What will they call the next "era" of books?? 0

[SquareChaos]

There is already a Platinum age.

[Black_Adam]

...

Edited January 31, 2017 by Black_Adam

[tv horror]

The Brand new day age! Yes I'm still annoyed they killed my Spidey that I read from the beginning to that drek. Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy?

[AnthonyTheAbyss]

Who says we have to stick with metal (gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead)?

 

Lets start a new group with noble gases...neon, argon, xenon

 

Then the next 3 after that should be the state of matter...solid, liquid, plasma

 

I just solved our naming problems for the next 100 years.

[Ken Aldred]

Who says we have to stick with metal (gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead)?

 

Lets start a new group with noble gases...neon, argon, xenon

 

 

I just solved our naming problems for the next 100 years.

 

The obvious one for a primarily or completely digital age would be Silicon.

[B2D327]

how about "the overrated, overpriced variant era"?

[Michelangelo]

they'll likely change the current 'modern' to something (i.e. hologram era, variant era, etc.) and make the latest era the new 'modern'

[newshane]

Easy...

 

The Variant Era

 

[Aman619]

There is already a Platinum age.

 

!!! thats why it sounded so familiar! my bad

[SquareChaos]

Why do so many people think it should be the variant age over say... the independent age? Hasn't the rise of the indies, arguably taking larger steps than ever market wise, been a larger impact than the invention and explosion of the variant cover?

[Chadwick]

Why do so many people think it should be the variant age over say... the independent age? Hasn't the rise of the indies, arguably taking larger steps than ever market wise, been a larger impact than the invention and explosion of the variant cover?

 

+1 Independents have been where most, if not all, the best modern runs have come from.

[bronze_rules]

Best:

Digital Age (as what clearly separates this age from priors is digital availability, replication, content creation, etc).

 

Alternates:

Information Age

Post-Modern Age

[juggernaut]

Here is the deal.

 

The overstreet advisors have a responsibility as the leaders of this hobby to move it forward not just financially but historically as well. For over 20 years, the overstreet advisors have been focussing on pricing of comics and forgetting about their other duties as historians. There have been some great historical articles in the Overstreet Price Guide by individuals over the last 20 years but as a collective (overstreet advisors) they have failed or neglected with historical progression of this hobby.

 

I am hoping by the 50th Overstreet Price Guide that all the overstreet advisors spend a few days or a weekend and tackle the historical part of this hobby.

 

This includes;

1. Designation of the Chromium Age (1993 - ?),

2. Emergence of the Digital or Silicon Age (i.e. Movies, TV, internet, digital comics, etc..)

3. Designation of new classic covers (i.e. Hulk #340, X-Men #141, Batman #251, etc..)

4. New or updated definitions (i.e. 1st Appearance, cameo, variant, restoration, conservation, etc...)

5. Misc. (i.e. Foriegn Editions, Newsstands, grading, etc...)

 

Note: It is almost universally accepted now that the next age will be "Chromium Age" (1993 - ?) due to the foil, holofoil, hologram, chromium & variant covers that dominated the age. With the next being "Silicon Age" due to emergence of comics in popular culture through movies, TV, internet & digital comics.

 

Modern Age should always be used for the current age until it is designated by the overstreet price guide as something else.

Edited January 31, 2017 by juggernaut

[jimjum12]

Here is the deal.

 

The overstreet advisors have a responsibility as the leaders of this hobby to move it forward not just financially but historically as well. For over 20 years, the overstreet advisors have been focussing on pricing of comics and forgetting about their other duties as historians. There have been some great historical articles in the Overstreet Price Guide by individuals over the last 20 years but as a collective (overstreet advisors) they have failed or neglected with historical progression of this hobby.

 

I am hoping by the 50th Overstreet Price Guide that all the overstreet advisors spend a few days or a weekend and tackle the historical part of this hobby.

 

This includes;

1. Designation of the Chromium Age (1993 - ?),

2. Emergence of the Digital or Silicon Age (i.e. Movies, TV, internet, digital comics, etc..)

3. Designation of new classic covers (i.e. Hulk #340, X-Men #141, Batman #251, etc..)

4. New or updated definitions (i.e. 1st Appearance, cameo, variant, restoration, conservation, etc...)

5. Misc. (i.e. Foriegn Editions, Newsstands, grading, etc...)

 

Note: It is almost universally accepted now that the next age will be "Chromium Age" (1993 - ?) due to the foil, holofoil, hologram, chromium & variant covers that dominated the age. With the next being "Silicon Age" due to emergence of comics in popular culture through movies, TV, internet & digital comics.

 

Modern Age should always be used for the current age until it is designated by the overstreet price guide as something else.

