Black Label is an imprint of DC Comics that focuses (but not exclusively) on Elseworld and out-of-continuity stories about some of The DCU's most popular characters, written and drawn by prominent creators in comics.
Most of these are new titles original to the imprint, but reprints of older stories that fit the Black Label ethos (e.g. Kingdom Come) are also included in the line.
The first wave of Black Label titles began in Fall 2018, with Batman: Damned (by Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo) serving as its inaugural release, while 2017's Batman: White Knight was folded into the imprint with its first graphic novel printing.
With the closure of Vertigo in 2019, it was announced that the few remaining Vertigo titles would be transferring over to Black Label, with the imprint being retooled slightly as the home for all DC's mature readers material, probably including Vertigo reprints being given Black Label trade dress. This includes the books published under The Sandman Universe brand.
Following the DC layoffs of 2020 — which notably included both major editors from Black Label — the company announced plans to significantly scale back the imprint, shifting its focus from new books to reprinting older stories like The Killing Joke. This is in line with DC editorial's stated goals to make their overall output more family-friendly and more aligned with the "franchise brand" in 2021.
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DC Black Label
Original Series
Original first-run comic series put under the imprint's banner. Usually, but not always, presented in a prestige format with different publishing schedules varying between each series.
- American Vampire: 1976 - The concluding chapter of the American Vampire series by Scott Snyder and Raphael Albuquerque.
- Aquaman Andromeda - At Point Nemo, the most remote place on Earth, a covert team of scientists pilot an experimental submarine in search of mysterious structure that has suddenly activated. Also on the search however is Black Manta, and his longtime enemy, the Aquaman. Written by Ram V and art by Christian Ward.
- The Batman: White Knight Saga — The original series was retroactively placed under the Black Label imprint with all subsequent installments being released under it.
- Batman: Curse of the White Knight — A direct sequel to Batman: White Knight, which was the most recently released graphic novel to be retroactively folded into the label. Written and drawn by Sean Gordon Murphy.
- Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn —When a recent, gruesome crime scene suggests a connection to The Joker, the FBI turn to Harley as the one person with information that could crack the case. Written by Katana Collins and Sean Gordon Murphy with art by Matteo Scalera.
- Batman: Beyond the White Knight — When Terry McGinnis steals the Beyond suit on behalf of Gotham Motors CEO Derek Powers, Bruce escapes from prison and enlists Jason Todd to destroy his tainted legacy once and for all. Written and drawn by Sean Gordon Murphy.
- Batman: Damned — When Joker's dead body is recovered, Batman journeys through a Gotham City hellscape with John Constantine to uncover the killer's identity. Written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by Lee Bermejo.
- Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham — Set in Earth-46, this dark, unjust Gotham is patrolled by a grim and young Batman who faces a much different rogues gallery, the first of which is a serial killer named Crytoon, a constantly-weeping man obsessed with the cartoon character of the same name. Written and drawn by Rafael Grampa.
- Batman: The Imposter — A Batman story set in a "gritty, hard-boiled version of Gotham City" where a second Batman haunting Gotham's rooftops and alleys—and this one has no qualms about murdering criminals, live and on tape. Written by Mattson Tomlin and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino.
- Batman: Last Knight on Earth — Billed as "the last Batman story ever told", Batman wakes up in post-apocalyptic tale where the villains have won. Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo.
- Batman: Reptilian — Batman used to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies but a new and mysterious savage monster is stalking Gotham's streets and it’s after the city’s infamous villains. Written by Garth Ennis and art by Liam Sharp.
- Batman: Three Jokers — Picking up on the DC Rebirth revelation that there have been three different Jokers throughout history. Written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jason Fabok.
- Batman/Catwoman — An out-of-continuity sequel to Batman (Tom King), set in a world where James Tynion's run doesn't happen. Written by Tom King and drawn by Clay Mann. note
- The Boy Wonder - When Batman goes missing while Gotham experiences a series of mysterious abductions, it's up Damian Wayne and his adoptive brothers to take care of business. In process learning what it means to be a Robin. Written and drawn by Juni Ba
- Catwoman: Lonely City — An elderly Selina Kyle goes for her last big "score" by breaking into the Bat-Cave in a Gotham ruled over by Mayor Harvey Dent following an incident 10 years ago that claimed the lives of Batman, the Joker, Nightwing, and Jim Gordon. Written and drawn by Cliff Chiang.
