Misplaced Pages

#792207

119-468: Knight Terrors is a 2023 DC Comics crossover event written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Howard Porter. Other creators include Guillem March and Chris Bachalo . The event was announced in February during a ComicsPRO convention on Pittsburgh . Williamson said: "I love horror comics, and it's been a blast bringing the energy to Dawn of DC . Knight Terrors showcases the horror side of our heroes as

238-471: A mythical realm. Since the 1940s, when Superman, Batman, and many of the company's other heroes began appearing in stories together, DC's characters have inhabited a shared continuity that was later dubbed the " DC Universe " by fans. With the story " Flash of Two Worlds ", in Flash No.   123 (September 1961), editor Schwartz (with writer Gardner Fox and artists Infantino and Joe Giella ) presented

357-434: 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

476-508: 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

595-414: A brand-new villain confronts them with their worst nightmares. It's a fun and horrific event that brings together all of the heroes and villains of DC, along with some surprises!" Along with the core 4-issue miniseries there are various 2-issue tie-in miniseries focusing on different characters during the event. These titles replaced the main ongoing series, with many written by the same creatives working on

714-476: A conceptual mechanism for slotting the 1930s and 1940s Golden Age heroes into this continuity using the explanation that they inhabited an other-dimensional "Earth 2", whilst the modern heroes exist on "Earth 1", consequently laying the foundations of what was later called the DC Multiverse . DC's introduction of the reimagined superheroes did not go unnoticed by their competitors. In 1961, with DC's JLA as

833-488: A copy of Superman. This extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel , who was at the time the top-selling comic character (see National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. ). 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

952-568: 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 No.   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. As it happened, her first task even before being formally hired,

1071-477: A few years, it yielded the popular animated series Static Shock . DC established Paradox Press to publish material such as 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, continuing it for many years as

1190-504: A handful of thematically-linked series he called collectively "The Fourth World" . In the existing series Superman's Pal 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 arch-villain Darkseid and the other-dimensional realm Apokolips . Furthermore, Kirby intended their stories to be reprinted in collected editions, in

1309-456: A major slump, while manufactured " collectables " numbering in the millions replaced quality with quantity until fans and speculators alike deserted the medium in droves. DC's Piranha Press and other imprints (including the mature readers' line Vertigo , and Helix , a short-lived science fiction imprint) were introduced to facilitate compartmentalized diversification and allow for specialized marketing of individual product lines. They increased

SECTION 10

#1732783490793

1428-548: A monster being trapped in it. Barry confronts Gorilla Grodd and beats him up, but Gorilla Grodd warns Barry that someone is watching him. Barry Allen goes to the Watchtower where he encounters a mutated Hal Jordan. Jordan creates his own Cosmic Treadmill in order for Barry Allen to travel back in time to save Wally. Barry is too late, and is dragged in the Speed Force where he encounters the monster Wally mentioned to him in

1547-601: A monster. Damian Wayne deduces that the Nightmare Stone is in a realm between the dead and the living, so Wesley Dodds creates a chemical concoction to put Damian and Deadman to sleep while the Sleepless Knights attack. Damian and Deadman arrive at a place call the Reality Stream where Deadman realizes the Nightmare Stone wants him to find it. Deadman manages to acquire the Nightmare Stone and escape

1666-437: A movie when Osul-Ra has a nightmare about Cyborg Superman . After waking up, they are attacked by a Cyborg Superman who has absorbed Conner Kent and Krypto . Power Girl tries freeing herself from the simulation multiple times, to no effect. Insomnia tries impersonating Lilith Clay to break her down, but Power Girl finds a kryptonian ship causing the simulations and destroys it, causing her to wake up but realizes that Insomnia has

1785-631: A mutilated corpse of Doctor Destiny. Harley Quinn calls Batman to tell them that Doctor Destiny's body is still in Arkham; Deadman tries to possess Destiny's fake body but it doesn't work, so he possessed Batman's body to tell Superman and Wonder Woman that someone is trying to merge the Realms of Life and Death together. Batman expels Deadman's soul out of his body, and Wonder Woman decides to go to Zatanna to ask for her help while Superman goes to Supercorp. Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Detective Chimp observe

