Detective Comics
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), the debut of Batman. Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional Comic book Superhero co-created Cover art by Bob Kane. Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn, October 24, 1915 &ndash November 3, 1998) was an American Comic book artist
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Standard format used at the time of publication. DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company
Publication date	March 1937 - present
Number of issues	842
Main character(s)	Since #27, Batman
Creative team
Writer(s)	Current: Paul Dini
Artist(s)	Dustin Nguyen

Detective Comics is an American comic book published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best-known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman. Paul Dini (born August 7, 1957) is an American Television producer of Animated cartoons. For the actor see Dustin Nguyen. Dustin Nguyen is a Comic book artist who has worked for DC Comics and WildStorm An American comic book is a small Magazine originating in the United States and containing a Narrative in the Comics form DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional Comic book Superhero co-created 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. Action Comics is an American Comic book series which introduced Superman, the first major Superhero character as the term Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" With 840 monthly issues published as of January 2008, it is the longest continuously published comic book in the United States. ^[1]

Publication history

House ad for Detective Comics #1. Note originally planned cover date of December 1936.

Detective Comics #1 (March 1937). Cover art by Vin Sullivan. Vincent "Vin" Sullivan (born circa 1911 died February 3, 1999) was a pioneering American Comic book editor, Artist

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. Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (1890-1968 was an American Pulp magazine Writer and Entrepreneur who pioneered the American comic DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company Wheeler-Nicholson's first two titles were the landmark New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (Feb. More Fun Comics, originally titled New Fun The Big Comic Magazine a 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. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist 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. Adventure Comics is a Comic book series published by DC Comics from 1935 to 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. Harry Donenfeld (1893-1965 was an American publisher who is known primarily for being the owner of National Allied Publications, which distributed Detective Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view 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. An accountant is a practitioner of Accountancy, which is the measurement disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers investors 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. ANThology is the first Major label album by Alien Ant Farm released on March 6, 2001 in the USA and March 19 Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the Dr Fu Manchu is a Fictional character first featured in a series of novels by English author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century Yellow Peril (sometimes Yellow Terror) was a color metaphor for race that originated in the late nineteenth century with Immigration of Chinese Samuel Emerson "Slam" Bradley is a Fictional character that has appeared in various Comic book series published by DC Comics. Jerome "Jerry" Siegel (October 17 1914 – January 28 1996 who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, Siegel was a fan of movies Joseph "Joe" Shuster (July 10 1914 - July 30 1992 was a Canadian -born American Comic book Artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics Cyrill "Speed" Saunders is a DC Comics character who first appeared in Detective Comics #1 (1937 Its first editor, Vin Sullivan, also drew the debut issue's cover. Vincent "Vin" Sullivan (born circa 1911 died February 3, 1999) was a pioneering American Comic book editor, Artist

Batman

Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) featured the first appearance of Batman (as "The Bat-Man"). In Comic books and other stories with a long history first appearance refers to the first occurrence to feature a Fictional character. Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional Comic book Superhero co-created That superhero would eventually become the star of the title, the cover logo of which is often written as "Detective Comics featuring Batman". A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do

Issue #38 (April 1940) introduced Batman's sidekick Robin (billed as "The Sensational Character Find of 1940" on the cover). SideKick was an early Personal Information Manager (PIM Software application by Borland launched in 1983 under Philippe Kahn Robin (also referred to as The Boy Wonder) is the name of several Fictional characters appearing in Comic books published by DC Comics, originally 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. The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books generally thought as lasting from the 1930s until late 1940s during which Comic books

In addition to the Batman stories, the comic also had numerous back up strips such as "Martian Manhunter" which was introduced in Detective Comics #225. Martian Manhunter is the Superhero alias of J'onn J'onzz, alternately known as John Jones or the Manhunter from Mars, a Fictional character

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the magazine adopted the expanded format used by the cancelled Batman Family, adding solo features including "Robin: the Teen Wonder", "Batgirl", "The Human Target" and the anthology called "Tales of Gotham City", which featured the stories of the ordinary people of Gotham City. Batgirl is the name of several Fictional characters appearing in Comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts to the Superhero The Human Target is an American Comic book character created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino: a unique Private detective and Bodyguard Gotham City is a Fictional City appearing in DC Comics, and is best known as the home of Batman. This was done in part, to boost sales as at the time "Batman Family" outsold Detective Comics, putting Detective Comics in peril of cancellation during the late 1970s.

Another sales ploy of the 1980s was the use of serialization of the main Batman story, as stories from "Detective Comics" and "Batman" directly flowed 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.

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). Manhunter is the name given to several different DC Comics Superheroes Antiheroes as well as the Manhunters, an entire race of Androids Archie Goodwin ( September 8, 1937 &ndash March 1, 1998) was an American Comic book writer editor and artist Walter "Walt" Simonson (born September 2 1946) is an American Comic book writer and artist

Character debuts

Detective Comics reprint collections

• Batman Archives' (seven volumes): Collects Batman stories issues from #27-154
• 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: 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: Detective: Collects #821-826
• Batman: Death and the City: Collects #827-834
• Batman Chronicles (five volumes): Includes Batman stories from #27-61
• Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives (two volumes): Collects #327-339 (1964-1965)
• Showcase Presents: Batman vol 1: Collects #327-342

Detective Comics stories also appear in other Batman collections. DC Archive Editions, edited by Dale Crain for DC Comics, collect early sometimes rare comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series Batman Year Two is the title of a four part Story arc featuring Batman written by Mike W The Batman Chronicles is a series of Comics published by DC Comics from 1995 to 2001 which lasted 23 quarterly issues and a series of collections DC Archive Editions, edited by Dale Crain for DC Comics, collect early sometimes rare comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series Showcase Presents is a line of Black and white paperback books published by DC Comics at an average rate of two per month Batman is an ongoing Comic book series featuring the DC Comics Hero of the same name.

Footnotes

References

• DC Comics official site
• Grand Comics Database
• 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)
• Batman: Yesterday, Today, & Beyond - Comics
• Detective Comics cover gallery