Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Business Wars ad-free on Amazon Music.

Download the app today.

It is summer in 1978, and DC is hanging by a thread.

A few years earlier, Marvel's sweat passed the venerable publisher.

The company recently launched a big comeback at Dubbed the DC Explosion.

Lots of new titles, fresh creative teams.

But the explosion quickly becomes an implosion.

Due to sluggish sales, DC suddenly acts as 40% of its titles and lays off a huge portion

of its staff.

A dark cloud settles over the office.

But there's hope.

And it comes in an unlikely form, a big budget motion picture starring Superman.

Rumors of the film had been circulating around DC's offices for years.

There had been so many false starts and delays in production.

Many staffers doubt it will even happen.

But it's finally real.

And in December 1978, it's days from opening.

A few weeks earlier, the DC staff had squeezed into the publisher's office.

As they watched the trailer, they marvel at the epic tone and at how tall, dark, and

handsome Christopher Reeve really looks the part of Superman.

But to each other, they kept the conversation light trying not to put too much stock in

this one movie, daring not to hope that it would pull DC out of its two decade decline.

...