Read marvel and dc comics. How to Read Superhero Comics: A Beginner's Guide

D C Comics (DC Comics) is one of the most popular American companies engaged in publishing comics and books. The publishing house was created by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935 under the name "National Allied Productions" and released its first comic book - "New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine". In December of the same year, the company name changes, which appears as a logo on the cover of the new series. After some time, the name of the series was changed to "Adventure Comics". Its publication continued until 1983 and ended with issue #503.

In May 1939, the company published issue #27 of the "Detective Comics" series, which became a sensational success among readers thanks to the newly invented hero - Batman. The company changes its name to Detective Comics Inc. On June 1, 1938, the publishing house launched new series Action Comics. In the first issue (the magazine was sold for 317 thousand dollars on February 22, 2010), the reader is introduced to a new superhero - Superman. In 1940, author Gardner Francis Cooper Fox and artist Harry Lampert introduce the reader to a new superhero, Flash, who appears in the pages of the new Flash series. In the same issue, the reader also gets acquainted with the original hero Hawkman. In the same year, the reader is introduced to a new hero created by Bill Finger and Martin Knodell - Alana Scott, who becomes the first Green Lantern and appears in issue #16 of the All-American Comics series. And also in the Batman comic, Catwoman appears, who, thanks to the sympathy of readers, receives her own series. In 1941, on the pages of issue #8 of All Star Comics, a new superheroine appeared - Wonder Woman, who became a favorite of readers. Her series are still published to this day. In November of the same year, in issue #71 of the More Fun series, the reader meets a new character - Green Arrow, created by Martin Weisiger and Maria Kotik. In August 1947, in issue #86 of Flash, the reader meets another superheroine - Black Canary, created by:

• Robert Kanigher;
• Carmine Infantino.

And July 1950 was marked by the appearance of a new character on the pages of issue #59 of the Batman comic - Deadshot, created by David Ridd and Lew Schwartz. In 1955, artist Joe Certa and writer Joseph Samachson introduce the reader to a new superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #225 - the Martian Manhunter. In 1966, the reader is introduced to the supervillain Poison Ivy. She first appears in the pages of Batman #181.

To expand and increase market influence, the company merges with National Allied Publications and takes a new name. In 1961, the publishing house became a corporation through a merger with several others and was renamed National Periodical Publications. Since 1940, readers have been the first to see the Superman-DC logo on the covers of magazines. It was he who gave the company a new name - DC Comics in 1977.

The fight for copyright.

Fighting for copyright, the publishing house is suing Fox. The company's created hero, Wonder Man, is exactly like Superman. And also on "Fawcett". The hero presented on the pages of their magazines, Captain Marvel, who was very popular among readers at that time, was also copied from Superman (although he had a different nature of his superpowers). Having lost the trial, the Fawcett company stopped publishing the magazine in 1955 and sold the rights to its hero to DC. In 1973, the Captain was brought to life in the new series Shazam.

Change of company policy.

In the 50s, the company's policy changed and, at the direction of the editor-in-chief, most of the characters were remade. Their costumes, behavior, as well as their civic positions change. Only the main heroes avoid this fate: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, although they receive some upgrades. New characters are being created: Batgirl, Supergirl, Batwoman and others which become quite successful projects. Heroes begin to appear in joint comics. This unification creates a common universe - DC Universe. In 1961, editor Julius Schwartz creates the concept of a parallel universe, which allows you to combine old heroes with new ones. In 1960, a series about the first team of superheroes - the Justice League - started. In 1961, Ray Palmer, known as Atom, appears on the pages of Showcase issue #34. The hero was created by Gardner Fox and Gill Kane. Along with the positive characters, negative characters that are loved by readers also receive their own separate series. Throughout its existence, the company has become an innovator in many aspects of the comics industry.

The superheroes of the DC universe periodically die, then they are resurrected, they are reborn, turn into villains, and are replaced by other personalities. I make films and TV series based on the publisher’s products. They constantly appear on television screens in various programs. The company creates and closes imprints to produce various series, some of which still exist today.

What is the DC Comics Multiverse? /According to Kisimäki/

You can read DC comics online on the website

DC Comics is one of the largest comic book publishers in the world, from the pages of its books the world learned about Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and many other characters. We invite you to get acquainted with the history of this company and, together with us, relive the brightest moments in its development. Let's go!

