How To Read Superhero Comics: A Beginner's Guide. How To Read Superhero Comics: A Beginner's Guide DC Comics Releases
Welcome to DC's universe.
These reading orders will help you understand DC's comics and choose from several options to start reading those comics.
How to start reading DC comics?
The very first question that arises for a beginner is which comics to start with and in what sequence to read them. During the existence of DC publishing, thousands of comics have been published, but it is not necessary to read them all. The publisher periodically resets all its episodes and events, so beginners can always choose from several starting points to immerse themselves in the world of comics.
Soon we will create a separate page with the chronology of DC events, as well as the order of reading comics about individual characters.
There are five starting points
1) The first starting point is the very first release
This starting point is suitable for those who want to gain a comprehensive knowledge of DC comics. But! You will learn absolutely everything about the heroes and events of this universe, if you only manage to master thousands and thousands of issues.
2) Post-crisis
Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985 completes the Golden and Silver Ages of DC Comics. Hence the expressions "Pre-crisis" and "Post-crisis". After that, all the heroes received new origin stories. To start reading from here, go to the second part of the basic reading order
3) Endless crisis
Infinite Crisis 2005 is the sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, and a good starting point for new readers, as all episodes slipped past a year and began new story arcs.
4) New 52
New 52 - Complete reboot of DC comics in 2011. The main purpose of the reboot was to provide new readers with a new starting point.
5) The last starting point is DC Rebirth.
All episodes were restarted in order to restore the universe close to the state before Flashpoint, and with the preservation of many elements The New 52.
Below are all parts of DC's comic reading order. Choose the one that suits you best and start diving into the comic universe!
BASIC ORDER OF READING DISC COMIC (DC)
Years: 1938-1986
The first part of the order includes all pre-crisis comics and ends Crisis on Infinite Earths... In the plots of many comics of the Golden and Silver Ages, coincidences occur in huge quantities, which does not greatly contribute to their assimilation by the reader. If you are interested in post-Crisis comics, then you should skip straight to the second part.
Years: 1987-1990
First appearances: no
The beginning of the Post-Crisis Era. At the beginning of the order, the most iconic comics about Batman are collected (Year One, Murderous Joke, Long Halloween, etc.). Also featured are many of the Man of Steel stakes and the post-crisis origins of many of DC's most important heroes. The first major crossover events also occur in the Post-Crisis.
Years: 1991-1997
First appearances: Bane, Stephanie Brown, Azrael
In addition to the annual crossovers, two major events in the universe in the 90s also take place: The Death of Superman and the Fall of the Knight, which led to a huge increase in the number of readers, and in the end also influenced the subsequent collapse of the comic book market.
Also during this period: Zero Hour - DC's second crisis
Years:1997-2002
First appearance: Cassandra Kane
This installment begins with the Justice League from Grant Morrison, and here we see the return of the Justice Society. The DC One Million event reveals DC's universe 83,000 years later. Gotham City is still going through its hard times in Batman: Cataclysm and the government issues its verdict on the city in Batman: No Man's Land.
Years:2000-2005
Popular storyline Batman: Quiet! Happens in this part. Also, here's an updated version of the post-Crisis Superman origin in the arc Birthright. Return of the Dark Knight and The Dark Knight again strikes are posted here as they were supposed to appear on some of the lists (in other words, they can be read separately from other comics of the order). Also here you will stumble upon an excellent limit about Superman in an alternate universe - Red Son.
Years: 2005-2009
So, we continue our journey through the DC universe. First, the Identity Crisis, then the Countdown to the Infinite Crisis, after which the Infinite Crisis itself. The sequel is a limited edition 52 and a Year One series, which show the changes in the status quo of the characters after the Infinite Crisis.
Years:2008-2011
Another Crisis - Final Crisis, which gave off numerous echoes in comics involving the Batfamily. There are also major events like The darkest night, the brightest day and Superman: The New Krypton... It all ends with Flashpoint, which radically changes DC's universe and begins an era New 52.
Years:2011-2015
All DC comics published within the framework of New 52, the era of comics, which begins immediately after Flashpoint and ends with an event known as Convergence.
Chronologically after New 52the period known as DC You.