 

..... my only problem with waiting for Overstreet to tidy things up, for me...., is that they haven't seemed to have a good grasp on what would designate an age to begin with..... I mean, Bronze goes all the way to 1984 ..... what a load of *spoon*...... that was an opportunistic move to try and squeeze a period of books into an age to which they did not belong, to give them credence (and desirability/worth) as back issues..... since Copper Age did not even exist yet. I've accepted the fact that anyone who believes that NTT, SOST, Simonson Thor, Byrne FF,etc is Bronze age is likely not capable or willing to understand why they are not..... so I choose not to pursue that crusade..... but these are some of the reasons why this type of debate is never ending...... and there will likely always be two camps that disagree over what even constitutes the "nature" of an Age. The way I see it, an Age doesn't end with a bang.....it goes out with a sputter..... and the market's survival demands something fresh and *ahem* NEW ......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Edited January 31, 2017 by jimjum12

[ygogolak]

Overstreet will update the comics era term right when they go to a digital platform.

[catman76]

Who cares? Personally I think all the era categories are stupid and pointless, just like made up grading scales and everything else. If it's a comic from 1940 then it's a 40s comic, if its a superhero comic or a romance comic, then that's what it is. At least those make sense, all this "golden age", "bronze age" nonsense doesn't at all.

[Readcomix]

The broadest definition of the Golden Age covers about 20 years, for the Silver it's around 15 ( 1956-1971), for Bronze another 15 at most, Copper, only about a decade, and that's all if you overlap the ages. By most accounts the "modern age" is closing in on 25 years, so it probably is a good time to start thinking about what the era after copper should be.

 

...if all we're concerned with here is a passage of time, then grouping by decade is probably the best way...... the Golden Age and Silver Age achieved their respective titles because of what had been produced during that period.... the material created the parameter for classification, it wasn't just applied randomly or haphazardly because there was nothing better to do. It was "earned" if that is even the right word. Maybe "deserved" is more accurate. I can't remember the last time a noteworthy change occurred in comics..... it's been the same 'ole same 'ole since the Walking Dead over a decade ago, and that was more a crystallization of themes and ideas that had been gestating since the late 80's. The fact that no one seems to be able to make anything stick seems to illustrate my point. If I had to come up with something, 1990-2000 would be "Chromium" and 2000 -2010ish would be "variant"...... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

 

I think Jimbo is exactly right, and I have felt this way since '70s books began to be referred to as Bronze. There are two important historical eras of greatest significance in the hobby; the rest is labels for decades, varying levels of minor importance aside. (This does NOT, to my thinking, diminish major singular events/appearances in those later eras. Like many of you, I can articulate and support the arguments for the importance of GL76, ASM96, Hulk 181, independent publishers, direct distribution, etc.) Not every timespan needs an "era" label, but we've got them so we use them out of convenience and common nomenclature. It is telling that we are going on 25 years and no new designation is catching on.

 

...I want to clarify one thing about my post.... I don't mean to imply that comics from the last couple of decades are devolving or somehow substandard.... in fact, I feel they have highlights that are as good as it gets. My point is that, to me, the medium has fully evolved and the application of further categorization is meaningless, except where historical overtures are influential, which tends to apply more to marketing issues and those relationships..... like the emergence of variant rarities to service the slabbing demands of the last decade or so..... As for Bronze Age, perhaps an argument for it's intrinsic relevance is the loosening of the Comics Code and the wave of fresh material that ensued..... unfortunately, that "freshness", again, to me, seemed to quickly become gratuitous. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

Excellent points. The original 'ages" were a response to the rise and fall and then rebirth of superhero comics. Even when we can retroactively discern a shift in the medium dramatic enough to define the start and end of a new "age", it is far more a progression than a completely new cycle. I don't know when "Bronze" became the preferred term for comics of the 1970s, but I do recall that in the middle of the decade there was little thought as to whether the Silver Age had actually ended, even though it was clear the comics of 1975 were different from the comics of 1965. Most of the titles and characters introduced in the previous twenty years were still running, so it hardly felt like an era was over.

 

My experience too; and once again Jimbo nails it. Jimbo, I agree the relevance of the Bronze is the loosening of the CCA; I don't mean to diminish that. In fact, as the silver ushered back (and more importantly reinvented) the golden age milieu of heroes, the bronze, by loosening the CCA, brought back most of what was important and new about 1950s non-hero genres (often in superhero books too).

I think it's a diminishment of the silver age to refer to it simply as the return of the heroes. The real genius of the era was in how the superhero was reinvented and fleshed out.

The bronze took back the ground lost in the 50's, minus the most egregious visuals that led to Wertham's and Kefauver's witch hunts. And there's the importance of ASM 96, GL76 et al; they kicked the doors back open, and a decade or so later much of what the independents did was possible. (With steps in between, of course, but I'm summarizing the arc, not writing a history book in one post.)

