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110-732: Not to be confused with the Sheldon Mayer comic-book feature, Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist . Scribbly was a Dutch comic strip, created by Jan-Paul Arends. It ran daily in the Dutch edition of the Metro free newspaper from 1999 to 2010. Seven albums have been published containing the daily strips. The comic is known for its weird cast, and its tendency for parodying well-known films, books and famous people. Cast [ edit ] Scribbly

220-471: 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

330-435: A topper strip , either at the top or the bottom of the page, drawn in cruder form to indicate that it was a cartoon-within-a-cartoon. Readers were encouraged to send in ideas for "Why Big Brothers Leave Home", collaborating with Scribbly on his autobiography. At one point in the strip, "Why Big Brothers Leave Home" becomes so popular that Scribbly's principal creates his own autobiographical strip, "Scene in P.S. 83 as Seen by

440-434: 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

550-508: 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

660-476: 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

770-488: 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

880-568: 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,

990-477: 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

1100-504: 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

1210-559: A horse, but I go nuts finding an idea for Scribbly" — while Ma Hunkel would be a big fat chicken, Sisty as a chick and Dinky as a pony. This talking animal story was the last "Scribbly" story in All-American , with Mayer presumably tired of the strip altogether. Mayer's next project was a talking animal humor book, Funny Stuff , which launched with a Summer 1944 issue, with new stars the Three Mouseketeers and McSnurtle

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1320-456: 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

1430-571: A one-page strip of his own, Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist , and this was published in Dell's Popular Comics #6 (July 1936), alongside established strips like Smokey Stover , Winnie Winkle and Harold Teen . Jean-Paul Gabilliet said: "[Mayer] presented all the pages as Sunday panels because, at the time, the fact that a strip had previously appeared in a newspaper was perceived as an indicator of quality". Scribbly strips also appeared in Dell's The Funnies later in 1936. Andrew J. Kunka describes

1540-528: 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

1650-416: 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

1760-415: 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

1870-658: 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)

1980-626: A son together. In 2015, Scribbly was briefly revived in DC Comics continuity by Paul Levitz , in the miniseries Convergence: World's Finest Comics . In the series, he's depicted as transcribing the events of the Seven Soldiers of Victory by Paul Levitz , Jim Fern, Joe Rubenstein and Shannon Wheeler. In an interview by Comic Book Resources , Paul Levitz explained his revival of the character: "I built this around Scribbly Jibbet, whose name you will probably not remember. I guess he's

2090-726: A steady job and win the affection of his girlfriend Red Ringley, who was a famous cartoonist and coworker. The Red Tornado didn't appear in this reboot of the strip. Scribbly' s sales were unimpressive, and Mayer was more interested in his new comic, Leave It to Binky , so the Scribbly comic was dropped in January 1952. Scribbly did appear as a backup feature in Leave it to Binky , as well as Buzzy , another DC teen comic. A last appearance of Scribbly in Sugar and Spike #30 reveals that he finally married his redhead girlfriend Red Ringley and had

2200-523: 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

2310-469: 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

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2420-569: 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

2530-464: A television on his belly. He is married to another robot, and they have a toaster for a child. H-Nibal is a huge killer robot from outer space, who was eventually defeated by D-2120. Mildred is a nurse at the House, who keeps an eye on the patients using Meneer Pollepel. Pollepel is a ladle with a drawn-on angry face. When used, he scares the patients. Eddy is one of the newer patients in

2640-501: 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

2750-404: Is a haunting spirit, in the shape of a floating mask, that was initially summoned by Quibus to torment Scribbly. He is a powerful magician. Draakje is a little dragon that doesn't talk and has a tendency of breathing fire at inconvenient moments. He barks just like a dog. Olav is a huge man who is a porter at the House. He shouts a lot. V-252 is a friendly robot from outer space with

2860-524: Is a robot who thinks for himself, created by V-252. Albums [ edit ] "Ik hoop dat die ene goeie erin staat" (I hope that good one is in here) "Ik snap ze nooit" (I never get them) "Doe maar iets creatiefs" (Make it something creative) "Daar moet je een stripje over maken" (You should make a comic about that) "De verzonken stad van Zahn-Luac" (The lost city of Zahn-Luac) "Een opsteker van jewelste" (A big stroke of luck) "Meer wafels, minder misdaad" (More waffles, less crime) "Het

2970-460: 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

3080-671: Is maar een droom, jongen" (It's just a dream, son) "Absurdor" Sources [ edit ] ^ "Jean-Paul Arends" . Archived from the original on 2012-05-06 . Retrieved 2016-01-04 . External links [ edit ] The Dutch Scribbly website Unofficial fansite for Scribbly fans Unofficial fansite for Eddy fans Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scribbly&oldid=1115199323 " Categories : Dutch comic strips 1999 comics debuts 2010 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Satirical comics Parody comics Comics characters introduced in 1999 Comics set in

3190-578: Is not within the province of this book to give Mayer or Scribbly the space both of them deserve". The revival of Scribbly in Convergence got a negative review by Greg McElhatton in Comic Book Resources , opining that it would have been better if the comic "focused more on what it's like to be a cartoonist in a superhero world". He also felt that some of the art for Scribbly was off. In the 2013 book Comics About Cartoonists: Tales of

