Comic Book Resources

DC Cab: Taxi explodes outside DC Comics offices

It’s not quite Black Lantern Martian Manhunter tossing Green Lantern into the Batsignal, but as far as urban havoc goes, it’s the most excitement comics has seen in some time: A taxicab burst into flames around 9:30 this morning at 53rd St. and 7th Avenue in Manhattan — just across the sidewalk from the DC Comics offices at 1700 Broadway.

Through eyewitnesses, Gothamist reports that the fire resulted from an exploding gas tank and filled the area with smoke, though no one was hurt. The New York Times quotes FDNY spokesman Firefighter Hugh Giffords as describing the fire and its subsequent extinguishing as “routine,” but the conflagration was the talk of DC’s employees, many of whom could see it from their Broadway-facing windows or passed it on their way into work. Sources say it attracted even more attention than Paul McCartney’s recent performance atop the nearby Late Show with David Letterman marquee. You can see the full progression of the fire in our photo gallery after the break.

The incident obviously worked out pretty badly for the owner of the cab. But DC itself fared better than did some other comics publishers after memorable moments of car-based mayhem from the relatively recent past, as when rogue vehicles plowed through the offices of SLG in 2003 and Oni in 2007.