What book started the Bronze Age of Comics???? 2 2

[Bronty]

Trust me, I wouldn't intentionally give odin credit...

 

I'm not scared of the cgc triad!!

[supapimp]

this will kill any discussion of people posting that GL/GA 76 was the start of the Bronze Age. check out the evidence, DC comics doesn't lie:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2134252888

[Guest]

this will kill any discussion of people posting that GL/GA 76 was the start of the Bronze Age. check out the evidence, DC comics doesn't lie:

 

they may not lie (although AOL may have done their fair share of that) there's nothing stopping DC from being clueless. Theysell both GL 76 and House of Secrets 92 under that banner, which is just wrong.

[underthebigw]

First of all, you're not the only two paying attention to this thread. I've been blown away by the Superpimps contention. Let's take advantage of the BB's abilities and run a poll on the question. I haven't used these options before, so hopefully this will work.

 

Question: Which of these books better marks the start of the Bronze Age of Comics? Please read the preceeding discussion before voting.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

I'd be more inclined to say that ASM 121-122 are the real end of the Silver Age rather than the beginning of the bronze.

 

However I do remember people were trying to push ASM 101 (first Morbius) as the beginning of the Bronze Age. Not that I agree with that.

 

No I would have to say the bronze age began for DC with Green Lantern/Green Arrow 76 (although House of Secrets 92 is also a good candidate) and for Marvel it began with Conan 1.

 

Why Conan? Why not?

- anti-hero (followed later by the Punisher and Wolverine)

- sex (while only implied, sex was really confined to the undergrounds and later the independants)

- fantasy

- violence

- horror (monsters appear in early every issue)

- spawned a zillion knockoff comics from nearly every company, including his own spinoff magazine

- spun off into two successful motion pictures

 

Sure Conan has since faded off into oblivion, but look at what happened to poor Barry Allen and Hal Jordan - the silver age icons who have faded away to be replaced by variations on their image.

 

And who is to say that Conan could not be successfully relaunched now? Marvel made terrible mistakes with the character (manga conan?) before the let the license fade into oblivion. I had many conversations with people just this last weekend at the Toronto show who fondly remember the character and wish that someone would do the character again "right". That includes the artist who did that Spider-Man/Daredevil one-shot from a few weeks ago. He would love to get a shot at doing some Conan comics.

 

Kev

 

[Larryw7]

Supposedly John Milius, the guy who wrote and directed the first Conan flick, is working on another one with Schwarzenneger. Conan #1 might be a popular comic book again when/if that flick is released.

[aardvark88]

Too bad the cgc census on Conan 1 is almost as high as Capt Amer #100 w/c Mark Wilson found a hi-grade speculator stash of (all the 1968 1st or anniversary issues).

[supapimp]

odin88,

 

yeah but until the advent of CGC, it was hard to move NM Conan # 1's for above $125. but that's just my humble observation, i do think prices on Captain America 100 are ridiculous, the same book in the 80's was listed as high as only $25. the prices will come down as more and more come down the pike just like they had for Dr. Strange # 169 ,Submariner # 1, & Nick Fury agent of sheild # 1. But i think David Hasselhoff had something to do wth killing the demand for that particular issue.

[Guest]

I don't think the Modern Age started until around 87 or 88 for DC Comics and a little after that for Marvel Comics....at the peak of the Modern Age (which slowly seems to be drifting into another age) we saw stuff like the coming up of Image Comics, the death of Superman, and much more...

 

If anyone says the Modern Age started in the 70's has got many comics to read!

[actionuniverse-migration]

If you're talking books that start trends, introduce new characters, etc...I'd have to pick Vampirella #1 because not only did it begin an incredible horror boom in the 70's but if I'm not mistaken, she was the first female character to dress so sexy. I know it's not a traditional "comic book" but it's influence is undeniable, IMHO anyway.

[aardvark88]

Ergo, the BA started around 1966(?) when Vampi mag #1 came out?

[Kevin Boyd]

Vampirella 1 was published in 1969. While an interesting choice, I don't think that magazines qualify as they were published under a different set of guidelines as comics were at the time. Magazines were allowed to be more risque than comics because they were not submitted to the Comics Code Authority.

 

Certainly it's success may or may not have influenced the regular comics publishers, but I get the impression that changing social values had just as much of an impact on things. Especially since Gaines and EC were no longer a problem the surviving publishers had no problem asking for the CCA to revise the rules on horror and violence in comics.

