When did the Silver age begin, title by Title?

[frozentundraguy]

Currently the Silver Age of Comics begins with Showcase #4, with a cover date of

September/October 1956. Hence each comic is considered to be Silver Age if it is dated

from October 1956 to December 1969. Per the article in Wiki the end of the S.A occurred

in April of 1970 when the Green Lantern was given over to Denny O'Neil and Neil Adams.

For those interested the CBM magazine had an article titled "Carbon Dating the end of the

Silver Age", in issue #108, where a case is presented for each DC issue as to when

the Silver Age ended and the Bronze Age began.

 

I would like to begin with the Superman Title, and have several ideas to toss out as to

which issue marks the beginning of the Silver Age. Could it be issue #96, cover date of

March 1955, the first Superman book to have the CCA label? See Hepcats recent comments,

from the Mystery In Space thread.

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1378148&fpart=44

 

The current onset of the S.A. for Superman, per in the OPG is issue # 109, with a cover date of November 1956.

 

 

Issue # 110, cover dated January of 1957, has a decidedly S.A. look, with a giant ant on the cover.

Another possibility would be issue #117, featuring "The Man with the Zero Eyes", which featured

the first cover art by Curt Swan in the Superman title. Issue #121, "The Bride of Futureman" has Lois Lane

and Futureman encased in a "floating bubble", a real staple of S.A. DC books.

 

I would be interested in hearing the opinions of other collectors on this topic, not only for Superman but other Silver Age comics.

[Marty Mann]

MYSTERY IN SPACE #25 has the CCA Logo...dated April '55.

 

mm

[Cimm]

I've always considered everything after the induction of the CCA Silver Age... I like it because it makes for a nice clear line of debarkation, and the CCA is also the defining guideline under which all Silver Age books suffered.

[Comicopolis]

Fun topic- despite what some may say, there is obviously no date set in stone for the beginning and end of most eras.

 

For me personally, the end of the silver age- the second wave of (somewhat) pure heroes- ended at DC for the most part at the end of 1967. IMO, Marvel's SA ended maybe a year or so later. The talent employed and the direction of the companies seemed to shift enough at that time to bring on the beginnings of the bronze age.

 

While I consider DC's SA to begin with Showcase 4 (in general), I'm not sure exactly where the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman GA/SA cut off date is

 

I've always found this to be a fascinating subject and have yet to see a completely satisfactory answer as to when the GA stopped and SA started for DC's big three.

[Hepcat]

Another possibility would be issue #117, featuring "The Man with the Zero Eyes", which featured the first cover art by Curt Swan in the Superman title. Issue #121, "The Bride of Futureman" has Lois Lane

and Futureman encased in a "floating bubble", a real staple of S.A. DC books.

 

That could indeed be a good place to draw the dividing line for Superman.

 

For Wonder Woman it's very obviously issue #98 from May 1958 when Ross Andru took over the artwork from H.G. Peter. The Silver Age for Wonder Woman just as clearly ended with issue #178 when she lost her powers.

 

For Batman, I don't know but I'm tempted to say in November 1955 with the introduction of his future fellow JLAer J'onn J'onzz in Detective 225.

 

For the science fiction/mystery titles published through the fifties, I'm sticking with the appearance of the CCA logo.

 

 

[Silver]

My views are going to be in a minority on this topic, but oh well

 

I don't believe the golden age ended and the silver age began the next month. The golden age probably really ended by sometime in the late 40's when super-heroes where going out of vogue.

 

I don't believe that Showcase 4 is the clear start to the silver age, I think it is one of the biggest books to bring on the silver age, but I think Brave and the Bold 28 is the start of the silver age. All the other books re-introducing golden age hero's where setting the table.

 

Brave and the Bold 28 directly had influence to bring about the Fantastic Four. The silver age is just as much the Marvel age.

 

The DC demarcations Overstreet has are just plain silly. Superboy 52 is silver age, but 51 is not? Superman 109 is silver age, but 108 is not? DC wasn't doing anything different with those characters.