1904-640: A nightmare. Wonder Woman frees Detective Chimp from a spell, and they team up with John Constantine to save the Justice League Dark in the Nightmare Realm. As they travel further, Wonder Woman and Constantine fall under Insomnia's spells and are incapacitated. Wonder Woman manages to free herself when she realizes that fighting Insomnia's spells would make them stronger, and instead embraces them. Wonder Woman saves Bobo from monsters and frees John Constantine and Justice League Dark from

2023-597: A panic room, but one of the figures stabs Robotman in the back and transforms him into her servant. While The Sleepless Knights and Robotman chase Zatanna, Zatanna sets up traps to slow them down. The leader of the Sleepless Knights, the Sleepless Queen, summons a vision of Zatara to trick Zatanna in order to weaken her, but this fails and Zatanna frees Robotman and the Sleepless Knights retreat. Zatanna apologizes to Robotman for bringing him into this, and they head off to fight Insomnia. According to Comicbook Roundup,

2142-528: A primer. They would get artists ... and they taught them the ABCs, which amounted to learning Jack Kirby ... Jack was like the Holy Scripture and they simply had to follow him without deviation. That's what was told to me ... It was how they taught everyone to reconcile all those opposing attitudes to one single master point of view. Given carte blanche to write and illustrate his own stories, he created

2261-416: 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. (which helped inspire the abbreviation DC) 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

2380-415: A publishing format that was later called the trade paperback , which became a standard industry practice decades later. 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" was all cancelled, although Kirby's conceptions soon became integral to the broadening of

2499-658: 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 (November 1939), 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 (a common setting of Superman)

SECTION 20

#1732783490793

2618-523: A subsidiary of Time Warner. In June, the first Tim Burton-directed Batman film was released, and DC began publishing its hardcover series of DC Archive Editions ; these were collections of many of their early, key comics series, featuring rare and expensive stories previously unseen by the majority of modern fans. Much of the restoration work was handled by Rick Keene, with colour restoration performed by DC's long-time resident colourist Bob LeRose . The Archive Editions attempted to retroactively credit many of

2737-469: 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

2856-569: 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 (though disguised as a male) in Ma Hunkel who first appeared in the "Scribbly" stories in All-American Comics No.   3 (June 1939). Another important Batman debut

2975-534: A trance running non-stop for hours, and decides to bring Barry up to speed over what's happening. Joker is confronting Batman when Batman slips and falls on his face, knocking him unconscious and falling over a building killing him. After the incident, Joker grows bored and joins a company where even though he kills people, everyone acts normal and friendly. Joker hears that Batman has returned and fought crime, but he doesn't believe them as he has Batman's corpse in his closet. Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow wants to apply at

3094-472: A way out when he sees Barbara Gordon being turned into a cyborg. Scarecrow gives Nightwing a map to escape, and while trying to escape Nightwing finds out Harley Quinn is the head of security in Arkham Asylum. Nightwing tries to free Barbara Gordon, but it doesn't work so they go into a secret room where they meet Barbara Gordon hooked up to machines. Nightwing frees her, and Insomnia transports them to

3213-501: A wholly separate imprint (and fictional universe) with its own unique 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 created by Alan Moore which included The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , Tom Strong , and Promethea . Moore strongly opposed this move, and DC eventually stopped publishing ABC. In March 2003, DC acquired publishing and merchandising rights to

3332-495: Is Christopher Lukas, a killer who refused to sleep so people nicknamed him Insomnia, and was locked in Arkham when he saw something in his dreams that drove him insane. Deadman leaves Batman's body and plans to use the Nightmare Stone to cure Insomnia of his powers from the Lazarus volcano, and sees Insomnia's memory where its revealed Insomnia became evil because his family was killed during Dark Nights: Metal , and Insomnia blamed

3451-460: Is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment , a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery . DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American 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 publications are set in

3570-473: Is forced to relive nightmares of his family killing him over and over. While Insomnia is defeated, as a result of his actions, the world now fears the heroes. Wesley Dodds dies once again, and Batman collapses as a result of Deadman possessing his body too long and overworking it. Meanwhile, Amanda Waller and her henchmen, Bright, steal the Nightmare Stone and Doctor Fate's helmet, and combine it with an unknown person to form Doctor Hate, ordering them to take down

