DC is ending the 'Dawn of DC' initiative after 18 months for... something else? A twilight, perhaps?
The 'Dawn of DC' branding was used on relaunches of DC's primary superhero comic book publishing line starting January 2023
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This summer, the 'Dawn of DC' comes to an end. DC has confirmed to Popverse that the line-wide branding, which debuted in January 2023 and was used to promote relaunches of DC’s primary DC Universe titles throughout the subsequent months, will be dropped with the launch of the Absolute Power event in July.
The 'Dawn of DC' branding was announced in November 2022 as a publishing initiative spinning out of the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths series, intended to — as DC put it at the time — “shine the spotlight on a number of fan-favorite superheroes and super-villains that haven’t been front and center for some time.” To that end, fan-favorite characters that hadn’t supporting their own titles for some time (or, indeed, ever) were awarded their own series, including Green Arrow, Cyborg, Steel, and even former Justice League members Fire & Ice.
The 'Dawn of DC' branding was also attached to relaunches of some of DC’s A-list series, including Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Birds of Prey, and Titans, with the latter standing in as DC’s premiere super-team in the absence of the Justice League, which has been missing from DC’s publishing schedule since April 2022. Additionally, it was used for some all-new creations, including the three We Are Legends miniseries spotlighting new Asian heroes throughout the DCU.
The banner was also the basis of rare TV advertisments for DC's comic book line, which ran in May 2023.
The success of 'Dawn of DC' as a brand can be seen not only in the increased profile for many of the publishers’ core superhero properties, but also in the fact that it stuck around far past its original cut-off date. Looking back at that November 2022 announcement of the brand, it was described as a “yearlong storytelling initiative”; instead, Dawn of DC will have run 18 months by the time it’s retired this summer.
Of course, knowing that the 'Dawn of DC' is over just raises the obvious question: what’s next? Absolute Power, which will mark the end of the branding, is a four-issue series launching July 2. Assuming that series runs monthly — which is by no means a sure thing; DC’s last two big event series, Knight Terrors and Titans: Beast World, both had increased release schedules, and put out multiple issues per month — we should have some idea of what comes after the Dawn by mid-summer at the latest.
For now, though, let’s take a moment to remember 'Dawn of DC' for what it was: a return to fun DC comics that let the world have a (really great) Doom Patrol comic again, even if only for seven issues. (I miss you, Unstoppable Doom Patrol!)
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