DC Comics is set to unveil a new logo (at right) that makes little reference to its comic book heritage -- and designers are already complaining.
The new marque features a sans serif font underneath a stylized "DC" icon in which the D is peeling back from the C. The design appears to be a visual pun on the idea of turning a page or tearing off an outer layer to unveil a secret identity.
It's a sharp break with DC's previous all-American past, in which the logo has variously featured stars, swooshes and even the word "Superman," the company's greatest brand. (The previous logo is featured below.)
The design blog Brand New discovered the logo at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where it has been filed for 19 different properties. The redesign follows a controversial decision to "reset" DC's entire catalog of superhero story lines back to issue #1, giving their writers a fresh start on all their story lines. Brand New did not like the new design:
There is nothing superhero-ish about it; it could be for any book publisher or sticker maker, and this doesn’t mean the logo has to have a shield or an insignia or swooshes but for a logo working in an industry full of rich visual cues, it’s a shame it can’t draw from it.
Commenters liked it even less, with one calling for a protest:
Please contact DC corporate at the two following contacts and let them know your thought. Time to be activists. This is over the line.
DCComicsAdvertising@dccomics.com
http://www.dccomics.com/sites/...
In fact, the new logo harks back to DC's original logo, which featured only plain type. It was only in 2005 that the logo was given a "comic" feel.
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