DC Comics, one of the biggest American comic book companies today, began under a different name in 1934. Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson established National Allied Publications in order to produce New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (February 1935), subsequently renamed More Fun, the first comic book to feature original tales in several genres rather than comic strip reprints.
Soon after, Wheeler-Nicholson launched a second magazine, New Comics, which later became Adventure Comics. His third and last title was Detective Comics, which debuted in March 1937 and is credited with introducing Batman to the world. Wheeler-Nicholson had to collaborate with magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld to produce this third title since he was in debt. Detective Comics, Inc. was founded at the time, but Wheeler-Nicholson’s financial difficulties persisted, and he was forced out a year later. After National Allied declared bankruptcy, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased it.
Not long later, Action Comics #1 was published, creating the Superman universe. As the character gained popularity, the Golden Age of Comic Books began, and the publisher launched an array of new superheroes. Throughout the history of comic books, DC Comics has been forced to reestablish its universe and main continuity several times, with various events bringing in a new era each time.
The following is a presentation of each era, consisting of amazing comics, dreadful comics, bizarre, humorous, and much more.
The Eras of DC Comics
I. The Golden Age (1938-1956)
Though DC had been producing superhero comic books for a few years and had introduced its first regular character Doctor Occult in 1935, the Golden Age at DC Comics is generally regarded as beginning with the publication of Action Comics #1 in the spring of 1938 — and the introduction of Superman!
Comic books at the time were not synonymous with superheroes. Many genres, from Western to romances, mystery, horror, and more were represented and many stories in those genres were still published and popular during the Golden Age. Nevertheless, the superhero’s increasing popularity defined the Golden Age of Comic books in many ways.
Many well-known characters, like Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Doctor Fate, and Aquaman, were introduced. Sidekick characters became a recurring trope, with Robin joining the crimefighting efforts and specialized heroes like The Flash also made their debut. However, the most popular character at the time was possibly Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel (today known as Shazam), who sold roughly 1.4 million copies every issue.
Comic books were growing in popularity during this period, with many patriotic heroes emerging to help fight the good fight and defeat the Nazis. The superhero of DC Comics also came together to create the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics #3 (1940), becoming the first superhero team book in comic history. This move established that those characters were all living in the same universe.
Following the War, the popularity of superhero comics declined, and the final Golden Age adventure of the Justice Society of America took place in 1951. The book Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Frederic Wertham was published in 1954. It claimed that comic books were corrupting youth in America, leading to juvenile delinquency and sexual perversion. As a result, the Comics Code Authority was established, which prohibited moral ambiguity, mild violence, or any representation of sexuality in comic books, resulting in more conservative and kid-friendly comics.
Though the precise conclusion of the Golden Age era is uncertain, the Comics Code Authority is often seen as the final stroke, ushering us into the next era.
II. The Silver and Bronze Age aka pre-crisis (1956-1985)
With the founding of the Comics Code Authority, the Silver Age was a time of rigid moral codes and new versions of superheroes! On the cover of Showcase #4 (1956), Barry Allen as the Flash was sprinting quickly towards success. This issue is often regarded as the beginning of the Silver Age.
Although Other heroes like Martian Manhunter/J’onn J’onzz and Captain Comet had already made appearances, the success of the Flash led to the reworking of several superheroes, like Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Atom, with DC Comics altering their names, backgrounds, and origins. As the Space Race was raging, science and speculative fiction took over magic in the world of DC Comics to explain the origins of powers for several characters and played a significant role in stories. Though you shouldn’t think for a minute it helped create more realistic stories, you’ll be wrong!
New versions of existing characters were presented, as well as new characters including Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Adam Strange, Ralph Dibny, Zatanna, Batgirl, and others, as well as new superhero teams. Superboy joined the Legion of Super-Heroes, a superhero team from the thirty-first century, in 1958. In 1960, the Justice League of America was established with updated versions of Green Lantern, Flash, and other heroes.
