What are the key characteristics of the Copper Age?

[Reno McCoy]

I'm about to start a major undertaking of reading my way through the Copper Age. Aside from reading great stories, I want to see how this era shaped the comic book landscape.

 

I know that crossovers and the enhanced feeling of a shared universe was a focal point for the Marvel Universe at this time, but other elements were key to the Copper Age? I'm more interested in story themes and art styles, but I'm also looking to get an understanding of what was working for fans and what wasn't (such as the increase in creator-owned content or new comic companies).

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[boomtown]

I'm about to start a major undertaking of reading my way through the Copper Age. Aside from reading great stories, I want to see how this era shaped the comic book landscape.

 

I know that crossovers and the enhanced feeling of a shared universe was a focal point for the Marvel Universe at this time, but other elements were key to the Copper Age? I'm more interested in story themes and art styles, but I'm also looking to get an understanding of what was working for fans and what wasn't (such as the increase in creator-owned content or new comic companies).

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

The creator owned content is what I always think of when looking back at the copper age. Creators like Miller, Byrne & Simonson were given control of some of Marvels bigger titles, opening up the flood gate for full creator owned characters.

 

Imo the Copper age was the weakest of all the eras (including Modern), but that's not to say that there wasn't a lot of really cool stuff going on. Just that the dreck factor was very high at both Marvel & DC.

[Crimebuster]

As boomtown implies, new comic companies were a major, major thing during the copper age. I think part of the reason for all the dreck that boomtown mentions is that a lot of top creators were either leaving the big two entirely, or saving their good ideas for creator-owned titles. Why turn over control of your best ideas and work for someone you hate (see: Shooter) when you can publish it yourself instead?

 

So companies like First and Eclipse and successful self-published stuff like Eflquest and Cerebus led to a huge boom in indie books that drained talent away from the big two. Which is why we got stuff like Grell on Jon Sable and Chaykin on American Flagg instead of, you know, Grell on Legion of Superheroes and Chaykin on Batman or something. I don't think you can really look at the copper age without looking at all the cool (and terrible) indie stuff.

[shadroch]

I'd start with Dreadstar. It started with a small company, moved over to Marvel's Epic line and then migrated to First. Very good story line, great visuals.

Biggest problem for the indies was that they had a cover price almost double that of Marvel and DC. Eclipse at one point was $1.50 while Marvel was still at 75cents. Another problem the Indies had was they were working with owner/creators so if the book fell behind, they couldn't bring in a substitute writer or artist.

[comiconxion]

One thing about the independent movement of the 80's is that it did make it easier for artists and writers to break into comics and showcase their talents... artists like Dale Keown, Guy Davis, Sam Keith and many others emerged out of those B&W roots to create a career in comics.

 

In the mid-80's you saw the end of many of the formulaic superhero stories that you had seen in the 60's and 70's as well as the "How to Draw the Marvel Way" style that had become the standard. Traditional Marvel artists like Herb Trimpe and Mike Vosburg were replaced with the "scratchy line" style at Marvel that Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld made popular and DC started experimenting with more progressive styles in their Vertigo line.

 

The early Copper Age was also an interesting time for readers and speculators as you could still afford to purchase all the comics you wanted when they were 60 cent each. And some of the books would actually appreciate in value months or years later. You had to start being pickier when the number of books being published tripled with the B&W explosion and the price of Marvels and DCs went to $1. That was a turning point.

 

Ah, the Copper age, those were the days!

[dupont2005]

I also tend to think of independent comics first when thinking of the Copper Age. As far as mainstream though, I think the CA ushered in the dark elements into super heroes. Lots of super heroes reimagined for the era too. Dark Knight, Killing Joke, Watchmen, Spiderman's alien costume, X-Men took a dark turn with the Days Of Future Past and Fall Of The Mutants stuff. But yeah, I think of black and white small press stuff when I think Copper Age.

[Rodey]

Also you have the rise of the villains : venom taskmaster deathstroke and so on.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

I'm about to start a major undertaking of reading my way through the Copper Age. Aside from reading great stories, I want to see how this era shaped the comic book landscape.

 

I know that crossovers and the enhanced feeling of a shared universe was a focal point for the Marvel Universe at this time, but other elements were key to the Copper Age? I'm more interested in story themes and art styles, but I'm also looking to get an understanding of what was working for fans and what wasn't (such as the increase in creator-owned content or new comic companies).

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[B-Smooth]

Black and white books, really good covers, and overprinting.

[DeliBebek]

Key characteristics of comics from the Copper Age: Letters of Comment by T.M. Maple.

[joe_collector]

It all starts with the growth of Independent comic publishers, creator-owned properties and then moves to changes this movement caused at Marvel and DC, such as giving creators more power, royalties, etc.

[TSwift25]

Independent publishers and the rise of the anti-hero.

[ft88]

It may depend on what you want to accomplish.

