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145-569: Kristin Wells: Dana Dearden: Lana Lang: Superwoman is the name of several fictional characters from DC Comics . Most of them are, like Supergirl , women with powers similar to those of Superman , like flight, invulnerability, and enhanced strength. In 1942, DC Comics trademarked the name and an ashcan copy (publication produced solely for legal purposes) was created with the title of Superwoman to prevent competitors from using it. The cover
290-485: A blood transfusion from Superman and launches a career as Superwoman. A 1947 Superman #45 (March–April 1947) comic revisits the theme in a story titled "Lois Lane, Superwoman!" in which a pair of fraudulent magicians cast a "spell" on Lane, making her believe she has superpowers. Circumstances force Superman to play along with the ruse temporarily by using super-speed to invisibly intervene in Lane's adventures to support
435-471: 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
580-563: A "DCU logo on them" in addition to corner boxes with icons of the characters to help identify the family of titles; titles outside the DCU, such as Injustice 2 and DC Bombshells would simply have the DC logo on them. DC planned to continue their dual cover release of titles as they have "seen a genuine interest in them, as they're well accepted by both fans and retailers". With the release of DC Universe: Rebirth Special , characters not seen during
725-421: A "Superwoman" with costume and powers. At the end of All-Star Superman #2 Lois Lane is presented with a formula called "Exo-Genes" created by Superman that allows her to have his powers for 24 hours, and she becomes Superwoman. During her adventures with her new Kryptonian powers, she is wooed by two superhumans named " Samson " and " Atlas ", and she is captured by a time-Ultrasphinx. Her powers fade away at
870-434: 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
1015-508: 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
1160-441: A being who has lost his humanity and distanced himself from it, and an alien who embodies humanity more than most humans. I love the idea that Watchmen influenced DC, but what would that look like in reverse? And it goes well beyond that." Johns indicated the miniseries would not be a sequel to Watchmen and would be a stand-alone story, with no tie-in material. Despite this, Johns noted Doomsday Clock " will have an impact on
1305-568: A burning ship. When Superman was split into his Red and Blue energy forms, Superwoman returned hoping that one of the Supermen would return her feelings, but Maxima intervened, and used her telepathy to convince Superwoman that she would destroy Superman with her love. The telepathic illusion wore off and she would try to win Superman over again, this time in a red-and-blue costume very similar to his, and claimed to be his wife in response to
1450-579: A circular S emblem. Superwoman is the alias of several alternate universe counterparts of Wonder Woman from various versions of Earth-3 , all of whom are supervillains and members of the Crime Syndicate of America . Unlike her heroic counterpart, this Superwoman is known for her ruthless and manipulative nature, often using her powers for personal gain, domination, and oppression. In Superman #349 ("The Turnabout Trap!"), Superman returns from an interstellar mission to find that everyone on Earth
1595-610: A code to redeem a free digital copy of the title. DC also indicated that the semi-monthly titles would stay at the US$ 2.99 price point. In May 2017, DC announced the miniseries Doomsday Clock for release in November 2017. Written by Johns with art by Frank, it continues the story presented in the DC Universe: Rebirth Special and "The Button" storyline focusing on Superman and Doctor Manhattan . Speaking on
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#17328023612131740-476: 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
1885-488: 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
2030-568: 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,
2175-463: A female version of Superman from a parallel Earth (now identified as Earth-11), appeared for the first time in Superman/Batman #23-#24. In Earth 11's alternate universe, much like in the one featured in "The Turnabout Trap!", reversed-gender characters exist relative to that resident on New Earth: there is a Batwoman (female Batman), Superlad (male Supergirl), and a female Darkseid known as
2320-477: 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
2465-532: A gazillion SKUs across the entire line. We find that, at that point, why publish a story inside at all, if you're just going to build a business based on variant covers. We're still using variant covers, but we're actually using one variant cover artist for each book. They sort of get tenure, as it were. And they're going to be responsible for being the alternate cover artist on that book. And we're only doing it on our top-selling books." On May 27, 2016, DC announced that DC Universe: Rebirth Special #1 would receive
