DC Comics Trends Througout the Silver Age

Superheroes represented about 45% of DC's output during the Silver Age, while war comics made up somewhere around 13% of the total. But those overall numbers mask significant changes in their publication over time, and so I thought it might be interesting to do a year-by-year look at each category or genre of comics to see how things changed over time.

Some notes on categories; the ones chosen are simply my best guess as to where each comic fits best. For example, I put Challengers of the Unknown in Adventure, while Metal Men got lumped in with the Superheroes. I classified House of Mystery and House of Secrets as "horror" although of course they weren't very horrifying. HoM is considered Superhero from 143-173, during the Martian Manhunter/Robby Reed era. One comic is absolutely misclassified; I put Blackhawk in the war category rather than adventure. My bad, but I'm really looking more at changes over time, and Blackhawk didn't change much until the very end. I carefully classified the issues of Showcase and Brave and Bold individually.

Here's what DC's output looked like in 1955:

Category	#
Adventure	19
Comedy	22
Crime/Detective	18
Funny Animal	68
Horror	12
Romance	20
Science Fiction	18
Superhero	81
Teen	18
War	42
Western	35

As you can see, Funny Animal was right up there with Superhero comics; that would not last long.  For 1956 and thereafter, I'll add a column showing the change in each category since the prior year:

1956	Adventure	19	0
1956	Comedy	29	7
1956	Crime/Detective	18	0
1956	Funny Animal	56	-12
1956	Horror	21	9
1956	Romance	24	4
1956	Science Fiction	18	0
1956	Superhero	86	5
1956	Teen	18	0
1956	War	45	3
1956	Western	45	10

Funny Animal started to decline, while Western picked up nicely.

1957	Adventure	24	5
1957	Comedy	36	7
1957	Crime/Detective	18	0
1957	Funny Animal	50	-6
1957	Horror	30	9
1957	Romance	32	8
1957	Science Fiction	18	0
1957	Superhero	88	2
1957	Teen	18	0
1957	War	72	27
1957	Western	26	-19

In 1957, DC inherited a couple of titles from Quality Comics, including Blackhawk and GI Combat, as well as Heart Throbs for the Romance line.  Funny Animal continued to decline, and Western gave back all it had gained the prior year, and more.

1958	Adventure	27	3
1958	Comedy	35	-1
1958	Crime/Detective	18	0
1958	Funny Animal	40	-10
1958	Horror	32	2
1958	Romance	36	4
1958	Science Fiction	20	2
1958	Superhero	94	6
1958	Teen	8	-10
1958	War	72	0
1958	Western	25	-1

Continuing declines in Funny Animal and a sharp decrease in Teen titles as Leave it to Binky and Buzzy were cancelled.  You will note that Superhero still had only gained 13 issues a year or about one a month; the dizzying climb upwards for that genre was just about to start.

1959	Adventure	28	1
1959	Comedy	32	-3
1959	Crime/Detective	3	-15
1959	Funny Animal	27	-13
1959	Horror	36	4
1959	Romance	33	-3
1959	Science Fiction	20	0
1959	Superhero	104	10
1959	Teen	6	-2
1959	War	72	0
1959	Western	21	-4

DC's Crime and Detective titles were mostly licensed properties like Mr District Attorney and Big Town, both of which had gone off the air by then; the New Adventures of Charlie Chan was cancelled early that year, emptying the category for the duration of the Silver Age.

1960	Adventure	22	-6
1960	Comedy	24	-8
1960	Funny Animal	17	-10
1960	Horror	36	0
1960	Romance	38	5
1960	Science Fiction	20	0
1960	Superhero	113	9
1960	Teen	9	3
1960	War	48	-24
1960	Western	18	-3

War dropped pretty significanty, and the overall number of comics declined quite a bit.  DC was experiencing some financial pressure in 1960, which would eventually result in the price increase to 12 cents at the end of the next year.  IIRC, the decrease in the War genre was not caused by any cancellations, but by DC switching most of their war titles to bi-monthly from monthly.

