I like to think that the current age we are in might be the digital age seeing as a lot of comic books that can be over 20 years old can be read online that and your more likely to find very old comics online more than you are in your local comic book shop
I like the bronze age best, I think it has stories with more structure and gives enough depth to the comics without going overboard with the doom and drama like I think modern comics do. I got into comics from the animated Spiderman show in the 90s. I didn't actually start reading Spiderman, though. My first comics were Daredevil because he was in an (maybe multiple?) episode, and he really grabbed my attention with his backstory and I had to get the comics since he didn't have a movie (and as far as I'm concerned, he still doesn't) or a TV show or anything like that.
I always loved the Golden Age of comics. As part of my graduate studies, I chose to focus on comic book history and criticism (I am on a society and culture track). I never get tired of it.
When I started collecting in the 80’s the Ages were loosely divided by superhero eras. Pre-war to the comics code was the Golden Age. The era in the late 50’s to 60’s when most DC characters were recreated and Marvel was creating their new universe was considered Silver Age. The Bronze Age was the 70’s when things started to get grittier - Green Lantern/Green Arrow. X-Men Giant Size.
I got into comics in the early 90's , my school had a few in the library G.I.Joe, Captain America (Capwolf) and I think Spiderman, I was hooked. Got older and had stopped paying as much attention. A quick return in '07 , had some free time, healing from a breakup; getting high drinking a beer, Watching Seinfeld DVD's and going through my new Set of cards. Collected all of the Marvel Universe Series 3 from '92, another collection started as a kid. Found 2 unopened boxes on Ebay. My things had since been stashed away, then I saw Age of Ultron , that got me to find my old collections and now Im back into comics. I had forgotten some of the things I had.
This was presented in a very honest, humble, and well researched way. Well done. I am a college history professor and I really appreciated your preparation and approach.
my opinion GA: Action Comics #1 to the end of the war SA: Barry Allen first appearance to death of Gwen Stacy BA: 73 to 85 Dark Age: Watchmen/Dark Knight Returns/ Crisis to 05 Modern Age: Civil War to present
Looking back, I would have to say that the Bronze Age is my favorite. I started collecting comics back in the 70's and I was too young to really appreciate the more realistic stories but now I can appreciate the awesome story lines.
The kryptonite age The vibranium age The adimantium age The steel age The platinum age The new age This took 15 minutes to type I typed with my little toe.
A couple of years ago I started reading Marvel's Silver Age comics (all of them, in fat) and was fascinated by it. All the books. I loved how it was one big universe, basically a city filled with superheroes that interacted with one another. But I eventually phased out of it when I reached the 70s... I stopped reading altogether around the time of Gwen Stacy's death. Not because of her death, that was an awesome story, but because it all just becamse too big for me. Too many books, way too many inconsistencies (time being really stretched out, characters never aging. Rick Jones still being a goddman kid +10 years after Hulk #1) for example. It was fun while it lasted to me at least.
Silver Age seems to be the funnest. It's like fan-fiction without the tears. The animated show "Brave and the Bold", gave a sense of fun with some darkness and humor, it was well balanced imo. The 90s, was a hit or miss but it did bring in a lot of new writers and artwork.
It really depends on the character or team of characters, I love the modern era of comics because of how complex the stories an art is. However, I love the campyness of the silver age.
Ohhhhhhhh I was looking for something on the Comic Ages for a lesson i am teaching and stumbled across little baby Scott. Huge fan, my man. Thank you for all your hard work and material. You are awesome.
This oldie popped up in my recs and it's still entertaining and informative, but Scott looks like such a Jimmy Olsen style kid with that peach fuzz head, who knew this little boy who worries about the excessive length of a 15 minute video would grow into such a great man who gives me deep dives into the Scoobies and the Doobies along with Captain Barely Animated, with insightful social commentary, not to mention giving me an hour each week asking if it was aliens (probably not).
It stopped being called "Detective Comics" in 1967. They're just "DC Comics" now. Similarly, WWE stopped being "World Wrestling Entertainment" in 2011, they're just "WWE."
KingOfKingz819 Yes, but the “DC” stands for Detective Comics, and “WWE” stands for World Wrestling Entertainment, even if they still identify as DC Comics or WWE
I've also heard of something called "The Dork Age" of Comics. It generally refers to any period that is looked down on. Clone saga, the Leifield era where every character had to have guns and pouches, or really just anything the reader didn't like. I'd say that a Dork age is not one signal time period but many periods where writers just got off track.
*A Timeline of the Different Comic Book Ages!* Comic book history is typically divided up into a few different ages: The Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Modern Age, etc. ***** explains the characteristics of each age and how the impacted the comic industry today! What's your favorite age? Let us know in the comments! _Comic Misconceptions explores the all but forgotten stories, details, and little known fun facts about popular comic book characters while testing your knowledge with a weekly trivia challenge!_ Hosted by ***** *SUBSCRIBE now!* bit.ly/SubNerdSync *LIKE NerdSync on Facebook:* bit.ly/LikeNerdSync *FOLLOW NerdSync on Twitter:* bit.ly/FollowNerdSync *JOIN NerdSync on Google+:* bit.ly/CircleNerdSync *LISTEN to the NerdSync Podcast:* bit.ly/PodcastNerdSync #comics #comicbooks #batman #superman #marvelcomics #dccomics #goldenagecomics #silveragecomics #bronzeagecomics #modernagecomics #darkagecomics #ironagecomics #theflash #watchmen #nerd #geek #nerdsync #scottniswander #youtube #comicmisconceptions
***** Don't be sorry. We love questions! I was just letting you know that UA-cam won't let me respond to your comments even though I would like to. I was wondering if it was something your end that was preventing us from interacting with you. You ask good questions and leave good comments, but I can't respond to them for some reason.
You said comics were simple and cartooney but I have two questions. Some covers looked very realistic not just because of the art but the way they handled the ink on the cover. They looked like paintings instead of a scene from a comic-book, So: 1) Is there a name to this process of making a realistic cover in the 30s and early 40s? 2) Also. what are your thoughts in the art of Alex Raymond who was Jack Kirby's biggest influence and particularly Hal Foster who created Prince Valiant whose every panel is super detailed?
It's more of a generalization. Obviously not all artists are going to follow the common path of everyone else, but that common path is useful for creating a standard feel for comic art of the time. Even today you have comics that are pretty cartoony, but the majority are more on the realistic side with lots of detail in the lighting and shading and colors and all that stuff. What I mean by "cartoony" is that a lot of the art consisted of just enough lines to get the point across. Something like Prince Valiant didn't follow that style, but may have helped Kirby combine the two styles together in harmony. I'm no expert by any means, so take everything I said with a skeptical outlook. Haha
***** I would trade cartoony art for simplistic art. I think it was simply the natural progression of things. The older comics were so full of colors and detail because the action was either too fast or two slow. IE If you look at Flash Gordon the rockets are fast enough to travel to other planets yet characters move at a human pace, it's man vs machine. In Hal Foster's Prince Valiant or Tarzan the detail is probably to immerse the reader into the story, as in the many details from a tale of folklore are there to immerse the listener. You can also establish similarities with The Phantom, whom is considered to be the first modern superhero, stories were too long precisely because they were newspaper strips. If you look at Jack Kirby's wavy panels in Timely Comics it really feels like superhuman speed in a human body. So in order to incorporate the overall feel of speed and dynamism into the magazine itself the art on the comics had to be toned down. Before the Golden Age the focal point of the strips was the story regardless if it had superheroes or not, and when the Great Depression became unbearable and later when WW2 erupted, the focal point of the stories were the heroes themselves clearing off injustices, taking down bad guys and conquering evil. And I think that's the key to unveil why the Golden Age comics were the way they were, or at least that's my theory. Regardless, I think your show is awesome.
The bronze age was the best in my opinion. It had the best artwork, and I think the best storylines. Once again marvel was ahead in this age. It's said the bronze age was the 70s and 80s. Grace Randolf even mentioned this.
This reminds me of a series of videos I recently watched about the history of science... where most of the "revolutions" were not really revolutions and they did not occur overnight, the same that in history of humans the "discoveries" and everything, in general, is done by many people at different times, ways and places. All companies have their own version of the "eras" cause they experience it in different ways...
First of all, I want to thank you and everyone at NerdSync for all of the awesome content that you have done for us. I would love to see a show about the Marvel 2099 stories because I hear that they are planning to reboot these titles in some form which I think would be awesome but it makes me sad at the same time because I have written several stories that I have hoped to bring to Marvel's attention some day. Anyways, I would love to see a Comics Misconceptions episode on Marvel's various future timelines that they have done in the '90's. Even if they don't plan on rebooting the 2099 stories, how different do you think they would be if they wrote them now?