 

Each of DC's super-heroes underwent their own transformation over time. Curt Swan had a huge influence on the Superman Family of titles, he changed their look. The Superboy in Superboy 52 is differnet both story and art wise to the Superboy in say Superboy 86 with the fourth appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The 52 is more like the earlier issues, the 86 more like what the rest of the silver age issues, so why is 52 the first silver age issue in Overstreet? The month and year it came out?

 

Batman was just plain silly until Detective 327 introduced the "new look". It's hard to belive that Batman had really gotten so silly with all the monsters and alien stories.

 

In summary, no one will ever really agree with me, but in the same way all those pre SGT Rock stories led up to SGT Rock in Our Army at Way 83, all the Showcase 4, 22, etc. led up to B&B 28, and then on to FF 1. 1960 is where the silver age really started. 50's comics aren’t golden age or silver age...they are 50's comics

 

 

[frozentundraguy]

Another possibility would be issue #117, featuring "The Man with the Zero Eyes", which featured the first cover art by Curt Swan in the Superman title. Issue #121, "The Bride of Futureman" has Lois Lane

and Futureman encased in a "floating bubble", a real staple of S.A. DC books.

 

That could indeed be a good place to draw the dividing line for Superman.

 

For Wonder Woman it's very obviously issue #98 from May 1958 when Ross Andru took over the artwork from H.G. Peter. The Silver Age for Wonder Woman just as clearly ended with issue #178 when she lost her powers.

 

For Batman, I don't know but I'm tempted to say in November 1955 with the introduction of his future fellow JLAer J'onn J'onzz in Detective 225.

 

For the science fiction/mystery titles published through the fifties, I'm sticking with the appearance of the CCA logo.

 

 

Hepcat,

 

I would tend to agree with your assessment that issue # 98 would be the start of the Silver Age for Wonder Woman, due to a new artist on the book. There are some other developments that show the change were gradual, with nearly imperceptable changes over a period of a few years. The first of these I see, note I am only going by the covers not having any books besides # 83, is the change in the lettering of the title that occur in issue #60. The "W" in wonder no longer has the loop and changes to a larger "font" size for lack of a better term. The next change occurs in the April 55 issue #73, where the CCA label is added.

 

For Mystery in Space a good case could be made that issue #53 in August of 59, with the introduction of Adam Strange, was the start of the Silver Age. Until then the covers have pretty similar themes, featuring spacecraft or the Earth in unusual situations. With the Earth being towed, locked in a giant box, attacked by alien ships and so forth.

 

#46 September 1958

 

[Marty Mann]

Imagine that...after all these years, no one is really sure where the Golden Age ended and the

Silver Age began!

 

mm

[RockMyAmadeus]

[oakman29]

 

Do you validate parking?

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Do you validate parking?

 

[thehumantorch]

Think I would agree with Cimm. The introduction of the Comics Code forced

publishers to change what they were doing and search for an alternative. It

wouldn't be like flicking a switch and a new age is upon us; more like desperate

editors trying anything and any idea to stay in business.

 

I don't think it is any accident that DC would attempt to revive Flash in 1954

or Marvel attempt to revive their characters at the end of 1953 (suspecting that

the comics code was unavoidable). Marvel failed and I suspect DCs results

were just good enough to keep trying.

 

Once publishers noticed that Superhero titles were starting to sell they would

all rush to introduce their versions. Stan Lee spent his career watching for

trends and introducing his own copies and started the Marvel SA in 1961.

 

For me the SA started with Showcase 4 and blossumed with the introduction

of the Fantastic Four.

[Flash105]

That's an important thing to remember. It's okay that the silver age began in 1956 but really did not start rolling until 1962. One does not preclude the other. In fact they go hand in hand.

[rjpb]

The terms Golden Age and Silver Age were not originally intended to encompass all comic books, just "heroic" comics, and even then, not meant to include every super hero book published in the 30 or so years after Action #1. They were meant to describe approximate eras of significant reader interest in superhero books, and not rigid time frames. It's not like anyone ever thought of Showcase 1-3 as being part of the Golden Age, or Silver for that matter - they were just old comics.

 

They were also rather DC-centric terms, with Action #1 and Showcase #4 being the respective "firsts", and for many, All-Star #57 being the last GA book. It wasn't until dealers started dividing their stock, that the dilemma of what to do with all other genres and early-mid 1950s superhero books came about, and using the code stamp became an easy way of identifying which era ( or box) a book belonged in.

