Detective Comics
| Detective Comics | |
|---|---|
 Detective Comics #1 (March 1937). Cover art by Vin Sullivan. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Detective Comics, Inc. (1–119) National Comics Publications (120–296) National Periodical Publications (297–467) DC Comics (468–present) |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | March 1937–present |
| Number of issues | 866 (+ #0 and #1,000,000 issues) |
| Main character(s) | Since #27: Batman |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Current: David Hine |
| Artist(s) | Jeremy Haun |
| Collected editions | |
| Batman Chronicles: Vol. 1 | ISBN 1401204457 |
Detective Comics is an American comic book published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best-known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in issue 27. It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and the source of its company's name. With 866 monthly issues published as of June 2010, it is the longest continuously published comic book in the United States.[1]
Contents |
Publication history
Detective Comics was the final publication of the entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, whose comics company, National Allied Publications, would evolve into DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comic book publishers, though long after its founder had left it. Wheeler-Nicholson's first two titles were the landmark New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (Feb. 1935), colloquially called New Fun Comics #1 and the first such early comic book to contain all-original content, rather than a mix of newspaper comic strips and comic-strip-style new material. His second effort, New Comics #1, would be retitled twice to become Adventure Comics, another seminal series that ran for decades until issue #503 in 1983.
The third and final title published under his aegis would be Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated Dec. 1936, but eventually premiering three months late, with a March 1937 cover date. In 1937, however, Wheeler-Nicholson was in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld, who was as well a pulp-magazine publisher and a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News. Wheeler-Nicholson took Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective Comics #1 through the newly formed Detective Comics, Inc., with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners. Wheeler-Nicholson was forced out a year later.
Originally an anthology comic, in the manner of the times, Detective Comics #1 (March 1937) featured stories in the "hard-boiled detective" genre popular, with such stars as Ching Lung (a Fu Manchu-style "yellow peril" villain); Slam Bradley (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster before their character Superman saw print two years later); and Speed Saunders, among others. Its first editor, Vin Sullivan, also drew the debut issue's cover.
Batman
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) featured the first appearance of Batman (as "The Bat-Man"). That superhero would eventually become the star of the title, the cover logo of which is often written as "Detective Comics featuring Batman".
Issue #38 (April 1940) introduced Batman's sidekick Robin (billed as "The Sensational Character Find of 1940" on the cover). Robin's appearance and the subsequent increase in sales of the book soon led to the trend of superheroes and young sidekicks that characterize the era fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books.
In addition to the Batman stories, the comic also had numerous back up strips such as "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel" in Detective Comics #225, the story which introduced Martian Manhunter.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the magazine adopted the expanded format used by the canceled Batman Family, adding solo features including "Robin: the Teen Wonder", "Batgirl", the "Human Target" and the anthology "Tales of Gotham City", which featured the stories of the ordinary people of Gotham City. Also used during the 1980s was the use of serialization of the main Batman story, with stories from Detective Comics and Batman directly flowing from one book to another, with cliffhangers at the end of each book's monthly story that would be resolved in the other title of that month. A single writer handled both books during that time beginning with Gerry Conway and followed up by Doug Moench.
Batwoman
In 2009, as part of planned reorganization of the Batman universe due to the events shown in Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis, Detective Comics went on hiatus for three months while DC Comics published the Battle for the Cowl miniseries. Upon its return, the series featured the newly reintroduced (in 52) Batwoman as the new star of the book, as well as a 10-page back-up feature starring Renee Montoya as the new Question.[2] The series returned Batman to a starring role in early 2010.
Awards
The "Manhunter" series that ran as a backup in "Detective Comics" from 1973 to 1974 won the Shazam Award for Best Individual Short Story (Dramatic) in 1974 for "Cathedral Perilous" in issue 441 (with Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson).
