This is an accepted version of this page
170-538: Jack the Ripper is a fictionalized version of a real-life serial killer . The character, created by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola , first appeared in Gotham by Gaslight #1 (February 1989). Jacob Packer had been trained in both medicine and law by Thomas Wayne , however, Martha Wayne rejected him. Packer hired an assassin to kill the two and afterwards personally killed women to "silence" his own insanity. Jack
340-471: 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
510-434: 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
680-440: A Metropolitan Police investigation and were known collectively in the police docket as the "Whitechapel murders". Opinions vary as to whether these murders should be linked to the same culprit, but five of the eleven Whitechapel murders, known as the "canonical five", are widely believed to be the work of the Ripper. Most experts point to deep slash wounds to the throat, followed by extensive abdominal and genital-area mutilation,
850-508: 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
1020-595: A circus to avoid being experimented on by the army. After a few years, Rhea was recruited by Arani Caulder to join her new Doom Patrol. After being recruited by Arani Caulder / Celsius , Rhea was now one of three new recruits into the Doom Patrol, along with Scott Fischer and Wayne Hawkins aka Karma. Celsius gave her the codename Lodestone . Her demonstrated abilities allowed her to fly, give herself Earth reinforced superstrength, create limited force fields, and attract or repel metallic objects like bullets. Following
1190-476: 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
1360-488: 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
1530-438: A deep, jagged wound, causing her bowels to protrude. Several other incisions inflicted to both sides of her abdomen had also been caused by the same knife; each of these wounds had been inflicted in a downward thrusting manner. One week later, on Saturday 8 September 1888, the body of Annie Chapman was discovered at approximately 6 a.m. near the steps to the doorway of the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street , Spitalfields. As in
1700-568: 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,
1870-477: 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
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#17328017808482040-504: 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
2210-456: 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
2380-444: A member of the school's championship basketball team, where he met Ronnie. The two became close friends, and Jackson frequently aided Ronnie during the numerous episodes wherein the latter would find himself embroiled in conflicts with school jerk Cliff Carmichael . Jackson dated a young woman named Stella, and the two frequently double-dated with Ronnie and his girlfriend, Doreen Day. Jefferson "Jax" Jackson appears in media set in
2550-528: 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
2720-416: 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
2890-415: 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
3060-429: A railway arch at Swallow Gardens, Whitechapel. Her throat had been deeply cut but her body was not mutilated, leading some to believe Thompson had disturbed her assailant. Coles was still alive, although she died before medical help could arrive. A 53-year-old stoker , James Thomas Sadler , had earlier been seen drinking with Coles, and the two are known to have argued approximately three hours before her death. Sadler
3230-403: A revengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that religious mania may have been the original disease but I do not think either hypothesis is likely". There is no evidence the perpetrator engaged in sexual activity with any of the victims, yet psychologists have suggested that the penetration of the victims with a knife and "leaving them on display in sexually degrading positions with
3400-658: 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)
3570-403: A seven-inch long superficial wound extending from her left breast to her navel . One of the examining pathologists, Thomas Bond, believed this to be a Ripper murder, though his colleague George Bagster Phillips, who had examined the bodies of three previous victims, disagreed. Opinions among writers are also divided between those who suspect McKenzie's murderer copied the modus operandi of Jack
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#17328017808483740-566: A shabby appearance with a woman who may have been Eddowes. Lawende's companions were unable to confirm his description. The murders of Stride and Eddowes ultimately became known as the "double event". A section of Eddowes's bloodied apron was found at the entrance to a tenement in Goulston Street, Whitechapel, at 2:55 a.m. A chalk inscription upon the wall directly above this piece of apron read: "The Juwes are The men That Will not be Blamed for nothing." This graffito became known as
3910-521: A spirit and in flashbacks. Rhea Jones is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Rhea Jones was the daughter of an Air Force official. After tagging along with her father to a government base in the Arctic, an explosion involving a powerful radioactive electromagnet killed her father and granted her electromagnetic abilities. Subsequently, she ran away and joined
4080-653: A struggle, and the police believed that she had either accidentally hanged herself with her collar while in a drunken stupor or committed suicide. However, faint markings left by a cord on one side of her neck suggested Mylett had been strangled. At the inquest into Mylett's death, the jury returned a verdict of murder. Alice McKenzie was murdered shortly after midnight on 17 July 1889 in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. She had suffered two stab wounds to her neck, and her left carotid artery had been severed. Several minor bruises and cuts were found on her body, which also bore