Years: 2015-2016
DC Rebirth is DC's relaunch of their entire line of ongoings. Taking the end of The New 52 as a starting point, in May 2016, DC Rebirth rebooted the DC Universe in a way that precedes Flashpoint while incorporating many of The New 52's elements.
Evolution of the DC Comics logo
Comics are becoming more and more popular in Russia and around the world. Films are made based on them, they are read by people who were previously difficult to interest in drawn stories, and no one is surprised when comic books are put on a par with great literature. While comics, like any art, have many different genres, the most numerous and important are still superhero comics. They scare newbies with their scale and variety - many do not know how to approach stories about Superman or Spider-Man. Look At Me has compiled a simple and visual guide to superhero comics (or rather, comics of the two main superhero publishers - DC and Marvel).
Where to start reading?
The world of superhero comics is huge: for almost eighty years that they have existed, it has been filled with thousands of characters, series and plots. This is scary - it seems that to start reading them, you need to first understand everything and know all the names and events. This, of course, is not so: entertainment, over which you have to puzzle over, as over quantum physics, would not have become so popular. In fact, it's very simple to approach comics about superheroes: you just need to choose one story, best of all, limited to one book, and read it without thinking that you are missing something important or do not know something necessary about the hero and peace. A good superhero story is valuable as a thing in itself, separate from the rest of the comics.
Kurt Busick, Alex Ross
History of the Marvel Universe from 1939 to 1974, seen through the eyes of a common New Yorker photographer Phil Sheldon. Although the series was written for comic book fans, Miracles is also an excellent entry point into the Marvel Universe: the comic provides an opportunity to appreciate its scope and capture the essence.
Mark Millar, Adam Kubert
X-Men in the Ultimate Universe parallel to the main world of Marvel, invented in the early 2000s; Mark Millar tells the story of a famous team from scratch, so that it is clear to new readers The series went bad at some point, but the first 12 issues are flawless.
"Indestructible Iron Man"
Matt Fraction, Salvador Larocca
A comic strip that turned Iron Man into a deep and interesting character; here Tony Stark is shown at the peak of success, but just in the beginning of the comic in his life, everything starts to go wrong. It mentions a lot of incomprehensible details from the world of Marvel, but at the same time everything you need to understand the plot is told in the comic itself.
Superman: All Stars
Grant Morrison, Frank Quightley
America's most famous superhero, reimagined by screenwriter Grant Morrison; a cohesive and beautiful story separate from the rest of the DC comics world. To learn everything you need to know about Superman, just read this one comic.
Kevin Smith, Phil Hester
Successful attempt to restart the failed DC hero in the early 2000s: Director Kevin Smith took on the Green Arrow script and turned a comic about a little-known hero into an interesting story with brilliant and witty dialogues.
"The amazing Spider Man"
Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr.
The story of a grown-up Spider-Man who is hired to work as a teacher in a school and faces new serious opponents. Screenwriter Michael Straczynski reimagines the past of Peter Parker, but does it quite unobtrusively.
Jeff Loeb, Tim Sale
A classic comic book about Batman, from which about the hero you can understand about everything you need: here all his main opponents, supervillains, and the main plot motives appear (like Batman's fight against the mafia), and there is a simple yet addictive detective story. "Halloween" has a sequel - the comic "Dark Victory".
How different are different
comic formats?
The most common comic format is singles, separate serial numbers, usually about 22 pages in size. A single is roughly like one episode of a series; within the framework of one episode, they are published approximately once a month, on Wednesdays (a big day for comic fans)... Reading singles is the most convenient way to keep track of the latest episodes; singles come out long before the comic is compiled into a separate book (especially since sometimes this does not happen at all)... True, sometimes you have to wait a very long time for the release of certain issues, and in long series you can easily forget what happened before. Comic book series are also divided into different types: there are ongoings - monthly series that can go on indefinitely, and there are mini-series - those about which the authors know exactly how many issues they will take (usually 4, 6 or 12).
TPB stands for trade paper back, paperback book. Usually they collect individual numbers of comic series, an average of 6 pieces. Approximately so much in comics is traditionally occupied by what is called a "story arc", a separate and complete story within a series. Long superhero streaks can end up in dozens of TPBs.