1961	Adventure	28	6
1961	Comedy	18	-6
1961	Funny Animal	8	-9
1961	Horror	36	0
1961	Romance	38	0
1961	Science Fiction	20	0
1961	Superhero	125	12
1961	Teen	6	-3
1961	War	48	0
1961	Western	10	-8

By this point, Funny Animal and Western, two of DC's top four lines in 1955, were limping along with essentially one title apiece, (Fox and Crow and Tomahawk), which would remain the case for most of the 1960s.

1962	Adventure	32	4
1962	Comedy	18	0
1962	Funny Animal	7	-1
1962	Horror	24	-12
1962	Romance	39	1
1962	Science Fiction	20	0
1962	Superhero	141	16
1962	Teen	6	0
1962	War	50	2
1962	Western	6	-4

Superhero makes another big jump; the decline in horror titles was again due to DC changing some titles from monthly publication to bi-monthly.  Teen comics were now reduced to the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

1963	Adventure	24	-8
1963	Comedy	18	0
1963	Funny Animal	6	-1
1963	Horror	22	-2
1963	Romance	44	5
1963	Science Fiction	27	7
1963	Superhero	147	6
1963	Teen	6	0
1963	War	51	1
1963	Western	6	0

Pretty modest changes in 1963.  Sci-fi ticked up a bit due to temporary changes including the Strange Sports Stories series in Brave and Bold and Tommy Tomorrow tryouts in Showcase.

1964	Adventure	18	-6
1964	Comedy	18	0
1964	Funny Animal	6	0
1964	Horror	15	-7
1964	Romance	50	6
1964	Science Fiction	20	-7
1964	Superhero	172	25
1964	Teen	4	-2
1964	War	56	5
1964	Western	6	0

Strong gains again for DC's superhero line, which had more than doubled since 1955.  Romance continued its steady upward momentum, while War comics reached their highest mark since 1959.  The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was cancelled (well after the TV show), which left DC without a Teen title for the first time since the 1940s.

1965	Adventure	18	0
1965	Comedy	18	0
1965	Funny Animal	6	0
1965	Horror	12	-3
1965	Romance	50	0
1965	Science Fiction	20	0
1965	Superhero	182	10
1965	Teen	0	-4
1965	War	57	1
1965	Western	6	0

Not much change there other than the continuing domination by the Superheroes. And with Batmania around the corner, that was not going to change.

1966	Adventure	12	-6
1966	Comedy	18	0
1966	Funny Animal	6	0
1966	Horror	11	-1
1966	Romance	50	0
1966	Science Fiction	18	-2
1966	Superhero	195	13
1966	Teen	4	4
1966	War	56	-1
1966	Western	6	0

By now over 50% of DC's publications were Superhero, and I am sure that if we take circulation into account it was well over 70%.  Teen comics returned with Scooter.

1967	Adventure	9	-3
1967	Comedy	26	8
1967	Funny Animal	6	0
1967	Horror	6	-5
1967	Romance	50	0
1967	Science Fiction	9	-9
1967	Superhero	197	2
1967	Teen	8	4
1967	War	44	-12
1967	Western	6	0

Financial pressures were again rearing their ugly head, with a lot of titles headed towards the chopping block.  Comedy was the (temporary) gainer as DC tried titles like the Inferior Five and the Maniacs (in Showcase).  Superhero titles showed only a modest gain.

1968	Adventure	22	13
1968	Comedy	23	-3
1968	Funny Animal	1	-5
1968	Horror	10	4
1968	Romance	51	1
1968	Science Fiction	0	-9
1968	Superhero	200	3
1968	Teen	11	3
1968	War	36	-8
1968	Western	10	4

Sci-Fi dropped off DC's radar in 1968, as Strange Adventures began featuring Deadman.  Superhero titles increased for the thirteenth consecutive year, but again only by a smidgeon.  Adventure showed temporary gains due to short-lived titles like Anthro, Secret Six, Bomba the Jungle Boy and Captain Action.

1969	Adventure	14	-8
1969	Comedy	19	-4
1969	Funny Animal	0	-1
1969	Horror	25	15
1969	Romance	50	-1
1969	Science Fiction	7	7
1969	Superhero	168	-32
1969	Teen	36	25
1969	War	31	-5
1969	Western	15	5

Financial pressures writ large there; the Superhero line finally collapsed, with DC switching resources to Horror and Teen.  The Horror titles would work, while the Teen fad failed.