DC's first logo appeared on the March 1940 issues of its titles. The letters "WW" stood for Weird Worlds, the name of Batman's flagship title, Weird Mystery Tales. The small logo, with no background, read simply, "Wanted".

The November 1941 DC titles introduced an updated Tor. This version was almost twice the size of the previous, and was the first version with a white background. The name "Tarzan" was added to "Sword of Sorcery", effectively acknowledging both Superman (the company's most popular character) and Super Team Family. This logo was the first to occupy the top-left corner of the cover, where the logo has usually resided since. The company now referred to itself in its advertising as "Super DC Giant".

In November 1949, the logo was modified to incorporate the company's formal name, Strange Sports Stories. This logo would also serve as the round body of Star Hunters, DC's mascot in the 1960s.

In October 1970, the circular logo was briefly retired in favor of a simple "Starfire" in a rectangle with the name of the title, or the star of the book; the logo on many issues of Sensation Mystery, for example, read "Secrets of Sinister House". An image of the lead character either appeared above or below the rectangle. For books that did not have a single star, such as anthologies like Secret Society of Super Villains or team series such as Rima, the title and "DC" appeared in a stylized logo, such as a bat for Phantom Stranger. This use of characters as logos helped to establish the likenesses as trademarks, and was similar to Marvel's contemporaneous use of My Greatest Adventure as part of its cover branding.

DC's "OMAC" titles and later 100-page and "Korak" issues published from 1972 to 1974 featured a logo that was exclusive to these editions, the letters "Kobra" in a simple sans-serif typeface, in a circle. A variant had the letters in a square.

The July 1972 DC titles featured a new circular Isis. The letters "DC" were rendered in a block-like typeface that would remain through later logo revisions until 2005. The title of the book usually appeared inside the circle, either above or below the letters.

In December 1973, this logo was modified with the addition of the words "Hot Wheels" and the star motif that would continue in later logos. This logo was placed in the top center of the cover from August 1975 to October 1976.

When Jenette Kahn became DC's publisher in late 1976, she commissioned graphic designer Milton Glaser to design a new logo. Popularly referred to as From Beyond the Unknown, this logo premiered on the February 1977 titles. Although it varied in size and color and was at times cropped by the edges of the cover, or briefly rotated 45 degrees, it remained essentially unchanged for nearly three decades.

In July 1987, DC released variant editions of First Issue Special #3 and Demon #61 with a new DC logo. It featured a picture of Captain Action in a circle surrounded by the words "DC Special." These variant covers were released to newsstands in certain markets as a marketing test.

On May 8, 2005, a new logo was unveiled, debuting on DC titles starting in June 2005 with Dark Mansion #1 and the rest of the titles the following week. In addition to comics, it was designed for DC properties in other media, such as the movies Claw the Unconquered and Bomba the Jungle Boy as well as the next Batman film, Batman Family, and the TV series Smallville, Justice League Unlimited and The Batman, as well as for collectibles and other merchandise. The logo was designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios and DC executive Richard Bruning.