4250-526: 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 the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters , such as Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Green Lantern ,
4420-523: 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
4590-469: 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
4760-569: 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
4930-569: A term coined for the discovery of a headless torso of a woman on 2 October 1888 in the basement of the new Metropolitan Police headquarters being built in Whitehall . An arm and shoulder belonging to the body were previously discovered floating in the River Thames near Pimlico on 11 September, and the left leg was subsequently discovered buried near where the torso was found on 17 October. The other limbs and head were never recovered and
5100-501: 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
5270-462: Is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. On Earth-Two , Jumpa is a Kanga, a flying kangaroo-like creature and friend of Wonder Woman who serves as her mode of transportation on Themyscira . In Infinite Frontier , a flashback to Wonder Woman's childhood had her working to train Jumpa while riding through Themyscira. However, she is rejected and thrown into
List of DC Comics characters: J - Misplaced Pages Continue
5440-582: Is a violent court-themed vigilante and alternate personality of Harvey Dent / Two-Face . Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron . Attacks ascribed to Jack
5610-550: Is defeated by Freight Train, who had since joined the Outsiders . In 2011, " The New 52 " rebooted the DC universe. Java's history with Simon Stagg and Rex Mason remains the same. Java was present when Simon Stagg opened a portal to the Dark Multiverse and tried to close it with Metamorpho, who had transformed into Nth Metal. He is present when Mister Terrific , Plastic Man , Metamorpho, and Phantom Girl return from
5780-518: Is shown to have a connection with Carmine Falcone and tends to get targeted by different criminals. Java is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Java is the Neanderthal servant of Simon Stagg . He was first discovered by fortune hunter Rex Mason and revived by the scientific wizardry of Stagg Enterprises . Java is present when Mason discovers
5950-516: 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
6120-444: 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
6290-539: 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
6460-521: The Invasion! storyline, Rhea and Scott were struck by a disease created by the Dominators . This ultimately killed Scott while Rhea lost control of her powers and fell into a coma. At the start of Grant Morrison 's run of Doom Patrol , Rhea was rendered comatose again while undergoing a metamorphosis that eventually gave her enhanced electromagnetic abilities. After ending the conflict between
6630-743: The Arrowverse , portrayed by Franz Drameh . Virginia "Jinny" Hex is a fictional DC Comics superheroine. She is the granddaughter of Jonah Hex and a member of Young Justice . She first appeared in Batman Giant #4 (December 2018). M'yrnn J'onzz is the father of the twin brothers J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter and Ma'alefa'ak . His first appearance was in Martian Manhunter (vol. 2) #3 (August 2001). M'yrnn J'onzz appears in Supergirl , portrayed by Carl Lumbly . This version
6800-905: 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 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
6970-523: The Goulston Street graffito . The message appeared to imply that a Jew or Jews in general were responsible for the series of murders, but it is unclear whether the graffito was written by the murderer on dropping the section of apron, or was merely incidental and nothing to do with the case. Such graffiti were commonplace in Whitechapel. Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren feared that
List of DC Comics characters: J - Misplaced Pages Continue
7140-667: 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
7310-483: 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
7480-795: 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
7650-520: The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee and came with half of a preserved human kidney, purportedly taken from one of the victims. The public came increasingly to believe in the existence of a single serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, mainly because of both the extraordinarily brutal nature of the murders and media coverage of the crimes. Extensive newspaper coverage bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on
7820-436: The inquest into Chapman's murder, Elizabeth Long described having seen Chapman standing outside 29 Hanbury Street at about 5:30 a.m. in the company of a dark-haired man wearing a brown deerstalker hat and dark overcoat, and of a "shabby- genteel " appearance. According to this eyewitness, the man had asked Chapman, "Will you?" to which Chapman had replied, "Yes." Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were both killed in
7990-557: 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,
8160-480: The "Torso killer" were the same person or separate serial killers active in the same area. The modus operandi of the Torso killer differed from that of the Ripper, and police at the time discounted any connection between the two. Only one of the four victims linked to the Torso killer, Elizabeth Jackson, was ever identified. Jackson was a 24-year-old prostitute from Chelsea whose various body parts were collected from
8330-405: 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 is the second largest publisher of comic books, after Viz Media ; and Marvel
