DC Comics
| |
| DC Comics | |
| Type | Subsidiary of DC Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1934 (National Allied Publications) 1940 (T.W.O. Charles Company) 1945 (Charlton Publications) 1946 (Charlton Comics) 1977 (DC Comics) |
| Headquarters | Burbank, California, USA |
| Key people | Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (DC Comics) John Santangelo Sr. (Charlton Comics) Ed Levy (Charlton Comics) |
| Industry | Comics |
| Products | |
| Number of people | |
| Website | http://www.dccomics.com/ |
DC Comics is a subsidiary of DC Entertainment. DC Entertainment is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
National Allied Publications
National Allied Publications was founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in the third quarter of 1934. It published comics under the National Comics brand.
Detective Comics premiered in March 1937, Superman premiered on April 18, 1938, in the first issue of Action Comics, and Batman premiered on March 30, 1939, in the twenty-seventh issue of Detective Comics.
As Batman and Superman were the most popular properties published by National Comics, the publisher began publishing under the Superman-DC label by 1940.
T.W.O. Charles Company
T.W.O. Charles Company was founded by John Santangelo Sr. and Ed Levy in 1940.
Charlton Publications
T.W.O. Charles Company was renamed Charlton Publications in 1945.
Charlton Comics
Charlton Publications launched Charlton Comics in 1946.
DC Comics
National Allied Publications officially became DC Comics in 1977.
Acquisition by Kinney National and becoming a Warner Bros. subsidiary
DC Comics was purchased by Kinney National Services in 1967. After acquiring Warner Bros. in 1969, the Kinney National Company was renamed Warner Communications.
After this, DC became a subsidiary of Warner Bros.
DC Comics acquires Charlton Comics superheroes
DC Comics acquired the majority of the Charlton Comics superhero characters in 1983.
Charlton Comics ceased publication in 1984.
Some of the other characters by Charlton Comics were sold to their creators, and the remaining characters were sold to the Canadian company Charlton Media Group in 1986.
Time and Warner Bros. merge
On January 10, 1990, Time Inc. and Warner Communications merged to form Time Warner.
Time Warner and AOL merge
On January 11, 2001, Time Warner and AOL merged forming AOL Time Warner.
AOL was spun-off from Time Warner in 2009.
DC Entertainment
In September 2009, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced a change in the structure of its DC Comics subsidiaries, creating a new subsidiary named DC Entertainment and moving DC Comics under it.
This effectively made DC Comics a subsidiary of DC Entertainment.
Purchase by AT&T
On June 14, 2018, AT&T acquired Time Warner and renamed the company to WarnerMedia, making DC Comics a subsidiary of both WarnerMedia and AT&T.
WarnerMedia and Discovery merge
In 2022, WarnerMedia merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery.