My time as a reader/collector was from the late '70s through the mid '90s, which sort of straddles the Bronze and Modern ages. As a result, this is still cemented in my mind as the ideal state of affairs. Most of the books I read were appropriate for 12-15 year old readers, but here and there you'd get more serious or shocking storylines/books that skewed into more late teen/adult territory. While I appreciated these more adult books, I found that the more books that took this approach, the less enamoured I was with the comic book scene as a whole. Yes, the emergence of creators who I found to lower the value of my reading experience (MacFarlane, Liefeld, etc) certainly helped push me out of the comics habit, but the continuing expansion of violence for violence's sake in the books left a bad taste in my mouth. Even as a person in my mid 20s I wanted most books to still be appropriate for that 12-15 year old population, and stories about rape and dismemberment just don't fit the bill most of the time. Sure, I wanted something dark like the Kraven's Last Hunt story every once in a while, but I didn't want all of the books to be like that. By the mid 90s I had left the whole thing far behind. Even though I have been a big fan of many of the movies based on comic book heroes that have appeared over the past 20 years, it hasn't taken more than a rudimentary look at the current books to confirm that I have no interest in a return to reading. As an adult and an educator who is in a position to recommend reading materials for parents to share with their kids I wish I could recommend super hero books, but that's just not going to happen the way things are right now. It's too bad, because studies have shown repeatedly that comic books can be powerful tools for building literacy, but I'm not going to harm my relationship with the parents of my students by steering them to the sort of things they'll see in current super hero comic books.
Also, I personally see the Dark Age as it's own separate thing. I agree that the Dark Age started right after the Bronze Age and transitioned slowly into the modern age, but I see the Dark Age as the age of gratuitous antiheroes, where deconstructions of comics became much more common than straight-up normal comics, and the Modern Age still having that stuff present, but to a much lower degree, more like a blend between all the ages.
Exactly! That's why, in my own opinion, it makes sense to say that the Modern Age started out with the Dark Age being brutal and violent, but then it slowly calmed down into what we have today. There's no real clear end point for the Dark Age (at least none that I found in my research) so it's much easier to say that they are a part of each other instead of their own completely separate things. Almost like the Dark Age is a subcategory of the Modern Age. They are very similar, except the Dark Age is much more, well, dark. Haha. But that's just my opinion. I really like what you are saying about the Modern Age being a blend between all the ages. I can definitely see that! You have comics today that are so simple and fun like the Silver Age, comics that tackle topical issues like the Bronze Age, and you still have violent, brutal stories like the Dark Age. I think comics today still suffer from trying to be overly complex. There are a lot of Marvel comics I can't read because I have no idea what's going on. When a comic goes back to it's roots of being a good guy triumphing over a bad guy, that's where some magic can be made, just like the Golden Age. It's a fine balance between them all. At the end of the day, I'm just glad we live in a world where comics exist!
For a second, I thought the out of focus Green Lantern poster was actually a nude, slightly-chubby She-Hulk from behind. Hey, I've been awake longer than you should, so forgive me.
I kind of consider the DC timeline from Crisis On Infinite Earths to Flashpoint as a one big era called The Crisis Age, since that particular era was filled with tons of crisis that affected the DCU and the biggest victim being the Legion timeline. Speaking of the Legion of Superheroes, I think they beat Spiderman to the punch as the first young heroes who weren't sidekicks having their own series unless we count Superman's years as Superboy, who made his first appearance in the Golden Age.
That's a good point. I might argue that Spider-Man was more influential because Superboy and the original Legion of Superheroes team were all born off of Earth. Spider-Man showed that a kid from this planet and this time can be a hero.
I would say we've gone past the Modern Age, and are now in The Cinematic Age of comic books ... and it all began with Iron Man ... however, I think the Pre-Cinematic Age started with X-MEN and died with Spider-Man 3. Just my opinions.
Ian Hollis Hmm, that's interesting. I hold the stance that we really can't define new ages until we are out of them. This way we can reflect back on them and see trends and study it. But you may be right.
I think I actually like the Silver Age the most. It's just so much fun. Plus you can not get enough of that Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko art. I'd like the Dark Age more if there wasn't so much bad imitations of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen flooding everything.
Bronze Age is my favorite. The Horror titles were on point. They didn’t rely on things just being ugly or graphically violent like horror titles now, but instead told interesting stories that were often influenced by greats like H. P. Lovecraft or William Hope Hodgson. It also had great superhero titles, as well as great villain titles for the first time. Stories became more realistic, but not absurdly gruesome like many modern comics. Comics as a whole went from being for kids to being for all ages, where today they’re mostly for adults (the good ones anyway).
I think this does a nice job of touching on the touching on the ages and the implications of each. I think the Gold and Silver Ages deserve recognition, because they are eras that started and relaunched comics and created some of it most iconic characters even to this day. However, both ages are tainted with the racism and sexism that defined those eras and stories that imo hard to read, because they so simplistic. Bronze and "Modern" Ages are probably the most impressive as more women and characters of color were introduced and stories became darker and sophisticated. This Modern Age is good in that still more diversity is introduced BUT I think the movies have hurt the comics, because the owners are starting let things like ownership of film rights effect the comics. At times the comics feel more like promotional material than stand-alone products.
It's interesting what you're saying about sexism across the different ages. There was a story I had to leave out about Wonder Woman in the Bronze Age (I think) when the women's rights movement was happening. They actually stripped Wonder Woman of all her powers and made her learn karate instead. The writer thought that it was what the woman wanted. A strong female character who could save the day just as she was. No super powers needed. She could be an inspiration to all the other women out there who want to change the world but don't have super powers. But, this totally backfired and the women readers felt like he took away everything special about the most famous female superhero. She wasn't this powerful female leader anymore. She was just a person. They demanded that they remake her according to her Golden and Silver Age runs. I found that interesting!
***** I agree with those women, I'm more jazzed about Wonder Woman than Black Widow, because WW has actual super powers. I can watch a spy movie any ol time.
According to the news I saw, she'll get her own movie in 2017 after Batman vs. Superman, a Shazam, and Sandman movie then after her movie a Flash & GL movie and finally Man of Steel II. Whether Gal Gadot can pull of that character, we'll have to wait and see. Whomever decided to make a Shazam and Sandman movie, before Wonder Woman must related to whomever works at Disney that decided to make Guardians, Ant-Man, and Dr. Strange before a Black Panther movie.
I have been collecting comics for over 40 years. I have always heard the Golden Age (The corny era) ran from Action Comics #1 till 1961. FF #1 was the start of Silver age (a more realistic era where heroes had problems). Silver Age ran till 1975, when the All New, All Different X-Men joined, which gave us the darker Bronze Age. That ran till 1985, when Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns gave us the Modern Era. There were clear tonal changes that began with major changes to the comic industry.
I prefer the silver age, but from marvel's perspective. Not from DC. DC comic books at that time seemed silly... childlike as well as simple. When you stack the avengers against the legion of super heroes, both from the silver age, the differences are clear.
It always depends on the writer. DC comic books writing tended to have a fairy tale quality about it, and even worse when DC story telling was mixed in with ancient myths. Marvel story telling tended to be an extension of what was already possible. This is why Marvel films in tend to do alot better than DC at the box office, with the exception of Batman.
I have to say that the daily strips of the twenties and thirties were more complex than being just two panels with gags. There were the gag strips, but there were also adventure strips like Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Smiling Jack, Thimble Theater, Mandrake, and of course, the Phantom, who's suit is clearly the inspiration for Superman's suit. And then there are the Sunday strips...
***** You're right (after all, they were called the funnies), but that's not the fault of the people of the time who read them, who understood the diversity of comic strips. However, after WWII, there was a decline in Comic strip diversity due to the reduction of panel size, which saw the predominance of the gag strip, which itself brought the idea that comic strips were just for silliness. Of course, I'm definitely oversimplifying the matter.
Here are what I believe set the ages. Platinum-1933 Famous Funnies #1 First true form factor as we know it. Golden-1938 Action Comics #1 First Superhuman. Silver -1956 Showcase #4 Superhero resurgance. Bronze-Tie Conan The Barbarian #1 began the pulp era, and Kirby leaving Marvel. As the bronze age was nearing its end, comic books splintered into several directions. The comics code had ended bringing multiple publishers on board. Dark Knight was the herald of the Dark Age. Walt Simonson started the Modern age with both the X-men/Tital cross-over and his definitive work on thor in 1982/83. Cerebus heralded the Independant age in 1977. The Movie age-1998-now. Blade started it. Comic book origins, line ups and story arcs all began changing to fit possible movie and/ or T.V. use. Basically, everything Magic became Science and comics started reflecting more of real life.