8500-490: 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
8670-683: The CID, Assistant Commissioner Robert Anderson , was on leave in Switzerland between 7 September and 6 October , during the time when Chapman, Stride, and Eddowes were killed. This prompted Colonel Sir Charles Warren, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police , to appoint Chief Inspector Donald Swanson to coordinate the enquiry from Scotland Yard. Butchers, slaughterers, surgeons, and physicians were suspected because of
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#17328017808488840-472: 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
9010-544: 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
9180-614: The Dark Multiverse. Later, Java is revealed to have been operating as the villain Doctor Dread and forms a counterpart of the Terrifics called the Dreadfuls. They were defeated by the Terrifics. The Javelin is a fictional DC Comics supervillain . The Javelin is a former German Olympic athlete who turned to a life of crime, using his uncanny abilities with a javelin-based weapons arsenal. The Javelin fought Green Lantern and
9350-590: The Orb of Ra in Egypt and is transformed into Metamorpho . Java pines for Simon's daughter Sapphire Stagg , but is unable to win her heart because she is in love with Metamorpho. During a time when Metamorpho was believed to be dead, Sapphire relented to Java's persistent advances and married him. Java became the father figure to Sapphire and Rex's mutant son, Joey. Java was not an inherently evil individual, but his moral base had been compromised due to his constant exposure to
9520-571: The Orthodoxy and the Geomancers (with help from Rebis and Robotman), Rhea pointed out a bright star in the sky, and left to go visit it. Promising to visit, she has not been seen since. Her only subsequent appearance to date has a brief flashback to her early days with Arani Desai and Valentina Vostok when the two returned during Blackest Night . Tao Jones is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She
9690-473: The Ripper case. Tabram was murdered on a staircase landing in George Yard, Whitechapel, on 7 August 1888; she had suffered 39 stab wounds to her throat, lungs, heart, liver, spleen , stomach, and abdomen, with additional knife wounds inflicted to her breasts and vagina. All but one of Tabram's wounds had been inflicted with a bladed instrument such as a penknife , and with one possible exception, all
9860-556: The Ripper frames Bruce Wayne for his killings in Gotham City . A trial was held in which Packer was a defense attorney yet Bruce was convicted, sentenced to be hanged and imprisoned in Arkham Asylum but eventually figures out the killer's identity and escapes from prison with Alfred Pennyworth 's help. Batman confronted Jack the Ripper throughout Gotham and the two eventually come to the graves of Thomas and Martha before he
10030-474: The Ripper had killed him. The boy's employer, 23-year-old milkman William Barrett, was twice arrested for the murder but was released due to insufficient evidence . No-one was ever prosecuted. Carrie Brown (nicknamed " Shakespeare ", reportedly for her habit of quoting Shakespeare's sonnets ) was strangled with clothing and then mutilated with a knife on 24 April 1891 in New York City . Her body
10200-576: The Ripper to deflect suspicion from himself, and those who ascribe this murder to Jack the Ripper. "The Pinchin Street torso" was a decomposing headless and legless torso of an unidentified woman aged between 30 and 40 discovered beneath a railway arch in Pinchin Street, Whitechapel, on 10 September 1889. Bruising about the victim's back, hip, and arm indicated the decedent had been extensively beaten shortly before her death. The victim's abdomen
10370-623: The Ripper typically involved women working as prostitutes who lived and worked in the slums of the East End of London . Their throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to speculation that their killer had some anatomical or surgical knowledge. Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and numerous letters were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard from individuals purporting to be
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#173280178084810540-469: The Ripper's first victim, although this attack cannot be definitively linked to the perpetrator. Another suspected precanonical victim was a young dressmaker named Ada Wilson, who reportedly survived being stabbed twice in the neck with a clasp knife upon the doorstep of her home in Bow on 28 March 1888 by a man who had demanded money from her. A further possible victim, 40-year-old Annie Farmer, resided at
10710-468: The Ripper, and the legend solidified. A police investigation into a series of eleven brutal murders committed in Whitechapel and Spitalfields between 1888 and 1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the murders of 1888. Five victims— Mary Ann Nichols , Annie Chapman , Elizabeth Stride , Catherine Eddowes , and Mary Jane Kelly —are known as the "canonical five" and their murders between 31 August and 9 November 1888 are often considered
10880-564: The River Thames over a three-week period between 31 May and 25 June 1889. On 29 December 1888, the body of a seven-year-old boy named John Gill was found in a stable block in Manningham, Bradford . Gill had been missing since the morning of 27 December. His legs had been severed, his abdomen opened, his intestines partly drawn out, and his heart and one ear removed. Similarities with the Ripper murders led to press speculation that
