DC Comics has had a very busy past few months, between signing Brian Michael Bendis to an exclusive contract, launching the New Age of DC Heroes line and announcing all sorts of new imprints like the YA-focused DC Ink and the Neil Gaiman-curated Sandman line. As Heath Ledger's Joker would say, it's a period of aggressive expansion for the company. That trend continued this week with the announcement of DC Black Label , another new imprint focused on edgy, personalized takes on classic DC heroes. At this point, there's more DC Comics content in the works than any one reader can hope to consume. But that's not a bad thing. That ambitious, guns-blazing approach is just what the industry needs right now.

Wonder Woman: Historia #1 cover by Phil Jimenez. (DC Comics)

A Visual History of Batman 56 IMAGES

Young Animal art by Nick Derington. (DC Entertainment)

Loading

Granted, the sheer volume of new announcements can seem off-putting at first glance. It's difficult enough keeping up with DC's core lineup of superhero comics, especially with so many still shipping twice-monthly. Once you factor in The New Age of DC Heroes, the Vertigo imprint, Gerard Way's Young Animal line, Warren Ellis' Wildstorm reboot and all these other imprints still in the works, that's an awful lot of content to keep track of. At times, I worry that DC is in danger of making the same mistakes that have plagued Marvel in recent years, publishing so many comics that they begin to drown each other out. Marvel finally seems to be moving in a better direction with their "Fresh Start" initiative and the decision to condense the Avengers franchise, so I'd hate to see DC simply take over in the "too many comics" department.There's a key difference here, however. It's not simply that Marvel has been publishing too many comics, but that there's been so little variety. Pretty much everything Marvel publishes is either a traditional superhero book or a Star Wars tie-in. I wouldn't have a problem with there being so many ensemble X-Men books if there were more differentiating each one besides the character roster.With DC, there's a sense that each of these new imprints is designed to fill a specific niche. Young Animal is geared towards older readers who prefer a quirkier alternative to DC's traditional comics. The Wild Storm blends superhero elements with science fiction and espionage. DC Ink specifically targets teen readers who might normally never pick up a superhero comic. And as DC co-publisher Jim Lee himself said, Black Label is an attempt to create more books like The Dark Knight Returns by allowing creators to craft unique takes on familiar heroes outside the confines of traditional DC continuity. There are still cases where the lines between imprints seem to blur together (Earth One and Black Label, for instance), but time will tell how well each one forges its own identity.These announcements make it clear that DC is no longer concerned about ensuring that every book appeals to as wide an audience as possible. Instead, the goal is to ensure there's a comic for every taste. If you're a traditional superhero fan who loves heading to the comic shop every week, you're covered. If you prefer your superhero tales in brief, isolated doses, you can follow DC Black Label or the Earth One line instead. If you don't particularly care about superheroes at all, that's where imprints like Young Animal and the new Sandman line come in. It doesn't matter if some of these books don't appeal to you personally, because there are always more options.Equally important is the fact that so many of these imprints are specifically creator-driven. DC set a strong example with Young Animal by crafting an entire imprint around Gerard Way. Potential readers may not be familiar with properties like Doom Patrol or Cave Carson, but knowing that these books are written or supervised by the former lead singer of My Chemical Romance gives those readers both an idea of what to expect and an added incentive to check out these books. The same will surely hold true for Neil Gaiman's new Sandman line or Brian Bendis' mystery imprint.DC's aggressive expansion is as much a boon for creators as it is readers. Writers like Greg Rucka and Kelly Sue DeConnick have largely withdrawn from the monthly superhero scene to focus on creator-owned comics. Black Label gives them a chance to work on these iconic properties, but do it on their own terms.The comic book market is changing a great deal as more and more readers shift to nontraditional methods of consumption. Marvel books like Ms. Marvel and Moon-Girl and Devil Dinosaur may not light up the traditional comic book sales charts, but they do extremely well digitally and through other distributors like Scholastic. Even the best-selling monthly superhero comics are drops in the bucket compared to Raina Telmeiger's massively popular graphic novels. So while traditional comic book sales are stagnating, there's no evidence to suggest that the medium as a whole is suffering. It's merely evolving along with its audience. These recent DC announcements seem designed to take advantage of those changes.In the introduction to Sandman: Endless Nights, Gaiman said that someone once asked him to summarize the Sandman saga in 25 words or less. Gaiman's response was, "The Lord of Dreams learns one must change or die, and makes his decision." That pretty well sums up DC's current direction. The comic book industry is changing rapidly, and DC has clearly decided to change with it. I daresay they've made the right decision.

"Between the Panels" is a bi-weekly column from Jesse Schedeen that focuses on the world of comics. You can see more of his thoughts on comics and pop culture by following @jschedeen on Twitter , or Kicksplode on MyIGN