+gabriel51366 The Movie age started with Christopher Reeve's Superman and Tim Burton's Batman. Heck even Adam West's Batman movie was responsible for it's popularity
In terms I heard, Dark Age started after Bronze Age, gone from 80 to 90s, influenced by stories like Watchmen and Swamp Thing, like you mentioned, characterized instead of trying to be socially relevant by inserting more darker and violent hereos, (think people like Cable or Venom as anti hero or the time Azrael took tenure as Batman, and all work Rob Liefeld has done), and ended with the comic book crash of the 90s, going into the Modern Age as something separate from the Dark Age.
***** For me, the timeline of comics is: -Golden Age : start with Action Comics #1 -Silver Age: start with DC Showcase #4 -Bronze Age: start with Jack Kirby move to DC and his book at DC is Superman Pal's Jimmy Olsen #133 -Modern Age: start with Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and Crisis on Infinite Earths
A bit more comment spam, I really like what this show is becoming. It's starting to remind me of PBS Idea Channel but for comics, that's a really good thing. You both have such interesting shows that I'm always looking forward to.
He's a good guy to get inspiration from, very fast paced and keeps your attention. It's nice to see that you're taking the same approach, it's easy to keep my attention locked on your videos which should be a great help in building an audience on this here website of short attention spans.
I think it helps now that I try to make sure I'm about 100% sure of what I'm talking about for each video. He's much smarter than I'll ever be, but having confidence in what I'm talking about might fool people into thinking I'm smart. Haha. I researched for almost a week straight, reading books and watching documentaries just to make sure I was certain with what I was talking about.
Silver age ended later (and there are 2 phases built within Silver age). There is a point in 1974 where it actually ends. While stories were already getting more adult oriented, It has to do with a shift in character creations/stories/publishers (Wolverine first appearance, savage sword of conan etc). Bronze age ends in 1985/1986 with Secret wars/Crisis - those two events herald the end of that era. The copper age era ends in roughly 1994 with the collapse of the collectors and zero hour (Also intros of new characters/teams) - this is also the same timeframe where publishers moved everything to being under Diamond, creating a monopoly). The modern era ended in 2009 with the Final Crisis and the ending of Ultimate Spider-man (though the modern era could be split into two parts somewhere around 2000). The current era is on the verge of its end as well, I would say within the next 18 months IF NOT IN THE PAST MONTH, if you do not already consider the shift from Diamond, the mass layoffs et al. The next era will most likely be the final era for comics as we know them....and it will most likely be like a super-nova....fast, hard and big flash to a whimpering existence after that. Comics need at least 1500 stores to survive and they are barely above that number at the moment. i believe it is around 1700, which is way down from its peak of over 4000
Always come back to this video every now and then. Really love the information in this video and the topic is really fun to learn about again and again.
I guess I'm a fan of the bronze age, I was fan of the Avengers,Captain America, The Hulk, Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, ghost Rider, XMen, Defenders, Luke Cage Power Man (And Heros for Hire with Iron Fist), Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu, and the Savage Tales of Conan to name a few... Later when it started becoming a little more dark, like in the late 80's the Punisher was very successful. I was really in to it at that time, even DC started getting a little darker such as Batman, the Dark Knight.
"Watchmen" and "Dark Knight Returns" were only revolutionary to non-comic fans. Anyone who read comics had already seen all that, in Claremont's X-Men, Miller's DareDevil, and O'Niel's Batman.
Miller had a dark edgy comic long before dark knight returns. That comic being daredevil. His stories he wrote for the character redifened Matt Murdock and made for one of the edgiest stories of its time. Killing elektra on panel alone made for the easiest moment of its time. His punisher story in daredevil 182-184 was a gritty dark story as well. Worth reading. That's my favorite comic run in history.
I'm in the "Don't give a crap" age where I don't really give a crap about what age where in. But if I were to pinpoint an age we're in I would say Modern/Dark age.
The oldest comic I have is Fantastic Four #35 from 1965. I bought it not because I'm a speculator, but a lover of comics. Sure, I'll never read the story straight off the pages, which would basically disintegrate if I handled it, but that's what collected editions, youtube videos, and downloads are for. I've read the story, but I doubt I'll ever sell it. I just like having it because of the history it tells from the worn pages, the different art style, and the early renditions and depictions of characters which have endured up until today.
Keep the comic for 2 reasons 1.its fucking awsome to have it 2.Maybe in 100 to 300 years (if you have kids pass it on) I imagine in the said time the comic would be worth around a million bucks
I would say Marvel NOW probably is not the start of a new age. Especially since they recently launched All-New Marvel NOW as well. Marvel is kind of a mess to me. They have this strategy of continually relaunching without actually rebooting anything. People love #1 issues, so Marvel has a series run for a few issues, then they relaunch it so people buy it again. It's a strategy that _kind of_ works, but only for that #1 issue. The New 52 was the right idea and I praise DC for doing it. But the style of story telling didn't really change that much. The ages are largely defined by the style of writing and style of art. I think you could probably pick up a story from before the New 52 and find it easily comparable to stories within the New 52. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know! Some People argue that the Dark Age ended with Ultimate Spider-Man #1 in the early 2000s (I think?), but again, just about everything is subject to opinion when it comes to this stuff. I was just letting you know what I believe, but I'm not saying that it's the only correct answer.
hey I had the same thought like Dakota. Considering that marvel now isn't that big a change as the new 52 one has to admit that dc took their comics to a next level (not necessarily a better one^^) and reinvented a lot of their charakters (like they did at the begining of the silver age). Even though marvel didn't do the same we can see the original x-men team back in action and so on... for me who reads comics since 2007 it is the first big change that i witness. not to forget that superhero movies have a huge impact on the comics they originated from and an impact on how comics are seen in general (most of all thanks to The Dark Knight and Avengers) with all that in mind i have the feeling that we are now in a new age - maybe the renaissence age oder the futur age
Frank G I can totally see that argument. As for most of the ages, it's all a matter of opinion. So if you believe we are in a new age, then we are in a new age! Haha
Again; going over many of your older episode I originally missed. First; let me just say that I knew of comics, but really didn't read them growing up. It wasn't until I was an adult and could buy them myself that I got into them. This happened; pretty much like you said, around the time of Tim Burton's Batman. I knew of the DC heroes from cartoon shows growing up, but never found them all that interesting (sorry, not sorry). Instead; I fell in line with Marvel mainly because of Spider-Man, although I do have a great love of Batman during the 80's Dark Age. The Death in the Family storyline really shook up the Batman comics in ways that are still felt today. But my love for The X-Men and Spider-Man really put me over the top. As for the Crossover. I loved the Marvel ones to a point because I knew of the heroes involved, and didn't mind buying one or two episodes. However; the one massive DC Crossover involving the Gene Bomb (Sorry; I don't remember the name of the Crossover, as I don't really remember much about the books in general), that one was more a hassle than a bonus because I didn't know or didn't like many of DC's Heroes. The best part about that Crossover was how Marvel's X-Men made fun of it with there Jean Bomb issue; which shows the Aussies was "Hey look; Aliens" "Well throw another shrimp on the bar-bie" attitude. The best Crossover though; had to be the DC vs Marvel stand-alone and Anagram Comics that followed. Those I loved and bought each one no matter which company made it (Although, I did like many of the Marvel made ones a little better than some of the DC ones. Didn't care for the stories at much). I had to stop during the 2000's as money was tight, and I lost track of comics at this point; so I never looked back. I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff, but I'm also afraid of many changes I've heard about. LIke Iceman's coming out; or how did Miles Morales replace Manual O'Hara! In any case. I still love comics; even though I don't read them like I use to! Thanks for all you do!
Captain America, especially his new movie, sparked my interest in comic books. I think it comes as no surprise that I like the idea of the golden age, with patriotism and good beating evil, something I feel today's society is lacking.
They should really make it so it's more kid friendly, for example, my cousin loves batman, but he's only six! He only likes him because the costume is cool!
bobthecow connolly I hear ya. There's a series right now called Gotham Academy which is supposed to be a more kid-friendly comic set in Gotham city. I know it probably doesn't have Batman as a main character, but it still could be a fun read for the youngster who is into it.
I prefer the Bronze Age. This age was starting to adapt darker stories and psychological trauma. The Bronze Age has some similarities to the Modern Age. Some of the Bronze Age stories are for younger audiences such as Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, and Batgirl. In my opinion, I prefer the Bronze Age. I know the Bronze Age of Comics. After the Bronze Age, there's the Copper Age. I believe the Bronze and Copper Age of Comics, can be together as one era. Many people believed what if the Bronze Age of Comics still kept on going. For nearly 20 years. This explains why there's the Copper Age, known as the Post Bronze Age. The Copper Age, should be more like a companion and continuation of the Bronze Age. My idea naming for this era should be as "Bronze/Copper Age of Comics". Much like the Gold and Silver Age should be combined together. The Dark Age of Comics actually began with Rob Liefeld era and the start of the edgy aesthetic. This is why the Bronze and Copper should be combined together. This when the age of Patriotism and Innocence were slowly fading out. Which makes comics and other media be more philosophical, serious, mature, tragedy, and worth something fighting for. This is what feels like the beginning of the end.