2610-596: A great editor like Perry White. Obsessed Superman fan Dana Dearden dated Jimmy Olsen to get close to Superman, and when that did not work she stole mystic artifacts which granted her the strength of Hercules , the speed (and flight) of Hermes , the thunderbolts of Zeus , and the sight of Heimdall . Dana donned a green-and-purple uniform, with "Superwoman" written down the leggings, and called herself Superwoman, and tried to get Superman to fall in love with her. He rejected her advances, and Jimmy called her "Obsession". She vanished attempting to help Superman rescue people from
2755-504: 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
2900-456: 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
3045-621: A parallel universe, Superman flies back to space to find a dimensional portal but is blocked by an invisible barrier. He notices the parallelism fails when he sees Superwoman and Clara Kent (Superwoman's presumed secret identity) are two separate people. When he confronts Superwoman he discovers that he is regarded as a super-villain in this gender-reversed world, which leads to a battle with Superwoman, Superlad, and Wonder Warrior. They manage to trap Superman with Wonder Warrior on guard, but he manages to escape and takes Wonder Warrior's magic lasso with him. Superman figures out that his foe Mr. Mxyzptlk
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#17328023612133190-528: 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
3335-416: 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
3480-415: 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
3625-466: A recent photograph of Superman wearing a wedding ring. During a subsequent attack of humans using the DMN drug—which turned the users into violent demons until the "high" was over—Superman convinced her to help him stop the DMN users, arguing that, if she truly loved him, she would help him do his duty rather than attack him for potentially picking someone else over her. She died trying to protect him from one of
3770-658: 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)
3915-403: A second printing. The re-release, being sold at US$ 5.99 , featured an update to Gary Frank's cover, better revealing the outstretched hand of Doctor Manhattan in the top right corner, as well as a square-bound format. Less than a week later, DC revealed the title would receive a third printing, again being released at US$ 5.99 with a square-bound format and a new cover from Frank. Additionally,
4060-573: A stronger audience and a better chance for series like that to succeed." DiDio also revealed that DC had breaks in the schedule "where we'll decide whether or not a double-ship is working" and potentially change it to monthly status. "We're going to be examining that on a regular basis", he added. "We're not going to keep book double-shipping if we don't think the demand is there." Regarding the release of variant covers for titles, Lee said, "we're only using specialty variants with comic book shops and variant covers in judicious ways. We're not going to have
4205-478: 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 ,
4350-523: 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
4495-469: 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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4640-446: A superhero career, and like Lois and Superman in the mainstream continuity, Supermaid and Kal-El fall for one another. Like Superman in the mainstream DC continuity, Supermaid was also vulnerable to fragments of her perished homeworld ("Earthite", in this version of events). Another imaginary story has Clark Kent and Lois exchange places so that she is from Krypton and Kent is an ordinary human, inquisitive about whether or not Lois Lane
4785-569: 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
4930-501: 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
5075-399: A yellow sun, Luma derived her gifts of super-strength and flight from an orange sun. Their romance does not last, as Luma becomes deathly ill under the rays of a yellow sun, and Superman cannot leave Earth undefended. She physically resembles an adult Kara Zor-El , with a similar costume, except instead of being blue-and-red with a pentagonal S shield, Luma's costume is white-and-green with
5220-548: Is behind this gender-reversed world. This was partly due to the discrepancy of Clara Kent and Superwoman being different people. However, Mxyzptlk's biggest mistake was being too vain to give himself a reverse-gender counterpart in Superwoman's rogues gallery in The Daily Planet morgue; all of Superwoman's foes were reverse-gender counterparts to Superman's foes (Leslie Luthor ( Lex Luthor ), Bizaress ( Bizarro ) and
5365-496: Is of the opposite sex. Among them are Penny White (a female Perry White ), Jenny Olsen (a female Jimmy Olsen ), Louis Lane (a male Lois Lane), Batwoman (a female Batman , rather than the actual character), Wonder Warrior (a male Wonder Woman ; DC Comics could not use the name Wonder Man at the time because Marvel Comics holds the trademark), Black Condor (a male Black Canary ), Superlad (a male Supergirl ), and Superwoman (his female counterpart) herself. Believing he crossed into
5510-516: 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
5655-444: 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
