When Do You Think The Atomic Age Of Comics Began And Why?

[Flex Mentallo]

I had a huge response all typed up and ready to send but my computer said that y'all had used up today's quota of words and it deleted my post!

 

You can have my quota.

 

I've cleaned out some of the pleonasm that contributed wasted verbiage, I felt bad for Bedrock.when I saw someone who looked like him carrying a sign under an overpass that proclaimed "will work for words", Perhaps he can make better use of those words,

 

 

[MrBedrock]

I had a huge response all typed up and ready to send but my computer said that y'all had used up today's quota of words and it deleted my post!

 

You can have my quota.

 

I've cleaned out some of the pleonasm that contributed wasted verbiage, I felt bad for Bedrock.when I saw someone who looked like him carrying a sign under an overpass that proclaimed "will work for words", Perhaps he can make better use of those words,

 

 

The sign was actually blank when I started. But now I have four words and two sore wrists.

[Cat-Man_America]

I had a huge response all typed up and ready to send but my computer said that y'all had used up today's quota of words and it deleted my post!

 

You can have my quota.

 

I've cleaned out some of the pleonasm that contributed wasted verbiage, I felt bad for Bedrock.when I saw someone who looked like him carrying a sign under an overpass that proclaimed "will work for words", Perhaps he can make better use of those words,

 

 

The sign was actually blank when I started. But now I have four words and two sore wrists.

 

[1950's war comics]

I hope the competition for the comics I want are searching in the "atomic age" listings ...that way they will still be there in the golden age when I look for them.

[Scrooge]

It's not dominating, that is true, but how do we describe the phenomena whereby a genre that previously had a 1% share in 1948 achieves such prominence and so rapidly? Any theory about the Atomic Age should, with the luxury of 20-20 hindsight, be able to if not predict something like this would happen, then at least account for it.

 

I am reading in and out of this thread and am enjoying it.

 

Re: Dr. Love's points about Romance. Love was indeed in the air post-WW II. Marriages were put on hold during the duration of the war. Here's how the # of marriages per 1,000 pop. exploded in 1946 / 1947 and possibly lead to that explosion in Romance comics in the ensuing years. (Same can be same after WW I in 1919 which lead to all those Romance Pulps in the 1920's, btw).

 

 

[N e r V]

Romance never died it just hooked up with pre code horror and both left the comics for TV and film.

 

Twilight, Vampire Diaries,etc... all came about after those two orphan genres became each other's booty call.

[adamstrange]

I hope the competition for the comics I want are searching in the "atomic age" listings ...that way they will still be there in the golden age when I look for them.

If someone says "Golden Age" I assume they mean 1933 - 1956 as that's usually the case.

 

Generally speaking, comic collectors in the US are more intensely focused on superheros than any other genre so many of them have little knowledge of what was published between the end of WWII and the start of the DC Silver Age (1956) or Marvel Silver Age (1961). I was certainly in that camp when I started collecting and only gained a decent appreciation of that era after I had been collecting for 10 years.

[adamstrange]

The remark about the introduction of Romance pulps occurring post WWI is quite an interesting parallel to WWII and comics.

 

I also think this was a great topic for a thread as we have touched on it previously but never in depth.

 

 

It's not dominating, that is true, but how do we describe the phenomena whereby a genre that previously had a 1% share in 1948 achieves such prominence and so rapidly? Any theory about the Atomic Age should, with the luxury of 20-20 hindsight, be able to if not predict something like this would happen, then at least account for it.

 

I am reading in and out of this thread and am enjoying it.

 

Re: Dr. Love's points about Romance. Love was indeed in the air post-WW II. Marriages were put on hold during the duration of the war. Here's how the # of marriages per 1,000 pop. exploded in 1946 / 1947 and possibly lead to that explosion in Romance comics in the ensuing years. (Same can be same after WW I in 1919 which lead to all those Romance Pulps in the 1920's, btw).

[Cat-Man_America]

 

 

Romance never died it just hooked up with pre code horror and both left the comics for TV and film.

 

 

Twilight, Vampire Diaries,etc... all came about after those two orphan genres became each other's booty call.

........................................

 

Vampire Diaries, the TV series, owes more to the success of Joss Whedon's Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. As far as being orphaned, the vampire genre has never gone away. The fact that the vampire mythos has evolved from straight forward horror into a teen angst phenomenon says more about the durability of the genre than what's wrong with it. It's all about cultural symbolism. If you take the view that vampires are a feared and misunderstood minority, victims of hate who've suffered persecution for centuries, isolated from human society by a condition not of their own making and worthy of empathy, it all starts to make sense.

 

I may be misreading the point you were trying to make, but I look at so-called reality TV as more of a booty call. That's where you find one outlandish scripted concept after another pushing the envelope for prurient interest. My

 

Sorry about veering off topic, but the vampire genre is something I can dig my fangs into.

[N e r V]

I meant the comics more or less orphaned them.

 

There have been some romance in comics like manga and such and even the PCH appeared after the code in Warren and other formats but neither returned to their former glory in the comics mainstream.

 

 

Romance was not something comics people completely understood to keep up with girls and women's changing tastes for the genre.

 

 

I was just making a point that although both genres remained strong outside of comics that the comics were not able to see the opportunity of mixing the two for (younger mostly) female audiences the way TV and movies did.

 

 

Another lost opportunity for comics as they stay focused on their superheroes and now aging male audience.

