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Every comic enthusiast knows about DC Comics and its vast collection of superheroes. The company has been publishing comics for more than 85 years and has become an everyday name for most readers. The world of DC has a strong fanbase with heroes like Superman, Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman, or villains like Lex Luthor, Joker, and the Suicide Squad.
DC world has spread itself from comics to movies to TV shows. Moreover, new stories and parallel realities are welcomed by comic book readers who eagerly wait for each new issue. However, very few DC fans know what the acronym DC stands for.
As the company moved through many hands and published hundreds of comic series, it also experimented with company names. However, with buyouts and mergers, the name DC stuck with the company for as long as Batman, the hero of Detective Comics did. Thus, DC has taken its name from Detective Comics.
The origin of DC in DC Comics
As mentioned earlier, the name DC stands for Detective Comics, one of the early comic book series under this publication. The publishers started in 1934 as National Allied Publications founded by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in collaboration with Harry Donefeld. The first two major titles published by this company were New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine and New Comics.
A few years later, in 1937, Detective Comics published its first issue and, Detective Comics #27 introduced one of the most admired superheroes, Batman. Later, Wheeler-Nicholson sold his shares to Donefeld, and Detective Comics Inc. bought National Allied Publications. Donefeld brought in Jack Liebowitz as a partner and together they released another series called Action Comics introducing another popular superhero, Superman.
Initially, Detective Comics had a small seal on the cover page saying – A DC Publication. However, when the Superman stories started to have huge sales, the seal was changed to – A Superman DC Publication. By 1946, the company merged all the small parts such as National Allied and All-American Publications under the same banner. As such, the seal started reading – Superman DC National Comics.
Since the company was informally referred to as DC Company, they decided to officially call it DC Comics in 1977. The two letters – DC – had been consistently displayed on the pages of all their comics since almost the beginning.
Interesting snippets about DC Comics
Some people argue that the name DC Comics is weird and ridiculous since it falls under the category of “redundant acronym syndrome”. This is because DC stands for Detective Comics and DC Comics would essentially stand for – Detective Comics Comics. However, since the official name of the company is now DC, DC would stand for the brand while DC Comics would mean a specific product by the company.
All current DC superheroes come under DC Extended Universe, DCEU for short. While the company was expanding into other media such as TV, movies, and video games, it became a subsidiary of WB Entertainment. Its screen presence is handled by Warner Brothers Entertainment although the company continues to be one of the most successful comic book publications.
DC's upcoming film The Flash is set to be released in theatres on June 16, 2023, and will premiere in Los Angeles on June 12, 2023. The film stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen and will also see Michael Keaton reprise his role as Batman.