- The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child — The fourth chapter of Frank Miller's iconic The Dark Knight Returns saga, in which Lara Kent and Carrie Kelly, the new Batgirl and Supergirl, dealing with Lara's younger brother, Jonathan Kent, as he comes into his immense power, which could have catastrophic repercussions. Written by Frank Miller and drawn by Rafael Grampa.
- Danger Street: Starman, Metamorpho, and Warlord look to prove themselves worthy by summoning and defeating Darkseid in battle. Soon they’ll learn that calling upon a New God never ends well, and their world is headed for a crisis as a result! Written by Tom King and drawn by Jorge Fornés.
- Fables — The story of the citizens of Fabletown continues.
- Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham —- The Big Bad Wolf detective of Fabletown teams up with the Dark Knight Detective.
- The Fellspyre Chronicles — An original heavily dark High Fantasy saga and set around the kingdom of Fellspyre in the fantastical realm of Cain Anuun.
- The Last God — The first book, taking place 30 years after a band of heroes had supposedly killed the last living god, Mol Uhltep, an eldritch creature who's kind once plagued and ravaged the lands. However, it would seem the legends lie as the supposedly dead Mol Uhltep makes a chilling return, bent on gruesome revenge. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Riccardo Federci and Sunny Gho with Dean White.
- The Last God: Tales from the Book of Ages — A sourcebook detailing the setting for use with 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons.
- The Last God: Songs of Lost Children — One shot showing the journey of Queen Cyanthe from innocent girl to warrior.
- The Last God — The first book, taking place 30 years after a band of heroes had supposedly killed the last living god, Mol Uhltep, an eldritch creature who's kind once plagued and ravaged the lands. However, it would seem the legends lie as the supposedly dead Mol Uhltep makes a chilling return, bent on gruesome revenge. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Riccardo Federci and Sunny Gho with Dean White.
- Harleen — A Broad Strokes interpretation of Harley Quinn's origins. Written and drawn by Stjepan Šejić based on his popular fanart series of the same name.
- Hellblazer: Rise and Fall — A stand-alone story written by Tom Taylor where John Constantine and Lucifer Morningstar investigate a series of bizarre suicides.
- The Human Target (2021) — A Noir Detective-style comic following Christopher Chance, a man hired to disguise himself as his clients to invite would-be assassins to attempt his murder, has just 12 days to track down who in the DC Universe is after his latest client, Lex Luthor. Written by Tom King and art by Greg Smallwood.
- Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity — A Serial Killer plagues Gotham City and profiler Harley Quinn is brought in to help apprehend him. Written by Kami Garcia and drawn by Mico Suayan and Mike Mayhew.
- Joker: Killer Smile — The Joker has a fateful encounter with a mental health professional... who is not Harley Quinn. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino.
- Later got an epilogue one-shot called Batman: The Smile Killer
- The Nice House On The Lake — A horror comic by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, and Jordie Bellaire. Eleven friends go up to a nice house on the lake for a vacation... just in time for the apocalypse. The one who invited them, however, already knew this was going to happen.
- The Other History of the DC Universe — A "literary" recounting of DC Universe history that focuses on characters from marginalized groups. Written by John Ridley with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Andrea Cucchi.
- Peacemaker: Disturbing The Peace: A curious psychiatrist attempts to get into the mind of Christopher Smith, a.k.a Peacemaker. An extra-sized one-shot by Garth Ennis and art by Gary Brown.
- The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage — The Question discovers that he's been the subject of reincarnation since at least The '30s and seeks to investigate. Written by Jeff Lemire, drawn by Denys Cowan and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz.
- Riddler: Year One: A Prequel tie-in comic exploring the origins of The Riddler from the movie The Batman (2022). Written by the Riddler's actor, Paul Dano, and art by Stevan Subic.
- Rogues — Ten years into retirement The Rogues reunite for One Last Job that takes them to Gorilla City. Written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Leomacs.
