Besides a date range, what defines the Bronze Age?

[DavidTheDavid]

So what changed about comics? Old school, new school artists? Changes in expectations of fans? Changes in storytelling style? Changes in artistic tendencies?

[HouseofComics.Com]

A huge turnover in the writing and artistic talent. Readying the Secret History of Marvel Comics (IIRC) by around 1970 or 1972 the average age of the writers was down to 23! And the artists had gotten younger too, but still at about 43.

[HouseofComics.Com]

This turnover led to different expectations and probably more experimentation and probably more respect for the medium by the creators.

[HouseofComics.Com]

There certainly was a lot more feedback from fans, as well. Indeed, suddenly the fans were the ones writing the comics.

[jools&jim]

 

Excellent thread on this topic here, expertly initiated by our own Zonker:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4048018&fpart=1

 

Not that we can't discuss it again, of course!

 

 

[DavidTheDavid]

Excellent thread on this topic here, expertly initiated by our own Zonker:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4048018&fpart=1

 

Not that we can't discuss it again, of course!

 

 

Thanks! That's an excellent thread. Bookmarked for close reading.

[rjpb]

For Marvel - garish cover colors. One thing I love about SA Marvels was the use of color density and variance to create shadow in the artwork. The Bronze age had less of that , and when it did it usually lacked the subtle variations found in 60s books.

[Darkseid of the Moon]

UPC/barcodes started popping up on the front covers in the bronze age as well. That's one thing that silver age books did not have. Also, the prices of books also started rising at a much faster rate compared to the silver age.

[sl4ppy]

Bronze starts with Jimmy Olson #133 (Kirby's first DC work) and ends with Perez's first work for DC on Justice League for me.. Both dramatic shifts in style..

 

[bronze johnny]

The Sgt. Rock comic books that expressed the prevailing antiwar views during the period leading up to the first superhero book to explore the issues of the day changed the American Comic Book. The superhero book in question is Green Lantern 76. Nothing like the "Superhero Realism Spirit of '76" before '70.

[Spider-Variant]

For me, when Ross Andru left the Amazing Spider-Man something changed in comics. It's hard to define, but the new books were not as detailed artistically. They seemed more cartoonish and less pleasing to the eyes.

 

So, I guess that is what defines the end of the Bronze Age in my mind.

 

 

[40sJohn]

I'm not sure about the start of the Bronze Age, but the end was defined for me about distribution and the artwork. As a reader and collector in the late '70s, the books changed in the '80 - '81 timeframe and it's hard for me to describe. The books just felt different. Personally, I consider the Bronze Age to end with the 40 cent cover prices and maybe even the 35 cent prices. Once comics starting going to the specialty stores, I thought the stories changed somewhat. There's probably no truth to it, but it felt that way.

[akaSteveRogers]

You can't mention the Bronze Age without talking about the Blaxploitation Era crossing over from movies into comics with the influx of various black characters and villains that were no longer just tokens or caricatures. Characters that represented every spectrum of black culture from the jive-talking Power Man ("Sweet Christmas") to the regal and intellectual Black Panther.

 

Joe "Robbie" Robertson, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Falcon, Mal Duncan, Brother Voodoo, Blade, Storm, Black Goliath, Black Lightning, etc.

 

 

[Lonzilla]

As a child of the '70's, here's what defined the Bronze Age to me:

Marvel Value Stamps

7-11 slurpee cups

Mego superhero action figures

25 centers on a spinning rack

Stan's Soapbox

Marvel Team-Up / Marvel Two-In-One

DC "family" giant size issues

Treasury editions

[bronze_rules]

As a child of the '70's, here's what defined the Bronze Age to me:

Marvel Value Stamps

7-11 slurpee cups

Mego superhero action figures

25 centers on a spinning rack

Stan's Soapbox

Marvel Team-Up / Marvel Two-In-One

DC "family" giant size issues

Treasury editions

 

 

add to that... I used to sit in the corner at ToysRUs and wait for parents, while I would read all of the treasury editions they had. Occasionally, a local Walgreens would have older copies of Dell and Gold Key (Turok, Solar, etc...) that would sit there for months. But 7-11 does trump them all. I would also add Richie Rich comics for those that started on em (the ads with SadSack , Little Lotta, etc.. would tempt me for hours).

 

Saturday mornings had Shazam/Isis, Challenge of Superfriends, and evenings with Creature Features.

[DavidTheDavid]

For me, a kid for whom the bronze age meant back issues, I was introduced to comics by my cousin's collection. When he moved out for college, he left a box of Plop!'s, Kubert war stories, and DC horror. I worked my way through them all--it was the highlight of that annual trip.

[mystrymachine]

Covers that were actually related to the book and also had (gasp!) word balloons!

[Green]

As far as superhero books, i think the books started dealing with real life issues like death and drug addiction gave them an overall darker feeling. Of course this was only thru backissue reading, i wasnt alive during any of the bronze age.

[vaillant]

So what changed about comics? Old school, new school artists? Changes in expectations of fans? Changes in storytelling style? Changes in artistic tendencies?

 

In my opinion, maturity. I speak for Marvel alone, as I have little knowledge of DC, but I would say the vision of Stan Lee reached maturity.

And then heavily regressed to immaturity around the early 1990s.

[DavidTheDavid]

Wasn't it a bit unusual to have superhero AND war AND horror AND western all done at the same time? I mean, golden went from pulp to superhero to crime and horror, to silver dominated by superhero. Was there more McCartney devoted to more genres than previously?