America and The Punisher were shot, but never released. Wonder Woman debuted in a TV movie (1974), followed by a series (1975-79), and Jonah Hex got his own title (1976).

Jenette Kahn became publisher in 1976 and president five years later, and was credited with revamping the entire company. She changed the name NPP to DC Comics Inc. in 1977, fashioned a new logo, and led DC to become the first comics company to pay royalties in 1981.

Christopher Reeve took over in Superman: The Movie (1978), Superman II (1980), III (1983), and IV: The Quest for Peace (1988)--spinning off a Supergirl film (1984)--before moving to videocassette.

In 1982, DC's Camelot 3000, became the first original offset series sold through direct-sales market, followed by Frank Miller's Ronin (1983) and Sun Devils (1984). Spinoffs from games began with Atari Force (1984) and Dick Grayson transformed from Robin to Nightwing. Graphic novels began appearing, with DC's Star Raiders (1983), Metalzoic (1986), and Tell Me, Dark (1992), as well as Ray Bradbury's Frost and Fire, Harlan Ellison's Demon with a Glass Hand, and Jack Kirby's Hunger Dogs.

In 1985, DC cleaned house, consolidating all of its universes (including those acquired from Fawcett, Charleton, and Quality), but some heroes--Supergirl, Silver Age Flash, and Nighthawk--paid the ultimate price. A second housecleaning came in 1994, with Hal Jordan's Green Lantern becoming the victim.

In 1986, Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sophisticatedly redefined Batman; John Byrne's Superman--updated in Man of Steel--became the first million-copy seller since The Golden Age, and had three top-100 titles; and Watchmen, which would become the most-honored comic series in history, debuted.

Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, and Peanuts made comebacks in the 1980s, joined by Wonder Woman, The Justice League of America, and The Flash (1987). That summer, DC outsold Marvel for the first time in years.

During the 1970s-80s, industry birthday parties abounded, with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs all hitting the golden mark (1978, 1984, and 1987, respectively). February 29, 1988 marked Superman's 50th birthday and DC Comics started a year-long celebration beginning on Memorial Day 1987, when an exhibition opened at The Smithsonian Institute; Superman IV debuted; Superman joined The White House and U.S. Department of Education in The Drug-Free America Balloon Launch; CBS had a one-hour prime-time special on Supe; a weekend birthday party occurred in New York City; and The Grand Finale occurred in Cleveland that June, with a ticker-tape parade and a statue of Supe.

In 1988, Superboy appeared in a live-action TV series (1988-91); Jason Todd as Robin died, being replaced by Tim Drake. In 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. to form Time Warner Inc., making DC part of the largest media company in the world, and Neil Gaiman created a third version of Sandman. Simultaneously, Marvel was sold by struggling New World Pictures to MacAndrew & Forbes, a holding company of financier Ronald Perelman.

That year also marked Batman's 50th birthday. Batman: Arkham Asylum became the bestselling hardcover comic ever; and Batman became the largest-grossing Warner film ever, with domestic box-office sales of $251 million (sixth in film history), total sales at over $400 million, and the videocassette was the bestselling ever.

Analysts estimated the comics industry went from $130 million in 1986 to $400 million in 1990 as Clark Kent and Lois Lane got engaged. Superman died in Superman #75 (1993), the most widely read comic book ever, selling over six million copies. However, he was resurrected in 1993 and married Lois in 1996.

The Flash starred in a TV series (1991), but DC was hard-pressed to catch industry leaders Marvel and Malibu. In 1992 DC's The Human Target ran six episodes; Batman: The Animated Series debuted, winning an Emmy award; Superman and Batman appeared in The New Batman/Superman Adventures; Batman Returns (1992) became the only film to date beating Batman's opening weekend box office record; and Bill Gaines died.