5800-539: 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
5945-641: The DC Universe: Rebirth Special ] that basically allows us to seat the New 52 within the continuity that preceded it. So it really synchronizes and harmonizes pre-52 with New 52 continuity". Creative teams for the Rebirth titles, along with some art and storylines, were revealed at WonderCon 2016. Johns worked with each writing team and the editors for the titles to help refocus "on these characters, deconstructing them down to their core DNA and building out story arcs based on that DNA". Additionally, two titles part of
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6090-905: 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
6235-667: 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
6380-569: The Green Lantern Corps and the Teen Titans . These titles do not fall under the larger headings above, or were not announced with those titles. A Rebirth issue for Trinity was also planned for release in August 2016, written by Francis Manapul with art by Manapul and Clay Mann , but it was never released. The six-issue miniseries Death of Hawkman , written by Marc Andreyko with art by Aaron Lopresti , does not feature
6525-483: 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
6670-795: 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
6815-617: The Spirit which it then used, along with some DC heroes, as part of the First Wave comics line launched in 2010 and lasting through fall 2011. In May 2011, DC announced it would begin releasing digital versions of their comics on the same day as paper versions. DC Rebirth DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using
6960-557: 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,
7105-558: The "Dark Queen". It is notable that in pre-Crisis continuity, "Laurel Kent" was the name of a 30th-century descendant of Superman who occasionally appeared in stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes , and was replaced in continuity by Laurel Gand . In December 2007, Superwoman and Batwoman were featured in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman #1. It features Earth-11 as part of
7250-664: The "Rebirth" banner on its cover, but is considered by Andreyko to be "'Rebirth' adjacent". Despite not having the "Rebirth" banner on its cover, the miniseries Mister Miracle was stated to be a part of the Rebirth continuity by writer Tom King. By the end of August 2016, all Rebirth titles combined accounted for 12 million units shipped, with 11 issues exceeding 200,000 units shipped, over 60 issues exceeding 100,000 units shipped, and 21 issues having multiple printings. Beginning in January 2017, television commercials aired on AMC , IFC , TBS , TNT , truTV , El Rey Network and Boomerang through February 2017. The commercials promoted
7395-461: 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
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#17328023612137540-497: The Batcomputer. DC Universe: Rebirth Special ' s fifth printing, announced in August 2016, featured a new cover by Phil Jimenez that depicts Barry Allen and Wally West grabbing each other's hands. In September 2016, DC announced the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad miniseries for release in December 2016 through January 2017, which would "reintroduce a supervillain that hasn't been seen for some time." Johns called
7685-490: 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
7830-472: 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
7975-544: 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
8120-547: The DMN users when it almost struck him in the back while he was distracted since she knew he was vulnerable to magic. Lucy Lane first appeared as Superwoman in Supergirl (vol. 5) #35 (January 2009), her costume a nod to that of the Bronze Age Superwoman Kristin Wells and containing a containment field that simulated Kryptonian powers. However, Lucy's identity was not revealed until near
8265-544: The Earth to normal. Upon his return to his Clark Kent identity, he is startled to discover there is still a Louis Lane, but he turns out to be Lois Lane's cousin. Later stories, including Countdown and The Multiversity would revisit the concept of a gender-reversed Superman known as Superwoman, and designated those stories as taking place on Earth-11 of the DC Multiverse. A new Superwoman named Laurel, apparently
8410-627: The Flashpoint storyline, though the exact nature of those changes is unrevealed. The Aquawoman of Earth-11 would become a member of Justice League Incarnate, a team which formed as a result of the Multiversity event. She would go on to help Superwoman of Earth-11 as well as a number of other Superman counterparts to escape from a being called Prophecy, who was attempting to drain their powers in order to fight an unknown future threat. Together with Aquawoman, Superman, The New Super-Man of China, and
8555-590: The Justice League Incarnate, Prophecy was defeated, and Superwoman and the other Superman counterparts would return to their worlds and times. Another version of Superwoman, this one a heroic character, came about in the form of Kristin Wells , who was created by Superman comic writer Elliot S! Maggin . Wells first appeared in Maggin's Superman novel Miracle Monday , but he later introduced her in