I have a complaint to make. Your 15:41 timeline actually took over an hour. I did kinda paused the video frequently to look at the art. BUT THAT'S NOT MY FAULT.
Ages in comics books are not really separated by lore but by a combination of 2 main things: #1 Business changing: When the books stop selling and there is a fair amount of turnover and creators leave to go do other stuff or switch companies to try new things. #2 Tonal & stylistic shift: Somebody does something with a book and its really popular and all of a sudden the whole industry pivots to do what that book is doing.
The beefcake, "edgy", armed-to-the-teeth, macho-man, Rob Liefeld style comics all over the place, and the necessity to kill or cripple emblematic characters. But i guess it has its positives, cause it was also the blossoming of the Vertigo comics.
Actually the comic book format goes back to 1842 with _The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck_ (a collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1833 book _Histoire de M. Vieux Bois_) with the first formal collection being in 1897 with _The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats_. This era is called by some the Proto-comic book/Platinum Age.
I think the reason for the latter continuity is that comics started really taking into other mediums, in that it may be appropriate to call 2003-present the industrial age, marked by not a direct innovation to the comics themselves but the mediums they were distributed on and through. with the hyper success of comic based cartoons, regular movies based on comic stories in both their continuity and their non-continuous partners, and a growth of non-cannon made non-continuous cannon short stories, shorts and web-comics.
I think you should have mentioned the Indie or Underground comics too. After Comics industry got handicapped by Comics Code authority, Underground comics kept the idea of comics as literature alive with stories like Love & Rockets, American Flagg, Nexus, Contract with God, Cerebus, Krazy Kat ,Elfquest etc. Also Maus, came out right around the same time as TDKR & Watchmen and was the first comic to win a Pulitzer Prize. I also believe Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, James Robinson ended the dark age of comics with stories like Starman, Kingdom Come, Flex Mentallo, Flash, Supreme showing how flawed & less fun the whole dark ages really were and reconstructed the entire superhero genre. 90s really ran dark & gritty theme right into the ground , especially Rob Liefeld's Image comics in the beginning.
Brings me back to the time i based my high school final exam thesis on this topic. and heck yeah i graduated, i loved talking about comic books at a school exam.
I noticed you didn’t mention a big comic event that happened in 1971 that also coined the end of the Silver Age. The controversial Green Arrow/Green Lantern series was being written and the release of the “Speedy on Heroine” story was released.
12:13 Personally, I dove slightly into comic books after I saw the 1994's cartoon The Amazing Spiderman (I watched the reruns on Fox Kids). Right at that time, I started reading The Ultimate Spiderman and it was slower than a snail. Up until 2009, I only watched movies. Batman: Arkham Asylum was a game which made me a DC Comics fanatic. And now, that I've read the three parts of Knightfall, I have to recomend it to anyone who loves, even likes, Batman. It's an excellent read.
i've only recently got into comics so i haven't really read much (probably 200- 300 issues of marvel comics) but atm i think the bronze age is the best it is darker than silver but not too dark and it's also age which is home to secret wars. The movie that actually got me into comics was captain america civil war but this was a few months before it came out, i just really loved the concept and decided to to start reading comics from then
I've loved comic book characters all my life, but maybe owned a dozen or so comics until recently. I would read IDW's Godzilla, and Doctor Who comics. After Marvel's first wave of movies I slowly started picking up different comics to learn more about these characters. After the Winter Soldier movie I was sold. I went and got the hardback book, borrowed my sisters growing Iron Man, and Thor comics. I just started becoming obsessed with everything comic. Not just the other forms of media these characters were appearing in. It's actually weird because I grew up a DC fanboy. I watched the cartoons, and anything DC related I generally had a interest in. Now I'm the complete opposite almost.
In response to you saying a lot of people probably got into comics from the comic book movies, I would like to say that I got into comics from the various comic book animated series. Especially the DC animated series. They were huge in my childhood, and it really drove me to comics.
I got into comics in the late 1970s with superman and Richie Rich from a collection of 60s books given to us. 1985 I went full force into comics and read them alot until 1993/1994. Too many books by then. I still read them from time to time and love comics
Just going to put my opinions on the silver age(s) and others: Personally I feel that "the silver age" was two ages: the "late silver age", defined by the monkeys, transformations, shocking covers and just general silliness the age is classically known for, and the "early silver age" (or "white gold age", if I'm feeling conceited), which was focused on the "power of science", and heroes and villains trying to outsmart each other with puzzles, clever logic, and applied bullshit. The early Justice League comics are a great example of the latter. 60s Marvel is then its own parallel age, being more like the infant form of the bronze age than anything else. As far as ages go, I have a soft spot for most of them. The golden age had some great twist endings (mostly not in the uperhero stuff, admittedly). The early silver age was just fun to read, and see the clever ways heroes would get out of various situations. I like laughing at the later silver age as much as the next guy. The bronze age was trying, if nothing else, and that counts for something. And there were some really nice stories published at DC under Paul Levitz, from around 2002 to 2010.
We can say that the period between 1999 and now can be called the "Reboot Age" because from this point Comic Book Heroes had to be remade to sell to New Readers and that meant Characters had to be De-aged to make them younger. But writers called that Continuity Ret-coning to make it seem less "Business" and more "Superhero Universe" driven. Yet, this "Rebooting" has been completely associate with Superhero Comics in the US as of the "Big Two". Other companies don't care so much like Image, Dark Horse, and others.
would love to see you do a pros and cons of digital comics video. You mentioned before you prefer digital and most sites and other bloggers like to bash digital a little bit so it would be interesting to hear from someone who likes the medium
To explain the difference between the Iron, Dark and Modern age when they are considered 3 different periods: *The Iron Age* is the tail-end of what would otherwise be considered the Bronze age and that grey-area where the Bronze age transitioned into the Dark age. When people say it was characterized by big retcons, they don't mean that those didn't happen later to, but that this was what dominated the era and that it did so in contrast to what had come before. It is most notable at DC with Crisis and the comics that followed it (Batman: Year One, Superman: Man of Steel and vol. 2 of Wonder Woman). There wouldn't be any retcons on this complete, cosmic, overarching scale until the New52. And Marvel too was investing significantly in organizing and codifying it's cosmology. *The Dark Age* (the 90's more-or-less) was characterized with and overarching, well, darkness. Be it serious darkness as in Watchmen, Maus and Sandman, braindead-action darkness like in a lot of the Image comics, silly-darkness like early TMNT and the revived Lobo or just the economic darkness of the almost-collapse of the industry. The age was also characterized by a boom in indie comics (which almost imploded by it's end). *The Modern age* (ca. the 2000's and onward) is/was characterized by a counter-reaction to the preceding darkness. A reaction to the amoralness of it's characters and stories and a nostalgic longing for the good qualities of the Silver and Golden age. The darkness didn't go away, but it was no longer the big, defining trend and when it showed up was often used as contrast to the ideal. This age is strangley not defined as much by the works that actually came out in it as by the mid-90's works that inspired it, like Mark Waid's Kingdom Come and Grant Morrison's run on JLA. The defining work of the actual era is probably All-Star Superman. In my opinion, as the big nostalgic elements of the above description aren't really that defining of the industry anymore, the Modern age might be further divided into two further categories: *The Renascence* which is what I described above and *The Current Modern age* which is defined more by a pluralism in what kind of comics comes out, with no big defining trend, and the introduction of digital-media as common-place.
One major breaking point I see between the Dark Age and more recent comics is the color palette. In the late 80s and the 90s, comics still looked like, well, comics. The switch away from cheap newsprint also plays into it. Comic books almost don't feel like the same medium anymore. Sure, the industry was already experimenting with these changes in the Dark Age, but they weren't the norm yet. The clearest threshold would probably be Ultimate Marvel.
Modern just means the present. So technically, the modern age of comics is literally whatever is currently going on. We are always in the modern age for as long as comics exist. As such it doesn't make much sense namewise. To be clear, my views on whether this is still the bronze age or the modern age or whatever are irrelevant to my point. You can say we are still in the bronze age, or that the bronze age and the iron age and the dark age and the modern age all exist as separate entities, or anything in between. It's just the term itself is weird in how it's being applied and i found it interesting
I'm 52 and started learning to read with my oldest brother's comic book collection around 1970. Therefore, the bronze age is my favorite with just a dash of the silver. There was an optimism and sense of adventure in those comics that are missing now, and every modern comic is just a nonstop cesspool of turmoil and human misery. I know that the gritty, ultra-realism of the modern age now fits current readership expectations, but I prefer the slightly more fantastic and upbeat atmosphere of those ages to the darker reality of the modern. I used to read comics to enter a bright new world full of possibilities so I could be elevated to a higher level infused with hope. Allowing reality to intrude on the fantasy is utterly depressing and drags that world down to my level. I don't want my fantasy world invaded by drugs, alcoholism, physical abuse, and heroes struggling with the same issues that plague "normal" humans. You may want them to be emotionally complex and relatably flawed, but I expect them to be nobler than we are. Certainly better than the enemies they face. This is why I've never liked or understood the love affair people now have with the anti-hero. "Oh, they do heroic things, but they're plagued with doubts, fears, and character flaws!" What's so great about that? You get pissed at cops and soldiers who succumb to these issues, but expect it from your superheroes? I don't get it. This, added to terrible art styles, constant needless crossovers/alternate covers, and dramatic price hikes led me to abandon comics forever around 2004. I miss the unfettered optimism of those older ages. My two cents.