[Cat-Man_America]

I meant the comics more or less orphaned them.

 

There have been some romance in comics like manga and such and even the PCH appeared after the code in Warren and other formats but neither returned to their former glory in the comics mainstream.

 

 

Romance was not something comics people completely understood to keep up with girls and women's changing tastes for the genre.

 

 

I was just making a point that although both genres remained strong outside of comics that the comics were not able to see the opportunity of mixing the two for (younger mostly) female audiences the way TV and movies did.

 

 

Another lost opportunity for comics as they stay focused on their superheroes and now aging male audience.

 

Ah, absolutely! You make excellent points.

[HRCostigan]

I meant the comics more or less orphaned them.

 

There have been some romance in comics like manga and such and even the PCH appeared after the code in Warren and other formats but neither returned to their former glory in the comics mainstream.

 

 

Romance was not something comics people completely understood to keep up with girls and women's changing tastes for the genre.

 

 

I was just making a point that although both genres remained strong outside of comics that the comics were not able to see the opportunity of mixing the two for (younger mostly) female audiences the way TV and movies did.

 

 

Another lost opportunity for comics as they stay focused on their superheroes and now aging male audience.

 

Ah, absolutely! You make excellent points.

 

Where's the reliably witty pun DM? That last post must have really struck a Nerv.

[Cat-Man_America]

I meant the comics more or less orphaned them.

 

There have been some romance in comics like manga and such and even the PCH appeared after the code in Warren and other formats but neither returned to their former glory in the comics mainstream.

 

 

Romance was not something comics people completely understood to keep up with girls and women's changing tastes for the genre.

 

 

I was just making a point that although both genres remained strong outside of comics that the comics were not able to see the opportunity of mixing the two for (younger mostly) female audiences the way TV and movies did.

 

 

Another lost opportunity for comics as they stay focused on their superheroes and now aging male audience.

 

Ah, absolutely! You make excellent points.

 

Where's the reliably witty pun DM? That last post must have really struck a Nerv.

 

Good'un, but puns aren't always reliable. Sometimes you pull the pun, toss it and it goes off early.

[goldust40]

I meant the comics more or less orphaned them.

 

There have been some romance in comics like manga and such and even the PCH appeared after the code in Warren and other formats but neither returned to their former glory in the comics mainstream.

 

 

Romance was not something comics people completely understood to keep up with girls and women's changing tastes for the genre.

 

 

I was just making a point that although both genres remained strong outside of comics that the comics were not able to see the opportunity of mixing the two for (younger mostly) female audiences the way TV and movies did.

 

 

Another lost opportunity for comics as they stay focused on their superheroes and now aging male audience.

 

There was Dark Mansion Of Forbidden Love and Sinister House Of Secret Love in the early 70s, when DC took up the horror mantle post-Warren. But as you say they never really caught on.

[Flex Mentallo]

I had a huge response all typed up and ready to send but my computer said that y'all had used up today's quota of words and it deleted my post!

 

You can have my quota.

 

I've cleaned out some of the pleonasm that contributed wasted verbiage, I felt bad for Bedrock.when I saw someone who looked like him carrying a sign under an overpass that proclaimed "will work for words", Perhaps he can make better use of those words,

 

 

The sign was actually blank when I started. But now I have four words and two sore wrists.

 

Don't lose your grip.

[rjpb]

I think the thing we all need to realize is that the type of comic book is as important (if not more so) in determining its age as is its date of publication.

 

Just because a book was published after Showcase #4 doesn't mean it's a Silver Age comic.

How then would you define when an age begins? I think that it's generally agreed that the Golden age began with Action #1, regardless of the genre of comics published after it.

 

As well, Showcase #4 is generally agreed to be the beginning of the Silver Age. We hadn't had a superhero in comic books before that since I believe 1954, so it was an icebreaker of sorts. Now again, the genre of comics coming after it's publication shouldn't have any bearing on the fact that they are Silver Age books, even if not with super hero themes.

 

AFAIK, this was the last super hero comic of the pre code era, cover date Oct/Nov 1954. Someone jump in and correct me, of course, if there was a later super hero;

 

 

Here are two new super-heros from 1954 and 1955.

http://www.comics.org/series/1079/covers/

http://www.comics.org/series/19365/covers/

 

The Atlas superhero revival of Cap, Torch and Subby ran from Dec 1953 through Oct 1955.

 

There was also the Ajax/Farrell 1954-55 revival of Phantom Lady, Wonder Boy , The Flame and Black Cobra.

 

In addition to attempting to revive the Blue Beetle, Charlton also introduced a new super-hero, Nature Boy in 1956. ME had a third character, Strong Man, in addition to Captain Flash and The Avenger in it's 1955 super-hero line up.

 

Re-introducing The Flash in 1956 was a far more defining moment than other attempts to revive the super-hero genre in the mid 1950s, but it did not happen in a vacuum. The Superman and even Batman related titles were still top-sellers during the era, and it was not like the wartime popularity of costumed characters had been forgotten. By the mid-50s this was a medium well aware of the faddish short-term popularity of revolving genres, and with the code putting an end to horror comics and limiting the scope of crime comics, it was inevitable that publishers would continually test the costumed hero genre. I'm not even sure the reintro of the Shield and introduction of The Fly by Archie comics in 1959 was inspired by the success of The Flash, which had only started up a few months earlier, it may have just been part of the cycle of routinely trying genres out again.