Official Chromium/Foil age thread. (1990's) Show us your books.

[B-Smooth]

Just thought I'd share. My friends and I have called the post valiant thru late 90's, the foil age. For obvious reasons we call it this. Although campy and sometimes outright absurd, the chrome/silver / gold/red whatever covers (along with countless other gimmicks) have held a special place in our hearts. There are great reads, and rare books. And although I call it the foil age, I personally believe it should be an extension of the copper age. This is why I post this here. If the golden age lasted 20+ years, then why not the copper age? Most of the collectors I know who collect copper books, almost always collect 90's books, as well. I just think of them as the same era. After that, they might as well call it the walking dead era.

 

EDIT: why not just make this the Chromium/ Foil age thread? I put this post here because it would be buried within hours in the modern age arena. The copper age forum needs all the traffic it can get.

[seanfingh]

 

There are several of the enhanced books that I just love, but the champ of them all is Silver Surfer 50. I loved the Thanos run from 34 - up and was completely caught up in the late 80's early 90's love affair with reviving Bronze 3rd tier characters. That book will always be awesome to me.

 

[DiceX]

Chromium Age

 

 

[dupont2005]

To me, that's when the Copper Age ended. I love CA comics because they focused on stories, not gimmicks and variants. That practice is still in play today, just substitute gold foil for a blank cover. So to me they are moderns.

[seanfingh]

To me, that's when the Copper Age ended. I love CA comics because they focused on stories, not gimmicks and variants.

 

I agree with this, looking back.

 

But at the time it was all just happening, and it was hard not to get sucked into the mentality that comics were just going to keep becoming more and more popular. It looks very pollyanna-ish now, but at the time there was such an energy and an atmosphere that the sky was the limit as to the mainstreaming and ubiquitousness of comics.

 

But really it was just the profiteers and speculators feasting until there was no meat left on the carcass.

[B-Smooth]

I didn't particularly care for some of the gimmicky books, but it was a fun extension of my collecting days. I just use the foil age moniker instead of "90's books" to categorize my collection. I think most won't agree with my linking the copper age with 90's books, but it's cool to hear different point of views.

[AGGIEZ]

Chromium Age

 

 

 

+1.

[joe_collector]

To me, that's when the Copper Age ended. I love CA comics because they focused on stories, not gimmicks and variants.

 

Yep, the day this comic appeared, Copper officially ended:

 

 

[nickwire]

There are several of the enhanced books that I just love, but the champ of them all is Silver Surfer 50. I loved the Thanos run from 34 - up and was completely caught up in the late 80's early 90's love affair with reviving Bronze 3rd tier characters. That book will always be awesome to me.

 

 

agree totally, this should get classic cover designation in OS if they do that for moderns

[B-Smooth]

To me, that's when the Copper Age ended. I love CA comics because they focused on stories, not gimmicks and variants.

 

Yep, the day this comic appeared, Copper officially ended:

 

 

Only 9.6's? You're slippin' dude.

[juggernaut]

Chromium Age

 

 

 

+1.

 

+1

[Anfield Fox]

How many gimmicks were there?

 

Variant cover - X-Men 1 started it

Variant cover low ratio - Prophet 4a was the first big one i think

Variant cover reprint

Polybagged comic

Chromium cover

Platinum cover - Spider-Man 1

Hologram cover - 30th anniversary Spider-Man issues

Glow in the dark cover - Ghost Rider 15

Die Cut Cover" - Wolverine 50/Punisher War Zone 1

Holofoil cover

Embossed cover - Punisher war journal 50

Gatefold cover

Gold/Red/Black/Pink/Silver etc edition

Gold/Red/Black/Pink/Silver etc lettering

 

And i was reeled in by all of them

 

Though some are still pretty cool

[joe_collector]

How many gimmicks were there?

 

Variant cover - X-Men 1 started it

 

Come on, Spider-man #1 obviously started the trend, while Legends of the Dark Knight and Robin were kind of the precursors that got the ball rolling. But the day Spider-man #1 was released totally changed the comics landscape and that of the LCS.

 

I walked in on release day, and people were *literally* wheeling cases of Spidey #1 out of the store. I had never seen that before, never, ever, ever. And the store owner was taking offers on his soon-to-arrive Platinum copy, showing off the cert he got with his order.

 

It was CRAZEEE!

[seanfingh]

 

I am pretty sure I bought 10 polybagged Silver and 10 polybagged green and a couple of unbagged. It was just like only buying one copy of any other book.

[Anfield Fox]

How many gimmicks were there?

 

Variant cover - X-Men 1 started it

 

Come on, Spider-man #1 obviously started the trend, while Legends of the Dark Knight and Robin were kind of the precursors that got the ball rolling. But the day Spider-man #1 was released totally changed the comics landscape and that of the LCS.

 

I walked in on release day, and people were *literally* wheeling cases of Spidey #1 out of the store. I had never seen that before, never, ever, ever. And the store owner was taking offers on his soon-to-arrive Platinum copy, showing off the cert he got with his order.

 

It was CRAZEEE!

 

X-Men 1 had 5 different covers. Spider-Man 1 had the same cover in green and silver. Spider-Man 1 might have started it but X-Men 1 "perfected it" if you can call it that.

[B-Smooth]

Chromium age, foil age, speculator fail age, gimmick age, too many variant cover age... Feel free to join in.

[Stryfe1000]

The "I cant beleive I spent sooo much money on so much worthless drek age"?

 

I'm actually happy that I never really got sucked into buying multiple copies of stuff during the 90's.

 

I've only ever owned 1 copy of X-Men 1. At the time I never bought a copy of Spidey 1 (Although I've bought a 9.8 Silver and 9.8 Green within the last fortnight).

 

I did own some gimmick covers, but only on books I collected at the time.

 

My personal favourite being this beauty

 

 

Unfortunately I DID spend an awful lot of my money on an awful lot of awful comics due to the abundence of multi-title crossovers which began springing up as well as the "Collectors edition must have first ever issues" which plagued the shelves (Silver Sable 1 and Terror Inc 1 to name but two landfill candidates)

 

I agree that Spidey 1 IS the cause and defining comic of the modern age. The Copper Age, more than any other was all about the stories.

[nickwire]

i remember having to get all the xforce 1's cause they had different cards in the polybags.......EXACT SAME BOOK bought what was it? 5 times? i think there were 5 cards.

[joe_collector]

X-Men 1 had 5 different covers. Spider-Man 1 had the same cover in green and silver. Spider-Man 1 might have started it but X-Men 1 "perfected it" if you can call it that.

 

LCS the day before Spider-man #1 was released:

 

 

LCS the day when Spider-man 1 (and its myriad variants) was released:

 

 

[joe_collector]

And BTW, Spider-man #1 had at least as many covers as X-Men 1: Green, Silver, Platinum, Gold, Gold UPC, Chromium, along with multiple second prints and those specifically released as bagged/unbagged versions. The sheer number of different "versions" is staggering for a single issue.

 

I realize a lot of you guys weren't buying comics from 1985-89, but I used to hit the LCS at least every weekend (more if they got some new back issues in), and the whole industry changed the day Spider-man #1 was released.

 

Night and Day.