The vest is working! I feel spoiled since this is the first video from this channel that I'm watching. I'm going to want to see the vest in every video
NerdSync has so much replay value. I just watch and re-watch everything, never get bored.
Same
Wtf.....
Yep, I'm pretty sure I've seen all of his Spidey Videos at least 3 times each.
Geoffrey Blasiman this is my fourth time watching this
from the future, 2017, and i COMPLETELY agree. this is invaluable resource.
I’m so glad that 2014 comic book nerd fashion is so well preserved on the internet. It’s *bold.*
Scott has had such a glow-up over the years.
THE ADULT AGE OF WHEN I CAN SPEND MY MONEY ON WHAT I LIKE INSTEAD OF ASKING MOM FOR MONEY TO READ AND BUY A COMICBOOK.
Almost there
Heh, my parents hated me reading them, so I bought the in secret with my lunch money, but now I can almost buy everything I want.
+buttascotchbro1 The best age!!!!!
One Love brah..and you you know this..
Haha yes! I'm at that age right now, and it is glorious!
I like to think that the current age we are in might be the digital age seeing as a lot of comic books that can be over 20 years old can be read online that and your more likely to find very old comics online more than you are in your local comic book shop
Hawkman That's very true. Marvel Unlimited has over 15,000 comics and helps a lot when I want to read older issues.
I like the bronze age best, I think it has stories with more structure and gives enough depth to the comics without going overboard with the doom and drama like I think modern comics do.
I got into comics from the animated Spiderman show in the 90s. I didn't actually start reading Spiderman, though. My first comics were Daredevil because he was in an (maybe multiple?) episode, and he really grabbed my attention with his backstory and I had to get the comics since he didn't have a movie (and as far as I'm concerned, he still doesn't) or a TV show or anything like that.
Daredevil has a Netflix show! As does Jessica Jones. Both were awesome, especially in live action! - Nali
He didn't then, though. I'm talking about the animated Spiderman that ran from 94 - 98.
Perry Turner that was a great show.
It really was
Perry Turner i loved that show and thats the show that got me in to superheroes!!
I always loved the Golden Age of comics. As part of my graduate studies, I chose to focus on comic book history and criticism (I am on a society and culture track). I never get tired of it.
When I started collecting in the 80’s the Ages were loosely divided by superhero eras. Pre-war to the comics code was the Golden Age. The era in the late 50’s to 60’s when most DC characters were recreated and Marvel was creating their new universe was considered Silver Age. The Bronze Age was the 70’s when things started to get grittier - Green Lantern/Green Arrow. X-Men Giant Size.
I got into comics in the early 90's , my school had a few in the library G.I.Joe, Captain America (Capwolf) and I think Spiderman, I was hooked. Got older and had stopped paying as much attention. A quick return in '07 , had some free time, healing from a breakup; getting high drinking a beer, Watching Seinfeld DVD's and going through my new Set of cards. Collected all of the Marvel Universe Series 3 from '92, another collection started as a kid. Found 2 unopened boxes on Ebay. My things had since been stashed away, then I saw Age of Ultron , that got me to find my old collections and now Im back into comics. I had forgotten some of the things I had.
This was presented in a very honest, humble, and well researched way. Well done. I am a college history professor and I really appreciated your preparation and approach.
my opinion
GA: Action Comics #1 to the end of the war
SA: Barry Allen first appearance to death of Gwen Stacy
BA: 73 to 85
Dark Age: Watchmen/Dark Knight Returns/ Crisis to 05
Modern Age: Civil War to present
W
I completely agree with your thought.
Modern Age has been plagued with one sided events and forced characters being added to books
I agree with this
Digital Age 2008-present (Start of the MCU with the Iron Man film) (My opinion)
Looking back, I would have to say that the Bronze Age is my favorite. I started collecting comics back in the 70's and I was too young to really appreciate the more realistic stories but now I can appreciate the awesome story lines.
The kryptonite age
The vibranium age
The adimantium age
The steel age
The platinum age
The new age
This took 15 minutes to type I typed with my little toe.
What about the Uru Age?
You missed the goddamn commas.
What about the carbodonium age??
Or dianesiam age???
but why?
The gallium age
A couple of years ago I started reading Marvel's Silver Age comics (all of them, in fat) and was fascinated by it. All the books. I loved how it was one big universe, basically a city filled with superheroes that interacted with one another. But I eventually phased out of it when I reached the 70s... I stopped reading altogether around the time of Gwen Stacy's death. Not because of her death, that was an awesome story, but because it all just becamse too big for me. Too many books, way too many inconsistencies (time being really stretched out, characters never aging. Rick Jones still being a goddman kid +10 years after Hulk #1) for example. It was fun while it lasted to me at least.
"...and Spider-Man's clone saga."
Aw shit not this stuff again
You said that 1996 almost killed comic collecting. Is this something that you can elaborate on in one of your videos?
Already did. ua-cam.com/video/W9Xq6sDntpE/v-deo.html
Thank you! Just subscibed, so I haven't had a chance to check out all the videos. :)
PhantomRX Thanks for subscribing! I hope you enjoy your stay!
***** That's what I call efficiency.
PhantomRX they theorize that speculating the value of comics somehow brought down the collecting side.
Silver Age seems to be the funnest. It's like fan-fiction without the tears. The animated show "Brave and the Bold", gave a sense of fun with some darkness and humor, it was well balanced imo.
The 90s, was a hit or miss but it did bring in a lot of new writers and artwork.
It really depends on the character or team of characters, I love the modern era of comics because of how complex the stories an art is. However, I love the campyness of the silver age.
Ohhhhhhhh I was looking for something on the Comic Ages for a lesson i am teaching and stumbled across little baby Scott. Huge fan, my man. Thank you for all your hard work and material. You are awesome.
This oldie popped up in my recs and it's still entertaining and informative, but Scott looks like such a Jimmy Olsen style kid with that peach fuzz head, who knew this little boy who worries about the excessive length of a 15 minute video would grow into such a great man who gives me deep dives into the Scoobies and the Doobies along with Captain Barely Animated, with insightful social commentary, not to mention giving me an hour each week asking if it was aliens (probably not).
Why do we call it DC Comics, when DC stands for Detective Comics? We're saying, Detective Comics Comics.
Oh shit!
And when you're talking about detective comics it's detective comics comics detective comics
It stopped being called "Detective Comics" in 1967. They're just "DC Comics" now. Similarly, WWE stopped being "World Wrestling Entertainment" in 2011, they're just "WWE."
there's a word for that. tautology
KingOfKingz819 Yes, but the “DC” stands for Detective Comics, and “WWE” stands for World Wrestling Entertainment, even if they still identify as DC Comics or WWE
I've also heard of something called "The Dork Age" of Comics. It generally refers to any period that is looked down on. Clone saga, the Leifield era where every character had to have guns and pouches, or really just anything the reader didn't like. I'd say that a Dork age is not one signal time period but many periods where writers just got off track.
*A Timeline of the Different Comic Book Ages!*
Comic book history is typically divided up into a few different ages: The Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Modern Age, etc. ***** explains the characteristics of each age and how the impacted the comic industry today!
What's your favorite age? Let us know in the comments!
_Comic Misconceptions explores the all but forgotten stories, details, and little known fun facts about popular comic book characters while testing your knowledge with a weekly trivia challenge!_
Hosted by *****
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#comics #comicbooks #batman #superman #marvelcomics #dccomics #goldenagecomics #silveragecomics #bronzeagecomics #modernagecomics #darkagecomics #ironagecomics #theflash #watchmen #nerd #geek #nerdsync #scottniswander #youtube #comicmisconceptions
***** Don't be sorry. We love questions! I was just letting you know that UA-cam won't let me respond to your comments even though I would like to. I was wondering if it was something your end that was preventing us from interacting with you. You ask good questions and leave good comments, but I can't respond to them for some reason.
You said comics were simple and cartooney but I have two questions.
