DC Comics was long thought of as the more hopeful, at times childish, of the Big Two, but that started to change in the 1980s. Creators injected maturity into the characters and books, giving readers some of the greatest comics of all time. Writers like Alan Moore and Frank Miller pushed the publisher to a new level and that eventually led to the Vertigo line. However, even with an entire imprint of comics for mature readers, the publisher kept pumping out dark stories in their main line as well. In fact, DC seemingly lapped Marvel when it comes to dark stories for a while, taking readers to some places they never thought they would go in the DC Universe.
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DC has changed so much in the last 46 years, giving readers all kinds of amazingly dark stories. Sometimes, these stories land beautifully and become legends. Other times, they fail and become legendary for a completely different reason. These seven stories are DC’s darkest, changing the way fans looked at the publisher.
7) Injustice: Gods Among Us
Injustice: Gods Among Us had numerous series, telling the story of a world where Superman was fooled into killing Lois Lane by the Joker and went mad. This comic, over its various volumes, is a meat-grinder, killing numerous big name heroes in terrible ways. Some fans love the books, some fans hate them, but no one denies how dark they are. Watching the greatest heroes ever fight each tooth and nail to the death is as dark as it can get, and this story managed to be extremely popular with all kinds of fans.
6) Justice League: Cry for Justice
The Justice League is DC’s most important team, but there have been some times that fans wanted to forget it existed. Justice League: Cry for Justice, by James Robinson, Mauro Cascioli, Scott Clark, Ardian Sayif, and Ibraim Roberson, is the darkest moment in the team’s history in the worst way possible. Prometheus attacks the cities of the US, doing massive damage, bringing together a new Justice League. The story is most well-known for killing off the young Lian Harper, the daughter of Roy Harper, and the former drug addict hero going off the deep end. This is taking things in a darker direction for no good reason, and there are very little good things to say about this story.
5) Identity Crisis
Identity Crisis, by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales, is another example of DC taking the darkness too far. This murder mystery story opened with the death of Sue Dibney. Then we learn that she was once sexually assaulted by Doctor Light. Then we learn that the Justice League mindwipes people. Then Tim Drake’s dad and Captain Boomerang kill each other. Then we learn the League mindwiped Batman and the Atom’s wife was the murderer. That’s a lot of dark. There are some good ideas (and great art) in this book, but it went way too far with the “maturity”, destroying one of the coolest wives in comics just to make the story work.
4) “The Judas Contract”
The New Teen Titans was a blockbuster, and it gave readers one of the darkest stories ever in “The Judas Contract”, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. This story gave readers the culmination of the Terra as a traitor storyline, as she and Deathstroke attack the team. They beat on everyone but Nightwing, we learn the tragic origin of Deathstroke and his son Jericho, and get a final battle that sees Terra go crazy and end up killing herself as she loses control of her powers. It’s an amazing story that took the darkness to 11.
3) “The Sinestro Corps War”
“The Sinestro Corps War” is a modern classic, pitting the Green Lantern Corps against all-new Sinestro Corps in a story by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Gleason, Jerry Ordway, and more. This new corps used the yellow light of fear, and blitzed the Green Lanterns on Oa and byeond, killing numerous Lanterns, and sparking off a war that would get really bloody really fast. This was a brutal story and only got more so when the Guardians of the Universe removed the rings’ restrictions on killing. While the Sinestro Corps was stopped, the bad guys won, and it sowed the seeds for the future. It’s dark, violent, and action-packed from start to finish.
2) Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, took readers to a dark future. After Superman retired because the public wanted heroes who would kill, the heroes of the past leave as well, leaving a violent new breed to “protect” the world. However, a disaster brings the legends out of retirement, and leads to a war that will threaten to burn down the world. This story was all about how the grim, violent style of ’90s comics could never be as great as the past, and while the ending was tragically hopeful, it’s doesn’t change the dark road it took to get there (one that involved the deaths of nearly every metahuman).
1) Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: The Killing Joke has a complicated legacy. Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s classic story gave readers a possible tragic origin for the Joker in a story that sees him paralyze Barbara Gordon and torment Jim Gordon, all to prove that anyone will go crazy after having one bad day. It’s one of the stories that showed just how dark a Batman/Joker story can get, and it set the standard for the grim and gritty ’90s comics that would come after it. It’s a classic for some, a problem for others, but it is an undeniably dark and complex story.
What’s your favorite dark DC story? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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