Opinions - Determining the beginning/end of a comic "Age"?

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Did the Bronze Age end in 1980? Or 1985? Why 1980? Why 1985? When or where should the Modern Age be cut off? I can agree with the reasoning for the Bronze Age ending in 1985 for a couple of reasons. Crisis on Infinite Earths basically redifined the DC universe (Major changes in the continuity of one of the Big 2 comic publishers), and Crisis came before the re-boot (Man of Steel & then Superman (2nd Series) by Byrne). If it were up to me, I would probably end the Modern Age just before the "Heroes Reborn", because many long-time Vol. 1's were ended, the Marvel Universe underwent continuity changes (not to mention the change from Stan Lee to Joe Q.), and finally I think that would be a good starting point for a new comic Age.

 

So let's discuss this in more depth, and help me to fill in the blanks below

 

Golden Age -

 

Atom Age -

 

Silver Age -

 

Bronze Age -

 

Modern Age -

 

BTW, what should we call the next comic Age? Millennium Age?

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

If all goes well, the next Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide should have some intriguing surprises along these lines that might either settle some of the ambiguities or simply introduce new avenues of debate. Either way, it should be fun!

[murph0]

Personally I think the start of the modern age is Dazzler #1 as I believe it was the first book two be printed direct market and newstand. So my opinion would be all books published before this issue to be a different age.

 

Brian

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Forgive me Murph0, I'm not posting this just to prove you wrong, but to clear something up. I'm able to "cheat" in finding answers using ComicBase comic book software that I use not only to manage my collection, but it's like having a comic book encyclopedia too . According to the information in ComicBase, Dazzler #1 is the "First Marvel Direct Market ONLY" book, not the first direct maket and newstand book.

[murph0]

oh well ok, I would still say that is the start of the modern age b/c it's the start of a new era of marketing books and distributing books.

 

Brian

[Zonker]

So of course there are lots of threads in the "Bronze" section on when the Bronze Age began/ended. On the general question of how to determine an end of an age-- it needs to be some watershed event that signals the end or decline of what made the age distinctive.

 

Most people say the cancellation of All-Star Comics in early 1951 ended the Golden Age (the first super-heroic age) that began with Action #1--even though Superman rarely appeared in All-Star. The end of the Golden Age paved the way for the ECs, even though EC's New Trend had started some months before in 1950. Some people call the EC-dominated pre-Comics Code era the Atomic Age, and I like that, recognizing there can be some overlap between the end of the Golden and the start of the Atomic.

 

For the Silver Age, I'd say the watershed event was Jack Kirby leaving Marvel for DC, so Fantastic Four 102 would be the end of Silver, even though the Silver Age began with DC's Showcase #4, pre-dating Fantastic Four by many years.

 

I think the Bronze Age began promptly in January 1970 (first O'Neil/Adams Batman in Detective 395 if anyone's still interested). From my point of view there is no problem with this overlapping the end of the Silver Age for a few months while Kirby was still on FF at Marvel. I get really heretical when it comes to ending the Bronze Age in December 1974 (Detective 443). This is based upon the end of experimentation signaled by the departure of Adams, Wrightson, Kaluta, Barry Smith from mainstream comics work, and the departure of editor Archie Goodwin from DC. But I could also go along with the Bronze Age ending with Giant Size X-Men #1 in 1975. Ending, not beginning. As Comic Investor and others have aptly demonstrated, virtually all the defining series of the Bronze Age (in its common usage) pre-date GS X-Men #1. Don't get me started.

 

The Modern Age is all about the diminishing importance of newstand distribution, the rise of the direct market, catering to the fan base cultivated by the Claremont/Bryne X-Men, Miller's Daredevil, and successors. I think the Modern Age exploded upon itself sometime around 1996 with the Heroes Reborn, Spider-Man clone fiasco, etc.

 

It's too early to tell what Age we're in now, or when/how it will end.

IMVHO of course.

 

Cheers,

Z.

 

 

[aardvark88]

Think Capt Victory #1 by Kirby (Pacific Comics) was the 1st ongoing monthly COLOR direct sales only title. Came out a few months b4 Dazzler #1.

[drbanner]

Silly you, didn't you know the Bronze Age ended January 1, 1975? That's the cutoff date where collectors can start submitting "modern" books to CGC!

