DC Comics, Recycled Paper Superhero?

There's been a bit of action in the comic book sector of our paper planet, and hopefully, more to come.

Last week, DC comics announced in a post on Blog@Newsarama, some environmental improvements to some of their paper. Congratulations to DC Comics for taking leadership in moving the industry forward, and thanks. The announcement, from President Paul Levitz, states they were, "able to switch a number of our kids’ titles to a recycled newsprint paper stock, made from 85% post consumer waste and most of the Vertigo line to a recycled hibrite paper that is made from 40% post-consumer waste."

Hopefully this is an indication of even more good announcements to come from DC Comics, and continued increase of recycled content in all their comic book lines. However, there is one piece (actually, its in the headline of the post) that they seem to have received some bad advice on: their choice of forestry certification. As has been discussed many times in the Paper Planet, the only credible forestry certification scheme supported by a broad range of conservation organizations is the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The blog post states that DC Comics is considering certification of its remaining virgin fiber in its catalogs to the standards of the inferior, less credible system, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). To be a true comic book industry leader, they should be choosing the FSC, and we hope they will look into it.

In a similar trend, Archie Comics announced in June it would publish its upcoming "Freshman Year" series on recycled paper, though it is unclear if it is 100% recycled or another amount. Though it no longer does, Archie Comics used to print ALL its comics on 100% recycled paper. Bring it back, Archie!

For more reading on comic books and the environment, check out this Comic Foundry article.