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134-680: The fanzine was founded in 1961 as On the Drawing Board by Jerry Bails , the "Father of Comics Fandom", changing its name to The Comic Reader in 1962 and being named the official bulletin of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors (ACBFC). During its run, TCR won a number of industry awards, including the Alley Award and the Goethe Award / Comic Fan Art Award . In its last incarnation, published by Street Enterprises , it

268-471: 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

402-571: A 1963 Alley Award . In January 1964, Bails announced the merger of The Comic Reader with another of his fanzines, The Comicollector , under the editorship of Bill White. However, a death in White's family prevented the merger from happening, at which point Florida-based published G. B. Love merged The Comicollector into his own fanzine Rocket's Blast , as well as offering to absorb The Comic Reader . The ACBFC board, however, voted to maintain TCR as

536-729: A 1969 "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins " mention noting that the group "holds an annual poll to determine the most popular mags, writers and artists of the preceding year," and directing fans to obtain a ballot from future comics professional Mark Hanerfeld at 42-42 Colden Street in Flushing, New York ...," the Academy waned, "and it was disbanded for lack of interest by the decade's end." The first comic book awards trace their origins to "a letter to Jerry dated October 25, 1961," by Roy Thomas, in which he suggested to Bails that Alter-Ego create its own awards to reward fandom's "favorite comic books in

670-434: 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

804-508: 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

938-465: A brief guide to the major fanzines being published. He wrote an introductory essay on the collecting of comics and produced a brief timeline of fandom as well as a "truncated Golden Age index." In addition, he set out in print the "standard grading system for comics" which with some slight revisions "is still used today." Bails and co-editor Hames Ware published Who's Who of American Comic Books in four volumes between 1973 and 1976, designed to document

1072-433: A column within that publication, Bails' On the Drawing Board "was devoted to blurbs and news items pertaining to upcoming events in pro comics." Thanks to the links forged, and respect gained, by Bails with various key individuals involved in the creation of comics — and in particular, DC Comics ' major editorial force Julius Schwartz — he was able to gain advanced knowledge and news of upcoming comics events, launches and

1206-563: A comic convention, the event also gave balanced coverage to historic film showings (often running all night long for the convention's duration) and science-fiction literature, in a manner that provided a template for many future convention organizers—most of whom have yet to attain the same level of equal service to this sort of linked fan base. In October 1964, Bails released the first issue of comics' first dedicated amateur press association publication, CAPA-alpha . Between 1963 and 1964, "new fanzines were popping up right and left . . . [as]

1340-476: 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

1474-488: 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

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1608-568: 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,

1742-477: 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

1876-588: A gent named Jerry Bails", and put Thomas in touch with the Detroit-based Bails. Bails and Thomas would go on to "exchange . . . 100 pages' worth of letters in less than five months" starting from the end of November 1960, and forge a friendship which in Thomas' words "set in motion a chain of events which led to Alter Ego , organized comics fandom, the Alley Awards , and maybe a bit more." With

2010-504: 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

2144-481: A lot of fans were infected by the "publishing bug," many of them talented writers and artists." In an attempt to focus these emerging talents, and head off the over-abundance of "crud-zines" (poor quality fanzines), which seemed to equal in number their good quality counterparts, Bails adapted the long-standing practice of amateur press alliance (APAs) for comics, creating the first all-comics APA, "CAPA-alpha" (the first — e.g., 'alpha' — 'Comics A.P.A.'). This allowed

2278-456: 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

2412-1107: A microfilm reader, Bails offered a reproduction service of "cover photographs, spanning most of the key #1 issues from the World War II era," in black & white for $ 2. These reproductions pre-dated by three decades the four volumes of comic book covers published as The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books by Ernie Gerber in the mid-1990s. The lack of reference materials available to comics fans meant that much early fandom activity revolved around indexing various companies and individuals' output. A pioneer in this field, Bails worked with Howard Keltner , Raymond Miller and Fred Von Bernewitz (among others) to index various comics, detailing "what comics had been published, their contents, how many issues they ran, etc." Naturally Bails' early efforts dealt with All-Star Comics and DC, in first his All-Star Index and then an Authoritative Index to DC Comics . With Howard Keltner in particular, Bails then compiled several extensive wider inventories of " Golden Age " comics, including The Collector's Guide to

