DC Comics
DC Comics is an American comic book publisher owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for Detective Comics, a comic book series first published in 1937. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, the first comic under the DC banner being published in 1937.
The majority of its published stories are set in the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters, such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash; as well as famous fictional teams, including the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Suicide Squad, and the Legion of Super-Heroes. The universe contains an assortment of well-known supervillains, such as Lex Luthor, the Joker, Darkseid, and the antiheroic Catwoman. The company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Fables, and many other titles, under the alternative imprint Vertigo and DC Black Label.
Originally at 432 Fourth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, the company offices have been located at 480 and later 575 Lexington Avenue, 909 Third Avenue, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, 666 Fifth Avenue, and 1325 Avenue of the Americas. DC Comics was located at 1700 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan until April 2015, when DC Entertainment transferred its headquarters to Burbank, California.
In 2017, approximately 70% of the American comic book market was shared by DC Comics and its long-time major competitor Marvel Comics, though this figure may be distorted by the fact that sales of graphic novels are excluded. When all book sales are included, DC is the second largest publisher of comic books, after Viz Media, and Marvel is third.
History
National Allied Publications
Golden Age
In 1935, entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, intended as an American comic book publishing company. Its debut publication was the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 with a February 1935 cover date. An anthology title, essentially for original stories not reprinted from newspaper strips, it was unlike many comic book series before it. While DC Comics is now primarily associated with superhero comics, the genres in the first anthology titles consisted of funnies, Western comics, and adventure-related stories. The character Doctor Occult—created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in December 1935 and included in issue No.6 of New Fun Comics—is considered to be the earliest recurring superhero created by DC that is still being used. The company created a second recurring title called New Comics, first released in December 1935, which was the start of the long-running Adventure Comics series that also featured many anthology titles. By 1936, the group had become Nicholson Publishing.Wheeler-Nicholson's next and final title, Detective Comics, was advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936 but eventually premiered three months late with a March 1937 cover date. The themed anthology that revolved originally around fictional detective stories became in modern times the longest-running ongoing comic series. A notable debut in the first issue was Slam Bradley, created in a collaboration between Wheeler-Nicholson, Siegel and Shuster. 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 had to enter into partnership with Donenfeld to publish Detective Comics No.1, and Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Donenfeld's accountant Jack S. Liebowitz listed as owners. As the company continued to experience cash-flow problems, Wheeler-Nicholson was forced out after the first year. Shortly afterwards, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied at a bankruptcy auction and absorbed it.
Meanwhile, Max Gaines formed the sister company All-American Publications in 1939. Detective Comics, Inc. soon launched a new anthology title called Action Comics; the first issue, cover dated June 1938, featured new characters such as Superman by Siegel and Shuster, Zatara by Fred Guardineer, and Tex Thompson by Ken Finch and Bernard Baily. Considered as the first comic book to feature the character archetype later known as the "superhero", Action Comics was a sales hit that brought to life a new age of comic books, now affectionately termed the "Golden Age". Action Comics #1 is credited as featuring the first appearance of Superman, both on the cover illustration and inside the issue, and is now one of the most valuable and sought-after comic book issues of all time. The first Superman tale included a superhero origin story with the reveal of an unnamed planet, later known as Krypton, where he is said to have originated. The issue also contained the first essential supporting character and one of the earliest female characters in any comic, with Lois Lane as Superman's first depicted romantic interest. The Green Hornet-inspired character known as the Crimson Avenger by Jim Chamber was featured in Detective Comics No.20. This character is known to be the first masked vigilante published by DC. An unnamed "office boy", retconned as Jimmy Olsen's first appearance, was revealed in a Superman story by Siegel and Shuster in Action Comics No.6.
Starting in 1939, Siegel and Shuster's Superman was the first comic-derived character to appear in other formats, later featuring in his own newspaper comic strip, which first introduced his biological parents Jor-El and Lara. All-American Publications' debut comic series, All-American Comics, was first published in April 1939. The series Detective Comics made history as being the first to feature Batman—a Bob Kane and Bill Finger creation—in issue No.27 with the request of more superhero titles. Batman was depicted as a masked vigilante who wore a caped suit known as the Batsuit and drove a car that was later referred to as the Batmobile. The Batman story also included a supporting character called James Gordon, the police commissioner of what would later become Gotham City Police Department. Despite being a parody, All-American Publications introduced the earliest female character who became the female superhero Red Tornado in Ma Hunkel who first appeared in the "Scribbly" stories in All-American Comics No.3. Another important Batman debut was the introduction of the fictional mansion known as Wayne Manor first seen in Detective Comics No.28. The series Adventure Comics followed in the footsteps of Action Comics and Detective Comics by featuring a new recurring superhero called Sandman who first appeared in Adventure Comics No.40. Action Comics No.13 introduced the first recurring Superman enemy referred to as the Ultra-Humanite; created by Siegel and Shuster, this is commonly cited as one of the earliest supervillains in comic books. The Superman character had another breakthrough when he was given his own comic book series, which was previously unheard of. The first issue, published in June 1939, helped directly introduce Superman's adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, also created by Siegel and Shuster. Detective Comics No.29 included the first mention of Batman's utility belt by Gardner Fox. Outside of DC's publishing, a character later integrated as DC was introduced by Fox Feature Syndicate named the Blue Beetle released in August 1939. Fictional cities were a common theme of DC; the first revealed city was Superman's home city of Metropolis, originally named in Action Comics No.16. Detective Comics No.31 by Gardner Fox, Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff introduced a romantic interest for Batman named Julie Madison, as well as the Batarang weapon that Batman commonly uses, and the fictional aircraft called the Batplane. The story of Batman's origin was first shown in Detective Comics No.33, which depicted the death of Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne by a mugger. The origin story remained crucial for the fictional character after its inception.
The Daily Planet was first named in a Superman newspaper strip around November 1939. Doll Man was the first superhero to be produced by Quality Comics, which DC now owns. Fawcett Comics was formed around 1939 and became DC's original competitor company over the next decade. At the end of 1944, All-American titles began using its own logo to distinguish it from the National comics.
All-American Publications, an affiliate concern co-owned by Gaines and Liebowitz, merged with Detective Comics, Inc. on September 30, 1946, forming National Comics Publications. The previous year, in June 1945, Gaines had allowed Liebowitz to buy him out and had retained 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, Independent News, and their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications". National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961. Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" as early as 1940 and became known colloquially as DC Comics for years before the official adoption of that name in 1977.
DC Comics began to move aggressively against what it saw as copyright-violating imitations from other companies, such as Fox Comics' Wonder Man, which Fox started as a copy of Superman. This extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, who was at the time the top-selling comic character. Faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost the lawsuit, Fawcett capitulated in 1953 and ceased publishing comics. Years later, Fawcett sold the rights for Captain Marvel to DC Comics, and in 1972 the character was revived in DC's new title Shazam!, which featured artwork by Captain Marvel's creator C. C. Beck. In the meantime, the abandoned 'Marvel' trademark had been seized by Marvel Comics in 1967, with the creation of their Captain Marvel, preventing DC from using the name in the title of their own comic series. While DC's Captain Marvel failed to recapture his earlier popularity, he later appeared in a Saturday morning live action TV adaptation and gained a prominent position in the mainstream continuity of the DC Universe.
As the popularity of superheroes faded in the late 1940s, DC Comics focused on such genres as science fiction, Westerns, humor, and romance. The company also published crime and horror titles, although relatively tame contributions that avoided the mid-1950s backlash against such comic genres. A handful of the most popular superhero titles continued publication, including Action Comics and Detective Comics, the medium's two longest-running titles.