DC Sampler #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDC Sampler #2 landed at one of the most pivotal creative moments in DC's Bronze-to-Copper Age transition, arriving on newsstands just weeks before The Judas Contract concluded in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 and mere months before the prestige-format New Teen Titans vol. 2 launched — the book therefore functions as a snapshot of the entire Titans universe on the cusp of its most celebrated era. The issue's Teen Titans spotlight section contains an early George Pérez concept design for the character who would become Magenta (Frances Kane), at that stage sketched under the working name 'Polara' with a red-and-blue color scheme rather than the magenta-and-white palette she later adopted — making this the first published glimpse of that character design. A separate Doctor Light illustration within the same Teen Titans section depicted a female African-American version of the character who never appeared in actual continuity, a tantalizing editorial dead-end preserved only in this giveaway. As a free promotional comic distributed through the direct market, the Sampler also documented the breadth of DC's 1984 line — from Atari Force and Vigilante to Swamp Thing and Infinity Inc. — capturing in one place the publisher's deliberate push toward more sophisticated, adult-oriented storytelling.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The DC Sampler series was a short-lived run of three free promotional comic books published between November 1983 and November 1984, each designed to give readers a guided tour of DC's current and upcoming titles. Issue #2 carried a September 1984 cover date but went on sale May 15, 1984, edited by Mike Flynn under managing editor Tom Condon and executive editor Dick Giordano. The issue recruited an unusually wide roster of talent — Marv Wolfman and Greg Potter among the writers, and artists including George Pérez, José Luis García-López, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, Jerry Ordway, Gene Colan, Stephen Bissette, Tom Mandrake, and others — with Fred Hembeck providing the framing sequences on the inside front and back covers, built around a Daily Planet premise featuring Perry White, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Clark Kent. Tom Brevoort has noted that the issue clearly reflects DC's transitional moment, as the company was actively repositioning itself away from its reputation as a publisher for young children toward more ambitious, mature-readership material.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Free promotional giveaway with a September 1984 cover date, published on-sale May 15, 1984 — the second of three issues in DC's short-lived DC Sampler series (1983–1984), executive-edited by Dick Giordano.
- The framing sequence was written and drawn by Fred Hembeck and used a Daily Planet conceit featuring Perry White, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Clark Kent to introduce the book's contents.
- The Teen Titans spotlight section includes an early George Pérez concept sketch of the character who would become Magenta (Frances Kane); at this stage she was named 'Polara' and colored red and blue — the design would not reach print in its final form until Teen Titans Spotlight #16 (November 1987).
- A female African-American Doctor Light appears in the Teen Titans section illustration and was never developed further into continuity.
- The issue previewed an exceptionally broad cross-section of DC's 1984 line: New Teen Titans, Tales of the Teen Titans, Atari Force, Vigilante, The Omega Men, Jemm Son of Saturn, Infinity Inc., The Saga of the Swamp Thing, Justice League of America, Batman and the Outsiders, Thriller, Star Trek, Blue Devil, Amethyst, The Warlord, and DC Digests.
- Contributing artists across the issue include George Pérez, José Luis García-López, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, Jerry Ordway, Gene Colan, Stephen Bissette, Tom Mandrake, Paris Cullins, Chuck Patton, and others — with writers Marv Wolfman and Greg Potter.
- The issue appeared just months after Tales of the Teen Titans #41 renamed the original New Teen Titans series and right before the prestige-format New Teen Titans vol. 2 #1 (August 1984) launched — the Sampler's Titans content therefore bridges the Judas Contract era (in which Dick Grayson first became Nightwing) and the incoming Baxter-paper relaunch.
- The Sampler was a no-cost distribution item and carried no cover price, making it a distinct artifact from DC's standard publishing line and a direct-market promotional tool rather than a traditional comic.
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