DC Black Label

DC Black Label is an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics consisting of original miniseries and reprints of books previously published under other imprints. The imprint intends to present traditional DC Universe characters for a mature audience with stand-alone Prestige Format series. The first title of the imprint, Batman: Damned, was released on September 19, 2018.

Publication history

Single issues of comic books that are issued under the Black Label line will be published in Prestige Format. If a comic book series exceeds a miniseries run length, it will be published in standard format. All series are eventually collected in hardcover format.
Black Label was launched in September 2018. Black Label is designed for writers and artists to create more adult oriented stories, without having to follow the rules of continuity and age ratings.
With the discontinuation of DC's Vertigo imprint, new and current series, as well as reprints of old titles, are being published under the DC Black Label imprint beginning in 2020. Some series reprinted include The Sandman, Fables, Y: The Last Man, The Sleeper, Sweet Tooth, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, IZombie, etc. Continuations of Vertigo series are published under the Black Label line, such as Sweet Tooth: The Return and Fables #151 - 162.

Series and continuity

Many series released by DC Black Label focus on characters from the DC Universe, with stories described as darker or more mature, or reinventions of existing characters.
Geoff Johns said that the Black Label stories do not always have to exist outside of the main universe canon. Stories which may not intentionally exist within the main universe upon release can be folded into the main universe dependant on their success or popularity.
Tom King, speaking on the topic of continuity with mainline DC, has said that there are three major categories, based on DC published during the 1980s. Comics in one category have nothing to do with the DC Universe. In the second category are stories which could exist in hypothetical futures of mainstream continuity, such as The Dark Knight Returns, and these stories are set in a hypothetical future in mainstream continuity, which may or may not happen. In the third category are stories which happen with the DCU but aren't taking place with the monthly books that DC publishes, but, like The Killing Joke, might have an impact on it if the writer choose so.

Titles

Black Label lines

Several lines occur under the Black Label imprint. Each of these Lines are often shared under the same creative umbrella with some sort of connections between each series, whether that be through creative teams, shared universe or even thematically.

''The Sandman Universe''

The line was launched in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and for Vertigo's 25th anniversary. The line began in August 2018 with The Sandman Universe being unveiled by creator Neil Gaiman. This line was initially published under the Vertigo label, but DC closed the Vertigo line in January 2020 as part of a reorganization of age-directed imprints. All Sandman Universe titles were published under DC Black Label, but with Vertigo's relaunch in 2024, the Sandman Universe reverted back to Vertigo Comics.

Hill House Comics

Hill House Comics is a pop-up horror line of comics founded and curated by Joe Hill under DC Black Label. The first title, Basketful of Heads #1, written by Joe Hill, was released on October 30, 2019. There is also a backup story, Sea Dogs, written by Joe Hill in every comic series, with each chapter of this story following the order of when each comic issue under Hill House Comics was released. A Sea Dogs trade paperback was published in a trade paperback format as part of a Hill House Box Set that collected all the backup stories and added additional pages. The latest series in this imprint, Refrigerator Full of Heads was a sequel to the first series released and concluded in April 2022.

Murphyverse

By March 2020, following the success of Batman: White Knight and Batman: Curse of the White Knight, both comics created by Sean Murphy, DC was reportedly interested in creating a mini-imprint centered around Murphy's works. Referred to as the "Murphyverse", the imprint features limited series set in the shared universe first established in the White Knight series. The main line titles in this universe have been written and drawn by Murphy himself, with spin-offs being written and drawn by other creators.

Collected edition

DC Black Label reprinted material

A number of series that were reprinted under this label were original titles originally published under DC Vertigo, WildStorm or titles originally published by DC Comics.