11050-609: The Russian Empire and other areas of Eastern Europe emigrated into the same area. The parish of Whitechapel in the East End became increasingly overcrowded, with the population increasing to approximately 80,000 inhabitants by 1888. Work and housing conditions worsened, and a significant economic underclass developed. Fifty-five per cent of children born in the East End died before they were five years old. Robbery, violence, and alcohol dependency were commonplace, and
11220-556: 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
11390-697: 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
11560-537: The Whitechapel murders were destroyed in the Blitz . The surviving Metropolitan Police files allow a detailed view of investigative procedures in the Victorian era . A large team of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries throughout Whitechapel. Forensic material was collected and examined. Suspects were identified, traced, and either examined more closely or eliminated from the inquiry. Modern police work follows
11730-398: The actual identity and profession of Jack the Ripper, but authorities are not agreed upon any of them, and the number of named suspects reaches over one hundred. Despite continued interest in the case, the Ripper's identity remains unknown. DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (later simply known as DC ) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment ,
11900-676: 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 . DC Comics books are distributed to
12070-587: 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
12240-615: The belief these five canonical murders were committed by the same perpetrator is derived from contemporaneous documents which link them together to the exclusion of others. In 1894, Sir Melville Macnaghten , Assistant Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police Service and Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), wrote a report that stated: "the Whitechapel murderer had 5 victims—& 5 victims only". Similarly,
12410-468: The body was never identified. The mutilations were similar to those in the Pinchin Street torso case, where the legs and head were severed but not the arms. Both the Whitehall Mystery and the Pinchin Street case may have been part of a series of murders known as the " Thames Mysteries ", committed by a single serial killer dubbed the "Torso killer". It is debatable whether Jack the Ripper and
12580-571: 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 the disruption to Diamond caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ) replaced Diamond as the direct market distributor. In 2017, approximately 70% of
12750-413: 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
12920-456: The canonical five is a "Ripper myth" and that three cases (Nichols, Chapman, and Eddowes) can be definitely linked to the same perpetrator, but that less certainty exists as to whether Stride and Kelly were also murdered by the same individual. Conversely, others suppose that the six murders between Tabram and Kelly were the work of a single killer. Percy Clark, assistant to the examining pathologist George Bagster Phillips , linked only three of
13090-490: The canonical five victims were linked together in a letter written by police surgeon Thomas Bond to Robert Anderson , head of the London CID, on 10 November 1888. Some researchers have posited that some of the murders were undoubtedly the work of a single killer, but an unknown larger number of killers acting independently were responsible for the other crimes. Authors Stewart P. Evans and Donald Rumbelow argue that
13260-417: The case of Nichols, the throat was severed by two deep cuts. Her abdomen had been cut entirely open, with a section of the flesh from her stomach being placed upon her left shoulder and another section of skin and flesh—plus her small intestines —being removed and placed above her right shoulder. Chapman's autopsy also revealed that her uterus and sections of her bladder and vagina had been removed. At
13430-424: 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
13600-429: 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
13770-482: 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
13940-488: 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
14110-473: The cost of sleeping upon a "lean-to" or "hang-over" rope stretched across the dormitory being two pence per person. The economic problems in Whitechapel were accompanied by a steady rise in social tensions . Between 1886 and 1889, frequent demonstrations led to police intervention and public unrest, such as Bloody Sunday (1887) . Antisemitism , crime, nativism , racism , social disturbance, and severe deprivation influenced public perceptions that Whitechapel
14280-457: The culprit's death, imprisonment, institutionalisation , or emigration. The Whitechapel murders file details another four murders that occurred after the canonical five: those of Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie, the Pinchin Street torso, and Frances Coles. The strangled body of 26-year-old Rose Mylett was found in Clarke's Yard, High Street, Poplar on 20 December 1888. There was no sign of
14450-512: The dates of the murders did not coincide with a single boat's movements and the transfer of a crewman between boats was also ruled out. In September 1888, a group of volunteer citizens in London's East End formed the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee . They patrolled the streets looking for suspicious characters, partly because of dissatisfaction with the failure of police to apprehend the perpetrator, and also because some members were concerned that
14620-547: 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
14790-474: The discovery of her body by a Mrs. Emily Holland, with whom she had previously shared a bed at a common lodging-house in Thrawl Street, Spitalfields, walking in the direction of Whitechapel Road . Her throat was severed by two deep cuts, one of which completely severed all the tissue down to the vertebrae . Her vagina had been stabbed twice, and the lower part of her abdomen was partly ripped open by