8700-467: The New 52 line of DC Comics comic books, such as the first version of the character Wally West , Jackson Hyde and Ryan Choi , reappeared in the DC Comics line of comic books, while other characters, such as Ted Kord and Ray Palmer , were revised to be similar to their characters as they appeared prior to the " Flashpoint " storyline. Within the story, Wally states to Barry Allen that the cause of
8845-583: The Rebirth branding and logo from their titles in December 2017, releasing everything under a single umbrella title as the "DC Universe". Coincided with the release of the New Age of Heroes imprint, DiDio explained, "We want to make it clear that this is all the DC Universe... Rebirth pretty much is the DCU now; while we're taking Rebirth off the books, we'll be following the direction that Rebirth established." Titles also received new trade dresses , with those "that tie in clearly to our larger DC Universe" having
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#17328023612138990-458: The Rebirth branding in December 2017, opting to include everything under a larger "DC Universe" banner and naming. The continuity and repercussions established by Rebirth continues into the New Justice (2018–2021), Infinite Frontier (2021–2023), and Dawn of DC (2023) relaunches. In January 2016, DC Comics co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee tweeted an image of a blue curtain with
9135-556: 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
9280-697: 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
9425-455: The Toywoman ( Toyman )) - except for Mxyzptlk. Superman discovers as well that he was never in a parallel universe, but rather on Earth, which Mxyzptlk had altered with his magic. After using Wonder Warrior's magic lasso to make Mxyzptlk say his name backwards and thus returning him to his native dimension, the effects of Mxyzptlk's magic (including the existence of Superwoman) vanish, returning
9570-519: The alterations to "history" following the end of "Flashpoint" was an outside force (revealed to be Doctor Manhattan from the Watchmen universe) removing 10 years of history from the internal timeline of the comic books' stories (resulting in the younger age of heroes in the "New 52" storyline, the resurrections of several deceased characters, and the loss of legacy and previous relationships) rather than Barry's merging of several alternate timelines, as
9715-676: 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
9860-587: 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
10005-571: 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
10150-413: 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
10295-424: 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
10440-429: 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
10585-482: 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
10730-488: 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
10875-452: The death of the New 52 Superman. This results in both Lois and Lana becoming Superwoman with Lois possessing all of Superman's powers, while Lana has the ability to absorb solar energy and release it in other forms. Lois was later seemingly killed, in a similar fashion to the New 52 Superman, while fighting a female Bizzaro. A woman from the distant planet of Staryl, Luma Lynai wins the heart of Superman. Just as Superman derives his powers from
11020-547: 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
11165-512: 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
11310-453: The end of The New 52 (2011–2016) initiative in May 2016 as its launching point, DC Rebirth restored the DC Universe to a form much like that prior to the 2011 " Flashpoint " storyline while still incorporating numerous elements of The New 52, including its continuity. It also saw many of its titles move to a twice-monthly release schedule, along with being released at US$ 2.99 . DC Comics ended
11455-723: 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
11600-482: The end of the Doomsday Clock miniseries. At WonderCon 2016, DC revealed the initial titles under four different "families", grouping similar characters or titles together. These titles feature Batman and the " Batman Family " of characters. These titles feature Superman, the " Superman Family " of characters and Wonder Woman. These titles feature characters related to the Justice League , as well as
11745-399: The end of the commercial." In February 2017, DC partnered once again with National CineMedia to promote its comics and partner comic shops with pre-movie advertisements. Having worked with National CineMedia for ads during The New 52, DC created 15 and 30 second ads for Rebirth "that comic shops can have their contact info added into," with DC "offering a 50% reimbursement on these ads should
11890-531: The end of the day. Her costume seems to be exactly the same as that of the Anti-Matter Universe's Superwoman, but in Superman's colors. Both outfits were designed by Frank Quitely . In other pre-Crisis imaginary stories—set outside the main DC continuity within an alternate history or hypothetical future—Lois Lane gains superpowers. In one of these, Sam Lane is a scientist and astrophysicist. He discovers that Earth's sun will go nova and obliterate