- Rorschach (2020) — In the Watchmen universe, someone's dressed up as the divisive anti-hero, but for what purpose? Written by Tom King, drawn by Jorge Fornés and colored by Dave Stewart.
- Strange Adventures (2020) — Adam Strange's post-space war life turns sideways when an angry man gets killed.
- Superman Vs Lobo — A three-part miniseries that sees the Man of Steel pitted against The Main Man. Written by Tim Seeley and art by Sarah Beattie.
- Superman: Space Age — Clark Kent, a young reporter who just learned that the world will soon come to an end and there is nothing he can do to save it. Sounds like a job for his alter ego... Superman! Three issue mini-series written by Mark Russell and drawn by Mike Allred.
- Followed in 2024 by Batman: Dark Age by the same creative team.
- Superman: Year One — A retelling of Superman's origin story. Written by Frank Miller and drawn by John Romita Jr.
- Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor — A three-part miniseries about the death of Lex Luthor written by Mark Waid and drawn by Bryan Hitch.
- Swamp Thing: Green Hell — As the last remnants of humanity cling to existence, the Parliaments of the Green, the Red, and the Rot agree it’s time to wipe the slate clean and start the cycle of life over again and only Alec Holland finds he can stop them. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Dough Mahnke.
- Waller vs. Wildstorm: In the early 1980s, as the Cold War stubbornly refuses to thaw, a new battle heats up for the soul of the intelligence agency Checkmate between Jackson King, a.k.a. the armored Battalion, against Adeline Kane and his clever new ally—an ambitious young woman named Amanda Waller. Written by Spencer Ackerman and drawn by Evan Narcisse.
- Wonder Woman: Dead Earth — Diana awakens from a centuries-long sleep to discover that the world of man has been ravaged by nuclear war, and it's up to her to defend the last remnants of humanity from the grotesque monsters that roam the wastelands. Written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson.
- Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons — A "Homeric" epic about the history of Queen Hippolyta and the Amazons, before Steve Trevor washed up ashore on Themyscira. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and drawn by Phil Jimenez, with artists Nicola Scott and Gene Ha on subsequent issues.
- Zatanna: Bring The House Down — Zatanna will have to take herself and her magical abilities seriously when an interdimensional vortex cracks open the very stage she performs on, releasing a terrifying demon bent on killing her. And if Zatanna hopes to escape with her life, she'll have to face the even more terrifying consequences of her past. Written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Javier Rodriguez.
Reprints
Reprints of previously published DC Comics prior to Black Label's launch.
- All-Star Superman
- Batman: Arkham Asylum A Serious House On Serious Earth
- Batman: White Knight
- DC: The New Frontier
- DMZ
- Ex Machina
- Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunter's Saga note
- Hellblazer note
- Joker
- Kingdom Come
- Lex Luthor: Man of Steel
- Preacher
- Ronin (1983)
- Saga Of The Swamp Thing note
- Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia
- V for Vendetta
- Watchmen
Hill House Comics
DC Black Label provides examples of:
- Broad Strokes: The name of the game with the Black Label is to tell out-of-continuity stories, but not necessarily so out there to be considered Elseworlds.
- Canon Discontinuity: Word of God has confirmed that some of the titles were originally pitched as in-canon storylines but were folded into Black Label to allow more breathing room continuity-wise.
- Hotter and Sexier: The line has been know to get more steamy than the regular books when it wants.
- Precision F-Strike:
- The imprint is a bit more lenient on foul language, as Batman: Damned and Last Knight on Earth has Batman and Joker respectively say "shit."
- Harleen freely throws around "fuck" whenever it feels like it.
- Retool: Black Label was retooled four times in its first four years. It was initially pitched as an imprint for creator-driven, out-of-continuity books starring DC characters. Then standalone, but in-continuity stories like Three Jokers were announced for Black Label too. And then, with the shuttering of Vertigo, it was announced that both former Vertigo books and standalone graphic novels would be reprinted in Black Label trade dress . And then at last, both its major editors were fired in DC's mass layoffs and indications are that the Black Label books will basically be prestige miniseries set in regular DC continuity.
