The plutonium age of comics...

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]

There seems to be an unresolved debate revolving around the categorization of comics. In fact, it's a topic that has meltdown potential given the core audience (yeah, that's my lame segue for the thread cap).

 

Alas, there is no clearly defined line between GA and SA beyond the CCA stamp of mediocracy, so when push comes to shove everyone steps over it.

 

My 2 cents probably spends as well as anyone else's, so I thought I'd provide my oddball another perspective just for the heckuvit (feel free to agree, disagree or comment, it's just one collector's opinion, after all):

 

Platinum: (Pre-1935 non-pamphlet, mostly B&W comics) Note: These artifacts may include hieroglyphs on scrolls, sequenced drawings on Roman bathhouse walls or Neanderthal cave paintings dependent upon who you talk to, but for the purpose of making a distinction here, these are NOT comic books, at least AFAIC.

 

Gold: (1935-1955) Starting with the first successfully marketed, stapled 10 cent funny books, effectively ending with distraught comic publisher's hasty decision to acquiesce to the Comics Code Authority (1955) after Dr. Wertham's highly publicized assault on the industry. GA can be divided into distinct sub-categories (up to five) that reflect serendipitous opportunities for publishers and necessary changes in marketing strategy.

 

1. Pre-superhero era (1935-1938 Syndicated strip reprints & rejects!)

2. Superhero era (1938-1942 One rejected strip pays off big time and most publishers follow suit, or rather colorful costumes!)

3. Patriotic era (1942-1945 Team players & funny animals thwart the Axis every month, sometimes twice a month and even on Sundays!)

4. Post-war era (1945-1949 Crime and atomic bombshells explode on the scene; 44D predates 3D!)

5. Cold-war era (1949-1955 The paranoid years! Horror rules, and that unfriendly skeleton in your closet could be a communist!)

 

Silver: (1955-1970 approximate) The eradication of crime, horror, sexual tension and violence from comic book storytelling resulted in many marginal publishers going out of business. Survivors scrambled to find acceptable subjects that appealed to an already diminishing market. Without overstepping CCA boundaries DC & Marvel gradually reinvented the superhero genre with more dimensional characters and serialized backstories with recurring villains, family and friends. Note: During this era comic books slowly rebound, appealing to a new generation of readers including younger kids, teens and adults, and more importantly, back-issue nostalgia evolves into full blown comics fandom.

 

Bronze: (1970-1985) The weakening of the Comics Code's influence. B&W horror magazines bypassing the CCA had already made the Code moot, and the emergence of underground comics which led to mainstream graphic novels further eroded the Code's influence over comics publishers. Under pressure from comic publishers the Code loosened up for the creators, allowing the reintroduction of horror elements and controversial topics (drugs, crime, adult sexual relationships) into mainstream comics. It also hastened the end of the CCA.

 

Modern: (1985-present) This era reflects the rise and fall of independent publishers and the influence of direct marketing and target marketing on collectors. I'd also call it the era of the reboot that foreshadows what might be an ominous storm cloud on the horizon for future comic publishing, ...the digital era. [/font]

[Straw-Man]

thread is worthless; pluto ain't even a planet anymore.

[Cimm]

[Comicfollower101-migration]

[TheWatcher]

[font:Times New Roman]Platinum: (Pre-1935 non-pamphlet, mostly B&W comics) Note: These artifacts may include hieroglyphs on scrolls, sequenced drawings on Roman bathhouse walls or Neanderthal cave paintings dependent upon who you talk to, but for the purpose of making a distinction here, these are NOT comic books, at least AFAIC.

 

Gold: (1935-1955) Starting with the first successfully marketed, stapled 10 cent funny books, effectively ending with distraught comic publisher's hasty decision to acquiesce to the Comics Code Authority (1955) after Dr. Wertham's highly publicized assault on the industry. GA can be divided into distinct sub-categories (up to five) that reflect serendipitous opportunities for publishers and necessary changes in marketing strategy.

 

1. Pre-superhero era (1935-1938 Syndicated strip reprints & rejects!)

2. Superhero era (1938-1942 One rejected strip pays off big time and most publishers follow suit, or rather colorful costumes!)

3. Patriotic era (1942-1945 Team players & funny animals thwart the Axis every month, sometimes twice a month and even on Sundays!)

4. Post-war era (1945-1949 Crime and atomic bombshells explode on the scene; 44D predates 3D!)

5. Cold-war era (1949-1955 The paranoid years! Horror rules, and that unfriendly skeleton in your closet could be a communist!)

 

Silver: (1955-1970 approximate) The eradication of crime, horror, sexual tension and violence from comic book storytelling resulted in many marginal publishers going out of business. Survivors scrambled to find acceptable subjects that appealed to an already diminishing market. Without overstepping CCA boundaries DC & Marvel gradually reinvented the superhero genre with more dimensional characters and serialized backstories with recurring villains, family and friends. Note: During this era comic books slowly rebound, appealing to a new generation of readers including younger kids, teens and adults, and more importantly, back-issue nostalgia evolves into full blown comics fandom.

