The Powerful Rise of DC and its Comic Books

Last updated on July 20th, 2024 at 11:53 pm

The Powerful Rise of DC and its Comic Books

It's a well-known fact that DC and its Comic Books are among the most successful and influential {publishers/comic books} in the world.

What is not common knowledge is how that status was achieved. This article gives a brief history of The Powerful Rise of DC and its Comic Books.

The Origin of DC and its Comic Books

Although the process of using a sequence of pictures to convey a message has been around for centuries, this origin story begins closer to the Twentieth Century.

In the late 1800s, a new medium for telling stories with images had emerged. That new medium was called comic strips.

The comic strip format consisted of a few horizontal panels with images of recurring characters whose words and thoughts were shown above them in balloon shapes.

Comic strips appeared on printed pages placed in the center section of newspapers which publishers included in hopes of attracting a larger audience.

SIDE NOTE: New York World

The primary newspaper in New York City from 1860 to 1931 was the New York World published by Joseph Pulitzer which was one of the first newspapers (around 1890) to publish comic strips. Most notable was the 1897 comic strip by Richard Outcault called "Hogan's Alley (also known as "Around the World with the Yellow Kid" or just "The Yellow Kid") which is cited as having established the word balloons format.

The message comic strips conveyed was usually a joke or commentary on either the political issues or social issues that society was dealing with at the time.

In 1931, the prominent social issue was the formation of organized crime and rise in criminal activity that occurred mainly as result of the prohibition ban on alcohol.

Consequently, the comic strip commentary usually featured detectives or law enforcement officials interacting with gangsters.

One of the most popular comic strips was about a police detective called Dick Tracy who used all sorts of gadgets to help him track down and lock-up criminals.

The growing success of the "Dick Tracy" comic strip caught the attention of a WWI Army Veteran, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.

After leaving the military, the Major (whose mother was a journalist), wrote fictional short stories for various magazines.

In 1925, he had enough of writing for other people and he started his own newspaper syndicate which also included a daily comic strip.

Like other newspapers, the comic strips the Major included in his newspaper were merely reprints. Eventually, the Major grew tired of the reprints.

He wanted his comic strips to have original content and, because of their immense popularity, he was sure the strips could exist on their own without the newspapers.

So in 1934, the Major founded National Allied Publications with the intent of creating a stand-alone comic publication that had original content.

One year later, he launched a tabloid-sized publication, "New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine", which had brand new material and set the stage for a new industry... comic books.

New Fun (later "More Fun Comics") included a mix of adventure stories, humor strips, and puzzle pages and it was the first of its kind to carry advertising.

Once it proved successful, the Major directed his attention to establishing National Allied Publications as a credible and prolific comic book publisher.

To do that, he would need to build a stronger brand presence for his company by having more than one comic publication on the market.

That way his company would also gain a competitive edge over other publishers who were still relying on reprints of newspaper comics.

Therefore, later that year, the Major released another comic magazine titled "New Comics" (later renamed "Adventure Comics").

SIDE NOTE: Adventure Comics

Upon the release of New Comics issue #12, the title became "New Adventure Comics" and upon the release of issue #32 it became "Adventure Comics" which ran for several decades. It ended in 1983 with its last issue being #503 which made it one of the longest-running comic books to-date.

New Comics featured a variety of genres (i.e. adventure, science fiction, westerns, and fantasy) and introduced longer serialized storytelling.

Having a second publication, however, put a strain on the Major's finances and he was forced to seek additional financing elsewhere.

He accomplished this by forming a partnership with Harry Donenfeld (publisher and printing press owner) and Jack Liebowitz (Donenfeld's accountant).

On December 31, 1936, the three of them together founded Detective Comics Inc. in order to publish a new comic book series titled "Detective Comics".

Unfortunately, the Major fell deep into debt to Donenfeld and Liebowitz and in 1938 he had no choice but to declare bancrupty.

Liebowitz took over National Allied and folded it into Detective Comics Inc., which now published four monthly comics (More Fun, Adventure, Action, and Detective).

Donenfeld felt that four comics were enough but Leibowitz wanted more, so in 1946, he partnered with Max Gaines who owned "All-American Publishers".

The merger of Detective Comics Inc. and All-American Publishers formed a new company called "National Comics Publications".

In 1961, the company was renamed "National Periodical Publications Inc." which was initially referred to as just "National".

However, all the comics that National released had the Detective Comics "DC" logo on them so eventually its readers started referring to its comics as "DC Comics".

The Rise of DC and its Comic Books

The introduction of Superman in "Action Comics" #1 in June 1938 marked a pivotal moment in the history of DC and its Comic Books, as well as the industry as a whole.

Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Superman introduced the archetype of the modern superhero, establishing its foundational traits as having:

• A dual identity
• Strong moral code
• Extraordinary abilities
• Commitment to fighting evil
• A costume with a distinctive symbol

His immense popularity spurred the fabrication of other superheroes within DC and its Comic Books and by other publishers, ushering in the Golden Age of comic books.

The next character added to DC and its Comic Books was Batman (created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger) who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939.

Batman's alter ego is a millionaire philanthropist and industrialist named Bruce Wayne who lives in Gotham City monitoring its streets at night for illegal activity.

He has no superpowers, instead, he relies on his intellect, detective skills, resourcefulness, physical abilities, and high-tech gadgets to catch bad guys.

Batman was a huge success and quickly became one of DC and its Comic Books' most popular and enduring characters.

High sales of Batman comics, along with those of Superman and other characters, solidified the financial stability and market dominance of DC and its Comic Books.

Then in 1945 as WWII ended, superheros began loosing popularity because of scrutiny over story content, and DC and its Comic Books faced a decline in circulation.

Eventually, this widespread public concern over the perceived negative impact of comic books on youth led to the Comics Code Authority being established in 1954.

The CCA devised strict content guidelines that all comic book publishers had to follow which prohibited:

1. Graphic violence
2. Explicit sexual content
3. Evil triumphing over good
4. Disrespectful depiction of Authority figures (i.e. police officers and judges)
5. Depiction of criminal behavior that could be interpreted as sympathetic or glamorous

As a result, DC and its Comic Books shifted toward more sanitized and wholesome content. For example:

• Batman's dark and brooding nature was softened, and his stories became more fantastical and campy
• The Joker's homicidal tendencies were downplayed, transforming him into a more comical villain rather than a psychopathic murderer

This period of creativity and resurgence that redefined the superhero genre spanned from 1956 to 1970 and is known as the Silver Age of Comic Books.

In addition to DC and its Comic Books revitalizing existing characters, this period also led to the introduction of new ones, such as The Flash and Green Lantern.

The 60s and 70s brought further innovation and diversification to DC and its Comic Books by introducing more complex stories and socially relevant themes.

Iconic story arcs, such as the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, tackled issues like drug addiction and social justice.

This era also saw the formation of the Justice League of America, bringing together many of DC and its Comic Books' most popular heroes in a single team.

In the decades that followed, DC and its Comic Books continued to evolve, embracing new storytelling techniques and expanding into television, film, and video games.

Today, DC and its Comic Books remain one of the leading publishers in the industry, known for its rich legacy of characters and ongoing influence on popular culture.

Merchandise of DC and its Comic Books

The launch and subsequent popularity of DC and its Comic Books significantly transformed the landscape of merchandising.

As DC and its Comic Books gained iconic status, the range of merchandise expanded to included items accross several categories from toys and games to household items.

The diverse product lines catered to fans of all ages, from children to adult collectors. Many of those items can be found in our Collectibles Store.

To shop for merchandise based on DC and its Comic Books, visit our official DC Comics Collectibles page.

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