1 released in December 1935 which would be the start of the long-running Adventure Comics series featuring many anthology titles as well.
The company created a second recurring title called New Comics No. 6 of New Fun Comics, is considered as the earliest recurring superhero created by DC that is still used. The character Doctor Occult, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in December 1935 within the issue No. While superhero comics are what DC Comics is known for throughout modern times, the genres in the anthology titles consisted of funnies, Western comics and adventure-related stories starting out. An anthology title essential for containing original stories not reprinted from newspaper strips unlike many comic book series before. The first publishing of the company debuted with the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (the first of a comic series later called More Fun Comics) with a cover date of February 1935. Įntrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications in Autumn 1934 intended as an American comic book publishing company. Unlike comic book magazines series up to that point, characters in this book, such as the Western character Jack Wood, were original creations, and did not originate in comic strips. Ĭover art of the first comic book by National Comics Publications, cover dated February 1935. With the sales of all books included, DC is the second biggest publisher, after Viz Media, and Marvel is third. Discovery's main competitor) together shared approximately 70% of the American comic book market in 2017, though this number may give a distorted view since graphic novels are excluded. DC Comics and its longtime major competitor Marvel Comics (acquired in 2009 by The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Penguin Random House Publisher Services distributes DC Comics' books to the bookstore market, while Diamond Comic Distributors supplied the comics shop direct market until June 2020, where Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors, who already distributed to the direct market due to Diamond's distribution interruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced Diamond to distribute to that market. DC had its headquarters at 1700 Broadway, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but DC Entertainment relocated its headquarters to Burbank, California in April 2015. Originally in Manhattan at 432 Fourth Avenue, the DC Comics 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. The company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Fables and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo. The universe also features a large number of well-known supervillains such as the Joker, Lex Luthor, the Cheetah, the Reverse-Flash, Black Manta, Sinestro, and Darkseid. It is widely known for some of the most famous and recognizable teams including the Justice League, the Justice Society of America, the Suicide Squad, and the Teen Titans. The majority of its publications take place within the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters, such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Cyborg. ĭC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their first comic under the DC banner being published in 1937. (or simply DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.