Comic Art Archive / Publisher: DC

Series Title: Detective Comics

Year Began:	1937
Year Ended:	2011
Country:	United States
Format:
Description:	Detective Comics was the final publication of the entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Wheeler-Nicholson's first two titles were New Fun Comics #1 (cover-dated Feb. 1935), generally regarded as the first early American 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 management would be Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936, but eventually premiering three months later, with a March 1937 cover date. 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, prior to the publication of Action Comics. Originally an anthology comic, in the manner of the times, Detective Comics #1 (March 1937) featured stories in the "hard-boiled detective" genre, 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 a year later); and Speed Saunders, among others. Its first editor, Vin Sullivan, also drew the debut issue's cover. The Crimson Avenger debuted in issue #20 (October 1938). Detective Comics #27 (March 1939 with a printed date of May 1939) featured the first appearance of Batman, who would eventually become the star of the title; the cover logo is often written as "Detective Comics featuring Batman". Batman's origin is first revealed in a two-page story in issue #33 (Nov. 1939). Batman became the main cover feature of the title beginning with issue #35 (Jan. 1940). Issue #38 (April 1940) introduced Batman's sidekick Robin, billed as "The Sensational Character Find of 1940" on the cover and the first of several characters that would make up the "Batman Family". 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 that fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Several of Batman's best known villains debuted in the pages of Detective Comics during this era, including the Penguin in issue #58, Two-Face in issue #66, and the Riddler in issue #140. Over the decades it was published the title was usually monthly. Page counts dropped over the years, as did the number of features. Batman remained the headliner of the title from his introduction, and was at times the sole feature. The title has periodically featured a back-up strip, and for two periods in the 1970s it was a larger anthology title again (though during the first all of the features other than Batman were reprints). The title ended when DC relaunched all their titles as part of their "New 52" event, though the rebooted series eventually resumed the numbering of the original. Additional help with credits by Jerry Bails (text features) and Mike Tiefenbacher (public service features). Format size was different at start of series. Issue #0 was published between #678 and #679. Issue #1000000 was published between #726 and #727.
Comics.org:	Review Series Cover Gallery