12035-678: The end of the story. A typical example of this is "The Turnabout Powers" from Superman Family #207 (May–June 1981) where the Earth-Two Lois Lane gains powers from her husband (the Earth-Two Superman ) through the unexpected effect of an exotic extraterrestrial plant Superman brings into their home. The plant's death reverses the effect. Another example is the Batman/Superman: World's Finest mini-series where Mr. Mxyzptlk briefly transforms Lois into
12180-465: The entire DC Universe. It will affect everything moving forward and everything that has come before. It will touch the thematic and literal essence of DC." Johns also noted that the miniseries would be set one year in the future of the DC Universe, so by the time the final issue releases, "the rest of the universe will have caught up to it — and the repercussions of the event will become known." In October 2017, DC revealed that they would be discontinuing
12325-450: 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 ,
12470-463: 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
12615-633: 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
12760-639: 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
12905-466: The first wave of Rebirth one-shots – Superman: Rebirth , Batman: Rebirth , Green Lanterns: Rebirth and Green Arrow: Rebirth – also received second printings, with a recolored Rebirth banner to differentiate it from the original printing. A fourth printing featured a cover by Ethan Van Sciver depicting the scene where Wally West interrupts Batman in the Batcave , with the image of three Jokers on
13050-581: The four-issue storyline " The Button " for release in April and May 2017. Taking place in issues 21 and 22 of Batman and The Flash , the storyline continues plot elements from the DC Universe: Rebirth Special with Batman and Barry Allen investigating the mystery of the Comedian 's smiley face button found in the Batcave. Shortly after, DC revealed that in April 2017, all of the monthly titles releasing at
13195-414: The future, and insisted they must remain "off the field". At the end of the "Superman Reborn" event in April 2017, a story in the comic book Action Comics presents Superman, alongside his wife Lois Lane and their son Jonathan Samuel Kent , merging the "timelines" of the DC Comics superhero line from before and after the "Flashpoint" event into a single fictional reality, resulting in further change to
13340-422: The future. The launch of The New 52 however ended that storyline. When Superman died, Lana Lang and Lois Lane both absorbed energy released from his body and the two women developed superhuman powers. Lana gained the power to convert solar radiation into various forms of electromagnetic energy, while Lois developed powers similar to Superman's. Both Lana and Lois became Superwoman. After Lois' death, Lana became
13485-473: The genetic abilities of several alien races of Kryptonian might: when Supergirl ruptured it, the backlash permanently altered Lucy Lane into being a composite alien being of human appearance herself, with inherent Kryptonian abilities. This Superwoman was last seen as a prisoner after Sam Lane's machinations during the War of the Supermen storyline came to an end, though it was hinted she would escape at some point in
13630-503: 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
13775-450: The illusion. She briefly sports a costume modeled on Superman's before the spell is broken. A story from Action Comics has Lois actually gaining superpowers from one of Lex Luthor 's inventions and launching a short-lived career as "Superwoman". Later stories sporadically feature tales in which Lois gains superpowers and functioned as a "Superwoman" of sorts, but all of these are, like the 1951 tale, temporary. The powers always wear off by
13920-518: The initial announcement in February, Gotham Academy: Second Semester and Earth 2 , were revealed to no longer be considered Rebirth titles, instead acting as continuations of their New 52 titles, Gotham Academy and Earth 2: Society , respectively. Regarding the decision to focus on fewer titles, with some shipping twice-monthly, DiDio said, "What we did was eliminate some of the lower ranked titles, and we're trying to incorporate those ideas into
14065-403: The internal timeline of the fictional world of DC Comics superheroes. Peter J. Tomasi said that "The events of Action #976 reset and reshape the entire Superman timeline. Where there had been two Superman, their realities have now been fused into one timeline with just one of them." DC Comics representatives stated that the books will deal with the aftermath of Doctor Manhattan's actions by
14210-446: 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
14355-547: 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
