Charlton Comics was a sub division of Charlton Publications, active from 1946 to 1985. With comics sales stalling out after a sustained period of growth, many comics publishers are looking to get out while the getting is good. [20][21] Zoom launched in October 2018 with DC Super Hero Girls: Search for Atlantis by Shea Fontana. [20] 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 take Donenfeld on as a partner to publish Detective Comics No. [19][20] The company created a second recurring title called New Comics No. 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. 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. The Silver Age Most series received eight-page back-up features while some had full-length twenty-five-page stories. DC Comics, American media and entertainment company whose iconic comic -based properties represented some of the most enduring and recognizable characters in 20th- and 21st-century popular culture. Charlton Comics was an American comic book publisher, noted for its Action Heroes line: Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, the Question, Nightshade, Peacemaker and others. DC Comics - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help In October 1991, the TSR license ended bringing an end to the line with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons reaching issue 36. Amalgam Comics published a total of 24 comics, with the first 12 comics being published in April 1996 in-between issues #3 and 4 of the miniseries DC vs. Marvel and the other 12 issues being published in June 1997. [dct 8] Vertigo had its first fifth-week event in December 1999 to mark the change in the millennium with books named starting with "V2K". Media companies buy media companies, food companies buy food companies. [dct 4], With DC's New 52 reboot in September 2011, the Wildstorm characters were integrated into the DC Universe with the Edge line of titles with a Stormwatch and Grifter title. Comic book companies horde thousands of characters for future use - NPR Detective Comics, Inc. (which would help inspire the abbreviation DC) was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners. [dct 4] In September 2010, as part of DC Entertainment's reorganization, DC began to cancel Wildstorm imprint (with the December issues with two titles moving to the DC brand) and the Wildstorm editorial staff relocated to DC's Los Angeles-based digital publishing division. [35] In April 1999, Tom Strong begins its run. 10 Longest-Lasting Independent Comic Publishers Of All Time - CBR A companion publication, two volumes entitled The History of the DC Universe, set out the revised history of the major DC characters. [47][48], Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" as early as 1940, and the company became known colloquially as DC Comics for years before the official adoption of that name in 1977.[49]. Spearheaded by editor Karen Berger, all DC Comics titles bearing the Vertigo logo catered to not only more mature readers, but more sophisticated writers and artists as well. [43] Fawcett Comics was formed around 1939 and would become DC's original competitor company in the next decade. [dci 7], Zuda Comics was later made as a free online site for original comics. [15], DC Comics discontinued all imprints as of January 2020 while implementing a new age-specific identification of DC Kids (ages 812), DC (ages 13 and older) and DC Black Label (ages 17 and above and a reuse of the former label name). [dct 4] Previously, Johnny DC was used in the Silver Age as a mascot for DC Comics. After the events of the Dark Nights: Death Metal storyline, the DC Multiverse was expanded into a larger "Omniverse" where everything is canon, effectively reversing the changes The New 52 introduced a decade prior.[107]. [69] By 1980, the books returned to 50 cents with a 25-page story count but the story pages replaced house ads in the books. Concurrently, DC lost the copyright to "Superboy" (while retaining the trademark) when the heirs of Jerry Siegel used a provision of the 1976 revision to the copyright law to regain ownership. Meanwhile, editor Kanigher successfully introduced a whole family of Wonder Woman characters having fantastic adventures in a mythological context. 24 different titles saw print under the Piranha imprint. MyComicShop. Their superhero-team comic, superficially similar to Marvel's ensemble series X-Men, but rooted in DC history, earned significant sales[73] in part due to the stability of the creative team, who both continued with the title for six full years. [39][40] Detective Comics No. [5] Also, Minx was working with Book Sense to get the novels into independent bookstores. DC Black Label is DC Comics' out of continuity all-star creator imprint. 16 in September 1939. [28] The Plain Janes was the only title to get a second volume before the imprint was shut down. Up to 50% off pre-order, mail order comics, trade paperbacks and collectibles from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, Boom! In November 1980 DC launched the ongoing series The New Teen Titans, by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Prez, two popular talents with a history of success. This logo also served as the round body of Johnny DC, DC's, 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, 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. This line introduces new characters and teams into the DC Universe. [peacockprose] Given carte blanche to write and illustrate his own stories, he created a handful of thematically-linked series he called collectively "The Fourth World". With DC's acquisition in 2009 to comic book rights for Doc Savage and the Spirit, among other pulp characters, DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio and writer Brian Azzarello decided on a shared universe for these characters, then added established non-superpowered DC heroes to the mix. RT @damintoell: In the age of megaconglomerate corporations, we don't seem to get funny mergers anymore. [44] This was then followed by a First Wave six-issue limited series with art by Rags Morales[43][44] with the first issue released on March 3, 2010. 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. [60] In particular, DC artist, Carmine Infantino, complained that the visual cover distinctiveness made DC's titles easier for readers to see and then avoid in favor of Marvel's titles.[61]. The leadership change was the latest event in the company restructuring which began the previous month, as several top executives were laid off from the company. [dci 9] Random House, DC's bookstore distributor could not get the line's books into the young adult fiction section at the major bookstores. Rebirth brought huge success, both financially and critically. The reboot called The New 52 gave new origin stories and costume designs to many of DC's characters. In 1998, DC purchased WildStorm Comics, Jim Lee's imprint under the Image Comics banner, continuing it for many years as a wholly separate imprint and fictional universe with its own style and audience. He also recruited major talents such as ex-Marvel artist and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko and promising newcomers Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil and replaced some existing DC editors with artist-editors, including Joe Kubert and Dick Giordano, to give DC's output a more artistic critical eye. Rich. Wonder Comics is a DC Comics curated imprint with in DC Universe continuity with a teen focus by the main contributor and curator being Brian Michael Bendis. The first Zuda Comics winner, Jeremy Love's Bayou, was printed in April 2009. The other title, All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, was never finished (the last two issues remain unpublished to this day), but created a lot of discussions. In October, Gammarauders was canceled with issue 10. 13 (June 1939) introduced the first recurring Superman enemy referred to as the Ultra-Humanite first introduced by Siegel and Shuster, commonly cited as one of the earliest supervillains in comic books. [29][30], The imprint published a series of 18 one-shots over two years starring the Tangent version of the major DC Universe characters. In February, several creator-owned titles begin printing with Vertigo from Disney's aborted Touchmark imprint starting with Enigma. 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 more focus towards marketing new and existing titles and characters with more adult sensibilities towards an emerging older age group of superhero comic book fans that grew out of Marvel's efforts to market their superhero line to college-aged adults. We used to have fun ones. The universe also features an assortment of well-known supervillains such as Lex Luthor, the Joker, the Cheetah, the Reverse-Flash, Black Manta, Sinestro, and Darkseid. Meanwhile, a parallel update had started in the non-superhero and horror titles. Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications (NAP), attracting such talent as Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth. The small logo, with no background, read simply, "A DC Publication". Yeah, way back in 1946. Best non-Marvel/DC superhero universes | GamesRadar+ Corporate history Maggie Thompson, Michael Dean, Brent Frankenhoff, Joyce Greenholdt, John Jackson Miller (editors).