In 1989, seemingly only Kool-Aid advertised in comics. But in 1993, an upsurge occurred. DC and others suddenly had attracted such advertisers as Sega, Nordic Trak, Warner Bros., Crunch 'N Munch, and Stridex; Marvel characters promoted Pizza Hut (X-Men) and Burger King; and Malibu introduced its Ultraverse on MTV and Nickelodeon--the first time a comic publisher used national advertising--and a merger with Acme Interactive triggered Malibu's tie-in package, with a live-action video portion of the story, and the rest in the comics. Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, an hour-long primetime series, also appeared.

DC debuted a new line--"Vertigo"--offering innovative graphic stories to adult readers of nontraditional comics. The psychologically compelling, cutting-edge titles ranged from science fiction to horror to dark fantasy.

July 1994 saw year-old Milestone Media--publishers of Icon, Static, Kobalt, Rocket, Shadow Cabinet, and Xombi--team characters from Hardware and Blood Syndicate with Superman, Superboy, and Steel in the "Worlds Collide" crossover series, following Superman/Spiderman (1970s), Batman/Hulk (1980s), and Teen Titans/X-Men (1990s). Also appearing in 1994 were Looney Toons and Paradox Press--with such titles as Brooklyn Dreams, La Pacifica, Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children, Urban Legends, The Big Book of Weirdos, and Stuck Rubber Baby.

Batman Forever was the top-grossing film of 1995, and DC comics appeared in Waldenbooks. In 1996, Superman joined Snuggle Bear, WB, Kids WB Network, and Six Flags' Magic Mountain in Best Western promotions. Batman and Robin debuted in 1997.

By mid-1998, Action Comics and Detective Comics were still appearing, along with numerous other titles. Rumors abounded of a Superman V film; and, with Marvel/Malibu bankrupt, DC became sole survivor of The Golden Age of comics and the largest comics publisher in the world.

Further Reading

Barmann, Timothy C., "Rhode Island Internet Provider Engages in Battle with Comic Giant," Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, February 18, 1998, p. 218B1051.

Boughton, Victoria, "Wonder Woman," Working Woman, March 1982, p. 71.

Daniels, Les, DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes, Boston and New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1995, 256 p.

Fenner, Austin Evans, "Manhattan Publisher Milestone Media Celebrates 16 Months in Business," Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, July 19, 1994, p. 07190074.

Flatow, Sheryl, "Leaps and Bounds," Public Relations Journal, February 1988, p. 13.

Fost, Dan, "Comics Age with the Baby Boom," American Demographics, May 1991, p. 16.

Frank, Jerome P., "DC Comics Is Serious About Production; Using an In-House Electronic System, the Comic Book Publisher Saves Money and Improves Quality," Publishers Weekly, October 7, 1988, p. 91.

Grimm, Matthew, "Marvel Comics Strikes Back: Beaten Badly by Archrival DC in the Cross-Marketing Arena, the Industry Leader Vows to Flex Its Muscles in Licensing, Promotion and Hollywood," ADWEEK's Marketing Week, January 1, 1991, p. 13.

"Holy Suit, Batman!: Owners of Copyright Sue Stores," Philadelphia Business Journal, February 26, 1990, p. 28.

Jensen, Jeff, "Dead Superman May Revive DC Comics," Advertising Age, November 23, 1992, p. 13.

Ketzenberger, John, "Holy Bootleg, Batman!: Warner, DC Comics File Suit Here to Stop 'Caped Crusader' Rip-Offs," Indianapolis Business Journal, September 4, 1989, p. 1A.

Lehrman, Celia Kuperszmid, "Superman Faces Midlife Crisis," Public Relations Journal, September 1986, p. 15.

McCoy, Frank, and Alfred Edmond, Jr., "Serious Business," Black Enterprise, September 1989, p. 86.

Miller, Cyndee, "Comic Book Publishers Battle for Market Share, Advertisers," Marketing News, October 11, 1993, p. 1.

Morris, Chris, "Winters Show Discontent Over DC Comics Depiction," Billboard, March 23, 1996, p. 95.

