2005 Comic Book News Archives

DC Comics

May 8, 2005: DC Comics to Unveil a New Logo

The New York Times has revealed that DC Comics will be unveilling a new company logo this month. Here's part of the story...

    The publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman is getting a makeover: DC Comics, a division of Warner Brothers Entertainment, is unveiling a new logo. The new look will replace the flat, four-star bullet that has graced DC Comics covers since the mid-1970s. But the change is part face-lift and part marketing strategy.

    The logotype is intended to brand DC Comics as a contender across all media, from comics and toys to television and film, as the company tries to compete with Marvel Comics, the publisher of Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four.

    "We're talking about a multibillion-dollar brand," said Kevin Tsujihara, the Warner Brothers executive vice president for corporate business development and strategy, whose portfolio includes DC Comics. "There was a level of concern that we weren't fully utilizing the power of DC."

    The first comic book with the new symbol is to reach U.S. stores on May 25, with the full library of titles receiving it the following week. The logo will also be featured on toys, direct-to-video cartoons, DVD releases of television programs like "Birds of Prey" and computer games. Versions of the logo will also appear on the WB network live action series "Smallville" and the cartoons "The Batman," "Teen Titans," "Justice League Unlimited" and more. An animated version of the DC logo will be used with "Batman Begins," which opens in theaters on June 15.

    "Batman Begins" and next year's "Superman Returns" are testaments of faith in the money-making possibilities of DC's stable of characters. A successful superhero movie can generate hundred of millions of dollars. The first "Spider-Man" film, about the web-spinning Marvel superhero, made more than $800 million worldwide. But the comic book industry now is generally estimated to generate between $400 million and $500 million in sales annually, down from nearly $1 billion in the early 1990s.

"DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy" (recently rescheduled for a May 25th debut) will be the first book of the line to carry the new logo.

Read the entire article at the International Herald Tribune website.



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