3300-516: 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

3410-411: Is the eponymous protagonist. He is a schizophrenic and lives in an institute for people who are mentally disturbed. Psychotron is Scribbly's super-hero alter ego , in a few strips where he deludedly wears a red cape, which allows him to think he can fly. Frits is Scribbly's voice-inside-his-head. Quibus is an animated sheet of paper who is usually Scribbly's friend. Doctor Psilo leads

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3520-522: 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

3630-539: 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

3740-509: The All-American cover only three times, including issue #2. Scribbly worked for the Morning Dispatch newspaper, although most of the action in the strip took place in his New York neighborhood. In issue #3 of All-American Comics , Mayer introduced Ma Hunkel , the owner of a local grocery store. In another autobiographical touch, Ma Hunkel was inspired by the owner of a boarding house where Mayer lived, Mrs. Lindenbaum. Scribbly

3850-667: 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

3960-690: 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

4070-483: 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

4180-564: The Scribbly story in issue #20 (Nov 1940), Ma Hunkel became a superhero herself. In the story, Scribbly's little brother and Ma Hunkel's daughter Sisty are kidnapped, and the police are unable to locate them. Scribbly tells Ma about the Green Lantern, and she's inspired to don a costume and fight crime, calling herself the Red Tornado . By issue #23, the Red Tornado was sharing billing with Scribbly, and in #24, Ma's two kids joined

4290-795: 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

4400-557: 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,

4510-450: The " Earth-Two " continuity. In 2015, Scribbly was briefly revived in DC Comics continuity by Paul Levitz , in the miniseries Convergence: World's Finest Comics . Sheldon Mayer began his career in cartooning at age fifteen, and he created Scribbly when he was nineteen. Mayer later explained: "Scribbly was a thing I dreamed up during my lunch hour one day in the cafeteria... I followed the old rule of writing only what you know about. What

Scribbly - Misplaced Pages Continue

4620-706: 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

4730-490: 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

4840-472: 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

4950-544: 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

5060-479: The House for the Mentally Disturbed. Zark is an extraterrestrial alien who looks like a giant pickle with an antenna. He can use the antenna for radio reception, remote control, as well as hearing Frits. He hails from planet Zortian II. Kraz is Zark's brother. He lives on the same planet where Zark used to live. Waverider is Zark's super-hero alter ego, who has no known powers. Doe-ran

5170-472: The House, and is a naughty baby duck. He likes wine, and drives around the house in a pink toy Cadillac . Geestenclub are four ghosts who incidentally appear in the comics. Flumpy is a huge bee, who is the mascot of the brand of cereal eaten in the House. Giovanni is a shrimp, who is sometimes being drawn by Zark in an attempt to create a comic book. Giovanni lives in Garnaalsmeer. Zen

5280-728: The Justice Society of America", has the heroes get together and swap stories about their heroics, and after hearing tales from the Flash , Hawkman , the Spectre and Hour Man , the group notices that the Red Tornado is in the room. She explains that she wasn't invited to the meeting, but she came up on the fire escape. She gets a warm greeting from the group, but when they invite her to take her cape off and relax, she suddenly announces that she has to leave. The Flash laughs when he discovers that she tore her pants when she climbed in through

5390-576: The Netherlands Fictional characters with schizophrenia Dutch comics characters Fictional Dutch people Male characters in comics Parodies of films Parodies of television shows Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist All-American was one of the two companies that merged to form DC Comics in the 1940s, and, like all of DC's Golden Age characters, Scribbly was later considered part of

5500-565: The Principal". A teacher in the school is unhappy with the way that she's portrayed in the principal's strip, and starts a cartoon of her own. In 1938, Gaines struck out on his own, founding All-American Publications . Mayer remained at the company as cartoonist and editor, and Scribbly appeared in All American Comics , beginning with the first issue (April 1939) and continuing until issue #59 (July 1944). Scribbly appeared on

5610-556: 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

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5720-697: 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

5830-595: The Turtle, the Terrific Whatzit . One final "Scribbly" chapter was published in the one-shot giant The Big All-American Comic Book , dated December 1944. When Archie made teen humor comics popular, Scribbly was given his own bimonthly title, Scribbly , which ran for 15 issues, starting in September 1948. Mayer continued to write and draw the title, which is a romantic comedy about Scribbly trying to find

5940-511: The World's Oddest Profession , comics historian Craig Yoe described Scribbly as "the greatest out-of-the-inkwell cartoonist of all". The book reprints six pages of Scribbly comics. In DC Comics satire children's comic book, DC Super Friends #29, he is referenced by a young Batman as a famous artist who draws his feet too small. DC Comics This is an accepted version of this page DC Comics, Inc. (later simply known as DC )

6050-587: 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

6160-413: 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

6270-424: 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

6380-468: The characters, and openly admitted it in the introduction to that issue's story: "This goes on every issue — sometimes it's funny — sometimes it isn't — anyhow — I'm getting a little tired of it — just this once I'm gonna have some FUN! F'rinstance let's see what would happen if instead of people we draw these characters as animals..." Mayer then explained that Scribbly would be a horse in this issue — "maybe it's because I always know where to find