Some covers looked very realistic not just because of the art but the way they handled the ink on the cover. They looked like paintings instead of a scene from a comic-book,
So:
1) Is there a name to this process of making a realistic cover in the 30s and early 40s?
2) Also. what are your thoughts in the art of Alex Raymond who was Jack Kirby's biggest influence and particularly Hal Foster who created Prince Valiant whose every panel is super detailed?
It's more of a generalization. Obviously not all artists are going to follow the common path of everyone else, but that common path is useful for creating a standard feel for comic art of the time. Even today you have comics that are pretty cartoony, but the majority are more on the realistic side with lots of detail in the lighting and shading and colors and all that stuff. What I mean by "cartoony" is that a lot of the art consisted of just enough lines to get the point across. Something like Prince Valiant didn't follow that style, but may have helped Kirby combine the two styles together in harmony. I'm no expert by any means, so take everything I said with a skeptical outlook. Haha
*****
I would trade cartoony art for simplistic art.
I think it was simply the natural progression of things. The older comics were so full of colors and detail because the action was either too fast or two slow.
IE If you look at Flash Gordon the rockets are fast enough to travel to other planets yet characters move at a human pace, it's man vs machine.
In Hal Foster's Prince Valiant or Tarzan the detail is probably to immerse the reader into the story, as in the many details from a tale of folklore are there to immerse the listener.
You can also establish similarities with The Phantom, whom is considered to be the first modern superhero, stories were too long precisely because they were newspaper strips.
If you look at Jack Kirby's wavy panels in Timely Comics it really feels like superhuman speed in a human body. So in order to incorporate the overall feel of speed and dynamism into the magazine itself the art on the comics had to be toned down.
Before the Golden Age the focal point of the strips was the story regardless if it had superheroes or not, and when the Great Depression became unbearable and later when WW2 erupted, the focal point of the stories were the heroes themselves clearing off injustices, taking down bad guys and conquering evil.
And I think that's the key to unveil why the Golden Age comics were the way they were, or at least that's my theory.
Regardless, I think your show is awesome.
Modern!
people be like WHENS THE ALUMINUM FOIL AGE WHENS THE TIN AGE WHENS THE COPPER AGE WHENS THE MERCURY AGE WHENS THE DOORKNOB METAL AGE
Ben Adams Hahahaha. Pretty much!
You joke but the 90s with their over-abundance of Foil-covers could be called an Aluminum Foil Age LOL. :-D
I love this lol
The bronze age was the best in my opinion. It had the best artwork, and I think the best storylines. Once again marvel was ahead in this age. It's said the bronze age was the 70s and 80s. Grace Randolf even mentioned this.
This reminds me of a series of videos I recently watched about the history of science... where most of the "revolutions" were not really revolutions and they did not occur overnight, the same that in history of humans the "discoveries" and everything, in general, is done by many people at different times, ways and places. All companies have their own version of the "eras" cause they experience it in different ways...
First of all, I want to thank you and everyone at NerdSync for all of the awesome content that you have done for us. I would love to see a show about the Marvel 2099 stories because I hear that they are planning to reboot these titles in some form which I think would be awesome but it makes me sad at the same time because I have written several stories that I have hoped to bring to Marvel's attention some day. Anyways, I would love to see a Comics Misconceptions episode on Marvel's various future timelines that they have done in the '90's. Even if they don't plan on rebooting the 2099 stories, how different do you think they would be if they wrote them now?
Adding it to the list! And now I'm interested in reading those stories you've written.
My time as a reader/collector was from the late '70s through the mid '90s, which sort of straddles the Bronze and Modern ages. As a result, this is still cemented in my mind as the ideal state of affairs. Most of the books I read were appropriate for 12-15 year old readers, but here and there you'd get more serious or shocking storylines/books that skewed into more late teen/adult territory. While I appreciated these more adult books, I found that the more books that took this approach, the less enamoured I was with the comic book scene as a whole.
Yes, the emergence of creators who I found to lower the value of my reading experience (MacFarlane, Liefeld, etc) certainly helped push me out of the comics habit, but the continuing expansion of violence for violence's sake in the books left a bad taste in my mouth. Even as a person in my mid 20s I wanted most books to still be appropriate for that 12-15 year old population, and stories about rape and dismemberment just don't fit the bill most of the time. Sure, I wanted something dark like the Kraven's Last Hunt story every once in a while, but I didn't want all of the books to be like that.
By the mid 90s I had left the whole thing far behind. Even though I have been a big fan of many of the movies based on comic book heroes that have appeared over the past 20 years, it hasn't taken more than a rudimentary look at the current books to confirm that I have no interest in a return to reading. As an adult and an educator who is in a position to recommend reading materials for parents to share with their kids I wish I could recommend super hero books, but that's just not going to happen the way things are right now. It's too bad, because studies have shown repeatedly that comic books can be powerful tools for building literacy, but I'm not going to harm my relationship with the parents of my students by steering them to the sort of things they'll see in current super hero comic books.
Also, I personally see the Dark Age as it's own separate thing. I agree that the Dark Age started right after the Bronze Age and transitioned slowly into the modern age, but I see the Dark Age as the age of gratuitous antiheroes, where deconstructions of comics became much more common than straight-up normal comics, and the Modern Age still having that stuff present, but to a much lower degree, more like a blend between all the ages.
Exactly! That's why, in my own opinion, it makes sense to say that the Modern Age started out with the Dark Age being brutal and violent, but then it slowly calmed down into what we have today. There's no real clear end point for the Dark Age (at least none that I found in my research) so it's much easier to say that they are a part of each other instead of their own completely separate things. Almost like the Dark Age is a subcategory of the Modern Age. They are very similar, except the Dark Age is much more, well, dark. Haha. But that's just my opinion.
I really like what you are saying about the Modern Age being a blend between all the ages. I can definitely see that! You have comics today that are so simple and fun like the Silver Age, comics that tackle topical issues like the Bronze Age, and you still have violent, brutal stories like the Dark Age. I think comics today still suffer from trying to be overly complex. There are a lot of Marvel comics I can't read because I have no idea what's going on. When a comic goes back to it's roots of being a good guy triumphing over a bad guy, that's where some magic can be made, just like the Golden Age.
It's a fine balance between them all. At the end of the day, I'm just glad we live in a world where comics exist!
Curious to see what the Modern Age will be called in the future. You should make a video speculating ideas around this.
Golden Age: 1938-1956
Silver Age: 1956-1970
Bronze Age: 1970-1986
Dark Age: 1986-1998
Modern Age: 1998-Present
I have faith that you can keep an objective view and deliver the right information
Shanette Trice I'll look into it and hopefully be able to do it right.
For a second, I thought the out of focus Green Lantern poster was actually a nude, slightly-chubby She-Hulk from behind. Hey, I've been awake longer than you should, so forgive me.
Tracer-Hulk
I see it yo. I see dem cheeks. I know its green lantern, but i prefer imagining it is she-hulk’s booty
I kind of consider the DC timeline from Crisis On Infinite Earths to Flashpoint as a one big era called The Crisis Age, since that particular era was filled with tons of crisis that affected the DCU and the biggest victim being the Legion timeline.
Speaking of the Legion of Superheroes, I think they beat Spiderman to the punch as the first young heroes who weren't sidekicks having their own series unless we count Superman's years as Superboy, who made his first appearance in the Golden Age.
That's a good point. I might argue that Spider-Man was more influential because Superboy and the original Legion of Superheroes team were all born off of Earth. Spider-Man showed that a kid from this planet and this time can be a hero.
I would say we've gone past the Modern Age, and are now in The Cinematic Age of comic books ... and it all began with Iron Man ... however, I think the Pre-Cinematic Age started with X-MEN and died with Spider-Man 3. Just my opinions.
Ian Hollis Hmm, that's interesting. I hold the stance that we really can't define new ages until we are out of them. This way we can reflect back on them and see trends and study it. But you may be right.
I loved Spiderman 3 .....
I think I actually like the Silver Age the most. It's just so much fun. Plus you can not get enough of that Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko art. I'd like the Dark Age more if there wasn't so much bad imitations of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen flooding everything.
I'm kind of a bronze age man myself. Chris Claremont's X-Men run and the later Romita years on Spider-Man are where it's at
Scott with hair old school
Bronze Age is my favorite. The Horror titles were on point. They didn’t rely on things just being ugly or graphically violent like horror titles now, but instead told interesting stories that were often influenced by greats like H. P. Lovecraft or William Hope Hodgson. It also had great superhero titles, as well as great villain titles for the first time. Stories became more realistic, but not absurdly gruesome like many modern comics. Comics as a whole went from being for kids to being for all ages, where today they’re mostly for adults (the good ones anyway).
I think this does a nice job of touching on the touching on the ages and the implications of each.
I think the Gold and Silver Ages deserve recognition, because they are eras that started and relaunched comics and created some of it most iconic characters even to this day. However, both ages are tainted with the racism and sexism that defined those eras and stories that imo hard to read, because they so simplistic.