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

I have a (stupid??) question, what is the origin for the names of each comic age? We have Platinum, Pre-Golden, Golden, Atom, Silver, Bronze, & Modern Ages. IMO, there should be some kind of logical consistancy to the names of the ages. Golden, Silver, and Bronze makes sense to me (as in 1st,2nd,3rd), but Atom and Modern just seems out of place as a name that describes a period of time for comics. Will the Modern Age be "modern" in 10 years? I would guess that the Atom Age of comics derived it's name in homage to the Atomic Bomb, but that does not make sense to me as a comic collector, I mean what does an atomic bomb have to do with comics other than maybe being a subject in a few issues. Should there be a Nickel, Copper, Steel, and Stone Age? Anyway, maybe you could shed some light on this subject, your input would be appreciated. Thanks

[Guest]

Maybe now were in the Plastic Age?

[FlyingDonut]

The Bronze Age ended January 20, 1981. PM me and I'll tell you why...

[aardvark88]

I luv it. Plastic Age covers the speculated polybagged Todd Spidey 1's, Liefeld X-force 1's, Death of Superman 75, Legends Dark Knight multiple covers & acrylic cgc slabs.

[Guest]

Well , now that we coined the term for the NEW modern age..."Plastic age", which book started the plastic age and ended the old Modern age?

[FlyingDonut]

Either the polybagged Spider-Man 1 and its nine million variants or Superman 75.

[Guest]

Spiderman #1 it is.....so i guess were still in the plastic age then? Whats next?

[blowout]

has to be the todd mac spidey #1.

that really started the ball rolling with all the gimmick covers.

and using the same logic, you'd say the end of the modern age was todd's last ASM issue.

[Guest]

so by what Ive seen so far it goes like this: Bronze age: started with Conan #1 and ended with ? Modern Age: started with Dazzler #1? and ended with McFarlane's last spiderman. Plastic Age: started with Spiderman #1 and all its many covers and continues today. How does that sound? Fill in the blanks too.

[Kevin Boyd]

I disagree completely!

 

The gimmicks of the early 1990's were the direct descendants of the gimmicks of the 1980's - the mini-series, the one-shot, the crossover, the testing of formats (prestige, baxter, et al.).

 

The beginning of a new era means one of significant change, not evolution. For instance, Silver Age Marvels are quite different between 1962 and 1968.

 

ASM 298 would be a better choice because it completely changed the "look" and "feel" of Spider-Man comics, at least for a little while. But that look and feel are now things of the past. McSpidey comics bear little resemblance to the books that Marvel is publishing now. Spider-Man #1 was the biggest selling book at the time (later supplanted by the least collectible comic book of all time: X-Men #1) but was a creative dud.... like most modern comics were, especially image.

 

If 1990 was the start of a new comics age, then it was a short-lived one as everything pretty much had died by 1995.

 

To be honest, I think that Daredevil #1 - Kevin Smith/Joe Quesada is the beginning of the next "age" for Marvel.... becoming the standard by which the rest of the line seems to have followed suit and launched Quesada into the big chair.

 

Marvels #1 would also be an excellent choice as it completely changed the way that people looked at Marvel superheroes.

 

For DC, I would have to go with Kingdom Come #1, followed by JLA #1, et al. which led DC to refocus on Silver Age storytelling with a more realistic slant. Kingdom Come #1 was definitely the focal point of a new type of online fandom.

 

Kev

[C3Galaxia-migration]

Well, I started collecting around 1990 so I have little experience for my basis, but I have read lots of comics in the 80s and 90s and it seems like I could classify the 80s into its own age. IMO, this period still had fairly simple art, stories that seemed to be a little better than the 90s' nothing-but-cross-over stories and mini-series and the general condition / manufacturing quality of the 80s didn't seem to be as good as the ones in the 90s.

 

I would probably label the 80s the "Copper Age" or "Lead Age".... don't know what I would label the 90s... maybe the "Uranium age"

 

I do agree that the age from 90-95 could possibly be considered the "speculater" boom age...

 

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

I'm not privy to the reasons why certain names were chosen, but I think we can make some logical guesses. Since the first names arose out of a fandom that grew up from the Golden Age era, it's pretty clear they saw that time period - the emergence of the superheroes etc. - as the best time, hence the old expression "Golden Age." As with other historical disciplines, they must have then applied other metallic names - as many medal scales do like the Olympics - arriving at Silver and Bronze in descending order of importance or historical weight to them at the time. Later on, the Atom Age was used to designate a period of time in which the looming threat of atomic power characterized much of pop culture, from the post-war year of 1946 to about 1956-6, when Silver kicks in.

 

I was there when we added Platinum and Victorian, and they were chosen for various reasons, but by this point the metallic theme was not necessarily a factor anymore - although when the new Guide comes out, you'll see that we're trying to preserve it.

 

The Modern Age is not a static period - we simply use it to refer to whatever Age we're in "now," and as time moves forward and other Ages acquire names, the Modern Age rolls forward as well. As for other names, just wait until the new Guide.