In addition to TPB, comics come out in the form of regular hardback books. Sometimes it's just a more solid version of TPB. (that is, the book also contains singles), sometimes what is called a "graphic novel" is an integral story that did not appear in separate numbers. With superhero comics, however, this rarely happens: even many recognized novels in comics like The Guardians were originally released as singles. But there are also graphic novels about superheroes: for example, the comic book God Loves, Man Kills about the X-Men.
The most convenient way to read comics in the 21st century - from the screen of a tablet or computer. In digital form, all of the above formats are also presented unchanged; The main advantage of digital comics is that authors sometimes add new features to them. For example, a comic strip conveniently "jumps" between frames, or movement is added somewhere, as in gifs. The most convenient way to use the store and the app Comixology is a monopolist in the digital comics market. If you don't feel like using it, all the major publishers, including Marvel and DC, have their own comic reader apps too.
How is DC different from Marvel?
All Marvel comics take place in one connected universe. This means that Iron Man can get into comics like Spider-Man, and Captain America's actions in his own series theoretically affect everyone else. Marvels are a little less serious than DC, and more open to experimentation: young authors often write unusual episodes for them (of the latter - She-Hulk, Hawkeye, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man and Young Avengers). In the traditional big mainstream Marvel series, they like to arrange global events that affect all comics at once: for example, the confrontation between the Avengers and the X-Men.
In DC comics, everything is also connected, but the publisher takes itself a little more seriously, than Marvel, so all the events taking place in the universe usually do not reverse. DC superheroes are a little darker too (after all, the darkest superhero - Batman - is a DC hero). Taking the DC Universe seriously causes problems: once every few years, all storylines, events and their consequences become so confused that the publisher reboots its universe, canceling everything that happened earlier. The last such reboot was in 2011, it was called The New 52 - and so far in DC comics, everything is again quite simple.
What comics were filmed for
my favorite movies?
The adaptation of superhero comics is not so easy at all as you might think. With rare exceptions (eg "Keepers") they are not filmed for specific books or even for specific episodes of the series, but rather, inspired by plots and ideas from comics. However, if you want to start reading superhero comics with a book as close as possible to your favorite movie, this is possible.
"Iron Man 3"
comic: Iron Man: Extremis
The third Iron Man movie takes as much of the Extremis comic storyline as possible: it has the same main characters and the same advanced technology that can be both useful and dangerous at the same time.
"X-Men: Days of Future Past"
comic: "X-Men: Days of Future Past"
As you might guess from the title, the newest X-Men movie is at least partly based on a classic 80s comic strip, and the original story writer Chris Clairmont even acted as a consultant on the film.
Captain America: The Other War
comic:Captain America: The Winter Soldier
In the original, the second Captain America film is named exactly the same as the original comic: Captain America: The Winter Soldiers. The main thing that is taken here is the storyline about Captain America's friend Bucky.
"Wolverine"
comic: "Wolverine"
The second Wolverine film is based on the very first comic about a hero: a miniseries by screenwriter Chris Claremont (the same that wrote "Days of Future Past"). The plot of both the film and the comic is closely related to Japan.
"The new Spiderman -
2: High voltage "
comic: "The Night Gwen Stacy Died"
Sorry for the spoiler in the title, but it can't be avoided: the second Spider-Man movie starring Andrew Garfield was based on one of the key 1970s Marvel comics: two installments of The Incredible Spider-Man (121 and 122 to be exact), in which the first death of a large character in comics occurred.
"X-Men: The Last Stand"
comic: "The Saga of the Dark Phoenix"
The third (and worst) X-Men film retells the classic storyline from The Dark Phoenix Saga comic book, which began the era of dark and dark superhero comics in the 80s, rather brainlessly.
Where to buy comics?
Besides being very easy to buy comics digitally (in the Comixology app as well as the DC and Marvel apps), there are more places in Moscow where you can buy comics than you might think: there are already four comic stores - Chuk and Geek, Bizarrebook, 28th and Rocket Comics (the latter opened literally last week)as well as regular bookstores that also sell comics. Of the usual bookstores with comics, "Moscow" and "Biblio-Globus" work best. (in the second one they even sometimes bring comics in English).