14960-512: 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
15130-559: The duo Punch and Jewelee . They invade a Myanmar military facility to neutralize what seems to be a superhuman power source. The Javelin is killed by a runaway jeep while trying to protect a distraught, newly widowed Jewelee. Jefferson Jackson is a supporting character of Ronnie Raymond (a.k.a. Firestorm ) who makes his debut in Firestorm (vol. 2) #1 (June 1982). Jackson is a former student of Bradley High School in Manhattan, New York . During his tenure at Bradley High, Jackson became
15300-543: The early morning hours of Sunday 30 September 1888. Stride's body was discovered at approximately 1 a.m. in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (now Henriques Street ) in Whitechapel. The cause of death was a single clear-cut incision, measuring six inches across her neck which had severed her left carotid artery and her trachea before terminating beneath her right jaw. The absence of any further mutilations to her body has led to uncertainty as to whether Stride's murder
15470-723: 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
15640-443: The endemic poverty drove many women to prostitution to survive on a daily basis. In October 1888, London's Metropolitan Police Service estimated that there were 62 brothels and 1,200 women working as prostitutes in Whitechapel, with approximately 8,500 people residing in the 233 common lodging-houses within Whitechapel every night, with the nightly price for a coffin bed being fourpence (equivalent to £2 in 2023) and
15810-764: The evidence against each of these individuals is, at best, circumstantial . In addition to the contradictions and unreliability of contemporaneous accounts, attempts to identify the murderer are hampered by the lack of any confirmed surviving forensic evidence . DNA analysis on extant letters is inconclusive; the available material has been handled many times and is too contaminated to provide meaningful results. There have been mutually incompatible claims that DNA evidence points conclusively to two different suspects: Aaron Kosminski (a Whitechapel barber) and artist Walter Sickert. The scientific methodology used to advance both of these claims by their proponents has also been criticised. There are numerous, varied theories about
15980-450: 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 ,
16150-416: The extent of the murderer's surgical skill and knowledge. The opinion offered by Bond on the character of the "Whitechapel murderer" is the earliest surviving offender profile . Bond's assessment was based on his own examination of the most extensively mutilated victim and the post mortem notes from the four previous canonical murders. He wrote: All five murders no doubt were committed by the same hand. In
16320-448: The face and received a cut to her ear. A blunt object was also inserted into her vagina , rupturing her peritoneum . She developed peritonitis and died the following day at London Hospital . Smith stated that she had been attacked by two or three men, one of whom she described as a teenager. This attack was linked to the later murders by the press, but most authors attribute this murder to general East End gang violence unrelated to
16490-463: 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
16660-445: The first four the throats appear to have been cut from left to right, in the last case owing to the extensive mutilation it is impossible to say in what direction the fatal cut was made, but arterial blood was found on the wall in splashes close to where the woman's head must have been lying. All the circumstances surrounding the murders lead me to form the opinion that the women must have been lying down when murdered and in every case
16830-686: 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
17000-639: 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
17170-419: The graffito might spark antisemitic riots and ordered the writing washed away before dawn. The extensively mutilated and disembowelled body of Mary Jane Kelly was discovered lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller's Court, off Dorset Street , Spitalfields, at 10:45 a.m. on Friday 9 November 1888. Her face had been "hacked beyond all recognition", with her throat severed down to
17340-503: 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
17510-431: The killer was an educated upper-class man, possibly a doctor or an aristocrat who ventured into Whitechapel from a more well-to-do area. Such theories draw on cultural perceptions such as fear of the medical profession, a mistrust of modern science, or the exploitation of the poor by the rich. The term "Ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper case in an effort to determine his identity, and
17680-470: The later murders because of this difference in the wound pattern. The canonical five Ripper victims are Mary Ann Nichols , Annie Chapman , Elizabeth Stride , Catherine Eddowes , and Mary Jane Kelly . The body of Mary Ann Nichols was discovered at about 3:40 a.m. on Friday 31 August 1888 in Buck's Row (now Durward Street ), Whitechapel. Nichols had last been seen alive approximately one hour before
17850-446: 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
18020-547: 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
18190-562: 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
18360-427: The major part of Eddowes's uterus had been removed, and her face had been disfigured, with her nose severed, her cheek slashed, and cuts measuring a quarter of an inch and a half an inch respectively vertically incised through each of her eyelids. A triangular incision—the apex of which pointed towards Eddowes's eye—had also been carved upon each of her cheeks, and a section of the auricle and lobe of her right ear