Character debuts
| Character | Issue Number | Month/Year |
|---|---|---|
| Slam Bradley | #1 | March 1937 |
| Crimson Avenger | #20 | Oct. 1938 |
| Batman | #27 | May 1939 |
| Commissioner James Gordon | #27 | May 1939 |
| Joe Chill | #33 | Nov. 1939 |
| Hugo Strange | #36 | Feb. 1940 |
| Robin | #38 | April 1940 |
| Clayface (Basil Karlo) | #40 | June 1940 |
| Penguin | #58 | Dec. 1941 |
| Two-Face | #66 | Aug. 1942 |
| Tweedledum and Tweedledee | #74 | April 1943 |
| Riddler | #140 | Oct. 1948 |
| Red Hood | #168 | Feb. 1951 |
| Firefly | #184 | June 1952 |
| Batmen of All Nations | #215 | Jan. 1955 |
| Martian Manhunter | #225 | Nov. 1955 |
| Batwoman | #233 | July 1956 |
| Calendar Man | #259 | Sep. 1958 |
| Bat-Mite | #267 | May 1959 |
| Clayface (Matt Hagen) | #298 | Dec. 1961 |
| Catman | #311 | Jan. 1963 |
| Blockbuster | #345 | Nov. 1965 |
| Cluemaster | #351 | May. 1966 |
| Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) | #359 | Jan. 1967 |
| Jason Bard | #392 | Oct. 1969 |
| Man-Bat | #400 | June 1970 |
| Talia al Ghul | #411 | May 1971 |
| Harvey Bullock | #441 | July 1974 |
| Leslie Thompkins | #457 | March 1976 |
| The Calculator | #463 | Sept. 1976 |
| Rupert Thorne | #469 | May 1977 |
| Silver St. Cloud | #470 | June 1977 |
| Clayface (Preston Payne) | #478 | July 1978 |
| Maxie Zeus | #483 | May 1979 |
| Killer Croc | #523 | Feb. 1983 |
| Jason Todd | #524 | March 1983 |
| Onyx | #546 | Jan. 1985 |
| Ventriloquist (Arnold Wesker) | #583 | Feb. 1988 |
| Anarky | #608 | Nov. 1989 |
| Renee Montoya | #642 | March 1992 |
| Stephanie Brown | #647 | Aug. 1992 |
| Crispus Allen | #742 | March 2000 |
| Sasha Bordeaux | #751 | Dec. 2000 |
| Nyssa Raatko | #783 | August 2003 |
| Ventriloquist (Peyton Reilly) | #827 | March 2007 |
Collected editions
See also Batman Reprint Collections
The series has been collected into a number of trade paperbacks:
- Batman Archives (seven volumes): Collects Batman stories issues from #27-154
- Vol.1 ISBN 9780930289607
- Vol.2 ISBN 9781563890000
- Vol.3 ISBN 9781563890994
- Vol.4 ISBN 9781563894145
- Vol.5 ISBN 9781563897252
- Batman Chronicles (ten volumes): Includes Batman stories from #27-81
- Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives (two volumes): Collects #327-339 (1964–1965)
- Showcase Presents: Batman (four volumes): Collects #327-390
- Manhunter: The Special Edition: Collects Manhunter backup from #437-442, and the Batman/Manhunter crossover in #443
- Batman: Strange Apparitions: Collects #469-476, 478-479 ISBN 1-56389-500-5
- Batman: Year Two: Collects #575-578
- Batman: Blind Justice: Collects #598-600
- Batman: Anarky: Collects #608-609
- Batman: Evolution: Collects #743-750
- Batman: The Man Who Laughs: Collects #784-786
- Batman: War Drums: Collects #790-796
- Batman: City of Crime: Collects #800-808, 811-814
- Batman: Face the Face: Collects #817-820 and Batman #651-654
- Batman: Detective: Collects #821-826
- Batman: Death and the City: Collects #827-834
- Batman: Private Casebook: Collects #840-845
- Batman: Heart of Hush: Collects #846-850
- Batwoman: Elegy: Collects #854-860, hardcover, ISBN 1-4012-2692-2
Detective Comics stories also appear in other Batman collections.
Notes
- ↑ . Action Comics has amassed more individual issues due to a period in the 1980s during which it was published weekly, and the American record-holder for most issues published is Dell Comics Four Color series, which amassed more than 1,300 issues over a 23-year run.
- ↑ "Batwoman takes over 'Detective'". ICv2. February 9, 2009. http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/14269.html. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
References
- Detective Comics at the Big Comic Book DataBase
- Jones, Gerard. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (Basic Books, 2004; trade paperback ISBN 0-465-03657-0)
External links
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