Reid, Calvin, "500 Walden Stores to Feature DC Comics," Publishers Weekly, February 27, 1995, p. 32.

Rigg, Cynthia, "Upstarts Aim to Be Comic Book Heroes," Crain's New York Business, April 6, 1992, p. 1.

"Swamp Thing's Quagmire," Time, July 10, 1989, p. 47.

Underwood, Elaine, and Betsy Spethmann, "Superman, WB Fly at Best Western," BRANDWEEK, May 27, 1996, p. 4.

"Will Superman Fly?" Chain Store Age--General Merchandise Trends, June 1987, p. 69.

Zinn, Laura, "It's a Bird, It's a Plane--It's a Resurrection; Superman Returns on Apr. 15, But No One Knows What Form He'll Take," Business Week, April 12, 1993, p. 40.

— Daryl F. Mallett


Wikipedia:

DC Comics

Top
DC Entertainment, Inc.
Type Subsidiary of Warner Bros.
Founded 1934, by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (as National Allied Publications)
Headquarters New York City, New York
Key people Diane Nelson (President)
Dan DiDio (Senior Vice President, DC Executive Editor)
Paul Levitz (Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant)
Industry Comics
Products See list of DC Comics publications
Parent Time Warner
Divisions Vertigo
Wildstorm
Zuda Comics
Website http://www.dccomics.com

DC Comics (founded in 1934 as National Allied Publications[1]) is one of the largest and most popular companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc.,[2] a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner. DC Comics produces material featuring a large number of well-known characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, the Teen Titans, Green Arrow, the Justice League and the rest of the DC Universe.[3]

The initials "DC" came from the company's popular series, Detective Comics, which subsequently became part of the company's official name.[4] DC Comics has its official headquarters at 1700 Broadway, New York, New York.[5] Random House distributes DC Comics' books to the bookstore market, while Diamond Comics Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market.[5]

DC Comics is a major, longtime competitor to Marvel Comics, and the two companies share over 80% of the American comic book market.[6][7]

Contents

History

Origins

Entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications debuted with the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 in February 1935. The company's second title, New Comics #1 (December 1935), appeared in a size close to what would become comic books' standard during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of 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.

Wheeler-Nicholson's third and final title, Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936, eventually premiered 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 had gone. In 1937, in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld — who also published pulp-magazines and operated as a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News — Wheeler-Nicholson was compelled to take Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective Comics #1. Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners. Major Wheeler-Nicholson remained for a year, but cash-flow problems continued, and he was forced out. Shortly afterward, Detective Comics Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied, also known as Nicholson Publishing, at a bankruptcy auction.

Detective Comics Inc. soon launched a fourth title, Action Comics, the premiere of which introduced Superman (a character with which Wheeler-Nicholson had no direct involvement; editor Vin Sullivan chose to run the feature after Sheldon Mayer rescued it from the slush pile). Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the first comic book to feature the new character archetype — soon known as "superheroes" — proved a major sales hit. The company quickly introduced such other popular characters as the Sandman and Batman.

The Golden Age

National Allied Publications soon merged with Detective Comics, Inc. to form National Comics, which in 1944 absorbed an affiliated concern, Max Gaines' and Liebowitz's All-American Publications. That year, Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, and kept only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC Comics. At that point, "Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics... Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, [the self-distributorship] Independent News, and their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications".[8] National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961.[9]

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

The company began to move aggressively against imitative copyright violations by other companies, such as Fox Comics' Wonder Man, which according to court testimony Fox created as a copy of Superman. This extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics for Captain Marvel, at the time comics' top-selling character. Despite the fact that parallels between Captain Marvel and Superman seemed more tenuous, the courts ruled that substantial and deliberate copying of copyrighted material had occurred. Faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost, Fawcett capitulated in 1955 and ceased comics publication. Years later, Fawcett ironically sold the rights to Captain Marvel to DC — which in 1973 revived Captain Marvel in the new title Shazam!. featuring artwork by his creator, C. C. Beck. In the meantime, the abandoned trademark had been seized by Marvel Comics in 1967, disallowing the DC comic itself to be called that. While Captain Marvel did not recapture his old popularity, he later appeared in a Saturday morning live action TV adaptation and gained a prominent place in the mainstream continuity DC calls the DC Universe.