3689-518: Is piloting a plane with Carol Ferris when Insomnia's spell transports him to an early childhood memory of his father's funeral. He encounters zombified versions of his parents, and is transported throughout different parts of his childhood before encountering Parallax who impersonated the Guardians of the Universe . Jordan eventually overcomes Insomnia's influence through his willpower and escapes

Knight Terrors - Misplaced Pages Continue

3808-599: Is relieved, telling himself it was just a dream and he had nothing to worry about. Doctor Destiny is attacked in his dream by a mysterious being in a twisted version of the Hall of Justice . Deadman observes a funeral happening and feels a strange presence coming from the Hall of Justice. Superman , Wonder Woman , and Batman meet up to discuss what is happening recently between the three of them and an alarm that just happened. Batman tells them he did not call any of them and sees

3927-516: 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 became 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

4046-480: Is stuck in a nightmare loop where she encounters her family and Black Adam . She also encounters Insomnia, but is knocked out and wakes up to see Adam murdering her loved ones. Superman is falling to the ocean as he is hit by Insomnia's spell, and experiences several nightmares where Insomnia tries to interrogate him to find the Nightmare Stone. During his nightmare, Superman is saved by Supergirl but they encounter alternate zombified versions of her. Superman's body

4165-522: Is the second largest publisher of comic books, after Viz Media ; and Marvel is third. In 1934, 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 (the first of a comic series later called More Fun Comics ) with a February 1935 cover date . An anthology title, essentially for original stories not reprinted from newspaper strips , it

4284-420: Is transported to Joe Chill's body where he shoots his parents. Insomnia turns into a younger Bruce Wayne and attacks Batman, but Batman snaps out of it and escapes, realizing that Deadman is controlling his body. Insomnia confronts Batman, but Batman scares him off. Batman sees his younger self and comforts him saying that in the future he will meet new friends to help overcome his parents' death. Batman wakes up in

4403-490: Is washed up on a beach where he is found by Aquaman , Jackson Hyde , Garth , and Mera . Supergirl recalls that she had a nightmare where her own father was killed by skeletal monsters in Krypton and meets Superman in his dream. They go meet Lois Lane in their dreams to fight a monster conjured by Insomnia and manage to defeat it, which wakes up Superman early enough to save Aquaman from a monster. Aquaman tells Superman that

4522-539: 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 Siegel used a provision of the 1976 revision to the copyright law to regain ownership. In 2005, DC launched its " All-Star " line (evoking

4641-667: The Green Lantern character, the introduction of the modern all-star team Justice League of America (JLA), and many more superheroes, heralding what historians and fans call the Silver Age of Comic Books . National radically overhauled its continuing characters—primarily Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—rather than just reimagining them. The Superman family of titles, under editor Mort Weisinger , introduced such enduring characters as Supergirl , Bizarro , and Brainiac . The Batman titles, under editor Jack Schiff , introduced

4760-690: The Joker , Lex Luthor , Deathstroke , the Reverse-Flash , Brainiac , and Darkseid . 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

4879-498: The Justice League for not saving them. Insomnia kills himself in his sleep to trap Deadman, which wakes up the rest of the heroes that were affected by Insomnia's spell, but also brings their nightmares into the real world. Insomnia brings Deadman back to the real world, and attempts to reward him by giving him a dream of having a family. The Justice League arrive after waking up from their nightmares, and Insomnia summons out

Knight Terrors - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-483: The 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 tried to direct DC's focus towards marketing new and existing titles and characters with more adult sensibilities, aimed at an emerging older age group of superhero comic book fans; this

5117-795: The Silver Age , the comics of the 1970s and 1980s became 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' story " Green Goblin Reborn! " in The Amazing Spider-Man No.   96 (May 1971), and after the Code's updating in response, DC offered

5236-464: The Titans . Power Girl falls under Insomnia's spell, seeing her boyfriend nearly raping her and her parents being dismissive. Power Girl wakes up from her nightmare but is attacked by Lilith Clay , and it's revealed that Power Girl is stuck in a simulation. Meanwhile, Kong Kenan , Conner Kent , Natasha Irons , Osul-Ra and Otho-Ra (children Superman adopted during the " Warworld Saga ") are watching