6490-429: 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

6600-559: The comic panels to respond to their complaints. Disheartened by their criticism, Mayer tries to commit suicide by jumping from the top panel, but the Red Tornado rushes to catch him before he hits the bottom panel. Outside of usually appearing in All-American Comics , Scribbly also appeared occasionally in Comic Cavalcade and also in the humor series, Buzzy . By issue #59 (July 1944), Mayer had grown tired of

6710-482: 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

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6820-488: 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

6930-547: 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

7040-583: 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

7150-512: 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

7260-723: 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

7370-550: The even more formidable Red Tornado. Actually the people in the strip never knew the true sex of the Tornado. They only knew that this bulky figure in the red flannels, bedroom slippers, cape, and inverted stew pot could be counted on to tackle all sorts of criminals from the biggest to the smallest". In fact, Ma Hunkel had a one-page cameo in the first JSA story, in All-Star Comics #3. The story, "The First Meeting of

7480-450: 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 ,

7590-707: 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

7700-490: The fight against crime, calling themselves "the Cyclone Twins". The kids scared criminals more than the Tornado herself. The series continued for three more years as "Scribbly & the Red Tornado". Ron Goulart writes: "Anticipating Wonder Woman , that monumental creation of William Moulton Marston , possibly even influencing it, Mayer chose a woman to be his costumed avenger, remaking the formidable Ma Hunkel into

7810-463: 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

7920-563: The first editor of All-American Comics . He did a run in that comic and then did about 15 issues of Scribbly's own comic". Cartoonist and satirist Jules Feiffer wrote in The Great Comic Book Heroes (1965) that "the single unique stroke in the pre Detective Comics days was the creation, by Sheldon Mayer, of the humor strip Scribbly — an underrated, often brilliantly wild cartoon about a boy cartoonist with whom, needless to say, I identified like mad. I regret that it

8030-686: 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

8140-639: 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

8250-503: 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

8360-446: 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

8470-547: 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

8580-562: 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

8690-449: 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

8800-408: 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

8910-474: 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

9020-462: The only character in the DC Universe who preceeds [ sic ] DC. Shelly Mayer created Scribbly originally, as a boy. His Scribbly stories -- in the view of Art Spiegelman , who is very knowledgeable on such -- is arguably the first autobiographical example of a cartoonist writing about a cartoonist in America. Shelly created it at first for Dell, but then he brought it to DC when he became

9130-469: 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

9240-440: The series, before Mayer moves to All-American , eventually shifts to pure slapstick and less about Scribbly's cartooning experiences". A remarkable aspect of the comic is that Scribbly is creating his own autobiographical comic: "Why Big Brothers Leave Home", about his relationship with the pesky Dinky (himself based on Mayer's little brother, Monte). In most of the Scribbly comics, "Why Big Brothers Leave Home" strip appeared as

9350-449: 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

9460-511: 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

9570-490: 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

9680-498: 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

9790-471: 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

9900-422: 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

10010-671: The way that the strip began: "In the earliest Dell-published strips, Mayer's series begins with Scribbly as a kid known in his neighborhood for drawing cartoons on any surface he can find, including walls and fences (something Mayer did in his youth, as well). These drawings are discovered by a famous cartoonist, Ving Parker, who happens to be Scribbly's hero. Ving takes on Scribbly as an apprentice and even introduces him to real-life cartoonists like Lank Leonard ( Mickey Finn ) and Milt Gross . Scribbly's strip quickly catches on, and while he tries to work from home, his brother, Dinky, inadvertently gives him even more material. This early iteration of

10120-581: The window. Later Justice Society stories established that Ma is an honorary member of the team, and in 2007, she returned to DC in Justice Society of America vol. 3 as the curator of the JSA's museum. In All-American Comics #45 (Dec 1942), Mayer himself entered the comic strip. In "Sheldon Mayer Meets the Red Tornado", Scribbly, Ma Hunkel, the Cyclone Kids, and the neighborhood kids are complaining that their stories are boring and repetitive, so Mayer enters

10230-401: 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

10340-412: 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

10450-626: Was also established as the brother of Mortimer "Dinky" Jibbet of the Cyclone Kids . With the skyrocketing popularity of the Superman comic in 1938, comic book publishers began featuring their own superhero characters. All-American Comics responded in 1939 with Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man , and followed in 1940 with Green Lantern and the Atom . The superhero trend was so powerful that in

10560-444: 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

10670-628: 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 ,

10780-740: 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

10890-573: 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

11000-581: 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

11110-418: 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

11220-457: 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

11330-454: Was more natural than writing about the adventures of a boy cartoonist?" In 1936, Mayer worked for Max Gaines , one of the pioneers of modern comic books, and the teenager's job was to cut and paste comic strips from the Sunday comics pages into a comic book layout, which Gaines would sell to Dell Comics , to publish in one of their anthology books. Along with the recut strips, Mayer included

11440-470: 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

11550-456: 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

11660-475: 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

11770-417: 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

11880-464: 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

11990-421: 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,

12100-449: 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

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