When the popularity of superheroes faded in the late 1940s, the company focused on such genres as science fiction, Westerns, humor and romance. DC also published crime and horror titles, but relatively tame ones, and thus avoided the mid-1950s backlash against such comics. A handful of the most popular superhero-titles (most notably Action Comics and Detective Comics, the medium's two longest-running titles) continued publication.

The Silver Age

In the mid-1950s, editorial director Irwin Donenfeld and publisher Liebowitz directed editor Julius Schwartz (whose roots lay in the science-fiction book market) to produce a one-shot Flash story in the try-out title Showcase. Instead of reviving the old character, Schwartz had writer Robert Kanigher and John Broome, penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Joe Kubert create an entirely new super-speedster, updating and modernizing the Flash's civilian identity, costume, and origin with a science-fiction bent. The Flash's reimagining in Showcase #4 (October 1956) proved sufficiently popular that it soon led to a similar revamping of the Green Lantern character, the introduction of the modern all-star team Justice League of America, and many more superheroes, heralding what historians and fans call the Silver Age of comic books.

National did not reimagine its continuing characters (primarily Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) but radically overhauled them. The Superman family of titles, under editor Mort Weisinger, introduced such enduring characters as Supergirl, Bizarro, and Brainiac. The Batman titles, under editor Jordan Stewart, introduced the successful Batwoman, Bat-Girl and Bat-Mite in an attempt to modernize the strip with non-science-fiction elements. Schiff's successor, Schwartz, together with artist Infantino, then revitalized Batman in what the company promoted as the "New Look", re-emphasizing Batman as a detective. Meanwhile, editor Kanigher successfully introduced a whole family of Wonder Woman characters having fantastic adventures in a mythological context.

DC's introduction of the reimagined superheroes did not go unnoticed by other comics companies. In 1961, with DC's superhero team the Justice League of America (JLA) as the specific spur,[10] Marvel Comics writer-editor Stan Lee and the legendary Jack Kirby ushered in the sub-Silver Age "Marvel Age" of comics with the debut issue of The Fantastic Four.[11]

Since the 1940s, when Superman, Batman, and many of the company's other heroes began appearing in stories together, DC's characters inhabited a shared continuity that, decades later, was dubbed[by whom?] the DC Universe. With the story "Flash of Two Worlds", in Flash #123 (September 1961), editor Schwartz (with writer Gardner Fox and artists Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella) introduced a concept that allowed slotting the 1930s and 1940s Golden Age heroes into this continuity via the explanation that they lived on an otherdimensional "Earth 2", as opposed to the modern heroes' supposed "Earth 1" [in actuality, "Earth Prime"] — in the process creating the foundation for what would later be called the DC Multiverse.

A 1966 Batman TV show on the ABC network sparked a temporary spike in comic book sales, and a brief fad for superheroes in Saturday morning animation (Filmation created most of DC's initial cartoons) and other media. DC significantly lightened the tone of many DC comics — particularly Batman and Detective Comics — to better complement the "camp" tone of the TV series. This tone coincided with the famous "Go-Go Checks" checkerboard cover-dress which featured a black-and-white checkerboard strip at the top of each comic, a misguided attempt by then-managing editor Irwin Donenfeld to make DC's output "stand out on the newsracks."[12]

In 1967, Batman artist Infantino (who had designed popular Silver Age characters Batgirl and Phantom Stranger) rose from art director to become DC's editorial director. With the growing popularity of upstart rival Marvel Comics threatening to topple DC from its longtime number-one position in the comics industry, he attempted to infuse the company with new titles and characters, also recruiting major talents such as ex-Marvel artist and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko and promising newcomer Neal Adams. He also replaced some existing DC editors with artist-editors, including Joe Kubert and Dick Giordano, to give DC's output a more artistic critical eye.