 

Bronze: (1970-1985) The weakening of the Comics Code's influence. B&W horror magazines bypassing the CCA had already made the Code moot, and the emergence of underground comics which led to mainstream graphic novels further eroded the Code's influence over comics publishers. Under pressure from comic publishers the Code loosened up for the creators, allowing the reintroduction of horror elements and controversial topics (drugs, crime, adult sexual relationships) into mainstream comics. It also hastened the end of the CCA.

 

Modern: (1985-present) This era reflects the rise and fall of independent publishers and the influence of direct marketing and target marketing on collectors. I'd also call it the era of the reboot that foreshadows what might be an ominous storm cloud on the horizon for future comic publishing, ...the digital era. [/font]

 

This is pretty much how I distinguish the comic ages (thumbs u

[Cat-Man_America]

thread is worthless; pluto ain't even a planet anymore.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[comicjack]

I found it to be highly enlighting well put

[jimbo_707]

Silver: (1955-1970 approximate) The eradication of crime, horror, sexual tension and violence from comic book storytelling....[/size][/font]

 

If you think sexual tension was removed from Silver Age comics, you've obviously never read between the lines in a 60's Rocky and Bullwinkle book.

[Foxtrot70]

Dead on Mannup. I like it. Also, you should add a prologue section in Platinum for Pulps. They functioned as primary source material for covers and story content. Imagine comic material w out ERB, Flash G, Vigilante Heros (Shadow), horror material et al.

 

 

[Theagenes]

Yep, that's about right. Minor quibble would be that the modern comic book first appeared in 1933 not 35. Also, I think the case for breaking up the late Bronze and Modern eras into more subdivisions like GA is warranted (Copper Age, whatever the early 90s was, etc.)

[Sqeggs]

[font:Times New Roman]

There seems to be an unresolved debate revolving around the categorization of comics. In fact, it's a topic that has meltdown potential given the core audience (yeah, that's my lame segue for the thread cap).

 

 

5. Cold-war era (1949-1955 The paranoid years! Horror and romance rule, and that unfriendly skeleton in your closet could be a communist!)

 

[/font]

 

Nicely done ... but one small correction.

[John Grumbledook]

Ive always felt Silver Age begins with introduction of Fantastic Four #1, and the period between golden age and silver is the atomic age. I just dont see anything preFF1 as silver.

but thats how I was brung up.

[Sqeggs]

Ive always felt Silver Age begins with introduction of Fantastic Four #1, and the period between golden age and silver is the atomic age. I just dont see anything preFF1 as silver.

but thats how I was brung up.

 

I agree that FF1 was a much greater break with the past than Showcase 4.

[TheSurgeon]

Ive always felt Silver Age begins with introduction of Fantastic Four #1, and the period between golden age and silver is the atomic age. I just dont see anything preFF1 as silver.

but thats how I was brung up.

 

I like this post and am curious what others will say.

 

I agree that FF1 was a much greater break with the past than Showcase 4.

 

I always thought ff1 started the silver age too, but maybe that happened I only read marvels.

 

I think it is nice to be able to point to one particular issue of a comic as starting a new age.

[John Grumbledook]

I think youre right...I thought this way about FF1 as well since I only read marvel in the mid 80s when i started collecting.

[Mmehdy]

Ive always felt Silver Age begins with introduction of Fantastic Four #1, and the period between golden age and silver is the atomic age. I just dont see anything preFF1 as silver.

but thats how I was brung up.

 

DM is right. 1955 was the cut off. I bought FF1 off the stands. there were a number of young collectors, the teenagers always had the best stuff, it was not till issue 4 or 5 that everybody knew there were special, that would be 1962.

 

Great post DM

[rjpb]

FF 1 had a more dramatic impact on Marvel than Showcase 4 did on DC, which after all, published superhero comics continuously from the GA onwards. In addition DC was little effected by the CCA, and as a result when you look at its entire output, not just the slow rollout of reimagined heroes from the GA, the 1950s are just one barely changing continuum with no evidence at all that one era was ending or another beginning

[Flex Mentallo]

All history is revisionist.

 

Clearly collectors living through what we now call the various ages had no such concept at the time. Or did they?

 

The impact of Spiderman and the FF on my school was tremendous. Boys gave up collecting DC overnight. I remember trading a coverless FF#2 another lad was desperate to have for JLA #2-#30.

 

When someone turned up with a copy of Spidey #1 the news ran round the school playground like wildfire, causing a near riot. Comics were subsequently banned from school.

 

The earliest Marvel hero issues flew under the radar and were really tough if not impossible to find. Or not wanted, because the colors looked rather dim next to the more brightly colored DCs. I passed on FF#3 for that reason.

 

When I read FF#4, I got the first intimation of a previous era, but growing up in the UK, it made no sense to me. Who as this sub-mareener guy anyway? Over time, things came clear, but not quickly.