2546-557: A number of categories" in a manner similar to the Oscars . In the letter column of Fantastic Four #33 (1964), it is stated that the Association "elected Stan the best writer, and the best editor of the year! They've also voted the ol' F.F. and SPIDER-MAN the two best comic books of the year! Also -- what was their choice for the year's best annual? The FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL, natch!" Initially suggested as 'The Alter-Ego Award,'

2680-528: 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

2814-416: 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

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2948-415: 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

3082-658: 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)

3216-522: A sort of umbrella for all his ideas and projects, and those of others." The ACBFC's charter, "enthusiastically endorsed by members of fandom" detailed the Academy's intentions: formation of the Alley Awards, publication of The Comic Reader and "a directory of comic fans," to assist in establishing a yearly comics convention and to endorse a "code of fair practice in the selling and trading of comic books." Bails introduced and attempted to popularize

3350-427: A standalone publication, and in mid-1964 New Mexico-based comics enthusiast Glen Johnson stepped forward to take over editorial duties. Johnson was followed by a succession of editors, including Derrill Rothermich, who switched the fanzine to offset printing in late 1965. Mark Hanerfeld took over TCR in 1968 with issue #65, but by mid-1969 was having trouble maintaining a consistent publication schedule. Hanerfeld

3484-523: 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

3618-469: 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

3752-569: 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

3886-564: A variety of comics fanzines , beginning with Ted White 's The Facts Behind Superman , James Taurasi's Fantasy Comics and Bhob Stewart 's The EC Fan Bulletin in 1953-54. These were followed by Ron Parker's Hoohah , Dick and Pat Lupoff 's Xero and Don and Maggie Thompson 's Comic Art . Xero presented essays about comics ultimately collected in a 1970 book, All in Color for a Dime , published in hardcover by Arlington House and by Ace in paperback. Although Bails' innovative ideas changed

4020-501: 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

4154-590: A year, Bails passed it on to Ronn Foss, and in 1964 it merged with G. B. Love 's fanzine The Rocket's Blast to form The Rocket's Blast and the ComiCollector . A month after the debut of The Comicollector , in October 1961, Bails also founded and published On the Drawing Board , the forerunner to the long-running news-zine The Comic Reader , designed to showcase the latest comic news. Spinning-off from Alter-Ego after appearing for three issues as

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4288-479: 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 ,

4422-516: 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

4556-444: 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

4690-539: 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

4824-445: The Alley Awards (below), and inspired by Roy Thomas' thoughts on a comics-industry version of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , the name and workings of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors became a way "to emphasize the seriousness of comics fans about their hobby." Bails further liked "the idea of a fandom organization that would not only perpetuate the concept of comics as an art form, but would also act as

4958-905: 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

5092-667: 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

5226-483: 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

5360-795: 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

5494-693: The University of Kansas City , from which he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, and then his Master's degree in Math. A student teacher by 1953, he gained his Ph.D. in Natural science c.  1959 , and in 1960 moved to Detroit with his wife Sondra "to become Assistant Professor of Natural Science at Wayne State University ." In 1953, Bails wrote to DC (c/o Julius Schwartz ) to inquire about issues of All-Star Comics . His letter

The Comic Reader - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-473: The back issues of this magazine [ All-Star Comics ]," and six years later when the JSA was dropped, started to work towards their revival. In the letters column of Fantastic Four #22 ( cover-dated Jan. 1964) the editor refers to him as "one of fandom's most articulate critics." As a young man, he "sent samples of his art to EC ("and Al Feldstein was nice enough to respond with advice.")," before attending

5762-557: 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,

5896-401: The "Second Heroic Age of Comics". later known as the Silver Age of Comic Books . The directory itself contained fan listings culled from Bails' master list of 1,600 names. Bails invited fans to contact each other, "make sure they [all] know about the Academy; help form a local Chapter [and] help Comic Fandom to grow!" Bails also contributed to the following year's Guidebook to Comics Fandom ,