These new editors recruited youthful new creators, in part in an effort to capture a market which had grown from being dominated by children, to include older teens and even college students. Some new talent, such as Dennis O'Neil, who had worked for both Marvel and Charlton, gained critical and popular acclaim on titles including Batman and Green Lantern (his Green Lantern run with artist Neal Adams became a key title in the burgeoning 1970s Bronze Age, and the move away from the Comics Code Authority). Nevertheless, the period was plagued by short-lived series that started out strong but petered out rapidly.

The Fourth World

In 1969, National Comics merged with Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. The previous year, Jack Kirby defected from Marvel Comics to DC, at the end of the Silver Age of Comics, in which Kirby's contributions to Marvel played a large, integral role. Given carte blanche to write and illustrate his own stories, he created a handful of thematically linked series he called collectively The Fourth World. In the existing series Jimmy Olsen and in his own, newly launched series New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, Kirby introduced such enduring characters and concepts as archvillain Darkseid and the otherdimensional realm Apokolips. While sales were respectable, they did not meet DC management's initially high expectations, and also suffered from a lack of comprehension and internal support from Infantino. By 1973 the "Fourth World" books would all be cancelled, although Kirby's conceptions would soon become integral to the broadening of the DC Universe. Kirby went on to create other "daring and different" series for DC, including Kamandi, about a teenaged boy in a post-apocalyptic world of animatronic talking animals, when directed by the publisher to come up with something resembling Planet of the Apes.

The Bronze Age

Following the science-fiction innovations of the Silver Age, the comics of the 1970s and 1980s would become known as the Bronze Age, as fantasy gave way to more naturalistic and sometimes darker themes. Illegal drug use, banned by the Comics Code Authority, explicitly appeared in comics for the first time in Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man in early 1971, and after the Code's updating in response, DC offered a drug-fueled storyline in writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams' Green Lantern, beginning with the story "Snowbirds Don't Fly" in the retitled Green Lantern / Green Arrow #85 (September 1971), which depicted Speedy, the teen sidekick of superhero archer Green Arrow, as having become a heroin addict.

Jenette Kahn, a former children's magazine publisher, replaced Infantino as editorial director in January 1976. DC had attempted to compete with the now-surging Marvel by dramatically increasing its output and attempting to win the market by flooding it. This included launching series featuring such new characters as Firestorm and Shade, the Changing Man, as well as an increasing array of non-superhero titles, in an attempt to recapture the pre-Wertham days of post-War comicdom. In June 1978, five months before the release of the first Superman movie, Kahn expanded the line further, increasing the number of titles, story pages and raising the price from 35 cents to 50 cents. Most series received eight-page back-up features while some had full-length twenty-five page stories. This was a move the company called the "DC Explosion."[13] The move was not successful, however, and corporate partner Warner dramatically cut back on these largely unsuccessful titles, firing many staffers in what industry watchers dubbed "the DC Implosion."[14] In September 1978, the line was dramatically reduced and standard-size books returned to 17 story pages but for a still-increased 40 cents.[15] By 1980, the books returned to 50 cents with a 25-page story count but the story pages replaced house ads in the books.

Seeking new ways to boost market-share, the new team of publisher Kahn, vice-president Paul Levitz, and managing editor Giordano addressed the issue of talent instability. To that end — and following the example of Atlas/Seaboard Comics and such independent companies as Eclipse Comics — DC began to offer royalties in place of the industry-standard work-for-hire agreement in which creators worked for a flat fee and signed away all rights. In addition, emulating the era's new television form, the miniseries, DC created the industry concept of the comic book limited series, allowing for the deliberate creation of finite storylines within a more flexible publishing format.

