What Does the “DC” in DC Comics Stand For?

One of the longest-running American comic book companies, DC Comics has been around since the early 1930s. But what does the DC in DC Comics actually stand for?

The DC Comics Company originally began publishing comics in 1934, and has since, become one of the largest comic book companies in America. With its illustrious repertoire of superheroes and supervillains, characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and many others have become iconic in the hearts and minds of fans everywhere. With plenty of films, comic books, and other mediums of storytelling available to read, DC Comics has enjoyed a plethora of success since its founding 88 years ago. But that begs the question: just what does “DC” stand for anyway?

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Here’s What the “DC” Stands For:

The “DC” in DC Comics stands for Detective Comics. DC originally started out as having different variations of its comics and storylines, differentiated by the various titles each series got. For example, Detective Comics was used for Batman, while Action Comics was used for Superman. As time went on, the entire company used DC as its initials and later incorporated all of its superheroes into the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Being that Batman was one of the first lines of comics that DC produced, they have since adopted this series’ initials into the company name.

Detective Comics’ original run ran from 1937 to 2011, and introduced Batman in Detective Comics #27. The second series of DC Comics reverted to its original name in 2016 and has since continued to publish comics, but the rest of DC’s properties also continue to publish comics to this day. With the grand success of the company in perspective, Detective Comics isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

(featured image: DC Comics)


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