5355-557: The line further, increasing the number of titles and 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". The move was not successful, however, and corporate parent Warner dramatically cut back on these largely unsuccessful titles, firing many staffers in what industry watchers dubbed "the DC Implosion ". In September 1978,

5474-706: The Americas . DC Comics was located at 1700 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan until April 2015, when DC Entertainment transferred its headquarters to Burbank, California . DC Comics books are distributed to the bookstore market by Penguin Random House Publisher Services . The comics shop direct market was supplied by Diamond Comic Distributors until June 2020, when Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors (who were by then dominating direct market distribution on account of

5593-617: The Atlanteans will help move the people to safety while Superman must deal with Insomnia. Tim Drake and Jason Todd are apprehending criminals with Barbara Gordon 's help when they are affected by the Insomnia attack and sent into their respective nightmare realms. Tim Drake sees Captain Boomerang killing his father again while Jason Todd is attacked by Joker in his old Red Hood costume. Tim Drake and Jason Todd are overwhelmed by

5712-490: 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 ". National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on

5831-472: 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 1977, the company officially changed its name to DC Comics . It had used the brand "Superman-DC" since the 1950s, and was colloquially known as DC Comics for years. In June 1978, five months before the release of the first Superman film , Kahn expanded

5950-544: The DC Universe, especially after the major toy-company, Kenner Products , judged them ideal for their action-figure adaptation of the DC Universe , the Super Powers Collection . Obligated by his contract, Kirby created other unrelated series for DC, including Kamandi , The Demon , and OMAC , before ultimately returning to Marvel Comics in 1976. Following the science-fiction innovations of

6069-622: The Haly Circus to break Nightwing down. Nightwing, Scarecrow and Barbara Gordon defeat Insomnia's forces, and Nightwing wakes up from his nightmare. Punchline and the Royal Flush Gang attempt to break into the supposedly abandoned Clock Tower that was used by the Bat Family . She soon comes face-to-face with her deepest fear. Rose Wilson saves a girl, Rose Madison, from white monsters who murdered her family. The girl says

SECTION 50

#1732783490793

6188-470: The Nightmare Stone from Insomnia, but does not tell him if he hid it in the real waking world or in the dream world. It's revealed that the Nightmare Stone is in Arkham Tower , and when the Lazarus volcano exploded all around the world, it infected a man who was turned into Insomnia. Insomnia expels Deadman out of his body, and Deadman realizes Insomnia murdered John Dee when he would not tell him where

6307-566: The Nightmare Stone was. Deadman possesses Batman's body again to escape, and goes to the zombified corpse of Wesley Dodds for help. Wesley Dodds explains he met Insomnia when he was a human leader of a cult who sought the Nightmare Stone by offering sacrifices. Wesley Dodds stopped Insomnia from acquiring the stone, while Insomnia tracks down John Dee's grandson on the Nightmare Stone's location, but John Dee's grandson does not know. Deadman and Wesley Dodds go to Mister Terrific 's headquarters where they meet Red Tornado and learned that majority of

6426-409: The Reality Stream. Deadman, Damian Wayne, Wesley Dodds head to Arkham Tower to find Insomnia. While walking, Damian Wayne is nearly tricked by Insomnia to let his guard down, but he sees through the illusion. Insomnia also tries to trick Deadman to join his side by promising to bring back his loved ones, but Deadman refuses. The trio meet Insomnia's real body, where Deadman explains Insomnia's real name

6545-556: The Silver Age Teen Titans led DC's editors to seek the same for the wider DC Universe . The result, the Wolfman/Pérez 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths , gave the company an opportunity to realign and jettison some of the characters' complicated backstory and continuity discrepancies. A companion publication, two volumes entitled The History of the DC Universe , set out the revised history of

6664-697: The TV series. This change in tone coincided with the prominent "Go-Go Checks" cover-dress that featured a black-and-white checkered strip at the top of each DC comic (all cover dates between February 1966 and August 1967), a misguided attempt by then-managing editor Irwin Donenfeld to make DC's output "stand out on the newsracks". In particular, DC artist Carmine Infantino complained that the distinctive cover made it easier for readers to spot DC's titles and avoid them in favor of Marvel's titles. In 1967, Infantino (who had designed popular Silver Age characters Batgirl and