These changes in policy shaped the future of the medium as a whole, and in the short term allowed DC to entice creators away from rival Marvel, and encourage stability on individual titles. In November 1980 DC launched the ongoing series The New Teen Titans, by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, two popular talents with a history of success. Their superhero-team comic, superficially similar to Marvel's ensemble series X-Men, but rooted in DC history, earned significant sales[16] in part due to the stability of the creative team, who both continued with the title for six full years. In addition, Wolfman and Pérez took advantage of the limited-series option to create a spin-off title, Tales of the New Teen Titans, to present origin stories of their original characters without having to break the narrative flow of the main series or oblige them to double their work load with another ongoing title.

Late 1980s

This successful revitalization of the Teen titans into The New Teen Titans led DC's editors to seek the same for the entire line and for the wider DC Universe. The result was the Wolfman/Pérez 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, which gave the company an opportunity to realign and jettison some of the "baggage" of its history, address "errors" in the characters' long histories and - particularly - revise, update and streamline major characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman. A companion two issues in the new prestige format entitled The History of the DC Universe set out briefly the revised history of the major DC characters, and set the scene for an effective reboot of all titles, while still rooted in the long tradition and history of the DC Universe. Effectively moving from the realism of the Bronze Age towards the era sometimes called the "Dark Age," Crisis featured many key and resonant deaths which would shape the DC Universe for the following decades, and separate the timeline of DC publications into pre- and post-"Crisis".

Meanwhile, a parallel revolution had started in the non-superhero and horror titles. Since the start of 1984, British writer Alan Moore had re-energized the horror series The Saga of the Swamp Thing, and his acclaimed work sparked the comic-book equivalent of rock music's British Invasion. Building on the dark naturalism of the Bronze Age, numerous British writers, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison, subsequently began freelancing for the company. The resulting influx of sophisticated horror/fantasy material led not only to DC abandoning the Comics Code for particular titles scripted by those talents, but also to establishing in 1993 the Vertigo mature-readers imprint.

Key titles in the subtle shift towards the Modern Age include the two DC-published limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Watchmen by Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. These titles drew attention to changes at DC for dark psychological complexity, and promotion of the antihero. The new creative freedom and attendant publicity that allowed Miller to produce a dark, future Batman and Moore to create a similarly dystopian future filled with pessimism allowed DC to challenge Marvel's industry lead, and also paved the way for comics to both be more widely accepted in literary-criticism circles as more than just for children, and to start making in-roads into the book industry, with collected editions of these key series selling particularly well as trade paperbacks.

Conversely, while the mainstream DCU got a shade darker, the mid-1980s also saw the end of many long-running DC war comics, including venerable series that had been in print since the 1960s. These titles, all with over 100 issues, included Sgt. Rock, G.I. Combat, The Unknown Soldier, and Weird War Tales.

In 1989, with the release of the first Batman movie, DC began publishing its hardcover series of DC Archive Editions, collections of many of their early, key comics series, featuring rare and expensive stories unseen by many modern fans. Restoration for many of the Archives was handled by Rick Keene with color restoration by DC's long-time resident colorist, Bob LeRose. These collections attempted to retroactively credit many of the writers and artists who had worked without much recognition for DC during the early period of comics, when individual credits were few and far between.

1990s

The comics industry experienced a brief boom in the early 1990s, thanks to a combination of speculative purchasing (mass purchase of the books as collectible items, with intent to resell at a higher value as the rising value of older issues was thought to imply that all comics would rise dramatically in price) and several storylines which gained attention from the mainstream media. DC's extended storylines in which Superman was killed, Batman was crippled and super-hero Green Lantern Hal Jordan turned into the super villain Parallax, 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 as manufactured "collectibles" numbering in their millions replaced quality with quantity until fans and speculators alike deserted the medium in droves.