18530-539: The manner of the mutilations. A surviving note from Major Henry Smith, Acting Commissioner of the City Police , indicates that the alibis of local butchers and slaughterers were investigated, with the result that they were eliminated from the inquiry. A report from Inspector Swanson to the Home Office confirms that 76 butchers and slaughterers were visited, and that the inquiry encompassed all their employees for
18700-449: 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
18870-441: The most likely to be linked. The murders were never solved, and the legends surrounding these crimes became a combination of historical research, folklore , and pseudohistory , capturing public imagination to the present day. In the mid-19th century, England experienced an influx of Irish immigrants who swelled the populations of the major cities, including the East End of London . From 1882, Jewish refugees fleeing pogroms in
19040-408: 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
19210-524: The murder of Nichols, Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline , Henry Moore , and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist. The City of London Police were involved under Detective Inspector James McWilliam after the Eddowes murder, which occurred within the City of London . The overall direction of the murder enquiries was hampered by the fact that the newly appointed head of
19380-416: The murderer. The name "Jack the Ripper" originated in the " Dear Boss letter " written by an individual claiming to be the murderer, which was disseminated in the press. The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax and may have been written by journalists to heighten interest in the story and increase their newspapers' circulation. Another letter, the " From Hell letter ", was received by George Lusk of
19550-405: The murders and thought that the others were perpetrated by "weak-minded individual[s] ... induced to emulate the crime". Macnaghten did not join the police force until the year after the murders, and his memorandum contains serious factual errors about possible suspects. Mary Jane Kelly is generally considered to be the Ripper's final victim, and it is assumed that the crimes ended because of
19720-700: The murders have inspired numerous works of fiction . Suspects proposed years after the murders include virtually anyone remotely connected to the case by contemporaneous documents, as well as many famous names who were never considered in the police investigation, including Prince Albert Victor , artist Walter Sickert , and author Lewis Carroll . Everyone alive at the time is now long dead, and modern authors are free to accuse anyone "without any need for any supporting historical evidence". Suspects named in contemporaneous police documents include three in Sir Melville Macnaghten 's 1894 memorandum, but
19890-455: The murders were affecting businesses in the area. The Committee petitioned the government to raise a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer, offered their own reward of £50 (the equivalent of between £5,900 and £86,000 in 2021) for information leading to his capture, and hired private detectives to question witnesses independently. At the end of October, Robert Anderson asked police surgeon Thomas Bond to give his opinion on
20060-408: The ocean before Hippolyta rescues her. The Judge is an alias used by different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . Each iteration is usually depicted as a cloaked figure sporting a courtroom robe and a blindfold or sunglasses as well as wielding a mallet-sized gavel while opposing superheroes, such as Batman and the Flash . The first version
20230-526: 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
20400-469: 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
20570-639: The present, the Judge is a serial killer with a beard and white suit who uses a casino chip calling card in Blüdhaven while having several confrontations with Dick Grayson before being defeated by Nightwing and imprisoned. Hunter Zolomon is also known as the Judge in 25th-century Central City . An original incarnation of the Judge appears in The New Batman Adventures episode "Judgment Day", voiced by Malachi Throne . This version
20740-480: The previous six months. Some contemporaneous figures, including Queen Victoria , thought the pattern of the murders indicated that the culprit was a butcher or cattle drover on one of the cattle boats that plied between London and mainland Europe. Whitechapel was close to the London Docks , and usually such boats docked on Thursday or Friday and departed on Saturday or Sunday. The cattle boats were examined but
20910-496: The removal of internal organs, and progressive facial mutilations as the distinctive features of the Ripper's modus operandi . The first two cases in the Whitechapel murders file, those of Emma Elizabeth Smith and Martha Tabram , are not included in the canonical five. Smith was robbed and sexually assaulted in Osborn Street , Whitechapel, at approximately 1:30 a.m. on 3 April 1888. She had been bludgeoned about
21080-400: The same lodging house as Martha Tabram and reported an attack on 21 November 1888. She had received a superficial cut to her throat. Although an unknown man with blood on his mouth and hands had run out of this lodging house, shouting, "Look at what she has done!" before two eyewitnesses heard Farmer scream, her wound was light, and possibly self-inflicted . "The Whitehall Mystery " was
21250-628: The same pattern. More than 2,000 people were interviewed, "upwards of 300" people were investigated, and 80 people were detained. Following the murders of Stride and Eddowes, the Commissioner of the City Police , Sir James Fraser , offered a reward of £500 for the arrest of the Ripper. The investigation was initially conducted by the Metropolitan Police Whitechapel (H) Division Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headed by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid . After