 

The problem with just using the code, is that there are still books that become tough to classify - when does Dell go from Gold to Silver, as the company did not use the CCA? Even some code approved Superhero books seem more GA than Silver - specifically the last few issues of Atlas' Sub-Mariner and Quality's Plastic-Man.

 

The terms have come to have dual meanings. For purely organizational purposes, the introduction of the CCA stamp becomes the dividing line for the vast majority of comics, and certainly no pre-code book is going to be considered to be in the Silver Age by anyone. On the micro level, the Silver Age begins at the latest when

a given title's adventures are clearly taking place in the larger continuity of that company's SA "universe", something not always easy to agree on.

 

The issue of DC's "big three", and their respective titles being published continuously through the 1950s will never be adequately resolved as the shift was gradual in the case of the Superman titles, or late to the game as with Batman's "new look". I'd argue that while the Bat-mite, Bat-woman, alternate costume, sci-fi era of Batman comics is clearly distinct from the "new look", those elements ( expanded supporting cast, aliens and mutations, goofy stories) are all hallmarks of the early DC Silver Age.

 

Ultimately, collectors must decide for themselves on an individual basis where they are most comfortable with one era ending and another beginning, and if it's on a title by title basis, or they use "Atom Age" as a bridge between the eras, or they see the transition being gradual rather than distinct, then so be it.

 

I enjoy discussions and debates about the topic, not because I ever expect a broad consensus to emerge, but because it's interesting to see how people who actually collect books that aren't easily categorized as being in one era or the other feel about the issue.

 

 

[Marty Mann]

How about saying the GOLDEN AGE ended when the cost of a comic went to 12 cents?

 

mm

 

 

[otherworldsj33]

I remember Paul Levitz saying that he considered that an age begins with a shift in mass editorial views. I agree with that view. I look at it as analogous to when decades start as far as the spirit of what we remember the decade for. For instance, the '60's for me would be from 1963/64 to 1973. So definitly, when looking at a SA timeline, Showcase #4 fits that criteria with the Showcase title, and most probably as representing the start of the silver age in general. As mentioned by a previous poster, it was a gradual shift though. As far ar other DC, and Atlas/Marvel, Archie, Dell, and other publishers, I either don't know the content well enough (re the Dell, Archie books), or don't have hours of time to pour into the research of the DC and Atlas/Marvel books. But, to name some,

Action #241

Batman #156

Superman #123

JS

[rodan57]

How about saying the GOLDEN AGE ended when the cost of a comic went to 12 cents?

 

mm

 

 

Ah, but that would make FF #1 Golden Age.

[Marty Mann]

Would that be so bad?

 

mm

[rodan57]

[Silver]

I still contend that the single issue of Showcase 4 did not usher in the silver age. The CCA even less so. It took almost three years form Showcase 4 for the Flash to get his own title. Three years for Showcase 22 to bring on Green Lantern. A year later for the Justice League to debut, and a year after that for the FF to come along.

 

I know the SA Superman books as well as anyone does, the CCA and the month Showcase 4 came out didn't effect those titles. They slowly changed over time as they always had been. Art styles, stories, etc. For Superboy, plot lines like Pete Ross and the Legion were really what SA Supeboy was all about. I would say Action 232 with the first Swan Superman, Action 242 with Braniac (first real new villian of any consequence) and Action 252 with Supergirl are where we see real changes with Superman.

 

I don't prescribe to the silver age being a line (month) drawn in the sand or a single event. I also do not prescribe to the comic "ages" lining up next to each other. I don't believe the GA ended and the silver age began. To me, 50's comics have their own unique style and flavor that neither belong to the GA or SA. I see the GA as being the late 30's to late 40's and the silver age being basically all of the 60's.

 

I know these are just my opinions, I am not trying to convince anyone to adopt them.

 

Like all of you I am a big comics fan, and enjoy discussions about the history of our hobby. I think there will never be a definitive answer to the question this post asked...just opinions.

 

Oh, and for the record....50's comics are my favorites