DC's Piranha Press and other imprints (including Vertigo, the mature readers line pioneered in the British Horror work of the 1980s and Helix, a short-lived Science Fiction imprint) in the 1990s were introduced to facilitate compartmentalized diversification, and allow for specialized marketing of individual product lines. They increased the use of non-traditional contractual arrangements, including the dramatic rise of creator-owned contracts leading to a significant increase in critically lauded work (much of it for Vertigo) and the licensing of material from other companies. DC also increased publication of book-friendly formats, including trade paperback collections of individual serial comics, and original graphic novels.

DC entered into a publishing agreement with Milestone Media that gave DC a line of comics featuring a culturally and racially diverse range of superhero characters; although the Milestone line ceased publication after a few short years, it yielded the popular animated series Static Shock. Paradox Press was established to publish material ranging from the large-format Big Book of... series of multi-artist interpretations on individual themes, and such crime fiction as the graphic novel Road to Perdition. In 1998, DC purchased Wildstorm Comics, Jim Lee's imprint under the Image Comics banner, and absorbed it while continuing it for many years as a wholly separate imprint - and Universe - with its own style and audience. As part of this purchase, DC also began to publish titles under the fledgling WildStorm sub-imprint America's Best Comics (ABC), a series of titles from the mind of Alan Moore, including The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tom Strong and Promethea. Moore strongly contested this situation, and DC no longer publishes ABC.

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 their WaRP Graphics publication banner. This series then followed the Tower Comics series T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in becoming non-DC titles published in the "DC Archives" format. In 2004, DC 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, and established the CMX imprint to reprint translated manga. In 2006, CMX took over from Dark Horse Comics publication of the webcomic Megatokyo in print form. DC also took advantage of the demise of Kitchen Sink Press and acquired the rights to much of the work of Will Eisner, such as his The Spirit series and his graphic novels.

Starting in 2004, DC began laying groundwork for a full continuity-reshuffling sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, promising substantial changes to the DC Universe (and side-stepping the 1994 Zero Hour event which similarly tried to ret-con the history of the DCU). In 2005, with the release of Batman Begins, the company published several limited series establishing increasingly escalated conflicts among DC's heroes, with events climaxing in the Infinite Crisis limited series. Immediately after this event, DC's ongoing series jumped forward a full year in their in-story continuity, as DC launched a weekly series, 52, to gradually fill in the missing time. Concurrently, DC lost the copyright to "Superboy" (while retaining the trademark) when the heirs of Jerry Seigel used a provision of the 1976 revision to the copyright law to regain ownership.

In 2005, DC launched a new "All-Star" line (evoking the title of the 1940s publication), designed to feature some of the company's best-known characters in stories that eschewed the long and convoluted continuity of the DC Universe, produced by "all star" creative teams. All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder launched in July 2005, with All-Star Superman beginning in November 2005. All-Star Wonder Woman and All Star Batgirl were announced in 2006, with the release of Superman Returns in movie theaters, but neither have been released or scheduled as of the end of 2009.

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 new company and DC Comics publisher Paul Levitz stepping down and serving as a contributing editor and overall consultant.[17]

DC's first logo appeared on the April 1940 issues of its titles. The letters "DC" stood for Detective Comics, the name of Batman's flagship title. 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 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; 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 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, this logo was modified with the addition of 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.

1987 test logo.

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 color and was at times cropped by the edges of the cover, or briefly rotated 4 degrees, it remained essentially unchanged for nearly three decades.