21420-484: The single room as he mutilated her body. A recent fire had been severe enough to melt the solder between a kettle and its spout, which had fallen into the grate of the fireplace. Each of the canonical five murders was perpetrated at night, on or close to a weekend, either at the end of a month or a week (or so) after. The mutilations became increasingly severe as the series of murders proceeded, except for that of Stride, whose attacker may have been interrupted. Nichols
21590-449: 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
21760-448: The spine, and the abdomen almost emptied of its organs. Her uterus, kidneys and one breast had been placed beneath her head, and other viscera from her body placed beside her foot, about the bed and sections of her abdomen and thighs upon a bedside table. The heart was missing from the crime scene. Multiple ashes found within the fireplace at 13 Miller's Court suggested Kelly's murderer had burned several combustible items to illuminate
21930-511: 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
22100-490: 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
22270-498: 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
22440-488: The throat was first cut. Bond was strongly opposed to the idea that the murderer possessed any kind of scientific or anatomical knowledge, or even "the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer". In his opinion, the killer must have been a man of solitary habits, subject to "periodical attacks of homicidal and erotic mania ", with the character of the mutilations possibly indicating " satyriasis ". Bond also stated that "the homicidal impulse may have developed from
22610-471: 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
22780-406: The unscrupulous Simon Stagg. He was also extremely selfish when it came to his wants and desires. When Rex abducted Joey from Stagg Mansion, Java flew into a rage and was determined to kill him. Frustrated by Java's defiance, Simon Stagg shot and killed him. However, Java is later seen alive attending the funeral of Metamorpho, who was believed to be dead. During the " Brightest Day " storyline, Java
22950-422: 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
23120-496: The victim "Fairy Fay" never existed. A 38-year-old widow named Annie Millwood was admitted to the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary with numerous stab wounds to her legs and lower torso on 25 February 1888, informing staff she had been attacked with a clasp knife by an unknown man. She was later discharged, but died from apparently natural causes on 31 March . Millwood was later postulated to be
23290-410: The wounds exposed" indicates that the perpetrator derived sexual pleasure from the attacks. This view is challenged by others, who dismiss such hypotheses as insupportable supposition. The concentration of the killings around weekends and public holidays and within a short distance of each other has indicated to many that the Ripper was in regular employment and lived locally. Others have opined that
23460-600: The wounds had been inflicted by a right-handed individual. Tabram had not been raped . The savagery of the Tabram murder, the lack of an obvious motive , and the closeness of the location and date to the later canonical Ripper murders led police to link this murder to those later committed by Jack the Ripper. However, this murder differs from the later canonical murders because although Tabram had been repeatedly stabbed, she had not suffered any slash wounds to her throat or abdomen. Many experts do not connect Tabram's murder with
23630-401: 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
23800-470: Was a nickname given to an unidentified woman whose body was allegedly found in a doorway close to Commercial Road on 26 December 1887 "after a stake had been thrust through her abdomen", but there were no recorded murders in Whitechapel at or around Christmas 1887. "Fairy Fay" seems to have been created through a confused press report of the murder of Emma Elizabeth Smith, who had a stick or other blunt object shoved into her vagina. Most authors agree that
23970-457: Was a notorious den of immorality . Such perceptions were strengthened in 1888 when the series of vicious and grotesque murders attributed to "Jack the Ripper" received unprecedented coverage in the media. The large number of attacks against women in the East End during this time adds uncertainty to how many victims were murdered by the same individual. Eleven separate murders, stretching from 3 April 1888 to 13 February 1891, were included in
24140-412: 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
24310-422: Was also extensively mutilated, although her genitals had not been wounded. She appeared to have been killed approximately one day prior to the discovery of her torso. The dismembered sections of the body are believed to have been transported to the railway arch, hidden under an old chemise. At 2:15 a.m. on 13 February 1891, PC Ernest Thompson discovered a 31-year-old prostitute named Frances Coles lying beneath
24480-585: Was among the children who were experimented on by Doctor Love while they were still in their mother's womb, causing her to develop the ability to generate force fields. She becomes a member of Helix and an enemy of Infinity, Inc. Tao Jones appears in the Stargirl episode "Frenemies – Chapter Eight: Infinity Inc. Part Two", portrayed by Andi Ju. This version is a patient at the Helix Institute for Youth Rehabilitation partnered with Kritter . Jumpa