6030-520: The 1973 Comic Art Convention . Issue #99 (July 1973) featured TCR 's first color cover. In November 1973, with issue #101, Wisconsin-based publisher Street Enterprises took over TCR , and Mike Tiefenbacher took over as editor. Under Street Enterprises' oversight, TCR changed format to digest size , giving it even more the impression of being "the TV Guide of the comics industry". The magazine also began licensing its U.S. comics news material to

6164-645: The Alley Tally and "even larger fan meetings in Chicago . . . helped build momentum" for these earliest conventions, including the aforementioned " Academy Cons " held in New York in 1965–1967. Bails himself was "on the organizing committee" for the Detroit Triple Fan Fair , 1964. THE DTFF would continue sporadically through the 1970s under its initial format, though expanded; while primarily

6298-461: 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

6432-490: 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

6566-484: The Bold #29. The finished article became "an amateur journal devoted to the revivals of the costumed heroes at DC and elsewhere, as well as historical studies of what Bails deemed ' The First Heroic Age of Comics .'" The original run of Alter Ego lasted 11 issues, spread over a total of 17 years. Ten issues were released between 1961 and 1969, with issue #11 following nine years later, in 1978. Bails edited and published

6700-945: The British fan press, particularly Richard Burton 's Comic Media News and Martin Lock 's BEM . In early 1979, due to the cancellation of another Street Enterprises title, The Menomonee Falls Gazette , the publisher moved many of the strips featured in The Gazette over to The Comic Reader . The emergence of Amazing Heroes in 1981, published by Fantagraphics Books , ate into TCR 's readership. As long-time Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson put it: "If you want to look at it cynically, we set out to steal The Comic Reader 's cheese. Which we did". The Comic Reader published its final issue, #219, in September 1984. In addition to news about creators, publishers, conventions, and

6834-472: 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

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6968-544: 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

7102-410: The Drawing Board #4 (#1-3 being applied to the columns appearing in those issues of A/E ) debuted on October 7, 1961. Comics fandom historian Bill Schelly described its impact: Suddenly, fans had a way to see what was coming up on the newsstands. In some cases, they also found out the names of the writers and artists of certain features, in an era before such credits were routinely given. While there

7236-581: The First Heroic Age of Comics . A partial listing of Bails-involved indexes includes: Bails' friend and colleague Ray Bottorff Jr. recalls that Bails had "begun to create a comic book price guide, when a man named Bob Overstreet contacted him because he was doing the same thing." Bails' extensive notes "became a backbone to the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ." In addition to his work in comics indexing, Bails

7370-458: The Schwartz revivals. The Thompsons' interest was in just about every aspect of comic art but the superhero comics of 1961. Helped in large part to the efforts of DC editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox , Bails would play a pivotal role in the fledgling field of comics fandom, which he called "panelology" (the study of comics). Bails was the founding editor of Alter-Ego , one of

7504-556: 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

7638-697: 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

7772-435: The ability to follow the published credits of Golden Age comic book creators. As this approach had never been used before, the data were later appended, and have since been adapted by a variety of comic price guides and comic book historians. A "professor of science and technology," Bails "had a technical bent" that saw him embracing new forms of technology and novel ideas in his continued efforts within fandom. Among his ideas

7906-528: The accuracy of his project. A major part of the reference work was fan-identification of artistic styles and signature-spotting and recognition, which deductions often formed the basis for Bails' questions to creators, who could then offer corrections and additions. This included collecting and microfilming more than 500,000 comic book pages and contacting many hundreds of comic book professionals, asking them to fill out questionnaires about their careers. After two subsequent editions, Bails focused on computerizing

8040-676: 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

8174-587: 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

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8308-589: The awards were given out being 1969. Between March 21 and March 22, 1964, the first annual "Alley Tally" was organized by Bails at his house with the purpose of counting "the Alley Award ballots for 1963." This became notable in retrospect as the first major gathering of comics fans, predating the earliest comic book conventions , which were held later in the year. Attendees included Ronn Foss, Don Glut, Chuck Moss, Don and Maggie Thompson , Mike Vosburg , and Grass Green . Bill Schelly (among others) notes that

