Friday Funday.....DC Comics.
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Hey
there Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and
lend an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird,
wacky and wondrous. I'm Mama Ogre and I have no idea what I'm doing.
Its
Friday Funday (WOOOOOOOOOOOOH) and today's blog is on the Comic Brand
DC Comics. Since last week was its counterpart/Contemporary Marvel
Comics.
DC
comics, Inc. Is an American comic book publisher part of the
publishing unit of DC entertainment and since 1967 its been a
subsidiary of Warner Bro's. DC comics (DC meaning Detective comics)
is one of the oldest and largest American comic book companies and
whilst most of their works takes place in the fictional DC universe
have also published non DC-universe related material (including
Watchmen, V for Vendetta and many titles under their alternative
imprint Vertigo). DC Comics and Marvel Comics collectively shared 70%
of the comic book market in 2017.
Entrepreneur
Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded national allied publications
in 1934 debuting with the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic
Magazine #1 with a cover date of Feb 1935, the company secondary
title of New Comics hit shelves in December 1935 appearing in the
size close to what would become Comic book standard. The title
evolved a third and final time as Detective comics in 1937 but by
then Wheeler-Nicholson had gone since he was in debt to Printing
plant and Magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld. In order for a
restart with Detective comics #1 Wheeler-Nicholson went into
partnership with Donenfeld and Detective Comics Inc. was born.
What's
considered the golden age of DC comics started on September 30th
1946 as the company began absorbing affiliated concerns such as
All-American Publications. Despite the legal names of National Comics
and National Periodical Publications (as they had become during the
50s/60s thanks to the mergers) the company had become known as DC
comics until they legally took on the name in 1977. When the
Superhero's faded in popularity during the late 1940's DC turned to
the genres of Science-fiction, Westerns, humour and romance as well
as publishing crime and horror titles. A handful of the most popular
comics continued publication.
The
silver age as fans called it was sparked off during the mid 1950s
when editorial director Irwin Donenfeld and Publisher Liebowitz
directed Editor Julius Schwartz to produce a one shot Flash story
with the title of Showcase. Schwartz had writers Robert Kanigher and
John Broome, penciller and Inker Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert
create an entirely new updated and modernised Flash. This led to the
revamping of the Green lantern and led to the introduction of the
Modern Justice Leuge of America and many more Superheroes.
Whilst
DC had its characters such as Superman and Batman sharing comics as
well as creating what would become the DC multiverse Marvel was
heading on the up which they could no longer ignore after some time,
due to the fact that Marvels selling percentage was 70% whilst DC was
at 50%. DC didn't slack in their work ethic however with several
comics being created which were well received and the 1966 Batman
show bumped comic sales for a time. In 1967 batman artist Infanto
rose from art director to DC's Editorial director and he took to
hiring major talents such as Steve Ditto (Spiderman co-creator and ex
marvel artist) and newcomers Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil as well as
replacing a few editors to give DC a new edge. despite Marvels
attempts at toppling DC off the top place.
The
1970s and 1980s became known as the bronze age for DC as Fantasy
themes gave way to a more naturalistic and occasionally darker theme
set. Illegal Drug use which had been banned by the CCA (Comics code
Authority) made its first appearance in the Marvel Comic story Green
Goblin Reborn (The amazing adventures of spiderman issue 96-May
1971), with the Codes updating DC offered a drug fuelled storyline in
the Green Lantern, beginning with the story “Snow birds don't fly”
in the retitled Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic number 85 which
depicted a sidekick-known as speedy having become a heroin addict.
Jack
Kirby worked for DC during the early 1970's having once worked for
Marvel. Whilst his work which thematically linked series together
under the title of the fourth wall was eventually cancelled a lot of
his work paved the way for the broadening of the DC universe. Kirby
managed to introduce enduring characters and a few concepts such as
Archvillian Darkseid and the other dimensional realm Apokolips and
eventually created several unrelated series such as Kamandi, The
Demon and OMAC out of obligation to his contract but ultimately
returned to Marvel.
With
the silver age Teen Titans revitalisation DC Editors decided to do
the same for the wider DC Universe, the result the limited 12 issue
series Crisis on infinite earths, gave the company to realign and
jettison some of the continuity discrepancies and several characters
complicated backgrounds. A companion publication published in two
volumes under the title of The History of DC ~Universe gave out the
revised history of the major DC characters. Crisis having featured
several key deaths eventually shaped the DC universe for the
following decades. Leading to a separation of the DC Timelines into
Pre and Post Crisis.
During
the comic boom of the 1990's DC's extended storylines such as
crippled batman the green lantern turning into the Supervillain
Parallax and Superman being killed resulted in dramatically increased
sales but it was as temporary as their replacements. DC worked hard
through the slump and came out the other side with several new titles
being published under Americas best comics which were eventually
stopped.
The
early 2000s had DC acquiring publishing and merchandising rights to
Elf quest by Wendy and Richard Pini, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents by Tower
Comic's as well as temporary rights to 2000 AD and humanoids. As the
2010s kicked in DC rebooted all of its running titles in the
Flashpoint storyline. The reboot gave new origin stories and costume
designs to many DC characters under the label of The New 52's.
Like
Marvel DC started producing movies out of its comics, with the likes
of Batman and Superman being constantly made into various movies with
various plots. The DC movie franchise has often been referred to as
both the DC Extended universe (DCEU) and the DC Cinematic Universe
(DCCU), with the universe often spanning several films and having
several media tie-ins being published as well. The recent movies of
The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League Aquaman and Shazaam
proving the characters are just as popular as their comic persona.
I've
dipped in and out of reading comics since I was a teenager and whilst
not an avid collector, I can appreciate having/owning several copies
of your favourite characters comic to hand makes you feel good. My
favourite characters from DC are Harley Quinn for her evolution to
loving a crazed madman to loving herself, The Joker for his
creativity and having a twisted background which fuelled his madness,
Poison Ivy and Cat Woman for their abilities to hold their own.
Websites
for DC Comics and what I used for Info:
And
there you have it, we'll be leaving this here for today please be
considerate when you leave a comment, share with others if you want
or not. Tuesday is book blog day and remember all abuse will be
tracked and reported to the appropriate people.
THIS
IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY
WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
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