Since the original superhero, Superman, is a journalist in his civilian life as Clark Kent, it makes sense that many other superheroes either also work at newspapers or have journalists among their supporting cast. So many other comics have simply drawn inspiration from the Man of Steel that newspapers have become an important part of many comic universes.
Of course, as can be expected, most often superhero stories feature fictional institutions rather than ones in the real world. Looking across the whole spectrum of superhero comics, let's take a look at all of the fictional newspapers featured in stories about costumed vigilantes.
9 Rorschach's The New Frontiersman
The superhero genre's magnum opus is Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's Watchmen. The book is still the best "realistic superheroes" deconstruction story almost 35 years on from its original publication. Featured in the story is The New Frontiersman, the favored paper of Walter Kovacs/Rorschach; it's the only paper which he trusts enough to leave his journal, and the secrets it contains, to—resulting in the story's famously ambiguous ending.
However, fitting Rorschach's own reactionary outlook, The New Frontiersman is not a reputable outlet, but a right-wing rag promoting conspiracy theories and race-baiting.
8 The Daily Star Is An Early Superman Newspaper
Superman's earliest appearances are quite different from later, more well-defined iterations. To give just one example, Clark Kent worked at the Daily Star; the paper was named after the real-life Toronto Daily Star, the childhood newspaper of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. From Action Comics #23, the "Daily Star" name was abandoned in favor of the now more familiar Daily Planet.
The Daily Star's role in Superman's early history was incorporated into the New 52 reboot of Superman - Grant Morrison's Action Comics run begins with a young Clark writing for the Daily Star before migrating to the Planet.
7 A Rival In The Form Of The Metropolis Star
Superman's chosen hometown certainly isn't short on newspapers. "Crisis On Infinite Earths" saw a reboot of the DC Universe; a minor part of the rebooted Superman's status quo was giving the Daily Planet some competition in the form of the Metropolis Star.
Debuting in Superman (Vol.2) #9 by John Byrne, that issue was also the debut of the Metropolis Star's most famous employee: Toby Raynes, the girlfriend of Metropolis detective Maggie Sawyer.
6 Batman Comics' The Gotham Gazette
Unrelated to the real-life "Gotham Gazette," an online, NYC-based publication, is the local newspaper of Batman's home city. Debuting in Batman #4 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the Gazette became the home of journalist/Bruce Wayne's occasional love interest, Vicki Vale. In the Silver Age, it was revealed the same media company owned the Gazette and The Daily Planet, further facilitating crossovers between Superman and Batman. Most recently, the Gazette, specifically a weekly column called "Gotham Is," played a thematic role in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman run.
5 The Gotham Globe From The Batman Movies
The Gazette isn't the only newspaper in Gotham; there's also the Gotham Globe. Debuting in the live-action Batman film series, the Globe plays a major role in the first installment, for it's the newspaper employing Vicki Vale (here a photographer) and her colleague Alexander Knox, both intent on writing an exposé on the Batman. The Globe fades into the background as the series goes on, though each of the three subsequent films features an appearance by one of the paper's recent editions, as do some comics.
4 Hulk's The Arizona Herald
Al Ewing & Joe Bennett's currently running Immortal Hulk introduced a version of Jack McGee, the investigative reporter from the Bill Bixby-headlined Incredible Hulk from 1978-1982 who obsessively hounded a fugitive Bruce Banner to prove the Hulk's existence. Immortal Hulk features Jackie McGee, a gender-flipped, black version of Jack.
Unlike her sensationalist TV counterpart, Jackie has a tragic reason for her hunt; when she was a teenager, her home was destroyed in one of the Hulk's rampages, the stress of their shattered lives eventually killed her father. Plus, while Jack was a tabloid reporter, Jackie writes for a respectable, if struggling, outlet: the Arizona Herald. Her editor, Murray, specifically notes that her coverage of the Hulk could be the paper's ticket from a local paper to a national outlet.
3 The Daily Globe, A Rival To The Daily Bugle
The Marvel Universe is generally closer to our own reality than the world of DC; Marvel's heroes mostly dwell in NYC rather than Metropolis or Gotham, for example. There are exceptions to this rule though, and one is that Marvel features plenty of fictional newspapers as well. One of these is the Daily Globe, published by Barney Bushkin and rival to the Daily Bugle (more on that soon). Eddie Brock was originally a journalist for the Globe; his inaccurate reporting on serial killer the Sin-Eater resulted in his termination and his becoming Venom.
The Globe also publicly revealed Matt Murdock's identity as Daredevil in Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev's storyline, "Out." However, as of Peter Parker: Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Michael Allred, the Globe is defunct. Still, if people can come back to life in superhero comics, surely a newspaper could too.
2 The Daily Bugle From Spider-Man
The more famous fictional newspaper in the Marvel Universe's New York City is surely the Daily Bugle. After a brief appearance by its papers in Fantastic Four #2, the Daily Bugle proper debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and has been a fixture of the web-slinger's story's ever since. If you're familiar with Spider-Man, you're likely familiar with Peter Parker's role at the Daily Bugle; taking pictures of himself as Spider-Man and pawning them off to editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson, a sensationalist at best and libelist at worst.
The Bugle is also the workplace of other supporting characters in Spider-Man's orbit, from Jameson's managing editor "Robbie" Robertson and his secretary Betty Brant. Due to the Bugle's importance to Spider-Man's mythos but the changing media landscape that comes with a sliding timescale, some modern iterations have depicted the Bugle not as a newspaper, but a TV channel, web-show, or podcast, with Jameson usually the host.
1 The Daily Planet In Superman Comics
Not the first fictional newspaper in superhero comics, but certainly the most famous and quintessential. Since Action Comics #23, the Daily Planet has been Clark Kent's default place of employment. Though its purpose to Superman has waned thanks to modern technology—he was originally a journalist so he could be close to breaking reports of danger and people in trouble—it's too critical a part of Superman's character to discard entirely.
There's also Superman's supporting characters, from Lois Lane to his best pal Jimmy Olsen to Planet EIC Perry White, who all have their place in his life due to the newspaper.