DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book series first published in 1937.
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book Action Comics #1. Superman has been adapted to a number of other media, which includes radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games.
Joseph Shuster, was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1.
Maxwell Charles Gaines was an American publisher and a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book.
Jerome Siegel was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. With Bernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC character The Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess.
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011, is best known for introducing the superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27.
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority. The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century.
Notable events of 1939 in comics.
Irwin Donenfeld was an American comic book publishing executive for DC Comics. Donenfeld co-owned the firm from 1948 to 1967, holding the positions of Editorial Director (1952–1957) and Executive Vice President. He was the son of Harry Donenfeld, co-founder of the company.
More Fun Comics, originally titled New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine, was a 1935–1947 American comic book anthology that introduced several major superhero characters and was the first American comic book series to feature solely original material rather than reprints of newspaper comic strips. It was also the first publication of National Allied Publications, the company that would become DC Comics.
Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, born as Malcolm Strain on was an American pulp magazine writer and entrepreneur who pioneered the American comic book, publishing the first such periodical consisting solely of original material rather than reprints of newspaper comic strips. Historian and author David Hajdu credits Wheeler-Nicholson as "the link between the pulps and what we know of as comics today." He launched the magazine comics company National Allied Publications in 1934, which would evolve to become DC Comics one of the United States' two largest comic book publishers along with rival Marvel Comics. He was a 2008 Judges' Choice inductee into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Sheldon Mayer was an American comics artist, writer, and editor. One of the earliest employees of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications, Mayer produced almost all of his comics work for the company that would become known as DC Comics.
Lloyd Victor Jacquet was the founder of Funnies, Inc., one of the first and most prominent of a handful of comic book "packagers" established in the late 1930s that created comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium. Among its other achievements, Funnies, Inc. supplied the contents of Marvel Comics #1, the first publication of the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Characters created by Jacquet's company include the Sub-Mariner and the original Golden Age Human Torch.
All-American Publications, Inc. was one of two American comic book companies that merged to form the modern-day DC Comics, one of the two largest publishers of comic books in the United States. Superheroes created for All-American include the original Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Wonder Woman, all in the 1940s' Golden Age of Comic Books.
Creig Valentine Flessel was an American comic book artist and an illustrator and cartoonist for magazines ranging from Boys' Life to Playboy. One of the earliest comic book illustrators, he was a 2006 nominee for induction into the comics industry's Will Eisner Hall of Fame.
Harry Donenfeld was an American publisher. He is known primarily for being the co-owner with Jack Liebowitz of National Periodical Publications. Donenfeld was also a founder of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Jacob S. Liebowitz was an American accountant and publisher. He is known primarily for being the co-owner with Harry Donenfeld of National Periodical Publications.
Independent News Co. was a magazine and comic book distribution business owned by National Periodical Publications, the parent company of DC Comics. Independent News distributed all DC publications, as well as those of a few rival publishers, such as Marvel Comics from 1957 to 1969, in addition to pulp and popular magazines. The company was founded in 1932 and operated until 1970.
In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster gave away the copyright to Superman to Detective Comics, Inc., the predecessor of DC Comics. In 1948, National Comics settled ownership and royalties disputes and paid $94,013.16 for Superman and Superboy rights. In 1969, a court ruled that Siegel and Shuster's grant of copyright included their renewal rights. Shuster died in 1992 and his heirs re-granted their rights for a $25,000 annual stipend. In 2001, the Siegel heirs took back their rights using the termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976 and accepted a new purchase offer from Warner.
National Comics Publications and All-American Publications, two precursors to DC Comics, were formed publishing American comic books such as superhero comics starting in the 1930s. Primary Comic book anthology titles created by the company was More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, Detective Comics, Action Comics, All-American Comics and Superman. Other companies like Quality Comics and Fawcett Comics would later be merged into DC. Quality started by introducing comic books like Feature Comics and Smash Comics.
