DC Comics: A Visual History

For more than 70 years, DC Comics has been entertaining children and adults alike. Here, for the first time, is the chronological account of the adventures of both the characters and the company that created them.

The DC Chronicle Year by Year traces DC's fascinating story: the company's beginnings as National Allied Publications in the 1934, and its subsequent change to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1937. The book details all the major DC publishing landmarks and more, displayed clearly, month by month.

Highlighting the debuts of Superman and Batman, the geniuses that invented them, and the real-life events-like the Vietnam War, the atom bomb, the Space Race- that shaped the atmosphere of the times, DC Chronicle Year by Year follows the characters' foray into the real world through TV series and blockbuster movies.

Features original cover art by well-known DC artist Ryan Sook and a foreword by Paul Levitz, who was president of DC Comics from 2002 - 2009.

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In 1938, DC Comics set the template for the nascent comic-book business when it introduced Superman, creating the superhero genre that would dominate the medium for most of the next seven decades. This lavish, slipcased volume traces the company’s long history, which mirrors the trajectory of the entire industry: after starting out in the mid-1930s with black-and-white publications that emulated newspaper comic strips, DC was in the forefront of the ascendance of superheroes in the 1940s. Tastes shifted the following decade, and DC moved into the same genres as other publishers: horror, war, westerns, and romance. Superheroes bounced back in a big way in the 1960s—led by DC’s revival of its most popular characters, such as the Flash and Green Lantern—and they’ve constituted the bulk of the company’s roster ever since. The book’s colorful, chronological rundown showcases a dozen or so key titles from each year, reproducing the cover and detailing the issue’s significance. No matter when their comics-reading youth occurred, anyone who ever loved comics, from baby boomers to millennials, will enjoy this nostalgia-laden tome. --Gordon Flagg