For no good reason, it occured to me yesterday that DC's logo, the famous 'DC Bullet,' has been around for a long time. A quick check in the GCD shows that it first appeared on comic covers dated February 1977 (probably November '76 in real time), which is over twenty-seven years ago. That means that it has probably been in use longer than a majority of the DC readership.
While it's probably the most recognizable logo in comics (at least for long time fans), it's probably time for it to be retired. It really hasn't aged all that well; it's from the same era that brought us Welcome Back, Kotter after all. With all the wonderful graphic artists in their stable, I'm surprised that DC hasn't yet replaced it. Next year will be the 70th anniversary of DC Comics, so maybe it's time for a change?
8 comments:
I love that "DC TV" logo used on the later issues of the KOTTER comic (and, as I recall, SUPER-FRIENDS, SHAZAM and some other books of the era).
I don't agree that they should change the logo. Especially not if it'll be done by the people who do a lot of DC's newer design (some of those awful Wildstorm logos, the bland Vertigo designs, that new Johnny DC used for the kids books).
I say keep the bullet. The new logos aren't any better. Most places just take a word and put a swoosh by it now. Besides, branding and recognizability makes a huge difference. People know the logo now. It would be like McD's changing from the arches to a tetrahedron. It can be updated, but keep the bullet.
I love the bullet. It's classic yet elegant and IMHO it hasn't dated that much, like any flashy new design likely would in five years. Look at Marvel, which must've changed their corner/cover logos fifty times in the past 20 years. Sometimes consistency is a good thing.
Looks like I may be in the minority here. That's okay--I seem to have a lot of unpopular opinions these days!
So you don't think they'll take Quesada or Jemas advice and change their name to AOL Comics?
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Bah. Don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with a little dissagreement.
(I like the DC Bullet too, and don't think it should be changed -- but...)
In Dave's defense, DC hasn't stuck slavishly to the bullet for things like the One Million issues or the Silver Age issues, and nobody thought those weren't DC books.
Am I right in thinking that the DC logo has always been some form of "DC" in a circle? The earliest version of this I can remember is the one with "Superman Comics" around the perimeter. In the early '70s it was "The Line Of DC Super-Stars," and the bullet came in around 1977 or so. That was also around the same time the company officially changed its name from "National Periodical Publications" to "DC Comics Inc.," I think.
I don't know what the alternative to the bullet would be. The blocky letters inside the thick circle with the four stars just seems so generic that anything else would almost be too flashy.
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