6783-587: The antihero. These titles helped pave the way for comics to be more widely accepted in literary-criticism circles and to make inroads into the book industry, with collected editions of these series as commercially successful trade paperbacks . The mid-1980s also saw the end of many long-running DC war comics , including 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 March 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. , making DC Comics

6902-413: The brand's popularity, like the presence of the color red or word balloons on the cover, or that the perceived crudeness of the interior art was somehow more appealing to readers. When Lee learned about DC's subsequent experimental attempts to imitate these perceived details, he amused himself by arranging direct defiance of those assumptions in Marvel's publications as sales strengthened further to frustrate

7021-424: 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

7140-527: The city. Commissioner Gordon confronts them and realizes their leader is a woman named Angelica Vanderbar and goes to see her, but finds her choking and Gordon's body starts to fall apart as a side effect of witnessing the Good People turn into monsters. Gordon tries to fight off the effects and confronts the big monster and manages to trick it into blowing itself up, but the Pentapriests arrive due to

7259-429: The comic book limited series . This publishing format allowed for the deliberate creation of finite storylines within a more flexible publishing format that could showcase creations without forcing the talent into unsustainable open-ended commitments. The first such title was World of Krypton in 1979, and its positive results led to subsequent similar titles and later more ambitious productions like Camelot 3000 for

SECTION 60

#1732783490793

7378-431: The commotion. The Pentapriest revealed they have gravely wounded Barbara Gordon, so Commissioner Gordon tells them to fix her. Barbara Gordon tells her dad she contacted the Pentapriests because she realizes Batman and her dad are getting older, and wanted to find out a way to slow down their aging. The Pentapriests disappear, and Gordon wakes up, realizing it was just a dream but disturbed on what just happened. Hal Jordan

7497-404: The company Joker works out, but Joker is enraged that Mister Freeze says Batman is still alive. It's revealed that Joker would sleepwalk and impersonate as Batman fighting crime, and one day when Joker is fighting off criminals he is struck by his own Joker gas, freeing himself from Insomnia's spell and waking up in the real world. Joker then proceeds to go back to sleep after realizing it was just

7616-482: The company. The resulting influx of sophisticated horror-fantasy material led to DC in 1993 establishing the Vertigo mature-readers imprint, which did not subscribe to the Comics Code Authority . Two DC limited series, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Watchmen by Moore and artist Dave Gibbons , drew attention in the mainstream press for their dark psychological complexity and promotion of

7735-488: The competition. However, this ignorance of Marvel's true appeal did not extend to some of the writing talent during this period, and attempts were made to emulate Marvel's narrative approach. For instance, there was the Doom Patrol series by Arnold Drake (who had previously warned DC's management about Marvel's strength), a superhero team of outsiders who resented their freakish powers, which Drake later speculated

7854-547: The direct market in 1982. 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 in part due to

7973-583: The disruption to Diamond caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ) replaced Diamond as the direct market distributor. In 2017, approximately 70% of the American comic book market was shared by DC Comics and its long-time major competitor Marvel Comics (acquired in 2009 by Warner Bros. Discovery's main competitor, The Walt Disney Company ), though this figure may be distorted by the fact that sales of graphic novels are excluded. When all book sales are included, DC

8092-512: The distribution of NPP's shows. 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 produced most of DC's initial cartoons) and other media. DC significantly lightened the tone of many of its comics—particularly Batman and Detective Comics —to better complement the "camp" tone of

8211-723: The end of 2009. By 2007, DC was licensing characters from the Archie Comics imprint Red Circle Comics . They appeared in the Red Circle line, based in the DC Universe, with a series of one-shots followed by a miniseries that led into two ongoing titles that each lasted for ten issues. In 2011, DC rebooted all of its running titles following the Flashpoint storyline. The reboot called The New 52 gave new origin stories and costume designs to many of DC's characters. DC licensed pulp characters including Doc Savage and

8330-431: The entire event received an average rating of 7.9 out of 10 based on 474 reviews. David Harth from Comic Book Resources wrote that " Knight Terrors helps art teams get ahead on issues, allowing fan-favorite artists on the various Dawn of DC series time to bank more pages in before books get published again". DC Comics This is an accepted version of this page DC Comics, Inc. (later simply known as DC )

