The home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman, DC Comics will soon publish new, online content featuring new characters and concepts through Zudacomics.com.

DC Comics will launch Zudacomics.com in October. This is a new web comics imprint where online comic creators can showcase their work and fans get to vote on their favorite comics. With the official tagline ‘click here to continue,‘ the site has numerous logo variations to reflect the imprint‘s scope and ambition as well as its diverse community of readers.

Following the site‘s launch, the majority of the web comics will be selected by Zudacomics.com‘s visitors, who will vote on new web comics presented to them in periodic competitions. Winners of the competitions will receive commissions to create a year‘s worth of their web comics for the site, and will have their work published in print formats as well.

DC Comics president and publisher Paul Levitz says, "There is an explosion of creativity in web comics. We want to build a great stage for this new generation of creators to perform on, a solid system for their work to reach audiences online and in print, and for the creators to share in the profits their creations can generate. In this time of rapid technological and cultural change, DC wants to be a good publisher for the evolving and growing community of online comic creators, so that we can be their partner for showcasing new kinds of works to entertain future generations."

Creators will be encouraged to send submissions that run the full gamut of comic book genres -- from humor, romance, science fiction, fantasy and superheroes.

Johnson and Perazza will be charged with selecting the submissions for the site‘s competitions; additionally, the editors can declare as many as six submissions as instant winners during the calendar year. All Zudacomics.com creators who are instant winners, competition winners and competition finalists will be paid by DC Comics.

The site will have numerous variations of a site logo that reflects the scope and ambition of the imprint. The firm says that in designing the Zuda logo, it was important to echo back to the interactive nature of the web, the creativity of the medium and the diversity of the comics community. The firm soon realized that there shouldn‘t be just one logo. They wanted to reflect the different ‘faces‘ of web comics that it is looking to publish.

Unlike a traditional comic book page (which traditionally measures 6 5/8" X 10 1/4"), a Zuda web comic will consist of a series of 4:3 aspect ratio screens, so that users will be able to read a web comic installment without opening an additional window in their browser or excessive scrolling. Ongoing Zuda web comics will run for at least 52 total installments, in addition to the initial submission.

DC Comics has chosen IBM Global Business Services to design and build the new site. The site will embrace Web 2.0 technologies such as blogging, commenting, rating and tagging to encourage maximum community participation and feedback on artists‘ submissions. The DC Comics creative and technical teams are working side by side with consultants, visual designers, information architects and developers from IBM‘s Media & Entertainment practice to design everything from the technology architecture to the look and feel and overall user experience for the site. Through the use of open source technologies, the new site will enable collaboration and innovation as well as flexibility to allow DC Comics to continue to enhance the site with industry leading functionality over time.

The Zudacomics.com teaser site will go live in July, timed to this year‘s San Diego ComicCon; the teaser site will allow pre-registration for the site and provide updates for the imprint throughout the summer.

DC Comics, and its various imprints, currently publishes more than 70 comic book series, MAD Magazine and MAD KIDS and more than 300 books a year, including manga titles from CMX and titles from the new MINX imprint aimed at teenage girl readers. With the launch of Zudacomics.com, DC Comics furthers the company‘s commitment to publishing diverse material for an increasingly diverse readership in new and diverse platforms.