 

Kev

[comicartfan]

This is a great question and one that could be debated for ages. I would have to say Green Lantern 76- and not just because I have this in 9.4, but with the release date of April 1970 (several months prior to Conan 1) , but because of the impact this story line (and ish 85 & 86) that Adams and O'Neil brought to the industry. This is my two cents.

[comicinvestor-migration]

I think the real question is exactly how you define the Bronze Age.

 

I personally relate to the mass introduction of edgy, violent and/or amoral characters like Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Werewolf, Punisher, Dracula, Morbius, Deathlok, Son of Satan, Thanos, Luke Cage, Man-Wolf, etc. and it's a no-brainer than Conan #1 is the focal point. Before Conan #1, Marvel was chock full of costumed Boy Scouts, but soon after, Marvel seemed to take the death-dealing Conan model into the present (and future) in a variety of forms.

 

On the other hand, if you think the Bronze Age relates more to realistic themes and comics taking on real-world issues, then GL/GA 76 is a great choice.

 

If the Horror angle is your bag, then Vampirella, Dracula or Werewolf by Night are also excellent picks.

[PovertyRow]

>>I personally relate to the mass introduction of edgy, violent and/or amoral characters like Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Werewolf, Punisher, Dracula, Morbius, Deathlok, Son of Satan, Thanos, Luke Cage, Man-Wolf, etc. and it's a no-brainer than Conan #1 is the focal point.<<

 

I have to say that makes some sense. The Age of the Anti-Hero, so to speak (well, actually the Age of the Almost Anti-Hero.) A subtler variation than the Atom Age, where suddenly super-heores were almost totally gone and the anthology series came to the fore, with horror and science fiction leading the pack. I say subtler because in the Bronze Age (whatever it is) we still had continuing costumed characters, so the delineation is not nearly as clear as is the Atom Age. This lack of real delineation is going to make this most certainly an ongoing argument. But I kind of like the Conan 1 concept.

[comicinvestor-migration]

There are really one main problem with defining a Bronze Age start, that being it's far too easy to look at the 1970's with revisionist glasses on and equate what is popular or important now, with what was hot and trend-setting then.

 

Read the comics back then, check out the Bullpen Bulletins, do a character/book timeline and it's pretty easy to see that Conan was hot back then, and Marvel was looking to translate that Conan "look and feel" into the mainstream Marvel Universe, not to mention their new "Alternate Marvel Universe" including Deathlok, Killraven, Thongor, John Carter, etc.

 

There's also a far easier way to illustrate this, by answering the following question:

 

Would Marvel have given the go-ahead to such violent and edgy characters as Punisher, Wolverine, Deathlok, Ghost Rider, Thanos, Dracula, et al, without the success of the "slice and dice" Conan paving the way? I don't see how, as the "Marvel Boy Scout Brigade" was in full swing until Conan appeared.

 

Not only that, but how about the edgy stories like ASM #121-122 or Captain America 172-176, or even the obvious move towards having villains like Morbius, Jackal, Green Goblin, Thanos, etc. actually killing victims/heroes on the comic's page?

 

Increased violence, edgy amoral characters, and a preoccupation with death were the true Bronze Age ideals, and if anyone has a doubt that Conan helped usher these in, then I suggest picking up every Marvel Comic starting with Conan #1 and then reading chronologically forward.

[blowout]

"..........then I suggest picking up every Marvel Comic starting with Conan #1 and then reading chronologically forward."

 

 

.......now that's a task for the SERIOUS bronze age collector.................

 

[PovertyRow]

>>Would Marvel have given the go-ahead to such violent and edgy characters as Punisher, Wolverine, Deathlok, Ghost Rider, Thanos, Dracula, et al, without the success of the "slice and dice" Conan paving the way?<<

 

Almost! I think the real question is: "Would Marvel have given the go-ahead to Conan if Howard had not popularized him back in the 30's?" If not, then the Bronze age might have ended up waiting a few years.

[Guest]

I would say that cover price change '69-'70 is when bronze age started... Yes?? NO???

[PovertyRow]

>>cover price change '69-'70 is when bronze age started... Yes?? NO??? <<

 

Have to say no here. The change from Platinum (newspaper reprints, "funny" comics etc) to Golden (the arrival of the continuous storyline superhero) to Atom (anthology type horror/sci-fi/crime/romance as prime material) to Silver (the re-emergence of the superhero with restructured GA heroes like Flash and Green Lantern and new heroes like FF and Spiderman) all came with very noticeable conceptual changes but all retained a 10 cent cover price. Cover price itself was not a factor for those first four ages, and probably should not be for Bronze. The conceptual changes probably should take precedence.