8449-449: The entire world fall under his spell. Batman is trapped in a nightmare realm where he relives the death of Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne 's death at the hands of Joe Chill . He is transported to a graveyard where he encounters Insomnia (dressed as Robin ) who wants the Nightmare Stone. Insomnia summons dead corpses of Dick Grayson , Tim Drake , Commissioner Gordon , Barbara Gordon , and Selina Kyle to overwhelm Batman, and Batman

8568-504: The entire world under his spell. Meanwhile, the Cyborg Superman who absorbed Conner Kent and Krypto attacks the family, but Kong Kenan takes the family outside before being incapacitated. Cyborg Superman summons Mongul to scare the family, but Osul-Ra and Otho-Ra defeat him after realizing Cyborg Superman is not in full control. Osul-Ra and Otho-Ra wake up with Natasha Irons and Conner Kent's help, and realize that Insomnia has made

8687-450: 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, giving talent a financial incentive tied to the success of their work. As it happened, the implementation of these incentives proved opportune considering Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter ,

8806-638: The fake body, with Zatanna saying that the fake body is a powerful dream construct. Batman and Deadman head to Arkham Tower where Doctor Destiny is killed, but gets revived by a mysterious being who wants the Nightmare Stone and the Dream stone in the Hall of Justice. The mysterious being calls himself Insomnia and summons nightmare constructs to invade the world, and proceeds to cause the entire world to fall under his slumber, including heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Joker , Nightwing , The Flash , Ravager , and Green Lantern . Deadman reveals that he hid

8925-644: The fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters , such as Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Green Lantern , the Flash , Cyborg , and Aquaman ; as well as famous fictional teams, including the Justice League , the Justice Society of America , the Teen Titans , and the Suicide Squad . The universe contains an assortment of well-known supervillains , such as

9044-463: 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

9163-686: 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 (September 1939). Detective Comics No.   31 (September 1939) by Gardner Fox, Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff introduced

9282-639: 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 (July 1939) included

9401-503: The 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, the critically lauded Batman Begins film was released; also, the company published several limited series establishing increasingly escalating conflicts among DC's heroes, with events climaxing in

9520-400: The hospital. As Barry Allen tries to save Wally multiple times, he is left disfigured and battered from the monster. Barry goes to Iris West to see how Wally West is doing, and Insomnia impersonates Barry's mother to persuade him to keep on going. Barry Allen kills Hal Jordan when he refuses to help him, and travels to the 25th Century to steal Eobard Thawne 's speed to get faster. Barry goes to

9639-460: The leader name is Murder Man, and his group is called Slaughter Squadron who is killing people. Rose realizes the girl is a past version of herself yet has a different family, when Insomnia takes control of Rose Madison and stabs Rose Wilson. In the real world, Peacekeeper finds Rose Wilson unconscious and takes her somewhere safe. Ravager is fighting off enemies in her mind and defeats Murder Man while Peacekeeper manages to wake her up. Mary Marvel

9758-446: The line was dramatically reduced and standard-size books returned to 17-page stories but for a still increased 40 cents. 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

9877-547: 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 another non-DC title, Tower Comics ' series T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents , in collection into DC Archive Editions. 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

9996-562: The major DC characters. Crisis featured many key deaths that shaped the DC Universe for the following decades, and it separated the timeline of DC publications into pre- and post-"Crisis". Meanwhile, a parallel update had started in the non-superhero and horror titles. Since early 1984, the work of British writer Alan Moore had revitalized the horror series The Saga of the Swamp Thing , and soon numerous British writers, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison , began freelancing for

10115-449: 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. In 2004, DC began laying

10234-403: The moment where Gorilla Grodd stabs Wally West, but encounters the monster in the Speed Force. Barry realizes that the monster in the Speed Force is a Paradox that is consisted of his multiple attempts trying to save Wally West, and is absorbed by the monster. However, the real Wally West breaks Barry Allen out of his nightmare and brings him into the real world, explaining that Barry Allen was in