What can you read besides classic comics?
The most important thing in reading superhero comics is to stop following the characters at some point. and start following the authors. Because good stories about Batman may not appear for a long time, but you can always expect something good from your favorite writers and artists. For example, here are five good modern screenwriters to follow.
Matt Fraction
Hawkeye, The Invincible Iron Man, Fantastic Four
A screenwriter who comes up with the most unusual and crazy modern comics: it is he who writes the Sex Criminals, it was he who made the brilliant comic about Hawkeye for Marvel. Traditional superhero comics, however, are given to Fraction no worse than any weirdness: it was he who reinvented Iron Man in the mid-2000s.
Scott Snyder
Batman, Superman Unchained, Iron Man Noir
When DC Comics rebooted their universe as part of The New 52, \u200b\u200bthey entrusted Scott Snyder with writing Batman comics - and it was right. Among other things, Snyder came up with one of the most unusual (and most importantly, new ones) Batman villains in recent years - a whole secret society called the Court of Sov.
Brian Michael Bendis
New Avengers, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man
An incredibly productive screenwriter who works with Marvel Comics and made some of the best Marvel episodes in the 2000s at once, including the Avengers and Daredevil. Bendis also often comes up with global events for Marvel. (remember, above we told you that they love to do them) - for example, House of M, after which many mutants in the Marvel universe lost their abilities.
Dan Slott
The Amazing Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, Avengers: The Initiative
Dan Slott has been writing scripts for Spider-Man comics for several years and has done a lot of interesting things with the hero. Slott writes in a more classic, old style than many modern screenwriters: his comics are loud, dramatic, hypertrophied, almost like in the 60s and 70s.
Grant Morrison
(The Multiversity, Batman, New X-Men)
A true living classic of modern comics, Scotsman Grant Morrison has done more for superhero comics than anyone else. He re-imagined Superman, killed Batman, wrote one of the best X-Men storylines in the early 2000s. Now Morrison writes less about superheroes, but he still continues to do so: now, for example, his series The Multiversity is being released, taking place in several parallel universes with DC heroes.
Don't forget the community. Reading superhero comics alone and not discussing them with anyone is not much fun. In Moscow, and in Russia, a large community of comic book fans has already developed. They may not all be very friendly, but many will be happy to talk to you. At least try talking to people on Reddit.
Death in superhero comics usually means nothing. Once the death of a hero could have serious consequences, and he disappeared from the comics for several decades, but now the authors are handling it as lightly as possible. If any large character dies, you can be sure that he will return soon. On the other hand, it can be used as a powerful tool within a single plot. The death of a hero, for example, plays well with Grant Morrison in the All-Star Superman.
Read comics at your own pace. The main advantage of comics over cinema: they do not take the reader by the hand and do not lead him through the story at the required speed. Stop at individual frames for a few minutes or, conversely, turn pages at the speed of light.
Experiment. Remember, comics aren't limited to superhero stories, and superhero comics aren't limited to Marvel and DC. One of the best superhero comics of recent times - Invincible (incredible postmodern interpretation of classic superhero motives), for example was published in Image.
Modern superheroes are irreconcilable fighters for good, peace and justice. Although at the beginning of the 20th century, comic book characters did not have such a function. Their purpose was to entertain readers, as the name of the genre "comic" says.
Founded in 1934, DC Comics revolutionized the public's view of the entertainment industry. Its founder, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, turned comics into detective, engaging stories. And in 1938, the tandem of Joe Schuster and Jerome Siegel presented a new genre of superhero adventure to the world. Superman, invented by them, not only laid the foundation for the fantastic DC Multiverse, but for many years served as a reference character for competing editorial boards.
DC Comics Multiverse Map
Initially, Superman did not have the same set of abilities that are attributed to him now. Schuster and Siegel introduced a character from another planet into the narrative. Due to the difference in gravitational fields, Clark Kent was more powerful than his neighbors on Earth. This difference helped the alien to become an ardent champion of goodness and justice.
The further fate of the publishing house DC Comics developed in such a way that the staff of illustrators and writers was constantly changing. Because of this, DC characters have become overgrown with conflicting biographies and characteristics. It was then that the management of the company decided to introduce the concept of the Multiverse into the comics.
