The different comic book ages and what they brought. 2 2

[kav]

2 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

 

I like the variety in subject matter, style and complexity as I select a mix of different material from one Age and another.

Keeps it interesting.

[Logan510]

1 hour ago, kav said:

Doesn't it hurt?

[Krismusic]

12 hours ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Not at all

Totally different styles

And now with Moderns people are starting to see the success of intergalactic warlords like Thanos and Darkseid and running around creating New Gods like Knull-Symbiote God

And Barbatos-Bat God

And the Symbiote thing, don't get me started on that, look at all the symbiotes now after the success of venom

Arguably Venom is the last great antihero/villain created

And Deadpool but Deadpool is just a copy of Deathstroke (that can also be said for Thanos too)

I liked the symbiote story a lot when it was black suit spidey Venom was cool but I liked the symbiote with spidery better.. just me then they stretched it to Carnage but now with all these other symbiotes dont really like it that much it was cool when it was one of a kind and ok liked the carnage I can allow one additional offspring but now I don't know... 

[theCapraAegagrus]

L. M. F. A. O.

[FoggyNelson]

13 hours ago, jools&jim said:

Golden Age:  DISCOVERY.

Silver Age:    INNOCENCE.

Bronze Age:  EXPERIENCE.

Copper Age:  DECLINE.

Modern Age:  DARKNESS.

Good post sir👏👏👍🏆

[Von Cichlid]

One thing the Copper Age gave us was the prevalence of the  "awesome cover."

One thing I notice is that in the Silver and Bronze Age (with very few exceptions like Kaluta House of Mystery and Jones Wonder Woman), the cover art and the interior art are essentially on the same quality level.  I honestly can't think of many instances when a cover was great but the inside was dreky.

In the Copper Age this is decidedly not the case.  In this era you had the prevalence of the strict "cover artist."  Think of how many times Art Adams, Mignola, Jim Lee, Liefeld, McFarlane, Zeck, MIller, Nowlan, Bolland, etc. gave us a kick- cover in order to pick up an issue off the newsstands only to get it home and be disappointed by the interior.  Marvel Comics Presents and Marvel Tales were the worst offenders.  Typically this tactic was used on under-performing series to provide an immediate boost, but even titles like Wolverine (24, 25, 27) were prone to it as well.  Batman was a really bad offender in the Copper Age too.  Death in the Family, Ten Knights of the Beast, 423, and so on.  (Now that I am older I think that Aparo and Buscema are great artists, but when I was a kid, they were definitely mundane compared to the artists listed above.)

BTW, kudos to Alan Davis, Silvestri, Zeck, and Lee and McFarlane for keeping the interiors as nice as the exteriors when they were given the shot.  Say what you will about Larsen, but he was a consistent professional in that regard too.  Liefield on the other hand, yeesh.  That New Mutants run really did have some great covers, but some of those interiors, man....  I'm looking at you number 87.

     

Edited January 20, 2020 by Von Cichlid

[bronze johnny]

15 hours ago, kav said:

Golden Age:  great covers but boring stories.  Anything that sold was copied-jungle stories, crime stories, superhero stories.
Silver Age: The best storylines-entertainment value at it's high point.  Artists with individual recognizable styles.
Bronze Age: Relevance to social issues reared.  Industry started capitalizing on collector driven sales-many new #1 issues monthly.
Copper Age: Creativity exploded-many new publishers with many new ideas.  
Modern Age: Some great stuff but also a lot of cloning-artists that draw the same, writers that write the same.  Capitalization of both #1's and variants-anything to boost sales except focus on interesting stories-with exceptions.

You missed an age:

Atomic Age 1946 - 1956 

The beginnings of the Cold War, expansion of World Communism, and reactionary rise of McCarthyism in America along with the fears and paranoia that coincided with this era saw the demise of the superhero genre and in its place the ascendancy of crime, romance, and horror genre comic books. This period would also give rise to a movement to rein in the comic book industry with the publication of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and subsequent legislative hearings and Kefauver's Senate hearing where Bill Gaines attempted to push back on the forces of censorship behind these inquiries. The Code would be introduced to save the industry but not before a number of publishers ceased their operations. A fascinating time during the history of the American Comic Book.

[kav]

12 hours ago, Logan510 said:

Doesn't it hurt?

You tell me!   

[kav]

4 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

L. M. F. A. O.

Could you elaborate?

[1950's war comics]

3 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

You missed an age:

Atomic Age 1946 - 1956 

maybe so .. but if i am looking for a comic on eBay and i type in Atomic age , i am never going to find it ....  many and all great comic books would slip by.. sorely disappointing 99% of the collector base....   a collector would be deeply disappointed and missing out on their want lists using the term Atomic age

[Logan510]

2 hours ago, kav said:

You tell me!   

All that flip flopping must be murder on your hips 

[Lazyboy]

1 hour ago, FiveForFighting said:

You'd have to be pretty dense to search for comics by Age in the first place 

Consider the source.

[kav]

3 minutes ago, Logan510 said:

All that flip flopping must be murder on your hips 

First you do the limbo rock-then you get the advil

[MGsimba77]

On 1/19/2020 at 8:15 PM, kav said:

Overall the Silver Age has the most to offer.  

What's your cutoff point for silver?

[kav]

1 minute ago, MGsimba77 said:

What's your cutoff point for silver?

April, 1970.

[MGsimba77]

4 minutes ago, kav said:

April, 1970.

You mean cover month or when published? April cover month = January published 

[kav]

3 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

You mean cover month or when published? April cover month = January published 

January.  

[oldmilwaukee6er]

On 1/19/2020 at 7:08 PM, kav said:

Silver Age.

No, undergrounds would have been c. 1966/65 to 1973 at earliest (SCOTUS ruling on obscenity, newspaper shortage) and most would say 1977 (alternatives take over with Cerebus).

So def Silver and Bronze

[oldmilwaukee6er]

On 1/19/2020 at 7:28 PM, 1950's war comics said:

yep with this key issue ...drugs kicked off the Bronze age

While I like this book as a symbol of the Bronze Age, I must take issue with the notion that drugs kicked off the Bronze Age or that somehow comics are now focused on social issues beginning here. 

No. The groundwork for both of these begin prior to the Bronze Age. Underground artists pushed the CCA boundaries for over 4+ years prior to GLGA76 and established comic books as a viable medium for telling stories to adults, including a way to distribute them directly to the new readership. 

[Readcomix]

3 minutes ago, oldmilwaukee6er said:

While I like this book as a symbol of the Bronze Age, I must take issue with the notion that drugs kicked off the Bronze Age or that somehow comics are now focused on social issues beginning here. 

No. The groundwork for both of these begin prior to the Bronze Age. Underground artists pushed the CCA boundaries for over 4+ years prior to GLGA76 and established comic books as a viable medium for telling stories to adults, including a way to distribute them directly to the new readership. 

Yep, and pre-code romance and crime are a lot of the reason there the CCA was created (along with horror). A lot of that material wasn't really directed at kids. Crumb cherished his E.C.'s.