10353-674: The monsters from the League's minds to fight against them. Deadman breaks free of Insomnia's spell after hearing Wesley Dodd's voice, but is seemingly killed by Insomnia. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman go to the dream version of Doctor Destiny's body to find the Dreamstone, which may counter the Nightmare Stone. Insomnia arrives and starts turning Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman into their nightmare versions of themselves, but Deadman arrives to stop Insomnia, revealing he faked his death. Deadman sacrifices himself to stop Insomnia, while Insomnia

10472-408: The most popular superhero titles continued publication, including Action Comics and Detective Comics , the medium's two longest-running titles. 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

10591-524: The nightmare. Insomnia also tries to attack Sinestro by impersonating his daughter Soranik Natu and steals his power ring . Nightwing is affected by Insomnia's spell and finds himself in Arkham Asylum with Mad Hatter , Two-Face , and Professor Pyg 's henchmen. He encounters Insomnia who forces him to see Scarecrow and the corpses of his parents, Barbara Gordon , and Batman . Nightwing snaps out of it and starts talking to Scarecrow to find

10710-511: The nightmares and are the first of the Bat Family to wake up, before deciding to team up to fight Insomnia. Barry Allen is investigating a crime scene when he gets a call from Iris West and Jay Garrick that Wally West has been mortally wounded by Gorilla Grodd who possesses the Spear of Destiny . In the hospital, Wally West tells Barry that something is wrong with Speed force due to

10829-444: The nightmares and nearly give up. However, when Tim Drake overhears that Jason Todd thinks that he is a failure, he motivates Jason Todd by explaining that Batman and his family failed him, and even if Jason Todd pushes people away, people still care about him. Jason Todd then tells Tim Drake that he thinks he can save everyone, but he can't and should accept responsibility for that. With renewed confidence, Tim Drake and Jason Todd defeat

10948-526: The old character, Schwartz had writers 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 No.   4 (October 1956) proved sufficiently popular that it soon led to a similar revamping of

11067-428: The ongoing series. Damian Wayne dreams of himself, his mother , his father , his girlfriend and Connor Hawke at a beach having a good time. However, his family suddenly attacks him and he sees a giant eyeball in the sky and visions of the Justice League and Teen Titans in trouble. Damian wakes up from his nightmare, revealing that he passed out while he and Batman were chasing Firefly and Killer Moth . Damian

11186-469: The other imprints was Impact Comics from 1991 to 1992 in which the Archie Comics superheroes were licensed and revamped. The stories in the line were part of its own shared universe. 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

11305-501: The real world to see Gotham in chaos and Damian Wayne waiting for him, telling him they have lost. Commissioner Gordon visits the gravestone of his dead son when Insomnia's spell affects Gotham City. Gordon encounters a group of criminals called The Good People who summon Pentapriests from the Fifth Dimension to give them power, wealth and knowledge. The Pentapriests agree and mutate The Good People into monsters to terrorize

11424-449: The specific inducement, Marvel Comics' writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby ushered in the sub-Silver Age "Marvel Age" of comics with the debut issue of The Fantastic Four . Reportedly, DC dismissed the initial success of Marvel's editorial change until its consistently strengthening sales—albeit also benefiting DC's parent company Independent News, as Marvel's distributor—made it impossible to ignore. This commercial situation

11543-647: The spell, and goes to Gotham alongside Detective Chimp, John Constantine, Ragman , and Etrigan the Demon . Zatanna tries telling Red Tornado what just happened when Insomnia attacks her, Wonder Woman, and Detective Chimp with his spell. Zatanna managed to create a protective spell and tried contacting the Justice League Dark but sees two figures trying to get the Nightmare Stone. Zatanna summons Robotman to aid her escape with Wonder Woman and Detective Chimp. Zatanna and Robotman encounter corpses of their loved ones but they manage to put Wonder Woman and Detective chimp in

11662-511: 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. This successful revitalization of

11781-490: 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 (according to court testimony) Fox started as

11900-498: The successful Batwoman , Bat-Girl , Ace the Bat-Hound , and Bat-Mite in an attempt to modernize the strip with non-science-fiction elements. Schwartz and Infantino then revitalized Batman in what the company promoted as the "New Look", with relatively down-to-earth stories re-emphasizing Batman as a detective. Meanwhile, editor Kanigher successfully introduced a whole family of Wonder Woman characters having fantastic adventures in

