In early 1977, DC was publishing their 48-Page Giants for 50¢. Another price increase was just around the corner, and at 48-Pages the Giants were as slim as they could get. So DC developed a larger giant (80 saddle-stitched pages) to be sold for $1.

The new Dollar Comics contained all-new material and no ads, while sold side-by-side with the 48-Page Giants. Four titles pioneered the format: House of Mystery, Superman Family, World's Finest, and G.I. Combat. Initially there were no one-shots.

In 1978, DC planned an expansion of their existing line called the DC Explosion. Regular titles grew from 32 pages at 35¢ to 40 pages at 50¢. DC also eliminated the 48-Page Giants and added additional titles to their line-up.

The DC Explosion (referred to now as the DC Implosion) turned into a colossal failure just two months in. Several existing titles were cancelled and others never even hit the stands. Dollar Comics were affected by cutting the page count from 80 pages to 64, while standard titles returned to 32 pages for 40¢.

After the DC Implosion, Dollar Comics became the home for much of the material originally intended for the Explosion titles. Adventure Comics and Unexpected were added to the Dollar Comics line. An interesting note is that during the Implosion DC cancelled Detective Comics (its oldest running title and the source of the name DC). Someone smart rescued the title from cancellation by merging it with Batman Family, already a Dollar Comic, and keeping the numbering system from Detective Comics.

It took several years for DC to recover from the DC Implosion. During the recovery period, DC published several new Dollar Comics including All-Out War and Time Warp. Several anniversary issues such as Action Comics #500 were also published in the Dollar Comics format. While the price remained a dollar throughout the publication of the format, ads were introduced, thus reducing the number of story pages.

By 1982, DC was ready to introduce a new line of Annuals in the 48-Page Giant format. As for the three remaining Dollar Comics: Superman Family was cancelled and a standard-sized Supergirl series replaced it, World's Finest reverted to standard-size, and G.I. Combat remained Giant-Sized at 40 pages for $1, but the Dollar Comic name was dropped.