8442-567: The board of directors for the Grand Comics Database . A stroke late in Bails' life affected his vision and cut into his ability to pursue work on Who's Who, but until his death he was still adding hundreds of new records each week and consolidating and revising old records. Bails also wrote introductions and forewords to a number of collections of Golden Age and Silver Age DC Comics books. In 1985, DC Comics named Bails as one of

8576-571: 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

8710-413: 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

8844-481: The careers of every person to have contributed to, or supported the publication of, original material in U.S. comic books since 1928. With many creators largely unknown before the advent of comics fans and fandom in the 1950s and 1960s, Bails was one of the earliest proponents of documenting these individuals' credits. He wrote to a large number of creators and was able to encourage many to share their recollections, credits and, in some cases, personal records to assist in

8978-424: 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

9112-429: 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

9246-482: 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

9380-488: 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

9514-457: The covers. During this period, TCR won two Best Fanzine Comic Fan Art Awards . Due to his work on the zine, Levitz became well known at the offices of DC Comics , where he eventually ended up working for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. TCR published ballots for the 1973 Goethe Awards (for comics published in 1972); TCR staff also produced the program booklet for

9648-485: The creators behind them. Released in standalone form as "a single-page news-sheet," On the Drawing Board #4 (#1-3 being applied to the columns appearing in those issues of A/E ) debuted on October 7, 1961. Bill Schelly described, in 2003, its impact: Suddenly, fans had a way to see what was coming up on the newsstands. In some cases, they also found out the names of the writers and artists of certain features, in an era before such credits were routinely given. While there

9782-490: The data, ultimately embracing the internet through the medium of the online Who's Who "Bails Project" website. The online database also attempts to cover foreign creators, the small press and alternative publishers of comic books which have received U.S. distribution. Members of Bails' "advisory board" for the Who's Who include Craig Delich, a long-time friend and teaching colleague of Bails and Ray Bottorff Jr., who also serves on

9916-502: The debut of the "new Justice Society," the Justice League of America in the pages of The Brave and the Bold #28 ( 1959 ), Bails felt his "efforts [had] finally paid off," and his career as an active fan began. He soon bombarded the DC offices with suggestions for new superhero revivals. For instance, in Justice League of America #4, the letters page is filled with missives from Bails under different pen names. He did everything he could to fool editor Julius Schwartz, including mailing

10050-547: 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

10184-512: 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

10318-614: The easy formulation of a fanzine, created through submissions by each of its fifty-strong membership, who could all contribute short submissions on a regular basis. Compiled in the regular APA mold by a 'central mailer' (in which role Bails first served), copies of the membership's individual submissions could then be collated and mailed out to everyone. "Now," explained fandom historian Bill Schelly, "fans could get into print and retain editorial control of their material, without publishing their own fanzine." Bails also worked on and published extensive cross-referencing systems allowing researchers

10452-723: 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

10586-450: 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 ,

10720-463: 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

10854-419: The first four issues of Alter-Ego , before turning it over to fan-artist Ronn Foss (and, initially, Foss' wife, plus his friend "Grass" Green ) who edited issues #5-6. Roy Thomas edited a further four issues solo, and issue #11 almost a decade later in collaboration with Mike Friedrich . In 1998, Thomas wrote to publisher John Morrow, and shortly after Thomas relaunched the second volume of Alter Ego on

10988-461: The first issue of the 20-page Bails-published The Comicollector , the self-styled "companion to ALTER-EGO" (as the masthead declared it), and "first comics advertising fanzine." Included among adverts from the "stalwarts of fandom" (including Bails, John McGeehan and Ronn Foss among others) was a review of the first issue of The Fantastic Four by Roy Thomas, originally destined for the pages of Alter-Ego . After publishing The Comicollector for

11122-686: 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

11256-639: 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

11390-514: The flipside of issues of TwoMorrows Publishing 's Comic Book Artist . A third, standalone volume was launched as a separate magazine (with similarly revived fanzine the Fawcett Collectors of America as a section) in 1999, and continues to 2011. Shortly after the launch of Alter-Ego , Bails founded The Comicollector , which launched in September 1961. The major motivating force behind comics fandom "was to bring fans together for