Thanks to her, all the protagonists were distributed across parallel realities and the contradiction was resolved. Today, the DC world has over twenty thousand unique images.
First Justice League squad
In 1960, DC Comics announces the creation of the Justice League. Comics about the adventures of a team of heroes appear on store shelves: Superman, Batman, Superwoman, Green Lantern, Flash and Actwaman. The audience loved this fresh editorial move so much that DC immediately formed other divisions of the League. Over the years, they included many popular characters from the Multiverse: Green Arrow, Hawk Man, Atom.
In an effort to boost the company's profits, screenwriter Jerry Conway and artist Chuck Patton are revamping the LG lineup. In the new comic series, there was no Aquaman or Flash on Green Lantern. The audience did not appreciate the transformations and the ratings of the comics began to fall.
Team "Rascals" - the main opponents of Flash
"Light", "League of Shadows", "League of Injustice" - teams of villains rallied to fight the forces of good in the DC Universe. The most controversial organization of all was the "Rascals" - the Flash antagonists. Contrary to established canons, the writers portrayed them as socialized, disciplined opponents. The criminal organization even had its own code of honor and was not involved in the production of drugs.
In 1973, DC Comics released the first full-length animated film dedicated to the Justice League and its enemies.
Female characters of Gotem in the animated version
Cartoons are the main feature of DC Comics. Critics have repeatedly noted that the publisher has long surpassed its main competitor Marvel in the animated film market. The company itself explains its success by creating cartoons based on the best comics.
After the restart of the Universe, DC Comics has been releasing one by one high-quality feature films about the adventures of such iconic characters as Batman (The Dark Knight Returns, 2013), Superman (Supernova Superman, 2011), Justice League (Conflict Source Paradox, 2011) and even Green Lantern (First flight, 2009).
Chronological order of DC Comics cartoons
Connoisseurs of "Batman: The Animated Series" should start watching the full-length films "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" and "Batman and Mr. Freeze". These animations were released between 1993 and 1998. Directors Bruce Timm and Boyd Kirkland, with a break of five years, were able to create two independent films that look like a dilogy.
Feeling the spirit of the golden age of comics will help the Justice League series, which begins with Justice League: The New Barrier. Fans of clashes will love the comics by Jeff Loeb and his Batman / Superman dilogy. The Paradox of the Source of Conflict cartoon draws along a whole chain of Justice League adventures based on the New 52 comics.
A bandit nicknamed Copperhead wore a special high-tech suit that gave him the capabilities of various reptiles. But his reputation was destroyed when he started fighting superheroes. A ruthless and dangerous foe for ordinary cops, he looked ridiculous among other supervillains. As a result, Medyanka sold his soul in exchange for new abilities and was magically transformed ...
Many years ago, when the eastern European kingdom of Vlatava fell into the hands of the Republican rebels, its ruler, Count Zitl, was killed, and his wife fled to Canada with a child in her arms. It was not easy for them, and the woman blamed her frail son Werner for all her troubles. In the end, she sold the child to the Crius Research Center, whose scientists "improved" the children who fell ...
Darkseid is one of the most terrifying creatures in the universe: a ruthless, unstoppable tyrant with divine powers and an all-consuming obsession with enslaving every living being in the world. Darkseid rules the creepy planet Apokolips; loyal minions and the armies of the deadly Parademons obey him. He has access to incredible technologies, for example, to intelligent "Mother Boxes" that function as flying ...
When Tommy Eliot was a child, he idolized his best friend Bruce Wayne. He went on - and killed his parents to become an orphan, like Bruce. However, when Tommy became completely obsessed with young Wayne, he stopped communicating with his childhood friend. And then Tommy decided to destroy the man he idolized. Having tied bandages around his face, he became an enemy at the same time and ...
British crime fighters Knight and Squire is a team that dates back to WWII. Then Percy Sheldrake - a guy from an aristocratic family - became an assistant to the mysterious warrior, the Shining Knight. Growing up, Percy trained his son Cyril. Together they punished the villains under the guise of Knight and Squire, until Percy died ...