24650-401: Was arrested by the police and charged with her murder. He was briefly thought to be the Ripper, but was later discharged from court for lack of evidence on 3 March 1891. In addition to the eleven Whitechapel murders, commentators have linked other attacks to the Ripper. In the case of "Fairy Fay", it is unclear whether this attack was real or fabricated as a part of Ripper lore. "Fairy Fay"
24820-600: Was captured by the White Martians and coerced into revealing the location of the Staff of Kolar, a psychic weapon believed to be the key to ending a war. After being rescued by Supergirl , Martian Manhunter , and Miss Martian and taken to live in National City on Earth, M'yrnn develops a form of dementia before sacrificing himself to stop Reign from terraforming Earth. In subsequent seasons, M'yrnn appears as
24990-444: 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
25160-433: Was committed by the Ripper, or whether he was interrupted during the attack. Several witnesses later informed police they had seen Stride in the company of a man in or close to Berner Street on the evening of 29 September and in the early hours of 30 September, but each gave differing descriptions: some said that her companion was fair, others dark; some said that he was shabbily dressed, others well-dressed. Eddowes's body
25330-506: Was created by Archie Goodwin and Howard Chaykin , and first appeared in Detective Comics #441 (July 1974). He was a judge in Gotham City who has a scar on his right hand, and father of Melissa Clay. After his daughter was accidentally blinded due to his corrupt dealings, the Judge blamed Batman for his problems so he kidnapped the original Robin as bait for various trap-based weapons in an abandoned summer resort . The Judge
25500-643: Was defeated before agreeing to serve with the Suicide Squad in exchange for the purging of his criminal record. His last Squad mission was a battle with Circe as part of the War of the Gods crossover event. It takes place in issue #58. In the pages of Checkmate , the Javelin is recruited by the Mirror Master in an attempt to frame Amanda Waller . He teams up with several other villains, such as Plastique and
25670-526: Was defeated by the Dynamic Duo and turned himself in after accidentally killing his daughter. The second version, Jacob de Witt , was created by Sam Humphries and Bernard Chang , and first appeared in Nightwing (vol. 4) #35 (February 2018). He was originally a judge from the 17th century who was tied up and drowned, becoming a blind immortal with the ability to see corruption in people's hearts. In
25840-628: 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 ,
26010-740: 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
26180-573: 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
26350-581: 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
26520-430: Was found in a corner of Mitre Square in the City of London , three-quarters of an hour after the discovery of the body of Elizabeth Stride. Her throat was severed from ear to ear and her abdomen ripped open by a long, deep and jagged wound before her intestines had been placed over her right shoulder, with a section of the intestine being completely detached and placed between her body and left arm. The left kidney and
26690-453: Was found with a large tear through her groin area and superficial cuts on her legs and back. No organs were removed from the scene, though an ovary was found upon the bed, either purposely removed or unintentionally dislodged. At the time, the murder was compared to those in Whitechapel, though the Metropolitan Police eventually ruled out any connection. The vast majority of the City of London Police files relating to their investigation into
26860-418: 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
27030-457: 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
27200-597: Was killed by Inspector James Gordon . Jacob Packer makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight . Aubrey James is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Aubrey James was the mayor of Gotham City and a friend of Thomas Wayne prior to Thomas' murder. He was later stabbed to death as mentioned in The Madmen of Gotham . Aubrey James appears in Gotham , portrayed by Richard Kind . This version
27370-434: Was later recovered from her clothing. The police surgeon who conducted the post mortem upon Eddowes's body stated his opinion these mutilations would have taken "at least five minutes" to complete. A local cigarette salesman named Joseph Lawende had passed by a narrow walkway to Mitre Square named Church Passage with two friends shortly before the murder; he later described seeing a fair-haired man of medium build with
27540-402: Was not missing any organs; Chapman's uterus and sections of her bladder and vagina were taken; Eddowes had her uterus and left kidney removed and her face mutilated; and Kelly's body was extensively eviscerated , with her face "gashed in all directions" and the tissue of her neck being severed to the bone, although the heart was the sole body organ missing from this crime scene. Historically,
27710-470: 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
27880-456: 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
28050-475: 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
28220-417: 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
28390-464: 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
28560-421: 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,
28730-449: 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
28900-538: Was with Simon Stagg at his Canadian estate when Metamorpho persuaded him to help him and the Outsiders get back into the United States. Later that night, Java kidnaps Metamorpho and attempts to fuse him with Chemo . However, the process goes awry, forcing Java to call in Stagg's servant Freight Train to stop Chemo. Later, Stagg performs an unidentified experiment that transforms Java into a Shaggy Man . However, he
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