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[by whom?] to newsstands in certain markets as a marketing test.[18]

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 the movies Batman Begins and Superman Returns as well as the new Batman film The Dark Knight and the TV series Smallville, Justice League Unlimited and The Batman, as well as for collectibles and other merchandise. The logo was designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios[19] and DC executive Richard Bruning.[20]

Imprints

Acquired companies and studios

See also


Notes

  1. ^ "DC Entertainment Chronology". http://www.comicbookbin.com/dcchronologyplatinumage_001.html. Retrieved 2008-10-18. 
  2. ^ Melrose, Kevin (2009-10-10). "DC Entertainment - what we know so far". Comic Book resources. http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/dc-entertainment-what-we-know-so-far/. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  3. ^ Benton, Mike. The Comic Book in America: An Illustrated History (Taylor Publishing: Dallas, Texas, 1989), pp. 178-181, reprinted at website Religious Affiliation of Comics Book Characters: "The Significant Seven: History's Most Influential Super-heroes" [sic]
  4. ^ Official Site
  5. ^ a b DC Comics Inc. Hoovers. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  6. ^ http://www.chacha.com/topic/dc-comics
  7. ^ http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/10/news/companies/siklos_marvel.fortune/
  8. ^ Jones, Gerard. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (Basic Books, 2004; trade paperback ISBN 0-465-03657-0, p. 223
  9. ^ Superman Faces New Hurdles: Publishers of Comic Books Showing Decline, New York Times, September 23, 1962, p.166
  10. ^ Apocryphal legend has it that in 1961, either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld of DC Comics (then known as National Periodical Publications) bragged about DC's success with the Justice League (which had debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28 [February 1960] before going on to its own title) to publisher Martin Goodman (whose holdings included the nascent Marvel Comics) during a game of golf. However, film producer and comics historian Michael Uslan partly debunked the story in a letter published in Alter Ego #43 (December 2004), pp. 43-44:
    Irwin said he never played golf with Goodman, so the story is untrue. I heard this story more than a couple of times while sitting in the lunchroom at DC's 909 Third Avenue and 75 Rockefeller Plaza office as Sol Harrison and [production chief] Jack Adler were schmoozing with some of us ... who worked for DC during our college summers.... [T]he way I heard the story from Sol was that Goodman was playing with one of the heads of Independent News, not DC Comics (though DC owned Independent News). ... As the distributor of DC Comics, this man certainly knew all the sales figures and was in the best position to tell this tidbit to Goodman. ... Of course, Goodman would want to be playing golf with this fellow and be in his good graces. ... Sol worked closely with Independent News' top management over the decades and would have gotten this story straight from the horse's mouth.
    Goodman, a publishing trend-follower aware of the JLA's strong sales, confirmably directed his comics editor, Stan Lee, to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee in Origins of Marvel Comics (Simon and Schuster/Fireside Books, 1974), p. 16:
    Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The [sic] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes. ... ' If the Justice League is selling ', spoke he, 'why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes?'
  11. ^ Integrative Arts 10: "The Silver Age" by Jamie Coville. Accessed June 11, 2008
  12. ^ "Irwin Donenfeld, R.I.P." by Mark Evanier, December 1, 2004. Accessed June 11, 2008
  13. ^ Kahn, Jenette. "Publishorial: Onward and Upward," DC Comics cover-dated September 1978.
  14. ^ "The DC Implosion," The Comics Journal #41 (August 1978), pp. 5-7.
  15. ^ "Post-Implosion Fill-In Fallout," The Comics Journal #43 (December 1978), p. 13.
  16. ^ MacDonald, Heidi D. "DC's Titanic Success," The Comics Journal #76 (October 1982), pp. 46-51.
  17. ^ Newsarama: Warner Bros. Creates DC ENTERTAINMENT To Maximize DC Brands. Retrieved on 9 September 2009.
  18. ^ Silver Bullet Comic Books: It's BobRo the Answer Man (column; no date): "Conspiracy? Icons? And More?" by Bob Rozakis
  19. ^ DC Comics Brand History by Brainchild Studios. Accessed July 29, 2008
  20. ^ Newsarama article: "Richard Bruning on designing a new DC logo", May 11, 2005. Accessed July 29, 2008
  21. ^ Newsarama article: "SDCC '08 - DCU: A Guide to Your Universe Panel", July 26, 2008. Accessed July 29, 2008

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