 

Relive the 1980s and the comic stories that were popular then?

Pick up the important books that have influenced comics and pop culture in later decades.

Fill in you "understanding" of the Marvel/DC/Other universes. Ie when someone talks about how lame the Beyonder is, you know what their talking about.

 

 

Mainline comics of Marvel. Xmen, Spiderman, Daredevil, FF, Avengers, Simonson Thor with others like Secret Wars, Popular Limited Mini Series like Wolverine and Xmen related and some Graphic Novels like the Death of Captain Marvel.

For DC go, start with Teen Titans, Batman and Tec, maybe JLA but DC was pretty lame in the early 1980s until they hit off with the Vertigo line with the Moore and Morrison writers, pretty much any and all by both of them. Get Omega Man 3 and the Lobo appearances, those were all the rage. Then hit the indy's like TMNT and some of the others mentioned. And don't forget about Heavy Metal. They were hitting their string throughout the 1980s.

 

The tail end of some of the Bronze titles will probably be a waste. Ghost Rider, Tomb Dracula, Jonah Hex, Powerman Iron Fist. Then non universe titles aren't really necessary (or all that great IMO) Conan, GI Joe, Star Wars etc. You could pick up What If and read those during the proper time period, they kept pace with important storylines.

 

 

[Silver Surfer]

Mostly junk, lousy storylines and even worse art! Was the hang over of a great party in the 1980's.

[kidcolt]

Independent companies, non super hero titles, variant and chrome covers, monster special event x-overs.

[Bosco685]

Independent companies, non super hero titles, variant and chrome covers, monster special event x-overs.

 

Two of the more impactful independents that came out long before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 that proved there was a market outside the big two were Cerebus #1 (1/1978) and Fantasty Quarterly #1 (Spring 1978).

 

So does that mean the Copper Age was starting to ramp up in 1978, but really blossomed around the 1980-1984 period?

 

I still believe it was a combination of the anti-hero books, the independent market, and the change in direction for certain titles. Joe Collector assembled a fantastic list that detailed much of this in the previous thread that talked about the same topic.

[nmtg9]

Don't forget the influence of the British Invasion. Started by Moore and the rest that followed.

 

The Indies were very important to me during this time, titles like Love and Rockets taught me there was more to comics than super heroes. Something that was a big awakening for me.

[Bosco685]

Don't forget the influence of the British Invasion. Started by Moore and the rest that followed.

 

That is the anti-hero influence and direction that you see in many of his stories.

 

[dupont2005]

Independent companies, non super hero titles, variant and chrome covers, monster special event x-overs.

 

Two of the more impactful independents that came out long before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 that proved there was a market outside the big two were Cerebus #1 (1/1978) and Fantasty Quarterly #1 (Spring 1978).

 

So does that mean the Copper Age was starting to ramp up in 1978, but really blossomed around the 1980-1984 period?

 

I still believe it was a combination of the anti-hero books, the independent market, and the change in direction for certain titles. Joe Collector assembled a fantastic list that detailed much of this in the previous thread that talked about the same topic.

Those were both fantasy mags, which fit in the Bronze Age along with the Marvel mags pretty well. Was Fantasy Quarterly successful? I always thought it bombed and that's why they re did it right away with Elfquest #1.

 

But I don't think any one event changes the feel of the age for all comics. Some were on board before others. I do think of Raw Magazine as a Copper Age comic. It's a low print run experimental alternative art-comic for adults. Sounds CA to me

[Bosco685]

Those were both fantasy mags, which fit in the Bronze Age along with the Marvel mags pretty well. Was Fantasy Quarterly successful? I always thought it bombed and that's why they re did it right away with Elfquest #1.

 

But I don't think any one event changes the feel of the age for all comics. Some were on board before others. I do think of Raw Magazine as a Copper Age comic. It's a low print run experimental alternative art-comic for adults. Sounds CA to me

 

I think many of us have agreed there is no one book that all of a sudden kicked off the Copper Age. That has been mentioned many time, which I agree with this view. And it wasn't due just to the independent market by itself, or anything the big two did by themselves.

 

As far as Cerebus being a fantasty magazine, I always thought Sim became inspirational to later self-publishing creators because of his comic book success. Fantasy Quarterly #1, on the other hand, is considered an underground comic with content from the Pini's and Dave Sim (published before Cerebus #1). The Pini's were pleased with their content for that comic, leading to the creation of Warp Graphics with the publication of Elfquest #2. It was the quality of the Fantasty Quarterly #1 book that bothered them, as it was published on cheap paper which does not complement the artwork of Elfquest. So sometime later, they reprinted the content from Fantasy Quarterly #1 in Elfquest #1. It wasn't "right away" where the Pini's had to redo their contributions to make it better before relaunching the series.

 

To me, fantasty magazines are something like Heavy Metal, Whispers or Fantastic.