DC Comics
Pulp writer Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications in 1934. The following year, the company published New Fun—the first comic book to feature entirely new material rather than reprints of newspaper strips. In need of cash, Wheeler-Nicholson partnered with magazine distributors Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz and founded Detective Comics, Inc., in 1937. Wheeler-Nicholson was unable to repay his debts to Donenfeld and Liebowitz, and he was soon fired from the company. A series of mergers in the 1940s led to the creation of a new company called National Periodical Publications (NPP). In 1969 NPP was purchased by Kinney National Company, which in turn was bought by Warner Brothers–Seven Arts. For much of its history, the company was colloquially known as DC Comics, but it did not officially adopt that name until 1977.