What happened to the superheroes of the Golden Age? DC Comics reintroduced the Justice Society in Flash #123 in 1963 and revealed that they existed on an alternate earth called Earth 2 while superheroes from the Silver Age were located on Earth-One. The Multiverse was established, leading to recurring team-up between the JSA and the JLA.
Superheroes had numerous adventures during the Silver Age and into the Bronze Age. There is no exact date dividing those two periods, and they are sometimes combined since they are so similar. Though it appears that the Silver Age was gone by the 1970s.
Both periods are comparable, albeit the Bronze Age is distinguished by darker stories dealing with societal themes and a diminished presence of the Comics Codes. When the Comics Code Authority refused to approve Swamp Thing issue #29 in 1984, DC opted to continue publishing the series without it. With the comeback of horror comics and the arrival of non-Code-approved periodicals on the stand, the comics industry began to break free from the Comics Code Authority.
Over 50 new series were launched at DC Comics, but the majority did not do well and were simply canceled, resulting in what is now known as “the DC implosion.” The firm was on the verge of collapse.
Finally, DC Comics put an end to their Bronze Age period by simply destroying the DC Multiverse with the release of Crisis on Infinite Earths mini-series in 1985.
III. The Modern Age (1986-2011)
Before Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics had a multiverse with many characters living on different Earths. The event’s goal was to simplify continuity and eliminate the ambiguity caused by several Earths. As a result, all characters, whether created in-house or acquired, such as Shazam and the Charlton characters (Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, Captain Atom, the Question, and so on), were unified onto a single Earth.
Some characters, however, who no longer fit the new narrative were removed. DC Comics wanted to update its universe and make it more appealing to new readers. Characters like Supergirl and Flash (Barry Allen) were sacrificed, symbolizing the end of the Silver Age.
DC Comics changed the origins and histories of several characters. While some elements remained unchanged, several were dramatically altered. To distinguish which version was being referred to, characters would be referred to as Pre-Crisis or Post-Crisis.
This post-Crisis universe gave us Wally West as the new Flash, while John Byrne penned a new origin story for Superman, and his mythos was reduced to the bare essentials. Under George Perez, Wonder Woman was treated as an entirely new character. Batman: Year One would go on to become one of the most popular Batman stories ever published.
Because the Modern Age spans such a broad period, it is more difficult to describe this era, which has been revised several times. Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! was a 1994 crisis crossover that attempted but failed to settle the multiple inconsistencies developed since 1985. In 2005, the miniseries Infinite Crisis examined many of the alterations brought about by Crisis on Infinite Earths and brought back some old concepts.
Finally, Barry Allen traveled back in time to save his mother in the Flashpoint event, the conclusion leading to a new complete reboot of the DC Universe.
IV. New 52 (2011-2016)
DC Comics made its second big reboot 25 years after Crisis on Infinite Earths, utilizing Flashpoint to create a new reality for its characters. Classic characters were rewritten, origins and costumes were altered, and a new world known as the New 52 was born. At least if you weren’t quite as successful before the reboot, like Batman and the Green Lanterns, whose histories were less impacted by the changes.
The company canceled all of its publications and relaunched 52 new titles to promote this new continuity to old and new readers. Events took place in a world where superheroes had only arrived five years before. Characters from Vertigo and Wildstorm, such as Constantine and The Grifter, were incorporated into the new DC Continuity.
Some characters, most notably Wally West, were simply removed from the timeline, while Barry Allen was reintroduced as a younger, unmarried version. He was not the only de-aged hero: Oliver Queen, Arthur Curry, and the Earth-2 heroes were all affected.
DC chose to move away from the more positive tone that had come to define its comics in favor of a darker and grittier tone, which influenced several altered origin stories (see Black Adam, for example) and the characterizations of some characters. Clark Kent/Superman was one of the most criticized representations of the period. Simply put, he was often a jerk, which is not what you would expect from someone who is regarded as a symbol of hope.