[jimjum12]

The broadest definition of the Golden Age covers about 20 years, for the Silver it's around 15 ( 1956-1971), for Bronze another 15 at most, Copper, only about a decade, and that's all if you overlap the ages. By most accounts the "modern age" is closing in on 25 years, so it probably is a good time to start thinking about what the era after copper should be.

 

...if all we're concerned with here is a passage of time, then grouping by decade is probably the best way...... the Golden Age and Silver Age achieved their respective titles because of what had been produced during that period.... the material created the parameter for classification, it wasn't just applied randomly or haphazardly because there was nothing better to do. It was "earned" if that is even the right word. Maybe "deserved" is more accurate. I can't remember the last time a noteworthy change occurred in comics..... it's been the same 'ole same 'ole since the Walking Dead over a decade ago, and that was more a crystallization of themes and ideas that had been gestating since the late 80's. The fact that no one seems to be able to make anything stick seems to illustrate my point. If I had to come up with something, 1990-2000 would be "Chromium" and 2000 -2010ish would be "variant"...... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

 

I think Jimbo is exactly right, and I have felt this way since '70s books began to be referred to as Bronze. There are two important historical eras of greatest significance in the hobby; the rest is labels for decades, varying levels of minor importance aside. (This does NOT, to my thinking, diminish major singular events/appearances in those later eras. Like many of you, I can articulate and support the arguments for the importance of GL76, ASM96, Hulk 181, independent publishers, direct distribution, etc.) Not every timespan needs an "era" label, but we've got them so we use them out of convenience and common nomenclature. It is telling that we are going on 25 years and no new designation is catching on.

 

...I want to clarify one thing about my post.... I don't mean to imply that comics from the last couple of decades are devolving or somehow substandard.... in fact, I feel they have highlights that are as good as it gets. My point is that, to me, the medium has fully evolved and the application of further categorization is meaningless, except where historical overtures are influential, which tends to apply more to marketing issues and those relationships..... like the emergence of variant rarities to service the slabbing demands of the last decade or so..... As for Bronze Age, perhaps an argument for it's intrinsic relevance is the loosening of the Comics Code and the wave of fresh material that ensued..... unfortunately, that "freshness", again, to me, seemed to quickly become gratuitous. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

Excellent points. The original 'ages" were a response to the rise and fall and then rebirth of superhero comics. Even when we can retroactively discern a shift in the medium dramatic enough to define the start and end of a new "age", it is far more a progression than a completely new cycle. I don't know when "Bronze" became the preferred term for comics of the 1970s, but I do recall that in the middle of the decade there was little thought as to whether the Silver Age had actually ended, even though it was clear the comics of 1975 were different from the comics of 1965. Most of the titles and characters introduced in the previous twenty years were still running, so it hardly felt like an era was over.

 

My experience too; and once again Jimbo nails it. Jimbo, I agree the relevance of the Bronze is the loosening of the CCA; I don't mean to diminish that. In fact, as the silver ushered back (and more importantly reinvented) the golden age milieu of heroes, the bronze, by loosening the CCA, brought back most of what was important and new about 1950s non-hero genres (often in superhero books too).

I think it's a diminishment of the silver age to refer to it simply as the return of the heroes. The real genius of the era was in how the superhero was reinvented and fleshed out.

The bronze took back the ground lost in the 50's, minus the most egregious visuals that led to Wertham's and Kefauver's witch hunts. And there's the importance of ASM 96, GL76 et al; they kicked the doors back open, and a decade or so later much of what the independents did was possible. (With steps in between, of course, but I'm summarizing the arc, not writing a history book in one post.)

 

....I always felt that an entire decade for Bronze was about it....... and let's face it, the 70's were an entirely different animal than anything before or after, as evidenced in other media such as music, TV, and movies. The Copper Age found it's roots with the advent of the Independent Publisher, like Pacific, Eclipse, and Aardvark..... all around the early 80's. One thing I've come to accept is that some books can almost exist in two ages.....catalysts, so to speak..... because people will always view the "Phoenix from the Ashes" type of publishing event in their own ways.... often dependent on what age they were when the events occurred..... that's why I try to tread carefully in these debates. I know that one of the major sign posts for me at the beginning of a new age is the "revamp"..... these are usually a response to pent up market demand. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[NP_Gresham]

I thought it was the "Wizard Age"?

Ebay will tell us what age it is, and all will bow before the new age.

 

 

 

[jimjum12]

...unfortunately, I don't bow well.................. but you're probably right. My personal classification system is fairly simple ....two groups, "Like" and "Don't Like"....... but the debate can be interesting, at least for the first 15 pages or so..... then I head for the hills. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)