Bronze and "Modern" Ages are probably the most impressive as more women and characters of color were introduced and stories became darker and sophisticated.
This Modern Age is good in that still more diversity is introduced BUT I think the movies have hurt the comics, because the owners are starting let things like ownership of film rights effect the comics. At times the comics feel more like promotional material than stand-alone products.
It's interesting what you're saying about sexism across the different ages. There was a story I had to leave out about Wonder Woman in the Bronze Age (I think) when the women's rights movement was happening. They actually stripped Wonder Woman of all her powers and made her learn karate instead. The writer thought that it was what the woman wanted. A strong female character who could save the day just as she was. No super powers needed. She could be an inspiration to all the other women out there who want to change the world but don't have super powers. But, this totally backfired and the women readers felt like he took away everything special about the most famous female superhero. She wasn't this powerful female leader anymore. She was just a person. They demanded that they remake her according to her Golden and Silver Age runs. I found that interesting!
***** I agree with those women, I'm more jazzed about Wonder Woman than Black Widow, because WW has actual super powers. I can watch a spy movie any ol time.
I just need Wonder Woman to have her own movie. I need it so bad!
According to the news I saw, she'll get her own movie in 2017 after Batman vs. Superman, a Shazam, and Sandman movie then after her movie a Flash & GL movie and finally Man of Steel II.
Whether Gal Gadot can pull of that character, we'll have to wait and see.
Whomever decided to make a Shazam and Sandman movie, before Wonder Woman must related to whomever works at Disney that decided to make Guardians, Ant-Man, and Dr. Strange before a Black Panther movie.
I can't complain because I like all those characters!
I have been collecting comics for over 40 years. I have always heard the Golden Age (The corny era) ran from Action Comics #1 till 1961. FF #1 was the start of Silver age (a more realistic era where heroes had problems). Silver Age ran till 1975, when the All New, All Different X-Men joined, which gave us the darker Bronze Age. That ran till 1985, when Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns gave us the Modern Era. There were clear tonal changes that began with major changes to the comic industry.
I prefer the silver age, but from marvel's perspective. Not from DC.
DC comic books at that time seemed silly... childlike as well as simple.
When you stack the avengers against the legion of super heroes, both from the silver age, the differences are clear.
Eh depends on the writer. There are a lot of dc silver age stories with a lot of depth.
It always depends on the writer.
DC comic books writing tended to have a fairy tale quality about it, and even worse when DC story telling was mixed in with ancient myths.
Marvel story telling tended to be an extension of what was already possible. This is why Marvel films in tend to do alot better than DC at the box office, with the exception of Batman.
+BearCubster The movies have nothing with the comics though. The writers of the movies does not write the comics
Try to keep up.
Wasn't talking about the movies.
I have to say that the daily strips of the twenties and thirties were more complex than being just two panels with gags. There were the gag strips, but there were also adventure strips like Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Smiling Jack, Thimble Theater, Mandrake, and of course, the Phantom, who's suit is clearly the inspiration for Superman's suit. And then there are the Sunday strips...
MrColuber Right, and it's those funny pages that give comics the reputation of being silly kid stuff when we know differently.
***** You're right (after all, they were called the funnies), but that's not the fault of the people of the time who read them, who understood the diversity of comic strips. However, after WWII, there was a decline in Comic strip diversity due to the reduction of panel size, which saw the predominance of the gag strip, which itself brought the idea that comic strips were just for silliness. Of course, I'm definitely oversimplifying the matter.
MrColuber Nothing wrong with oversimplifying. It's what I do best!
Here are what I believe set the ages.
Platinum-1933 Famous Funnies #1 First true form factor as we know it.
Golden-1938 Action Comics #1 First Superhuman.
Silver -1956 Showcase #4 Superhero resurgance.
Bronze-Tie Conan The Barbarian #1 began the pulp era, and Kirby leaving Marvel.
As the bronze age was nearing its end, comic books splintered into several directions. The comics code had ended bringing multiple publishers on board.
Dark Knight was the herald of the Dark Age.
Walt Simonson started the Modern age with both the X-men/Tital cross-over and his definitive work on thor in 1982/83.
Cerebus heralded the Independant age in 1977.
The Movie age-1998-now. Blade started it. Comic book origins, line ups and story arcs all began changing to fit possible movie and/ or T.V. use. Basically, everything Magic became Science and comics started reflecting more of real life.
+gabriel51366 The Movie age started with Christopher Reeve's Superman and Tim Burton's Batman. Heck even Adam West's Batman movie was responsible for it's popularity
The Bronze Age was really a tonal shift. Conan represents that for Marvel, but for DC it was Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil who set the tone, not Kirby.
In terms I heard, Dark Age started after Bronze Age, gone from 80 to 90s, influenced by stories like Watchmen and Swamp Thing, like you mentioned, characterized instead of trying to be socially relevant by inserting more darker and violent hereos, (think people like Cable or Venom as anti hero or the time Azrael took tenure as Batman, and all work Rob Liefeld has done), and ended with the comic book crash of the 90s, going into the Modern Age as something separate from the Dark Age.
Jesus this video is old, he still has a full head of hair
Since I don't know: What happened to him?
@@thenoirknight5729 he had hair back then and now he’s bald. Not exactly a “trilling” tale
This show should have SO much more exposure because this show is SO good
The Modern Age is my favorite age.
***** For me, the timeline of comics is:
-Golden Age : start with Action Comics #1
-Silver Age: start with DC Showcase #4
-Bronze Age: start with Jack Kirby move to DC and his book at DC is Superman Pal's Jimmy Olsen #133
-Modern Age: start with Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and Crisis on Infinite Earths
A bit more comment spam, I really like what this show is becoming. It's starting to remind me of PBS Idea Channel but for comics, that's a really good thing. You both have such interesting shows that I'm always looking forward to.
I may or may not have gotten some inspiration from Mike. I'm trying my best not to copy everything he does. Haha.
Also, thank you!
He's a good guy to get inspiration from, very fast paced and keeps your attention. It's nice to see that you're taking the same approach, it's easy to keep my attention locked on your videos which should be a great help in building an audience on this here website of short attention spans.
I think it helps now that I try to make sure I'm about 100% sure of what I'm talking about for each video. He's much smarter than I'll ever be, but having confidence in what I'm talking about might fool people into thinking I'm smart. Haha. I researched for almost a week straight, reading books and watching documentaries just to make sure I was certain with what I was talking about.
I do wish that people would comment more about the video itself instead of just the trivia challenge, but hey, what can I do?
“I am in no way a comic book historian...”
Just you wait, past Scott, just you wait...
Did Lousis (I can't spell) Lane fall in love with superman's dad (just a guess)?
Silver age ended later (and there are 2 phases built within Silver age). There is a point in 1974 where it actually ends. While stories were already getting more adult oriented, It has to do with a shift in character creations/stories/publishers (Wolverine first appearance, savage sword of conan etc). Bronze age ends in 1985/1986 with Secret wars/Crisis - those two events herald the end of that era. The copper age era ends in roughly 1994 with the collapse of the collectors and zero hour (Also intros of new characters/teams) - this is also the same timeframe where publishers moved everything to being under Diamond, creating a monopoly). The modern era ended in 2009 with the Final Crisis and the ending of Ultimate Spider-man (though the modern era could be split into two parts somewhere around 2000). The current era is on the verge of its end as well, I would say within the next 18 months IF NOT IN THE PAST MONTH, if you do not already consider the shift from Diamond, the mass layoffs et al. The next era will most likely be the final era for comics as we know them....and it will most likely be like a super-nova....fast, hard and big flash to a whimpering existence after that. Comics need at least 1500 stores to survive and they are barely above that number at the moment. i believe it is around 1700, which is way down from its peak of over 4000
Hî Scott, I typed this on my big toe.
Always come back to this video every now and then. Really love the information in this video and the topic is really fun to learn about again and again.
happy January 1 2015 at this was posted at 12:32
Spencer MacDougall Happy New Year!!!
I guess I'm a fan of the bronze age, I was fan of the Avengers,Captain America, The Hulk, Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, ghost Rider, XMen, Defenders, Luke Cage Power Man (And Heros for Hire with Iron Fist), Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu, and the Savage Tales of Conan to name a few... Later when it started becoming a little more dark, like in the late 80's the Punisher was very successful. I was really in to it at that time, even DC started getting a little darker such as Batman, the Dark Knight.
"Watchmen" and "Dark Knight Returns" were only revolutionary to non-comic fans.
Anyone who read comics had already seen all that, in Claremont's X-Men, Miller's DareDevil, and O'Niel's Batman.
That bullet scare is classic Superdickery! Love it!
I'd say the modern age. It brought the dark knight returns, the killing joke, A death in the family, just a lot of great batman stories.
