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DC Comics is recognized worldwide for its characters, comics, cartoons, and films. It is one of the oldest comic book publishers in America, having started in 1937. The company has a large percentage of the book publishing market cornered, especially graphic novels (second-largest after Viz Media). However, most fans probably aren't aware of its intimate history or what the acronym "DC" stands for.
Truth be told, the publisher wasn't called DC Comics at first. This article takes a brief look at the company's history and what finally made the founders and people that came after them choose the name "DC Comics."
The complicated history of DC Comics' trademarked name
National Allied Publications
The company that would become DC Comics was started as National Allied Publications in 1934, with the first comics being of the anthology genre and the earliest superhero character being Doctor Occult. The character was created in 1935 by legendary creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Detective Comics Number 1 came out in 1937 and helped inspire DC's abbreviations. National Allied Publications was sold off as it hit bankruptcy by Detective Comics Inc. The company then launched Action Comics #1 (Superman's first appearance) in June 1938, with Batman showing up in Detective Comics #27 and generally sparking the superhero genre of comics.
National Allied Publications officially merged with Detective Comics Inc in 1946. They fused into one conglomerate after a series of buyouts that resulted in the name, National Periodical Publications, being the default moniker for the single corporate entity, including National Comics and All American Publications, until 1977.
DC Comics is born
Officially, the name "DC Comics" wasn't adopted until 1977. The "DC" stands for "Detective Comics," the comic publication and company responsible for characters like Batman. It used the brand "Superman-DC" since the 1950s, though it had been colloquially called DC Comics for years beforehand.
The "Detective Comics" label was definitely apt after the 1940s when superhero comics were on the wane. As a funny coincidence, they published tame crime and horror comics that would better fit a B movie and ultimately avoided the bulk of the Comics Code Authority backlash that hit the industry in the 1950s.
The acquisition of many comic publications also came with its fair share of growing pains. Lawsuits against their main competitor at the time, Fawcett Comics, came in fast and hard. Fawcett Comics would be forced to fold in 1963, and Captain Marvel/Shazam was revived in 1972.
The 1970s and all manner of growing pains
The 1970s saw the official coining of DC Comics as a trademark. It also saw a lot of growing pains. These include price changes, the number of titles, "The DC Explosion/Implosion" when a push for more books and the line to be longer backfired, and new management.
Royalties, for example, began to become more common at DC in the 1970s, when they acquired talents like George Perez and Marv Wolfman. The first miniseries, World of Krypton, premiered in 1979, helping to create finite storylines.
Two such limited series may be familiar to both comic veterans and newbies: Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen by Alan Moore. Neil Gaiman likewise started Sandman as a limited series with DC in 1989. These titles all helped make inroads for comics to be accepted in book industries, leading to commercially successful trade paperbacks.
This article is an extremely abridged history of the name Detective Comics, where DC got its name. The publisher and company has been a staple of the worldwide comic book scene since the 1930s. It hasn't stopped being successful despite fierce competition from manga publishers like Viz Media and other comic companies like Marvel.
Whatever any readers may think of DC Comics, good or ill, the history and origins of names and characters are always important to note. If any notable details were left out, readers are encouraged to highlight them in the comments.
