National Comics Publications (NCP; later known as National Periodical Publications Inc. or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company. It was the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics.
The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied Publications Inc. (also known as National Allied Newspaper Syndicate Inc.[3] and later Nicholson Publishing Co., Inc.[4]) which was founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1934[5][6][7] to publish New Fun,[8]
Max Gaines' All-American Publications and Detective Comics Inc. merged to become National Comics Publications Inc.[14] on September 30, 1946.[15][12][16] National Comics was renamed "National Periodical Publications Inc." in 1961.[12][17][18]
Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" in the early 1940s.[19]
In 1967, National Periodical Publications was purchased by Kinney National Services.[20] In 1977, the company changed its name to DC Comics.[21]