14500-571: The main books themselves, because we feel that makes the main books stronger" adding, "we look at things like... Gotham by Midnight . And I loved Gotham by Midnight, but it never got the sampling that a Batman book would. But if we did that Gotham by Midnight story and integrated it into the Batman series that was shipping twice monthly, there was a better chance for people to see those characters, get excited by those characters, and more importantly, if we ever decided to thin them out, maybe we'd have
14645-562: 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
14790-449: 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
14935-408: 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
15080-532: The name "Superwoman", like his daughter Kara and great-granddaughter Lara from the Elseworlds series, Superman & Batman: Generations . The Lois Lane incarnation of Superwoman appears in All-Star Superman , voiced by Christina Hendricks . DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (later simply known as DC ) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment ,
15225-490: The new DC Multiverse and presents a male version of Wonder Woman called Wonder Man , who originates from a society of male Amazons. It also depicts that world's version of Amazons Attack! . The Multiversity Guidebook , released as part of The Multiversity showed new versions of the characters from Earth-11, more closely resembling New Earth after the Flashpoint event, with equivalent costumes to their New Earth counterparts, indicating their world had also been affected by
15370-526: 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
15515-680: The opposite." On the initiative, which was described as a rebirth of the DC Universe , Johns called Rebirth more "in the same vein as Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Flash: Rebirth . Some things alter and change, but it's more character-driven, and it's also more about revealing secrets and mysteries within the DC Universe about " Flashpoint " and The New 52 that are part of a bigger tapestry." The Rebirth initiative would reintroduce concepts from pre-"Flashpoint" continuity that The New 52 had done away with, and build "on everything that's been published since Action Comics #1 up thru The New 52." Lee said that Johns "came up with this brilliant story [for
15660-469: 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
15805-584: The pages of DC Comics Presents as Superwoman. The character Wells is a 29th-century descendant of Jimmy Olsen . Wells time travels to the 20th century, where the technology she had brought from the future gives her superpowers. It is this iteration of the character which appears briefly in Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? which creates a continuity problem in that she had already revealed Jimmy Olsen's final fate: to become
15950-402: The price of US$ 2.99 , multiple books shifted to a twice-monthly release schedule, a number of existing titles relaunched with new #1s, and several new titles were released. Geoff Johns , president and CCO of DC Entertainment , described the 80-page one-shot as "re-laying the groundwork for DC's future while celebrating the past and present. It's not about throwing anything away. It's quite
16095-416: The project, Johns said, "It is Watchmen colliding with the DC Universe. It is the most personal and most epic, utterly mind-bending project I have ever worked on in my career. With Rebirth, I opened the door to Manhattan. Part of that was I loved the real-world influence Watchmen has. I put Manhattan out there, and always thought there was a Manhattan/Superman story to be told... at the core of it, there’s
16240-400: The release of the first wave of collected editions, highlighting Batman , The Flash , Green Arrow , Justice League , Suicide Squad , Supergirl , Superman , and Wonder Woman , with three additional commercials promoting Rebirth as a whole. Additionally, DC "is also offering [comic] retailers co-op funds to help pay for ads on local markets, promoting Rebirth with a space for a store tag at
16385-507: The solar system. Sam and his wife Ella place their infant daughter Lois in a starship and send her to Krypton within a "power beam" that enables FTL travel and permanently modifies the baby's molecular biology. This gives Lois super powers after she reaches her adopted world. Once there, adopted and raised as "Kandi Khan", Lois becomes a zookeeper's daughter in Kryptonville. Like Superman in mainstream DC continuity, Kandi/Lois establishes
16530-699: The sole Superwoman. During Superman Reborn, it was revealed that the powers Lois and Lana received were the leftover energy from the New-52 Superman. The Post-Crisis Superman took that energy into himself to become an amalgam leaving Lana seemingly powerless and confused. Some energy remained within her suit which was later found to be Red Kryptonite radiation. In Steelworks series, Lana regains her powers when John Henry Irons provides Metropolis with free energy using Genesis and accidentally re-ignited her powers. Various comic stories, pre- and post- Crisis , offer glimpses of possible futures assuming that one of
16675-449: 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
16820-511: 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
16965-490: 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
