DC Black Label: Why It’s So Essential

DC’s new more adult themed comic line, dubbed Black Label, has been churning right along with everything from Batman to Joker, to Harley Quinn, and Superman their line gives a darker more adult approach allows them to bring a more realistic feel to the villain filled DC universe. As much as everyone looks towards a hero, its DC’s villains that show off the grit of our greatest heroes.

Of all the titles released, the majority of them have been set in the Batman Universe. So far there’s been Batman: Damned, Superman: Year One, Batman: Last Knight on Earth, Batman: Curse of the White Knight, Harleen, and Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity. That has 5 out of 6 of these stories digging deeper into the Batman universe with a few more to come.

Of course, with Batman more of the characters seem to fit a more adult oriented story. The bulk of the characters in a Bat-story are caught up in their own psychological demons they parallel the struggles of an older generation of comic readers. To take characters like Bruce Wayne, the Joker, Harley Quinn, or maybe the Riddler down the road we see the struggles of complex minds unfold without the limitations of keeping their stories family friendly.

It’s not just a matter of being able to use curse words for DC’s Black Label. Even with Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity they dig deeper into more psychological tones even bringing real life serial killers into their comic book world. Being able to use darker tones, even ones that are darker than our usual Batman tones, brings out the criminal mastermind and over-the-top craziness of the DC villains. Because they stick to characters who explore the fragility of the human psyche, these villains seem to be more real than the super powered ones in other stories.

Sticking with an adult-themed book tone to these books allows writers to stretch their legs just a little bit more. Psychological thrillers are all the rage in almost every medium. Streaming services such as Netflix are even getting in on the mind of real life serial killers. So for DC this is an untapped market their writers wouldn’t be able to tap into with a family friendly product line. Since spinning off a Black Label line, fans are able to fulfill their fix for these stories just as much with the characters they’ve loved to read.