DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle - New Edition 2019

by Alan Cowsill, Alexander C. Irvine, Matthew K. Manning

Embark on an amazing adventure through more than 80 years of DC Comics history!

Explore the evolution of DC Comics from Superman first taking to the skies in 1938 to the Rebirth of the DC multiverse and the final countdown of the Doomsday Clock.

Comics, characters, and storylines are presented alongside background information and real-world events to give readers unique insights into the DC Universe.

Now fully updated, this spectacular visual chronicle is written by DC Comics experts and includes comic book art from legendary artists such as Bob Kane and C.C. Beck to latter-day superstars like Jim Lee and Tony Daniel, and many more of DC's finest talents.

Includes two stunning prints.

Previous Edition: 9780241181287

™ & © DC Comics (s19)

Genres: History, Comics, Nonfiction

376 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2019

About the author

Alan is an award-winning writer and editor who started out selling comics and magazines as a dealer before becoming a full-time creative, giving him a complete understanding of the industry from all sides. He has created stories for most comic companies, and edited hit titles for Marvel, Panini and Eaglemoss. When he’s not working for Bullpen, Alan writes novels and practices Kung Fu and Qigong.

Reviews

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these types of books, looking back at all the history and different art styles.

[Amaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for the treasure trove of information from the eyes of an uninformed comic book reader (me). Covers are included, very pretty and colourful read.

Helped me understand the different eras' superheroes are made to be from different universes.

Has notable mentions of world events and it covers everything until May 2019. Very recent stuff.

Love knowing the very first appearance for Swamp Thing (much more heroine-centric, that one) and would love to get myself acquainted with The Phantom Stranger and The Spectre.

Vertigo stuff looks really fascinating, definitely looking into The Sandman and Hellblazer (of course, Constantine).

Overall, how I recounted the editorial decisions after the millennium (to the present) to some friends: "It gets... idk, like a lot of 'oooh, shiny!!' decisions being made. Wayyyy too many crossovers to reboot and simplify continuities after the year 2000 and onwards. Not saying they didn't before but it felt like too many in too short a time"

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slickly produced (tho with strange production errors, such as upside-down photos), this is nothing more than overlong synopses of various comic books without enough context.
For instance, there is mention of the DC Implosion but not of the DC Explosion that immediately preceded it, nor the context of how those fit into the overall plans for the company.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting year-by-year breakdown of the history of DC Comics. It's clear that it's written from the company's point-of-view, as a number of series and storylines that came out in my lifetime are described as much more impactful or well-received than I remember them being, but all in all, it's enjoyable.

[Kent Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have been better as a more straightforward history with less public relations. Everything they published couldn't have been a 'runaway smash hit'. Reading it all together really makes it seem ridiculous how often they would start everything over. Especially from the late 90s on.

[Benjamin DeHaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great read and covers everything up to basically 2020...funny how DC reset the universe so many times (especially during the 90s). Overall I now have about 63 comic series I wanna try out. Can't wait! Now onto the Marvel Comics history!

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my introduction to comics. It mentions all the characters, major and minor, and gave me good places to start with each character that I was interested in.