Professional soldier and fanatical patriot Wade Eiling rose to the rank of general, always knowing where a new threat would come from. In the era of masked brave men and alien visitors, this award-winning veteran, outraged by the government's approval but not control of superheroes, began to see the Methumans as the main threat to his country. General (English - General) tirelessly (and not ...
When the father of young Katerina Manser was shot, she was sent to an orphanage - there she received the nickname Cinnamon. She escaped and became a masked justice fighter. Along with the archer Nighthawk, she was a legendary figure in the late 1800s.
Hugh Dawkins claimed that his mother was a werewolf and that he inherited powers and could transform into a massive super-powerful beast - the Tasmanian Devil. He began to fight crime in Australia, helped create the Global Defenders, and later joined the League.
Ion is the living embodiment of willpower represented by the green color of the Emotional Spectrum. For a long time, this power was contained in the Central Battery of Oa and fed the power rings of the Green Lanterns. When the Battery was destroyed, the entity took over Kyle Reiner and transformed him into a hero named Ion. During the war with the Sinestro Corps, the villain drove out the entity ...
DaCosta was born in Brazil and became a spy for local special services, but on one of her missions she was exposed to a strange chemical called pyroplasma. She endowed Beatrice with inhuman abilities - the girl learned to control a green flame that covers her entire body and allows her to fly. When André Briggs decided to form the Justice League International, a UN-led international squad ...
Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow, a hero who uses bow and arrow to cleanse the streets of Seattle. The son of billionaire Robert Queen in his youth led a dissolute life, but after a terrorist attack he ended up on an island where he was forced to fight for survival. After spending three years there, he returned home a different person who decided to change for the better ...
The Technoseed that gave birth to Brimstone was created in the laboratories of Apokolips when Darkseid decided to destroy the earthly idea of \u200b\u200bheroism. Launched into a thermonuclear reactor on Earth, it turned into a huge flaming giant, attacking superhumans and terrorizing civilization. The colossal monster was partially endowed with senses and artificial intelligence. Created from the super-hot plasma surrounding the bonding core, it retained its appearance ...
Little is known about an anonymous French scientist called the Brain. This notorious criminal had worked with Niles Calder even before he assembled the Doom Patrol. The brain believes that Calder, out of envy, set up an incident that nearly cost him his life. The most important work of the Brain was a series of experiments that increased the intelligence of the gorilla to the level of a genius man (and ...
A superhero bunny from an alternate reality inhabited by anthropomorphic cartoon animals was just a humble comic book fan until he ate a space carrot. Having received superpowers, he became Captain Carrot, joining other heroes - Iron Pig, Homeless-Cat-Arba, Fastback the turtle, Yankee-Poodle and Rubber Duck - in the Zoo team. They took part in many funny adventures, meeting both Superman, ...
Dick Grayson has made a name for himself over the years, starting from scratch more than once. Grayson was the first Robin to partner with Batman and later became Nigchtwing. After the secret of his identity became public, he abandoned the life of a superhero in a suit and became a super spy from the secret organization "Spyral". Despite everything, Grayson remains one of the most ...
Little is known about the Bronze Tiger, one of the world's finest martial artists. Several years ago, he was seen in the ranks of the mercenaries as the old drinking companion of Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke. He worked for Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins and became an extremely influential figure in it. Moreover, when in its ranks ...
Cassandra Kane is the daughter of the excellent assassin David Kane, who worked for Mother under the pseudonym Orphan. Cassandra grew up in complete isolation, devoid of human warmth, knowing only brutal combat training. She could not speak, but she perfectly understood body language and could predict the actions of the enemy. This terrible method of preparation was at odds with Mother's idea of \u200b\u200bhow to bring up the stolen ...
David Caine is an experienced and ruthless hitman working for a mysterious underworld figure called the Mother. She abducted children and subjected them to terrible procedures, turning them into her agents. Codenamed Orphan, Kane served as Mother's hitman and fought Batman as the Dark Knight tried to stop her from taking over the world. Over time, myself ...
Trapped in the world of Batman by chance, Barbara Gordon has followed in the footsteps of her heroic father, Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon, all her life. While James helped Gotham, being one of the most honest and decent cops, Barbara did almost more for the city as a Batgirl. Having started her super-game career with imitation of the legendary Dark Knight, the girl ...
