In 1982 Marvel launched a series of graphic novels beginning with the Death of Captain Marvel. The Marvel Graphic Novels were magazine-sized with cardboard covers and generally featured original material.

In response to Marvel, DC began their own series of Graphic Novels in late 1983. The first two releases were licensed material from popular Atari video games: Star Raiders and Warlords. Star Raiders would lead to an ongoing Atari Force series. Another significant release was the Hunger Dogs, in which Jack Kirby returned to the Fourth World characters which he had created in the early 1970s.

In 1985, DC began a second line of these magazine-format graphic novels. Entitled DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel, this series focused on comic adaptations of science fiction prose novels.

After just 7 issues of each series, DC cancelled both lines of graphic novels. Just six months later, DC released its second original graphic novel set in the DC Universe (Hunger Dogs being the first). This magazine-sized hardcover, Batman:Son of the Demon, was not part of the DC Graphic Novel series. Subsequent releases continued to be one-shots and were not part of a overall series or numbering system.