Glossary:DC Implosion
From DC Database
DC Implosion
The DC Implosion is the informal yet established name by which fans and other observers refer to the dramatic number of sudden cancellations among DC Comics publications in 1978.
The name is a natural one to choose, since DC had not too long before announced the "DC Explosion", an equally dramatic marketing strategy of publishing more monthly titles and increasing the number of story pages in all titles (accompanied by slightly higher cover prices). Many titles which had been cancelled in the 60s and 70s were brought back as part of the "explosion."
After low sales, partly attributed to blizzards in 1977 and 1978 as well as poor quality of the titles themselves, in 1978 National Periodical Publications (DC's owner at the time) ordered that titles with marginal sales be cancelled. About 30 titles were cancelled, some before they were even published. Much of the work that was unpublished saw print in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade, a 2 issue 'series' which 'published' the work for the sake of copyright purposes. A few titles and works would see print in later series, however.
Shazam #35 ('merged' into World's Finest Comics), Karate Kid #15, and Freedom Fighters #15 were not part of the mass cancellations of the Implosion. These titles were cancelled a few months earlier to make room for other titles in the DC Explosion. All three were announced within the comics themselves as being cancelled, and unlike Implosion titles, Freedom Fighters and Karate Kid even had ending stories published (though the Freedom Fighters ending continued into Secret Society of Super-Villains, which did fall victim to the Implosion).
(See Also: Wikipedia:DC Implosion)
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