D C Comics is one of the most popular American comics and book publishing companies. The publisher creates Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935 under the name National Allied Productions and releases its first comic, New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine. In December of the same year, the name of the company changes, which appears as a logo on the cover of the new series. After some time, the title of the series was changed to "Adventure Comics". Its publication lasted until 1983 and ended with issue # 503.
In May 1939, the company prints # 27 of the "Detective Comics" series, which gains a sensational hit with readers thanks to its new fictional character, Batman. The company changes its name to Detective Comics Inc. On June 1, 1938, the publishing house launches a new series of Action Comics. In the first issue (the magazine was sold on February 22, 2010 for 317 thousand dollars) the reader is presented with a new superhero - Superman. In 1940, author Gardner Francis Cooper Fox and artist Harry Lampert present a new superhero to the reader, Flash, who appears in the pages of the new Flash series. In the same issue, the reader also gets acquainted with the original character Hawkman. In the same year, the reader is introduced to the new character created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell - Alana Scott, who becomes the first Green Lantern and appears in # 16 of the All-American Comics series. And also Catwoman appears in the Batman comic strip, who, thanks to the sympathy of the readers, gets her own episode. In 1941, on pages # 8 of "All Star Comics", a new superheroine appears - Wonder Woman, who becomes a favorite of readers. Her series is being produced to this day. In November of the same year, in the # 71 issue of the More Fun series, the reader meets a new character - Green Arrow, created by Martin Weisiger and Maria Kotik. In August 1947, in # 86 of Flash, the reader meets another superheroine - Black Canary, created by:
- Robert Kanigher;
- Carmine Infantino (eng. Carmine Infantino).
And July 1950 was marked by the appearance of a new character on pages # 59 of the Batman comic - Deadshot, created by David Readd and Lew Schwartz. In 1955, artist Joe Certa and writer Joseph Samachson introduce a new superhero to the reader, first introduced in Detective Comics # 225 - Martian Manhunter. In 1966 the reader is introduced to the supervillain - Poison Ivy. She first appears in pages # 181 of Batman.
To expand and gain market influence, the company merges with National Allied Publications and takes on a new name. In 1961, the publishing house became a corporation through mergers with several others and renamed "National Periodical Publications". Since 1940, the Superman-DC logo has been the first to be seen on the covers of magazines. It was he who gave the new name to the company - DC Comics in 1977.
Fight for copyright.
Fighting for copyright, the publisher is suing Fox. The created hero of the company - Wonder Man, is like two peas in a pod similar to Superman. And also on "Fawcett". The hero presented on the pages of their magazines - Captain Marvel, who was very popular at that time among readers, was also copied from Superman (although he had a different nature of his super powers). After losing the court, the company "Fawcett" in 1955 discontinued the magazine and sold the rights to its hero DC. In 1973, the Captain is revived in the new Shazam series.
Change of company policy.
In the 50s, the company's policy changed and at the direction of the editor-in-chief, most of the characters were reworked. Their costumes, behavior, as well as their civic positions are changing. This fate is avoided only by the main characters: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, although they receive some updates. New characters are created: Batgirl, Supergirl, Batman and others who become quite successful projects. Heroes begin to appear in joint comics. Such a combination creates a common universe - DC Universe. In 1961, editor Julius Schwartz created the concept of a parallel universe that merges old characters with new ones. In 1960, a series about the first team of superheroes, the Justice League, was launched. In 1961, Ray Palmer, known as the Atom, appears on page # 34 of Showcase. The hero was created by Gardner Fox and Jill Kane. Along with the goodies, the negative characters loved by the readers also receive their separate series. Throughout its existence, the company has pioneered many aspects of the comic book industry.
With the superheroes of the DC universe, I periodically die, then they are resurrected, they are reborn, they turn into villains, they are replaced by other personalities. I make films and serials based on the publishing house's products. They constantly appear on TV screens in various programs. The company creates and closes imprints for the release of various series, some of which exist to this day.
What is the DC Comics Multiverse? / According to Kishimyaki /
You can read DC comics online at