Appearing at the very beginning of the twentieth century, comics were a kind of symbol of the tendency to bring art to the masses. Simple and understandable literature for the people was necessary in a world where the boundaries between social strata were under pressure scientific achievements and changes in the financial structure, unexpectedly quickly but surely began to blur and lose meaning.

If in pre-revolutionary Russia, back in the nineteenth century, the Peredvizhniki artists tried to instill in the common people a sense of beauty with the help of paintings based on familiar and well-known folk tales, then in Western world Comics played the role of art for the masses. Moreover, in America, comic book heroes have become as legendary and significant as folklore characters in the Old World. It was they who instilled in young children the concepts of good and evil, the need for justice and honesty.

At first, of course, no one planned to bring the reasonable, good and eternal. The first comics were entirely devoted to humor, as their name itself suggests: from the English comic - funny. In 1895, comic books about little boy from China, dressed all in yellow, who came to America in search of adventure. Readers loved the "Yellow Kid" and soon every Sunday edition of the Morning Journal was accompanied by cartoon stories about him. For these purposes, the editors purchased a color printing press, and thanks to the bright yellow protagonist, the very concept of “yellow press” appeared in the world.

Subsequently, however, comics grew into an independent direction of mass culture and became especially popular in America. For thirty years, with varying degrees of success, the comics market was dominated by humorous, satirical and sharply social drawn stories, until in February 1934, National Allied Publications, now known to us all as DC Comics.

The company's first step was to release a large, tabloid-sized (279 × 432 mm) collection of entertainment stories, New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine. In December 1935, another comic book was published with a “New” title: New Comics - and its dimensions already set the standard for all comics in the future.

However, the beginning of the Golden Age of comics, as well as the emergence of the concept of a superhero in the world, will mark the first issue Action Comics, released on April 18, 1938, where the public will be introduced to the #1 comic book hero of all time, the father of all modern costumed crime fighters. The very idea of ​​a person with superpowers who strives to help ordinary people, who got into trouble, easily jumped over houses and lifted cars, excited the minds of readers. And, I must admit, the dream of getting at least some kind of superpower haunts not a single decent geek these days.

Initially Superme he did not have all the abilities that we know about now, and was simply an alien from a planet where gravity is much higher. This gave him enormous strength and the ability to jump incredible distances in our low-gravity Earth conditions. Then everything was simple: Superman did not charge from the sun, did not move at supersonic speed, did not shoot laser beams from his eyes and did not freeze opponents with his icy breath. It's hard to believe, but he didn't even fly. Now, of course, any of the X-Men could compete with the Kryptonian, but at that time the very idea of ​​superhuman abilities was so fresh and original that readers could fall in love with the new hero for this alone. Should we talk about his bright suit?

The creators of Superman and, in fact, the forefathers of the entire genre of superhero comics so beloved by us, were writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster. In creating the character, they were largely inspired by the cinema of that time. The city of Metropolis was named after the 1927 film Metropolis, and the name Clark Kent arose from the merger of the names of two movie stars of the time: Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. The character of the hero's earthly alter ego was based on comic book author Jerry Siegel and actor Harold Lloyd. As for the protagonist's love interest, Lois Lane, she was based on Siegel's future wife: Joanne Carter. The funniest thing about the development of Superman, who now embodies the best in humanity, is that he was originally conceived as a bald telepathic villain who dreams of world domination (this version of the character later served as the main character for Superman's main antagonist, Lex Luthor). However, some of the actions of our hero in the first comics, already in the role of a defender of justice, will still cause shock among modern fans: Superman did not hesitate to kill criminals or interfere in everyday affairs married couples and dealt with the scoundrels using very radical methods. The attitude of a boy scout from the Midwest was instilled into the character much later.

But let’s return to the development of the publishing house itself and the biography of its founder. Founded National Allied Publications in 1935. Wheeler-Nicholson's life was very interesting and outstanding long before comic books appeared in his life. He was born January 4, 1890 in Greenville, Tennessee. His father, whose last name was Strane, died shortly after the birth of his second child, brother Malcolm. His mother, Antoinette Wheeler, moved the family to New York, where she began a career as a journalist with a new women's magazine. Her new husband's surname, Malcolm's stepfather, was Nicholson, eventually forming a double surname for the legendary figure.

