Who does not know about DC comics today? Ask anyone around you and they would tell you their favorite DC comics and how long have they been following them. DC Comics have been around here for a long time, started as National Allied Publications in 1930s, the organizations has evolved from being an anthology tabloid comic published to one of the most famous publishers of comic books. The transition has been crazy for DC Comics and we are in love with it, aren’t we all? The credit for all the famous characters such as Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and almost everyone comic you know goes to one and only DC comics. And when the brand has this level of fame, the logo should match its level, right? And that is what we are going to discuss here.
Surprisingly the brand did not change its name to DC Comics until late 1900s however DC has been the part of the logo since 1940. Let’s see how many times the famous logo has changed up till now.
Interested in knowing what even DC means?
What is DC?
Well, well, well, the name DC Comics has quite an interesting story as it in reality stands for Detective Comics. Despite sounding quite weird the name remained intact till now, nevertheless the weirdly company name was the result of partnership between National Allied Publications and their distributor that joined the company’s new magazine Detective Comic. Since the partnership was designed to publish this particular magazine, the business created the title Detective Comics Inc.
1) ADC Publications Logo
Initially the company printed their books with the simple and straight forward logo to promote the Detective Comics Inc, in 1940. Rather than spelling out the whole name, the logo only red A DC Publications. A circular shape caged the brand name in it to represent the DC Comics brand for the many years to come.
2) Superman DC Comics logo
Over time the Superman became the flagship character for National Allied Publications and the company decided to show that in their logo. The circular design was still intact however the new design read “A Superman Publication” with DC placed in the center of it. Later in 1949 it changed when the company decided to alter its brand name to National Comics. The logo design was still the same but it read “Superman National Comics”. But DC was still in the center of logo.
3) Red Superman DC Comics Logo
In 1949, the designers changed the brand name to National Comics and subtly altered the logo to accommodate this. The logo was not just black and white anymore, a touch of red was added to reflect the new brand identity.
4) DC Comics
It was in the 70s, 1972 to be exact that the recognizable bold sans serif DC letters were first introduced, still within the simple circle. This logo lasted from 1972-1974 before DC decided to play with it again
5) DC Comics with Stars
Now this was the time when comic book fans gave the name DC Comics to National Comics, all thanks to the logo. The early 1970 was the year, when the brand decided to remove the words from the logo and enhance the letters DC only. The logo was not really appealing so in 1974, the logo was redesigned to red, blue and white color that incorporated more words like The Line of Super Stars around DC. One of the striking changes in the logo was the addition of red stars on both sides of DC.
6) DC Comics with four stars
The stars gave a different look to the DC logo and it was apparently liked by everyone a little too much. So much that the brand later decided to remove the wordings and add four stars around the DC in center. In 1977, the company’s official name was then DC Comics as it is one commonly used name. The logo remained unchanged for almost 3 decades until 2005.
7) Plain DC Comics
Now by this time, the brand was making its name by moving into live action TV and movies, it called for a change in the logo as DC Comics was not restricted to comics only anymore. To shows its position in the entertainment business, DC Comics decided to alter their logo. The contemporary white and blue logo was the first one with one long lasting circle, choosing shooting star that encircled a more different looking DC insignia. Later the logo remained in its present form but showed a more metallic and blockier looking logo with the words “DC Comics” below it.
Wrapping up!
The logo that was created out of a mere partnership, the DC Comics logo has gone a long way and has changed enormously evolving every single time with the famous S shield or bat symbol of its most famous superheroes. Since DC is branching out into various other fields including entertainment sector, the logo is more likely to undergo many other changes. Nevertheless, it si expected that the designers will not forget its historic roots and reflect them in all the other brand logos to follow.