What was the best era of comics?

[dupont2005]

My favorite era used to be the Copper Age, now I'd say it's a three way tie between Copper, Bronze, and Modern (skipping nearly everything from the 90's).

[Sal]

The mid-to-late-80's is an obvious choice because this was when the whole "comics for adults" shift started, but hadn't yet devolved into the fanboy stupidity of the 2000's. It was still fresh, and the best comic writers produced some truly compelling work like Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, Sandman, Moore's Swamp Thing, Elektra: Assassin, Hellblazer/Constantine, Daredevil Born Again, Batman: Year One, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, etc., etc., etc. I've said it before, but this was the best time to be a comic reader, as the LCS scene was electric.

+1 Sums it up perfectly imho.

 

Personally, I think of that time-period as the actual 'Golden Age' of comic books, when the medium matured into the best of what it could be. An era of creative magic.

 

Moore, Miller, Moore, Gaiman, Moore, Miller/Sientkiewicz, Delgado using a Moore character, Miller, Miller, Moore.

 

I'm sensing a theme here...

[romanheart]

I enjoyed hearing everyone's take on the best era.

 

I concur with a lot of people that the late 80s/early 90s and the late 60s/early 70s were the best times for the comic book industry. Of course this is subjective, but I am glad to hear that some consensus exists on the period in history that we were fond of our hobby.

 

I am going back and reading superman/action/batman/detective comics from the beginning and I notice the writing was pretty good but still pretty dark at times, and it must have been some time later which I have not read yet where they got campy.

 

I think comics books are much better in art/story today but suffer when they throw continuity out the door. Things appear to be getting better though with circulation increasing and more than one good artist peaking my attention, causing me to collect different titles again when I seek their work on this or that title.

 

I wonder when the next boom will be and how it will start.

[jeffreyk]

I have been buying weekly comics since around 1984 until just recently. Actually about three years ago, I switched from regular comic books to TPBs and Hardcovers. I am really enjoying this thread and thought I would add my 2 cents.

Looking back, the comics I enjoyed reading the most were from around 1985 until the early 1990s. I also really enjoy the 60s and some 70s as well. I read more Marvel than DC. I thought that the continuity was awesome back then with crossovers that actually worked among the various titles.

I recently got so confused reading Marvel books that I basically just stopped after all of these years. I will continue to buy Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Spiderman but that's it. There are so many Avengers and X-Men titles that I cannot keep track of who is on what team anymore! Also, it seems that virtually all stories are written in 4 to 6 issues so the trade can be published a few months later. A modern book often takes me 5 to 10 minutes to read while the older books take 20 minutes. $3.99 is a lot of money to read a book in 5 minutes!!

Like I mentioned before, I switched to trades about three years ago but have stopped except for the three titles I truly want to keep up on. I am currently reading many Omnibus and Masterwork books and enjoying the trip back in time. I am reading the Death of Superman Omnibus right now and find it to be as good as it was back in the early 90s and much better than most current books. Next on my list is the John Byrne Fantastic Four Omnibus. I still remember picking up these FF books when I was in college and how good the stories were.

It seems like now, everything is a confusing mess.

 

 

 

 

 

[vaillant]

So I think, overall, the early Bronze Age wins out. That's when the stories turned really meaty. O'Neil and Adams brought naturalism and real world issues to DC. Marvel killed its most popular character's girlfriend. The X-Men are revitalized! The horror revival began in full swing. This was the first generation of writers/artists that grew up wanting to work in comics. And in my mind it's the first era where comic books became a defecto form of literature. So for my money, 1970-1975 was probably the best reading time period.

 

The one thing I can say with certainty, however, is that the entire decade of the '90s in comics was awful. Just dreadful. And I say that even with it being my nostalgic childhood era of reading/collecting. It was the worst. Well, that and anything to do with Todd McFarlane.

 

I entirely agree, but not because of O'Neil and Adams' Green Lantern/Green Arrow – I have tried to read that story arc recently, and it reads like a "pamphlet", despite the best intentions which could have animated O'Neil. And as far Gerry Conway goes, I largely prefer his work on the Fantastic Four, although the Spider-Man stories are considered "milestones".

Late Silver was also awesome: take early Iron Man by Archie Goodwin: #14 is a timeless story, very "literary" (in the best sense of the term) in its content and scope, and it fully achieves what it promises:

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

The sweet spot for me is 1981 into the later 80's. It's when I first got really into superhero comics and when I started seriously collecting.

 

I love a lot of 60s/70s stuff too but since I wasn't there when it was published, I don't have the nostalgic ties to it like I do the 80s material.

I liked 1974 to about 1987.

It`s funny after Crisis on Infinite Earths, Dark Knight Returns,and Watchmen DC became less fun.

They should have kept the multiple earths.

Same with Marvel they went downhill after Jim Shooter got fired and Ron Perlman took over.

Does anybody real have fond nostalgic feelings for post 1995 stuff?

Give me 1974 to 1987.

Marvel

DC

Gold Key

Charlton

Warren

[kav]

The age of Steranko, Barry Smith, Swan and Klein, Kirby in his prime, far out stories without the 'angst'. Jim Shooter and Stan Lee. Things were interesting in the silver age-you never knew what could happen. Superman Red and Superman Blue, Thor and Tana Nile and the Colonizers....there was an energy in the Silver Age which will never be reproduced.

[jimjum12]

The age of Steranko, Barry Smith, Swan and Klein, Kirby in his prime, far out stories without the 'angst'. Jim Shooter and Stan Lee. Things were interesting in the silver age-you never knew what could happen. Superman Red and Superman Blue, Thor and Tana Nile and the Colonizers....there was an energy in the Silver Age which will never be reproduced.

 

.... and to think that much of this material was produced under the Comics Code..... and such inventiveness manifested despite the rules.... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Mephisto]

I want to say the 80's may have have had the best stories but not sure I want to make that leap. From a purely art stand point though for my tastes I have to say the best comic art was from the late 60's into the late 70's. You have Buscema tearing up SS covers, Steranko making his small but legendary batch of covers. Neal Addams and the members of The Studio creating some epic art.

[oakman29]

Whatever era you grew up with. (thumbs u

[porcupine48]

all of them of course.

but after Charlton folded things got sad.

[That Ron Dude]

Early '60's to about 1965. There was a lot of inventiveness at Marvel. The bedrock of the company which extends to much of the modern cultural mythos was created at that time.

[Forbush-Man]

1938-1942 GA of Superheroes

1950-1955. EC Comics

1959-1964. Kirby & Ditko create Marvel Universe

 

[kav]

the golden age was cool cause it was the golden age. but story-wise they were bland as hell. art was nowhere near silver age levels.