Young Wheeler-Nicholson, who spent his childhood on a horse ranch and was an excellent horseman, entered the military academy, and in 1917 joined the United States Cavalry. According to different sources, he was either the youngest or one of the youngest majors in the Cavalry and in the Army as a whole. According to his stories, the service was quite interesting and varied, since he managed to hunt bandits on the border with Mexico, and fight fever in the Philippines, and lead an infantry battalion against the Bolsheviks in Serbia, and help straighten things out in the French army. After the First World War, Wheeler-Nicholson was sent to a special military academy in France, where he met his future wife, Elsa Björkbom. They married in 1920 in Germany, and in 1922 their daughter Antoinette was born in his wife’s homeland of Sweden. A more than worthy biography for the man responsible for the birth of the superhero genre.

The events that follow somewhat overshadow the impeccable military career of Major Wheeler-Nicholson. He made a public accusation against the army command in a letter to President Harding, which led to a quarrel with many colleagues in the service, accusations against them, counter-accusations on their part, lawsuits and the subsequent, as his family calls it, attempt on Wheeler-Nicholson’s life, after which he was hospitalized with a bullet wound. For publishing his letter in the New York Times, Wheeler-Nicholson was sentenced to a court-martial, which led to his resignation in 1923, when his second daughter, Marianne, was born. His sons Malcolm and Douglas were born in 1927 and 1928, and his daughter Diana was born in 1932.

Wheeler-Nicholson writes several documentary war novels, then begins to engage in literature professionally, releasing short stories for pulp fiction. He soon gained some fame in the right circles, which gave him the opportunity to found his own publishing house: National Allied Publication, which, under his management, launched its own series of comics with new characters - “New Fun”. After some time, however, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was forced out of the company, but did not despair and, in partnership with publisher Harry Donenfeld, launched a new series of comics, this time well known to us Detective Comics, Inc. Then a continuous series of failures and bankruptcies begins, in which it is easy to get confused. Over the course of a year, Major Wheeler-Nicholson, unable to resolve his financial problems, was forced out of Detective Comics, Inc., at which point his participation in the history of comic book development finally ended. His first publishing house, National Allied Publication, also manages to go bankrupt and is bought out by Detective Comics, Inc. at auction.

Now that everything has become more or less clear, the scandalous Major Wheeler-Nicholson is no longer in the world of comics, and only the well-known Detective Comics, Inc. appears in our story, the company’s business is going uphill. The Action Comics series is launched with Superman at the helm, the success of which is mentioned above. In the 27th issue of Detective Comics, Batman makes his first appearance, instantly becoming the star of the series and displacing other, slightly less well-known stars in our time, such as the Chinese villain Chin Lun, the predecessor of Superman from the same authors Slam Bradley, and Speed ​​Sanders.

In the camp of the company itself for a long time There were various squabbles and reshuffles, and there was no iconic and cult figure around which she could rally (as Stan Lee became for Marvel Comics). Merged with National Allied Publication Detective Comics, Inc. takes the name National Comics, and in 1944 absorbs the All-American Publication concern. Following these events, a merger with Independent News takes place, which gives the new concern its own distribution network. All enterprises this time united under the name National Periodical Publications, whose shares appeared on the market in 1961. However, despite frequent name changes, since 1940, all comic books have had the logo "Superman-DC", which made the company known as “DC Comics” long before the official adoption of this name in 1977.

It is worth mentioning separately the “detective” comic book series, which not only gave the company its name, but also, in its 27th issue, introduced the world to such a cult character as. Batman's first adventure was called "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" and was written in pulp fiction style. The canons of this genre forbade the main character to kill enemies, endowed him with pangs of conscience, and subsequently gave him a full-fledged heroic motivation: revenge on the entire underworld for the death of his parents. It’s strange to think that from the very beginning, Batman was much less cruel than Superman, who easily kills criminals, which, however, did not stop him from throwing the main villain into a vat of acid in the very first issue. Literally a year after his appearance, Batman gets a solo series, in the first issue of which he meets such villains as the Joker and Catwoman, and also allows himself to kill several monster criminals. This event prompted the comic's editor, Whitney Ellsworth, to introduce a rule: the character could not kill anyone or use a weapon. This rule is the core principle of Batman to this day.