Detective Comics Issues With Artwork Assigned

Cover	Issue #	Published Date	# Pages Assigned
	1	March 1937	1 page
	29	July 1939	1 page
	62	April 1942	1 page
	328	June 1964	1 page
	329	July 1964	1 page
	348	February 1966	1 page
	360	February 1967	1 page
	362	April 1967	1 page
	367	September 1967	1 page
	372	February 1968	2 pages
	375	May 1968	1 page
	377	July 1968	3 pages
	379	September 1968	2 pages
	380	October 1968	1 page
	381	November 1968	2 pages
	388	June 1969	1 page
	389	July 1969	1 page
	390	August 1969	1 page
	394	December 1969	2 pages
	397	March 1970	1 page
	398	April 1970	1 page
	401	July 1970	1 page
	403	September 1970	1 page
	404	October 1970	1 page
	407	January 1971	2 pages
	408	February 1971	1 page
	414	August 1971	1 page
	415	September 1971	1 page
	416	October 1971	2 pages
	418	December 1971	1 page
	434	April 1973	1 page
	444	December 1974-January 1975	1 page
	445	February-March 1975	9 pages
	448	June 1975	1 page
	452	October 1975	2 pages
	454	December 1975	2 pages
	456	February 1976	1 page
	457	March 1976	1 page
	459	May 1976	1 page
	466	December 1976	1 page
	468	March-April 1977	2 pages
	473	November 1977	1 page
	474	December 1977	1 page
	475	February 1978	2 pages
	476	March-April 1978	2 pages
	478	July-August 1978	1 page
	479	September-October 1978	1 page
	480	November-December 1978	1 page
	481	December 1978-January 1979	1 page
	482	February-March 1979	1 page
	483	April-May 1979	2 pages
	485	August-September 1979	8 pages
	488	February-March 1980	1 page
	492	July 1980	3 pages
	494	September 1980	2 pages
	496	November 1980	1 page
	500	March 1981	2 pages
	501	April 1981	1 page
	502	May 1981	1 page
	505	August 1981	2 pages
	506	September 1981	1 page
	512	March 1982	1 page
	515	June 1982	1 page
	516	July 1982	1 page
	517	August 1982	1 page
	519	October 1982	1 page
	520	November 1982	1 page
	524	March 1983	1 page
	528	July 1983	4 pages
	529	August 1983	1 page
	532	November 1983	1 page
	536	March 1984	1 page
	537	April 1984	1 page
	538	May 1984	2 pages
	541	August 1984	1 page
	543	October 1984	1 page
	545	December 1984	1 page
	546	January 1985	1 page
	549	April 1985	1 page
	551	June 1985	3 pages
	555	October 1985	1 page
	556	November 1985	1 page
	559	February 1986	1 page
	565	August 1986	2 pages
	566	September 1986	5 pages
	569	December 1986	1 page
	570	January 1987	2 pages
	573	April 1987	1 page
	574	May 1987	1 page
	576	July 1987	1 page
	580	November 1987	3 pages
	581	December 1987	1 page
	582	January 1988	2 pages
	585	April 1988	1 page
	586	May 1988	1 page
	587	June 1988	1 page
	590	September 1988	1 page
	592	November 1988	1 page
	593	December 1988	2 pages
	594	[Winter] 1988	2 pages
	597	February 1989	2 pages
	598	March 1989	4 pages
	600	May 1989	3 pages
	604	[Early September] 1989	2 pages
	606	[Early October] 1989	1 page
	608	[November] 1989	1 page
	610	January 1990	1 page
	611	February 1990	1 page
	616	Late June 1990	2 pages
	618	Late July 1990	1 page
	621	September 1990	1 page
	627	March 1991	1 page
	628	April 1991	1 page
	629	May 1991	1 page
	631	Early July 1991	1 page
	632	Late July 1991	2 pages
	644	May 1992	2 pages
	646	July 1992	1 page
	647	Early August 1992	3 pages
	648	Late August 1992	2 pages
	649	Early September 1992	1 page
	653	November 1992	1 page
	658	April 1993	1 page
	659	Early May 1993	1 page
	660	Late May 1993	1 page
	664	Late July 1993	2 pages
	665	August 1993	1 page
	669	December 1993	1 page
	674	May 1994	1 page
	675	June 1994	1 page
	677	August 1994	1 page
	0	October 1994	1 page
	682	February 1995	1 page
	683	March 1995	1 page
	694	February 1996	1 page
	696	April 1996	1 page
	700	August 1996	2 pages
	702	October 1996	1 page
	703	November 1996	2 pages
	709	May 1997	1 page
	710	June 1997	1 page
	716	December 1997	1 page
	717	January 1998	1 page
	719	March 1998	1 page
	721	May 1998	1 page
	722	June 1998	2 pages
	723	July 1998	1 page
	724	August 1998	2 pages
	728	January 1999	2 pages
	731	April 1999	1 page
	734	July 1999	3 pages
	736	September 1999	1 page
	739	December 1999	4 pages
	740	January 2000	2 pages
	741	February 2000	1 page
	743	April 2000	1 page
	744	May 2000	1 page
	748	September 2000	1 page
	749	October 2000	2 pages
	752	January 2001	1 page
	753	February 2001	1 page
	755	April 2001	4 pages
	758	July 2001	1 page
	759	August 2001	2 pages
	760	September 2001	2 pages
	764	January 2002	1 page
	770	July 2002	2 pages
	777	February 2003	1 page
	779	April 2003	1 page
	800	January 2005	2 pages
	801	February 2005	1 page
	802	March 2005	1 page
	803	April 2005	1 page
	804	May 2005	1 page
	810	Late October 2005	1 page
	812	December 2005	1 page
	816	April 2006	1 page
	823	November 2006	1 page
	825	January 2007	1 page
	826	February 2007	2 pages
	828	April 2007	1 page
	838	January 2008	1 page
	841	April 2008	5 pages
	844	July 2008	4 pages
	853	April 2009	2 pages
	854	August 2009	4 pages
	855	September 2009	1 page
	856	October 2009	4 pages
	858	December 2009	4 pages
	859	January 2010	5 pages
	860	February 2010	2 pages
	861	March 2010	2 pages
	862	April 2010	1 page
	864	June 2010	1 page
	866	August 2010	2 pages
	867	September 2010	1 page
	868	October 2010	1 page
	871	January 2011	2 pages
	872	February 2011	2 pages
	873	March 2011	2 pages
	876	June 2011	1 page
	877	July 2011	1 page
	878	August 2011	2 pages
	880	Late September 2011	5 pages
	881	October 2011	1 page

Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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