12019-471: 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. The line began with All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder and All-Star Superman , and All-Star Wonder Woman and All-Star Batgirl was announced in 2006, but neither of these stories had been released or scheduled as of

12138-422: The use of non-traditional contractual arrangements, including the dramatic rise of creator-owned projects, 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-store friendly formats, including trade paperback collections of individual serial comics, as well as original graphic novels . One of

12257-485: The world has fallen under Insomnia's spell. Deadman accesses Insomnia's memory, but they are attacked by Insomnia's forces called the Sleepless Knights. Damian Wayne arrives to help Deadman and Wesley Dodds fight against the Sleepless Knights, and they manage to escape. Deadman goes into Insomnia's memory again to find out that Insomnia's real name is Christopher who blamed the Justice League for turning him into

12376-401: The writers and artists who had worked for DC without receiving much recognition during the early age of comic books when individual credits were rare. 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 the intention to resell at a higher value (as the rising value of older issues

12495-412: Was alienating much of his company's creative staff with his authoritarian manner and major talents there went to DC like Roy Thomas , Gene Colan , Marv Wolfman , and George Pérez . In addition, emulating the era's new television form, the miniseries while addressing the matter of an excessive number of ongoing titles fizzling out within a few issues of their start, DC created the industry concept of

12614-444: Was charging fifteen cents. At this time, the senior DC staff were reportedly unable to explain how this small publishing house was achieving its increasingly threatening commercial strength. For instance, when Marvel's product was examined in a meeting, the emphasis on more sophisticated character-based narrative and artist-driven visual storytelling was apparently overlooked. Instead, superficial reasons were put forward to account for

12733-628: Was featured in Detective Comics No.   20 (October 1938). 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 (November 1938). 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 ,

12852-740: 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

12971-573: 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 (March 1939) 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

13090-581: Was forced out after the first year. Shortly afterwards, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied (also known as Nicholson Publishing) 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

13209-418: Was highlighted by Marvel's superior sell-through percentage numbers which were typically 70% to DC's roughly 50%, meaning that DC's publications were barely making a profit after returns from the distributors were factored in, while Marvel was making a healthy profit by comparison. Also in 1961, both DC and Marvel increased their cover price from ten cents to twelve cents, while the rival publisher Dell Comics

13328-457: Was in response to Marvel's efforts to market their superhero line to college-aged adults. Infantino 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 he replaced some existing DC editors with artist-editors, including Joe Kubert and Dick Giordano , to give DC's output a more artistic critical eye. In 1967, National Periodical Publications

13447-470: Was plagiarized by Stan Lee to create The X-Men . There was also the young Jim Shooter who purposely emulated Marvel's writing when he wrote for DC after studying both companies' styles, such as for the Legion of Super-Heroes feature. In 1966, National Periodical Publications established its own television arm, led by Allen Ducovny, to develop and produce TV projects, with Superman TV Corporation handling

13566-456: 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. In 1970, Jack Kirby moved 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. As artist Gil Kane described: Jack

13685-475: Was the introduction of the fictional mansion known as Wayne Manor first seen in Detective Comics No.   28 (June 1939). 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 (July 1939). Action Comics No.   13 (June 1939) introduced

13804-417: Was the single most influential figure in the turnaround in Marvel's fortunes from the time he rejoined the company ... It wasn't merely that Jack conceived most of the characters that are being done, but ... Jack's point of view and philosophy of drawing became the governing philosophy of the entire publishing company and, beyond the publishing company, of the entire field ... [Marvel took] Jack and use[d] him as

13923-464: Was thought to imply that all comics would rise dramatically in price)—and several storylines gaining attention from the mainstream media. DC's extended storylines in which Superman was killed , Batman was crippled , and Green Lantern turned into the supervillain Parallax , resulted in dramatically increased sales. However, the increases were temporary, and sales dropped off as the industry went into

14042-421: Was to convince Bill Sarnoff, the head of Warner Publishing, to keep DC as a publishing concern, as opposed to simply managing their licensing of their properties. With that established, 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,

14161-449: 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

#792207