17110-474: The story arc's end. During her tenure as Superwoman, she was blackmailed by her father, General Sam Lane , into performing acts of villainy such as murdering Agent Liberty , who had been spying on General Lane and Lex Luthor. This resulted in her being the focus of the Supergirl Faces of Evil issue. Lucy Lane later attacks Reactron, which tipped off readers that Superwoman was not Kryptonian, since
17255-426: The story in the miniseries "another building block to 'Rebirth’" that would "set the stage for ‘Rebirth’ Phase 2" with the reemergence of "a surprising team... and another piece of the puzzle of the future of the DC Universe, and the past, [coming] into focus." The second phase of Rebirth began in February 2017, with the launch of Justice League of America , Super Sons , and Batwoman . In January 2017, DC announced
17400-498: 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
17545-552: The time ( Batgirl , Batgirl and the Birds of Prey , Batman Beyond , Batwoman , Blue Beetle , Cyborg , The Hellblazer , New Superman , Red Hood and the Outlaws , Super Sons , Supergirl , Superwoman , Teen Titans , Titans , and Trinity ), would increase their price to US$ 3.99 , with All-Star Batman continuing to maintain its US$ 4.99 price. To account for the price increase, each physical copy came with
17690-471: 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
17835-422: 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
17980-567: The various incarnations of Supergirl would eventually change her codename to Superwoman upon reaching adulthood. One example is The Superman Family #200 (April 1980) in which all the stories are set in the then-near future 1999 or 2000 (the timeframe is cited only as "the turn of the century") with the characters aged appropriately, including an older Linda Danvers (Kara Zor-El) who divides her time between her career as Superwoman and serving as governor of Florida . Alternatively, some stories assume one of Superman's female descendants would assume
18125-558: The villain's Gold Kryptonite power source had no effect on her. Supergirl unmasks Superwoman, and accidentally kills her by rupturing the containment field of her suit, causing Lucy's body to contort and explode. In the Supergirl annual Lucy is brought back to life by the suit as it steals the life of another person. The suit is then revealed to be a magical creation of Mirabai of the Forlorn, ally of Sam Lane, who mystically infused in it
18270-401: The word "Rebirth" on it, teasing the event's release. The following month, DC announced its Rebirth initiative, a line -wide relaunch of its titles, to begin in June 2016. Beginning with an 80-page one-shot which was released on May 25, 2016, Rebirth returned Action Comics and Detective Comics to their previous numbering (#957 and #934, respectively). It also released all comic titles at
18415-401: 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
18560-476: Was Krypton Girl's secret identity. In 2016, Lois again became Superwoman in the DC Rebirth initiative and appeared as Superwoman in the comic book series Superwoman . The series marks the first ongoing comic book series featuring the Superwoman character. In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Lois and Lana gained superpowers due to the solar energy explosion caused by
18705-467: Was a reproduction of More Fun Comics #73 with the interior being a reprint of the third issue of Action Comics . The first true appearance of Superwoman was in Action Comics #60 (May 1943). The first appearance of "Superwoman" in a DC comic was in a May 1943 story in Action Comics #60 by Jerry Siegel and George Roussos , where Lois Lane dreams that she has gained superpowers from
18850-412: 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
18995-444: 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
19140-628: 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 ,
19285-740: 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
19430-521: 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
19575-581: 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
19720-418: 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
19865-457: 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
20010-470: 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
20155-606: Was previously presented in the "Flashpoint" story. Nearly all characters had their designs revised. Some of those who are also featured in the DC Extended Universe ( WarnerMedia 's film franchise based on DC Comics characters) now more closely resemble their on-screen counterparts, such as Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman. Another new character is the enigmatic " Mr. Oz ", who is watching Earth, kidnapping characters such as Mister Mxyzptlk , Doomsday and Tim Drake , as he hinted they would play very important roles in
20300-456: 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
20445-475: 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
20590-417: 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
20735-464: 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
20880-421: 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,
21025-449: 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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