11524-503: 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

11658-423: The honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great . Bails died in his sleep of a heart attack on November 23, 2006. He was 73 years old. DC Comics This is an accepted version of this page DC Comics, Inc. (later simply known as DC ) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment , a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery . DC

11792-546: The letters from all across the country. In particular, Bails petitioned for the monthly publication of the JLA , and a year later for the revival of the Golden Age Atom as an all-new "6"-high" hero (to better reflect the name), which "whether as a result of Jerry's prodding DC or by mere coincidence" revival occurred in January 1961. Largely unbeknownst to Bails and Thomas, comics fandom had been underway for years in

11926-402: The like, TCR ran recurring comic strips and features such as: Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist . Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primary force in establishing 1960s comics fandom. Jerry G. Bails

12060-446: 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

12194-547: 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

12328-562: 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

12462-449: 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

12596-506: The merged zine was called Etcetera & The Comic Reader ; after issue #90 the zines split up again. Under Levitz's editorship, TCR increased circulation (going monthly after a previous schedule of eight issues per year) and changed format, usually featuring an illustrated cover and typically 16 pages in length. As the zine gained in popularity and influence, it was able to attract industry professionals, such as Jack Kirby , Rich Buckler , Walt Simonson , and Howard Chaykin , to illustrate

12730-408: 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

12864-685: The name " Alter-ego " for a more ambitious version of a newsletter — a " fanzine ," appropriating some of what he had learned from Julie about science-fiction fandom to what he had already planned." Schwartz had, indeed, given Bails copies of Xero #1-3, as well as personal advice and memories based on his own involvement in the earliest science fiction fandom of the 1930s, in which Schwartz played an important — perhaps even integral — role. Working with Thomas and in conjunction with Schwartz, Bails contacted other comic book letter writers and invited them to subscribe to and participate in Alter Ego . Thomas

12998-526: 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

13132-469: 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

13266-565: The purpose of adding to their comic book collections." Inspired in part by the science-fiction fanzine /"adzine" The Fantasy Collector , comics fandom had "a need for a publication devoted primarily to the field" rather than the occasional advertisements of comics for sale that appeared in The Fantasy Collector . Bails' initial thought was "to run such ads in each issue of A/E , but it soon became clear that it couldn't be published often enough." Accordingly, in September 1961,

13400-466: The resulting idea was soon named 'The Alley Award ', "named after Alley Oop " by Thomas "because surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically." (Bill Schelly notes no one "bothered to ask the NEA Syndicate for permission to utilize V. T. Hamlin 's comic strip character." ) The Alley Awards were tallied yearly for comics produced during the previous year, with the last year

13534-479: The shape of comics fandom, and arguably shaped it anew, Xero had a significant role to play in Bails' work. Bill Schelly writes that, while important building blocks, the science fiction fanzines should be considered in the context of comics fandom. He notes that Don and Maggie Thompson's Comic Art and Xero were published by double-fans [science fiction and comics] and were read mainly by sf fans who generally had little interest in (or disdain for) new comics, even

13668-449: 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

13802-511: 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

13936-490: 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

14070-498: 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

14204-496: The term "panelologist" for comics fans and their hobby, implying a study of the panels which make up comics. Bails served as the Academy's first Executive Secretary, later passing his role on to fellow fan Paul Gambaccini (who termed himself "ExecSec2" ), who later gave way to Dave Kaler . Under Kaler's leadership, the Academy produced three successful conventions in New York City during the summers of 1965–1967. Despite

14338-471: 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

14472-422: 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

14606-508: The very earliest superhero comics fanzines . "On January 26, 1961," wrote Roy Thomas in 2003, "I received a letter from Jerry mentioning his idea for a "JLA newsletter" . . . [to which he was intending] to try to enlist Julie Schwartz's cooperation" in February 1961. The projected title and scope of The JLA Subscriber "gave way to something more ambitious" and, returning from visiting the DC offices in New York, Bails: "had come up with

