How DC Comics Originated
Times were tough for Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, a man who risked it all to pursue his dream of creating a compelling comic book series. After leaving his post as a cavalry officer in the army, Wheeler-Nicholson dabbled in fiction and began the National Allied Publications in 1929, which was a one-of-a-kind magazine featuring all original comics from unknown artists. “His wife would call [from home on Long Island] and be in tears,” explained Wheeler-Nicholson’s former landlord. “And [she'd] say she didn’t have money and the milkman was going to cut off the milk for the kids. I’d send out 10 bucks, just because she needed it.” By 1937, on the verge of financial ruin, the Major had added Harry Donenfeld on as a partner and within the year, he was forced to sell his magazine to Donenfeld and his partner Jack S. Liebowitz. Thus, DC Comics was born.
After “the Golden Age of comic books” throughout the 30s and 40s, the owners of DC Comics waged a massive war against the comic book industry, usurping any smaller competing publications, suing imitators and aggressively driving out competition. However, by the 1950s, there was a lull in public demand for superhero stories and many of the graphic novels centered on science fiction stories, romance, westerns and a few tame crime stories. During the “Silver Age of comic books” in the mid-1950s, writers and publishers at DC came up with a new kind of superhero, one that fused the marvel of modern science with an ordinary man to create an accidental superhero; The Flash. Picking up on these themes, Stan Lee and Marvel Comic Books built their empire based on this idea of the “very human” superhero, which gave audiences something they could relate to.
After “the Silver Age of comic books” of the 1950s and 1960s came “the Bronze Age” of the 1970s and 1980s. The Silver Age had introduced characters who were more “human” and less stereotypical do-gooders. They, like humans, hosted a range of emotions, interacted with other humans and struggled with complex psyches. During the “Bronze Age,” darker and previously-off-limits themes of drug abuse, personal vices, inner conflict and anti-hero character development entered the comic realm. Kids were no longer the only readers, so the business savvy comic book creator had to address more serious themes of society, personality defects and science.
The 1980s began what is known as “the Modern Age of comic books,” which persists today. This “Modern Age” builds off the Bronze Age but delves even further into the darker side of graphic novels, intertwining sex, drugs, vices, psychological struggles, imperfect anti-heroes, cynicism and social critique. During this time, the DC Comics Batman’s The Dark Knight series takes off, X-Men launches into the complex back histories of their characters and the Mutants went to war against the humans, and a number of apocalyptic comics graphic novels came out, threatening the end of the world.
DC Comics may be the oldest of the “superhero” genre, although it’s certainly not the only one. Its rival, Marvel Comics, has seen decades of illustrious success, picking up its steam in the 1960s, pushing comics graphic novels to new heights as a way to grapple with psychological issues and purge frustrations with oneself and society at large. There will always be heroes and villains in the world so it’s unlikely that this medium, which is often passed down from generation to generation, will ever die.
