Acknowledgements . . . 5

Table of Contents . . . 6

Introduction by Jenette Kahn . . . 12

The Birth of the Super Hero 1935-1940

A Major Innovation . . . 14

In Search of a Hero . . . 16

Under New Management . . . 18

The Birth of Superman . . . 20

Superman's Debut . . . 22

The Liberation of Lois Lane . . . 24

The Superman Villains . . . 26

The Superman Style . . . 28

Superman . . . 30

The Birth of Batman . . . 32

Batman's Debut . . . 34

Recruiting Robin . . . 36

The Batman Villains . . . 38

The Batman Style . . . 40

Batman . . . 42

Our Fighting Forces 1941-1945

That Old Black Magic . . . 44

Comic Book Competitors . . . 46

All American Comics . . . 48

Flash Comics . . . 50

Green Lantern . . . 52

The Justice Society of America . . . 54

Super Groups . . . 56

The Birth of Wonder Woman . . . 58

Wonder Woman's Debut . . . 60

Wonder Woman . . . 62

Comic Books Go to War . . . 64

Superman on Radio . . . 66

Superman Cartoons . . . 68

Newspaper Strips . . . 70

Superman Toys . . . 72

Superman Merchandise . . . 74

The Batman Serials . . . 76

Batman's Equipment . . . 78

Superman's Powers . . . 80

The Superman Serials . . . 82

Matinee Madness . . . 84

The Also-Rans . . . 86

The Saga of Superboy . . . 88

Diehards . . . 90

The Comics Explosion 1946-1955

Doing the Right Thing . . . 92

Animal Antics . . . 94

That's Show Business . . . 96

Go West . . . 98

Sweet Mystery of Life . . . 100

A Tour of Tomorrow . . . 102

Back to the Battlefield . . . 104

What's Love Got to Do With It? . . . 106

Superman on TV . . . 108

The Man Who Was Superman . . . 110

Toys of the 1950s . . . 112

The Comics Code Crunch . . . 114

Comic Book Comeback 1956-1966

Flashback . . . 116

The Superman Family . . . 118

Kryptonite . . . 120

The Legion of Super-Heroes . . . 122

Green Lantern Lit Again . . . 124

The Justice League of America . . . 126

Super Hero Revival . . . 128

The Silver Age . . . 130

Earth-Two . . . 132

Teen Titans . . . 134

Oddballs . . . 136

Batman Comes to TV . . . 138

Batman Conquers TV . . . 140

Batmania . . . 142

Saturday Morning Cartoons . . . 144

Superman on Broadway . . . 146

Pop Art . . . 148

Beyond Pop 1967-1984

Room at the Top . . . 150

Square Pegs . . . 152

A Time to Be Topical . . . 154

Revamping the Classics . . . 156

Haunted Houses . . . 158

Swamp Thing . . . 160

Horror . . . 162

The Fourth World . . . 164

Looking Backward . . . 166

Shazam! . . . 168

Wonder Woman on TV . . . 170

Moving Forward . . . 172

Superman the Movie . . . 174

Superman II . . . 176

New Markets, New Formats . . . 178

Super Stuff . . . 180

More Super Movies . . . 182

Swamp Thing on Screen . . . 184

Action Figures . . . 186

The Superhero Reborn 1985-1992

Crisis on Infinite Earths . . . 188

The Dark Knight Returns . . . 190

The Man of Steel Revisited . . . 192

The Amazon Redeemed . . . 194

Watching the Watchmen . . . 196

Superboy on TV . . . 198

Who Killed Robin? . . . 200

Batman Goes Big-Time . . . 202

Gotham City . . . 204

The Sandman's Coming . . . 206

A Novel Approach . . . 208

Graphic Novels . . . 210

Gone in a Flash . . . 212

Batman Returns . . . 214

Batmania II . . . 216

State of the Art 1993-1995

The Death of Superman . . . 218

The Animated Batman . . . 220

It's in the Cards . . . 222

On the Verge of Vertigo . . . 224

Vertigo . . . 226

Superman Resurrected . . . 228

Doing It by the Book . . . 230

The Landmark of Milestone Comics . . . 232

Knightfall . . . 234

Lois & Clark . . . 236

The Paradox of Paradox . . . 238

Keep Smiling . . . 240

Super Heroes Overseas . . . 242

Too Cool for Kids . . . 244

Zero Hour . . . 246

Batman Forever . . . 248

The Future . . . 250

Index . . . 252

While fun to read, Daniels' DC book is more coffee table book than useful reference. Produced in close cooperation with DC, the book is almost universally celebratory in tone. It is loosely organized into seven chronological chapters that somewhat arbitrarily divide up the sixty years of DC's history. Every topic is confined to a two-page spread; perhaps because of this, the book fails to provide a coherent narrative of the history of the company. Because of the cultural penetration of the DC characters, Daniels devotes substantial space to discussion of film, television and licensed products, sometimes at the expense of more detailed discussion of comics. Though the book contains many reproductions of pages and panels, the only actual comics are brief reprints of the origins of Superman and Batman that appear as the endpapers.