The New 52 was not the huge success that DC Comics had planned for, and the company utilized the 2015 Convergence event, which was published while the DC offices moved from New York to Los Angeles, to discontinue the New 52 branding.
The new brief period that followed (and is commonly merged into the New 52 era) was named ‘DC You’ and lasted barely a year before DC Comics moved on to its subsequent and more successful soft reboot.
- See our Complete New 52 Reading Order
V. Rebirth/DC Universe (2016-2018)
DC Rebirth, which debuted in 2016, was the company’s latest big redesign to reignite interest in its comic books. Taking a cue from Marvel’s recent line-wide relaunches (dubbed All-New, All-Different Marvel), DC restored the DC Universe to a form similar to that prior to the 2011 Flashpoint event while still incorporating many elements of The New 52. Simply put, it was a combination of the best of both worlds!
Geoff Johns, renowned for his past successful “rebirths” of Green Lantern and The Flash, was in charge of this initiative, which aimed to restore their characters to an older status quo while modernizing the concepts for new audiences. Johns wanted to celebrate both the past and the present by using concepts from pre-“Flashpoint” continuity while taking into consideration all that has happened subsequently. While iconic titles Action Comics and Detective Comics were returned to their old numbering (#957 and #934, respectively), a line-wide relaunch occurred at the same time.
While embracing the past, Rebirth was still designed to be accessible to new readers, maybe more effectively than New 52. Almost all of the characters had their designs altered; some, like Wally West, resurfaced, while others were redesigned. Pre-Flashpoint Superman had returned, married to Lois Lane and now father to young Jon Kent, while rookie Green Lanterns Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz took over as Earth’s new defenders. Greg Rucka attempted to reconcile contradictions in Wonder Woman’s history. Green Arrow and Black Canary ultimately cross paths.
Most crucially, DC Comics made the deliberate decision to limit crossover events initially, while it comes as no surprise that the first crossover event to occur a few weeks into the Rebirth period was Batman’s Night of the Monster Men.
In September 2016, DC Comics introduced Young Animal, an imprint inspired by Vertigo Comics founded by Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance frontman and creator of The Umbrella Academy) in order to broaden and attract new readers. hough not new-readers friendly really, the Wildstorm Universe was revived by Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt.
DC Comics discontinued the Rebirth branding in December 2017, instead incorporating everything under the bigger “DC Universe” banner and name. However, the following notable rebranding initiative occurred much later, in the aftermath of Dark Nights: Death Metal and DC Future State…
VI. DC Infinite Frontier (2021-2023)
Following the confusing events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, Our heroes’ accomplishment led time-space to warp, providing a glimpse of a possible future known as DC Future State. Now that the DC Universe has expanded into a gigantic Omniverse or multiverse of multiverses, Our heroes are ready to go on new adventures… in DC Infinite Frontier!
Shepherded by writer Joshua Williamson, DC Infinite Frontier was not a reboot o in any way, as the new idea was that anything might be canon. If numerous series were relaunched with new creative teams to make it easier for new readers to get started, other titles, such as James Tynion’s Batman or Ram V’s Catwoman, continued their runs.
This brief (less than two years) era carried on what DC Rebirth started by re-establishing the status quo of characters before the New 52. Characters’ memories and relationships with each other were restored, while maintaining some of the simpler backstories from the modern era as well as keeping many of the new characters.
VIII. Dawn of DC (2023-)
The DC Universe was once again afflicted by a Dark Crisis, which resulted in the restoration of the pre-Crisis infinite Multiverse and the disbandment of the Justice League. It was followed by a volcanic eruption on Lazarus Island that dispersed Lazarus Resin all over the world, causing devastation on the DC Universe. Following those two events, DC began building a new future “one hero at a time.”
This is the Dawn of DC initiative, the period we are in at the time of writing…