If the emphasis in the Superman comics was on action and entertainment, then the Batman comics tried to be made in a more detective and intellectual vein. Since the hero's deductive skills (and subsequently the title of the Best Detective in the World) were inspired by Sherlock Holmes, the hero is soon given his own Doctor Watson - the wonder boy Robin. And if later young partners for superheroes become fashionable, then in the case of Batman it was a logical measure to introduce a character with whom the protagonist could share his conclusions about the case being solved.

Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The first one is probably familiar to any fan of the Dark Knight, since not a single mention of it is complete without the note: “Created by Bob Kane.” However, from the very beginning, Kane brought his idea and sketches of the future hero to Bill Finger, with whom he developed the entire future concept of the comic, including many of the main villains, and plot details. Unfortunately, Bill Finger did not strongly insist on respecting copyrights at one time, and after many years he fell into depression due to the fact that he had not created anything worthwhile in his life, although it is difficult to come up with something more worthwhile and important for the world of comics than the creation of Batman. He is the undivided author of another DC character, Green Lantern. As for Bob Kane, he fought his way out of the copyright, along with Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, but this happened much later, in the seventies. And in the fifties, their heroes began to fight crime together for the first time, in the series World's Finest Comics, The Best Comics in the World. However, when comic book culture expanded beyond comics, the team acquired the name World’s Finest, that is, simply “The Best in the World” or “The World Elite.” This tandem can be considered the first version of the future Justice League.

At the same time, while their heroes were fighting crime, National Comics began a full-scale war against plagiarists of all stripes. Since, in fact, the very idea of ​​superhero comics belonged to them and was super successful, they had the right to sue almost anyone who tried to grab a piece of this successful pie. One of the most high-profile and important legal proceedings was the lawsuit against Fawcett Comics and their character Captain Marvel. And although Captain Marvel, beautiful in his naivety, was not much like Superman and was a simple child, who transformed himself into a superhero using magic, the court found deliberate and willful copying of registered material and upheld National Comics' claims. With the character's demise in 1955, the publisher also killed its competitor, Fawcett Comics.

Back then they had no idea that what would be even worse would be the appearance twelve years later of another player on the market - Marvel Comics. However, at that time, the monopoly of National Comics was undoubted, and their bankrupt competitors, feeling all the bitterness of irony, sold them the rights to Captain Marvel, who would later become a full-fledged participant in the DC Universe.

To be continued in .

The history of comics goes back to the distant 17th century, when the first engravings were published retelling the life stories of saints. These stories were called "Hallelujah." Modern name comics originated from English word“comic” - funny, which at the very beginning characterized their main storyline. Popular humorous stories in pictures were published under this name.

Comics gained the greatest popularity and distribution in America, where their production grew into an independent genre. However, if at the beginning these stories were purely humorous, then at the beginning of the 20th century the situation changed dramatically. Readers discovered superheroes. The first of which was Superman, whose appearance in 1938 we owe to the publishing house. This character opened golden era graphic genre about superheroes.

However, the Superhero of those times was significantly different from the one we know him now. His creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, described him as a character who came from another planet, whose gravity is several times greater than Earth's, and thanks to this he can move across the surface of the earth in huge leaps. His emblem: the letter "S" located in the center of a triangular shield, has become the most recognizable symbol of this character.

After his triumphant appearance, superheroes literally filled the pages of comic books. In total, more than 400 heroes were invented during that period. supernatural powers, many of which have survived to this day. Some of them were united into teams of superheroes, about which individual stories. This is the well-known Justice League and the Young Titans. The second world war had a significant influence on the created heroes of comics. It was then that such famous superheroes as Captain America and Wonder Woman, who fought against the Nazi regime, were born. In addition, after the end of the war, heroes with nuclear abilities began to appear.

Despite the fact that after the end of the war the popularity of comics began to decline, it was during this period that new life superhero Flash, which was re-released in October 1956 by DC Comics. This hero fell in love with readers not only due to his speed power, but also the ability to travel through time and parallel universes.

In our time, many beloved comics have been filmed, which has helped not only to revive interest in this genre, but also to open it to new readers. The updated superheroes received not only new life and adventures in modern world. Thanks to modern technologies their capabilities have expanded, and their enemies have become more dangerous. However, the main direction of comics has remained unchanged, these are heroes with superpowers and travel in parallel universes. On our website you can read from your computer, tablet or phone for free without registration or SMS.