14740-401: 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

14874-416: Was "microfilming rare, hard-to-find Golden Age comics," which film could then be loaned/viewed rather than the tangible comics themselves, reducing considerably wear and tear. Alongside Jules Feiffer 's Great Comic Book Heroes (1965), Bails' microfilm library was the major source of "substitutes for the real" comics themselves, which were rarely reprinted. To accommodate readers who did not have access to

15008-412: 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

15142-584: Was also involved in the tabulating of information about the people involved in both comics and comics fandom. Described in the ACBFC charter, Who's Who in Comic Fandom was the first concerted effort to provide a centralized store of data on the ever-increasing number of comics fans. It was released in April 1964 by Bails and L. Lattanzi. The volume opened with Bails' chronologies of both early comics fandom and

15276-526: Was born on June 26, 1933, in Kansas City , Missouri . A fan of comic books from a very early age, Bails was a particularly avid fan of All-Star Comics , and its premiere superteam (the Justice Society of America ) of whom he was "a fan since the first Justice Society adventure appeared in All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1941)." He wrote in 1960 that by 1945, he "began my campaign to collect all

15410-444: 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

15544-657: Was considerable interest in developments at DC (especially the revival of Hawkman ), fans also closely followed the entrance of other companies into the costumed hero sweepstakes: Archie Comics , Gold Key , Charlton , and Marvel . In March 1962, issue #8 of On the Drawing Board was retitled The Comic Reader , and the (generally) monthly title became "a mainstay of fandom." With issue #25 Bails ceded his editorial duties, first to Glen Johnson, and later individuals, including Mark Hanerfeld . New York teenager Paul Levitz revived The Comic Reader in 1971, and it continued until 1984. Established in large part solely to deal with

15678-469: Was considerable interest in developments at DC (especially the revival of Hawkman ), fans also closely followed the entrance of other companies into the costumed hero sweepstakes: Archie Comics , Gold Key , Charlton , and Marvel . In March 1962, issue #8 of On the Drawing Board was retitled The Comic Reader . The "On the Drawing Board" name was retained for the periodical's news section. The (generally) monthly title became "a mainstay of fandom", winning

15812-465: Was doing double-duty as executive secretary of the ACBFC, and apparently this workload was too much for him. The ACBFC went defunct in mid-1969; and despite winning a 1969 Alley Award, by early 1970 TCR was no longer being published. In early 1971, New York teenager Paul Levitz bought the property and revived The Comic Reader with issue #78, merging it with Etcetera , a zine he had previously co-published with Paul Kupperberg . From issues #78–#89,

15946-628: 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 ,

16080-740: 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

16214-521: 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

16348-581: 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

16482-675: Was forwarded to former Justice Society writer Gardner Fox , and from Fox's reply of July 9, 1953, the two corresponded regularly. Bails was working steadily toward re-building his personal collection of the early issues of All Star Comics , and was finally able to convince Fox in early 1959 to sell him Fox's personal bound copies of All-Star Comics #1-24. In November 1960, a letter from young comics fan Roy Thomas to Julius Schwartz similarly inquiring about back issues of All-Star Comics led to Schwartz also putting Thomas in contact with All-Star writer Gardner Fox. Fox informed Thomas that "he had sold his bound volumes [of All-Star Comics ] to

16616-418: 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

16750-457: 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

16884-526: Was more professional magazine than fanzine, and was known colloquially as "the TV Guide of the comics industry". Jerry Bails founded and published On the Drawing Board in October 1961, to showcase the latest comic news. Spinning-off from Bails' other zine, Alter Ego (after appearing for three issues as a column within that publication), On the Drawing Board "was devoted to blurbs and news items pertaining to upcoming events in pro comics". Released in stand-alone form as "a single-page news-sheet", On

17018-446: Was named co-editor, and asked to contribute "a Mad -style parody, "The Bestest League of America." By March 28, Bails had prepared the ditto masters , and shortly thereafter "200 or more" copies of the first issue of the 21-page Alter-Ego #1 (now with a capital "E") were posted to Bails' ever-growing list of fans. The issue featured a "Bestest League" cover by Thomas and Bails, in homage to Mike Sekowsky 's cover for The Brave and

17152-470: 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

17286-456: 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

17420-475: 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

17554-417: 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

17688-464: 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

17822-421: 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,

17956-449: 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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