 

But we weren't living in the Silver Age, we were living in the Marvel Age, where heroes and heroines had feelings and personalities, and all lived in the same universe. So Marvel owned not only the age, but the multiverse itself! And then came Galactus, and really blew our tiny minds.

 

To us, there was no "age" previous. I could never figure out why Flash started at #105, or why Action, Superman, Batman and Detective all had such astronomically high issue numbers.

 

But Marvel - ah, Marvel titles began with #1, with the one obvious exception. So they could be collected as complete runs.

 

I suppose one could also argue that the progenitor of the Marvel Age was - ironically - the advent and huge popularity of the JLA. Stan Lee saw the numbers, Jack Kirby reiterated Challengers of the Unknown, FF #1 was the result.

 

The Marvel Age supplanted the DC Age, and we are still living in it.

 

 

 

 

[goldust40]

All history is revisionist.

 

Clearly collectors living through what we now call the various ages had no such concept at the time. Or did they?

 

The impact of Spiderman and the FF on my school was tremendous. Boys gave up collecting DC overnight. I remember trading a coverless FF#2 another lad was desperate to have for JLA #2-#30.

 

When someone turned up with a copy of Spidey #1 the news ran round the school playground like wildfire, causing a near riot. Comics were subsequently banned from school.

 

The earliest Marvel hero issues flew under the radar and were really tough if not impossible to find. Or not wanted, because the colors looked rather dim next to the more brightly colored DCs. I passed on FF#3 for that reason.

 

When I read FF#4, I got the first intimation of a previous era, but growing up in the UK, it made no sense to me. Who as this sub-mareener guy anyway? Over time, things came clear, but not quickly.

 

But we weren't living in the Silver Age, we were living in the Marvel Age, where heroes and heroines had feelings and personalities, and all lived in the same universe. So Marvel owned not only the age, but the multiverse itself! And then came Galactus, and really blew our tiny minds.

 

To us, there was no "age" previous. I could never figure out why Flash started at #105, or why Action, Superman, Batman and Detective all had such astronomically high issue numbers.

 

But Marvel - ah, Marvel titles began with #1, with the one obvious exception. So they could be collected as complete runs.

 

I suppose one could also argue that the progenitor of the Marvel Age was - ironically - the advent and huge popularity of the JLA. Stan |lee saw the numbers, Jack Kirby reiterated Challengers of the Unknown, FF #1 was the result.

 

The Marvel Age supplanted the DC Age, and we are still living in it.

 

 

 

 

Great post, although there were four exceptions in terms of the Marvel Age....TOS 39, JIM 83, ST 101 and TTA 27.

[Flex Mentallo]

All history is revisionist.

 

Clearly collectors living through what we now call the various ages had no such concept at the time. Or did they?

 

The impact of Spiderman and the FF on my school was tremendous. Boys gave up collecting DC overnight. I remember trading a coverless FF#2 another lad was desperate to have for JLA #2-#30.

 

When someone turned up with a copy of Spidey #1 the news ran round the school playground like wildfire, causing a near riot. Comics were subsequently banned from school.

 

The earliest Marvel hero issues flew under the radar and were really tough if not impossible to find. Or not wanted, because the colors looked rather dim next to the more brightly colored DCs. I passed on FF#3 for that reason.

 

When I read FF#4, I got the first intimation of a previous era, but growing up in the UK, it made no sense to me. Who as this sub-mareener guy anyway? Over time, things came clear, but not quickly.

 

But we weren't living in the Silver Age, we were living in the Marvel Age, where heroes and heroines had feelings and personalities, and all lived in the same universe. So Marvel owned not only the age, but the multiverse itself! And then came Galactus, and really blew our tiny minds.

 

To us, there was no "age" previous. I could never figure out why Flash started at #105, or why Action, Superman, Batman and Detective all had such astronomically high issue numbers.

 

But Marvel - ah, Marvel titles began with #1, with the one obvious exception. So they could be collected as complete runs.

 

I suppose one could also argue that the progenitor of the Marvel Age was - ironically - the advent and huge popularity of the JLA. Stan Lee saw the numbers, Jack Kirby reiterated Challengers of the Unknown, FF #1 was the result.

 

The Marvel Age supplanted the DC Age, and we are still living in it.

 

 

 

 

Great post, although there were four exceptions in terms of the Marvel Age....TOS 39, JIM 83, ST 101 and TTA 27.

 

Thanks Andy! I had my mind on Amazing Fantasy #15 and was rushing a bit not to be late for work. Though most of us kids didn't even realize that Spiderman #1 wasn't his first appearance.

 

I'm curious to know, of others growing up in the UK and USA at the dawn of the Marvel Age, which comics did you see? TOS #39 was readily available here, as was ST #101. But I never saw JIM #83, and didn't have a clue about TTA #27. Never saw Hulk #1 either.