Oh and I THINK Under the Red Hood, which was sort of a sequel to A Death in the family.
No sort of, it was a straight-up sequel
+Sebastian Lee it took place around 5 or 6 years after
TheEdgyOnion also death of the family
Don't forget Daredevil Born Again and The Man Without Fear and countless other great Marvel stories
Should propably mention direct sales to comic book shops and self publishing as impacting content.
i think the bronze age is still going
mircro usb charger well... nope- that's wrong
Miller had a dark edgy comic long before dark knight returns. That comic being daredevil. His stories he wrote for the character redifened Matt Murdock and made for one of the edgiest stories of its time. Killing elektra on panel alone made for the easiest moment of its time. His punisher story in daredevil 182-184 was a gritty dark story as well. Worth reading. That's my favorite comic run in history.
I'm in the "Don't give a crap" age where I don't really give a crap about what age where in. But if I were to pinpoint an age we're in I would say Modern/Dark age.
The oldest comic I have is Fantastic Four #35 from 1965. I bought it not because I'm a speculator, but a lover of comics. Sure, I'll never read the story straight off the pages, which would basically disintegrate if I handled it, but that's what collected editions, youtube videos, and downloads are for. I've read the story, but I doubt I'll ever sell it. I just like having it because of the history it tells from the worn pages, the different art style, and the early renditions and depictions of characters which have endured up until today.
Keep the comic for 2 reasons 1.its fucking awsome to have it 2.Maybe in 100 to 300 years (if you have kids pass it on) I imagine in the said time the comic would be worth around a million bucks
I have the fantastic 4 issue 1 comic
The oldest comic I have is amazing fantasy issue 15 first appearance of spiderman
jack brass no way man u would love to have that comic
What about the Marvel NOW! and DC New 52 reboots? Would that be the beginning of another age?
I would say Marvel NOW probably is not the start of a new age. Especially since they recently launched All-New Marvel NOW as well. Marvel is kind of a mess to me. They have this strategy of continually relaunching without actually rebooting anything. People love #1 issues, so Marvel has a series run for a few issues, then they relaunch it so people buy it again. It's a strategy that _kind of_ works, but only for that #1 issue.
The New 52 was the right idea and I praise DC for doing it. But the style of story telling didn't really change that much. The ages are largely defined by the style of writing and style of art. I think you could probably pick up a story from before the New 52 and find it easily comparable to stories within the New 52. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know!
Some People argue that the Dark Age ended with Ultimate Spider-Man #1 in the early 2000s (I think?), but again, just about everything is subject to opinion when it comes to this stuff. I was just letting you know what I believe, but I'm not saying that it's the only correct answer.
hey I had the same thought like Dakota. Considering that marvel now isn't that big a change as the new 52 one has to admit that dc took their comics to a next level (not necessarily a better one^^) and reinvented a lot of their charakters (like they did at the begining of the silver age). Even though marvel didn't do the same we can see the original x-men team back in action and so on... for me who reads comics since 2007 it is the first big change that i witness. not to forget that superhero movies have a huge impact on the comics they originated from and an impact on how comics are seen in general (most of all thanks to The Dark Knight and Avengers) with all that in mind i have the feeling that we are now in a new age - maybe the renaissence age oder the futur age
Frank G I can totally see that argument. As for most of the ages, it's all a matter of opinion. So if you believe we are in a new age, then we are in a new age! Haha
Props for the quick response, NerdSync. :D
Dakota Williams It's literally because of you guys that I can continue to do this. So I try to respond as much as I can. :)
Again; going over many of your older episode I originally missed. First; let me just say that I knew of comics, but really didn't read them growing up. It wasn't until I was an adult and could buy them myself that I got into them. This happened; pretty much like you said, around the time of Tim Burton's Batman. I knew of the DC heroes from cartoon shows growing up, but never found them all that interesting (sorry, not sorry). Instead; I fell in line with Marvel mainly because of Spider-Man, although I do have a great love of Batman during the 80's Dark Age. The Death in the Family storyline really shook up the Batman comics in ways that are still felt today. But my love for The X-Men and Spider-Man really put me over the top. As for the Crossover. I loved the Marvel ones to a point because I knew of the heroes involved, and didn't mind buying one or two episodes. However; the one massive DC Crossover involving the Gene Bomb (Sorry; I don't remember the name of the Crossover, as I don't really remember much about the books in general), that one was more a hassle than a bonus because I didn't know or didn't like many of DC's Heroes. The best part about that Crossover was how Marvel's X-Men made fun of it with there Jean Bomb issue; which shows the Aussies was "Hey look; Aliens" "Well throw another shrimp on the bar-bie" attitude.
The best Crossover though; had to be the DC vs Marvel stand-alone and Anagram Comics that followed. Those I loved and bought each one no matter which company made it (Although, I did like many of the Marvel made ones a little better than some of the DC ones. Didn't care for the stories at much). I had to stop during the 2000's as money was tight, and I lost track of comics at this point; so I never looked back. I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff, but I'm also afraid of many changes I've heard about. LIke Iceman's coming out; or how did Miles Morales replace Manual O'Hara! In any case. I still love comics; even though I don't read them like I use to! Thanks for all you do!
Jor-El?
I think that DC's "New 52" - with its emphasis on same-day digital copies - means we are in a new age.
Captain America, especially his new movie, sparked my interest in comic books. I think it comes as no surprise that I like the idea of the golden age, with patriotism and good beating evil, something I feel today's society is lacking.
Bravo Scott wonderful video; I've been discovering your videos and you do a great job. I think we are in the modern age of comics
They should really make it so it's more kid friendly, for example, my cousin loves batman, but he's only six! He only likes him because the costume is cool!
bobthecow connolly I hear ya. There's a series right now called Gotham Academy which is supposed to be a more kid-friendly comic set in Gotham city. I know it probably doesn't have Batman as a main character, but it still could be a fun read for the youngster who is into it.
thanks!
You could show him old episodes of Batman the Brave and the Bold, that was fun for all ages.
FaceUnreality Batman the Brave and the Bold was great!
Who else is watching this in 2019 or later and wishes Scott would keep doing comic misconceptions and feels a bit nostalgic about the intro
The new 52 is the dark age of comics
I prefer the Bronze Age. This age was starting to adapt darker stories and psychological trauma. The Bronze Age has some similarities to the Modern Age. Some of the Bronze Age stories are for younger audiences such as Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, and Batgirl. In my opinion, I prefer the Bronze Age. I know the Bronze Age of Comics. After the Bronze Age, there's the Copper Age. I believe the Bronze and Copper Age of Comics, can be together as one era. Many people believed what if the Bronze Age of Comics still kept on going. For nearly 20 years. This explains why there's the Copper Age, known as the Post Bronze Age. The Copper Age, should be more like a companion and continuation of the Bronze Age. My idea naming for this era should be as "Bronze/Copper Age of Comics". Much like the Gold and Silver Age should be combined together. The Dark Age of Comics actually began with Rob Liefeld era and the start of the edgy aesthetic. This is why the Bronze and Copper should be combined together. This when the age of Patriotism and Innocence were slowly fading out. Which makes comics and other media be more philosophical, serious, mature, tragedy, and worth something fighting for. This is what feels like the beginning of the end.
I have a complaint to make. Your 15:41 timeline actually took over an hour. I did kinda paused the video frequently to look at the art. BUT THAT'S NOT MY FAULT.
Ages in comics books are not really separated by lore but by a combination of 2 main things:
#1 Business changing: When the books stop selling and there is a fair amount of turnover and creators leave to go do other stuff or switch companies to try new things.
#2 Tonal & stylistic shift: Somebody does something with a book and its really popular and all of a sudden the whole industry pivots to do what that book is doing.
The 90's: the crap age of comics.
The beefcake, "edgy", armed-to-the-teeth, macho-man, Rob Liefeld style comics all over the place, and the necessity to kill or cripple emblematic characters. But i guess it has its positives, cause it was also the blossoming of the Vertigo comics.
Dc was really good in the 90's for the most part. Vertigo included of course.
Robson Pommer Cough* Cough* Amalgam comics
Robson Pommer ts not the fault of miracleman, the dark knight returns, sandman and spawn that dc and marvel screwed theyre shit up.
The 90s was a time where everyone wanted to invest in books foe future money. However so many people did this that the copies are worthless
Actually the comic book format goes back to 1842 with _The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck_ (a collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1833 book _Histoire de M. Vieux Bois_) with the first formal collection being in 1897 with _The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats_.
This era is called by some the Proto-comic book/Platinum Age.
the modern age is easily the best. silver and gold suck
I believe that all the ages of Comics have something to offer for the readers out there. I love all of them.
I think the reason for the latter continuity is that comics started really taking into other mediums, in that it may be appropriate to call 2003-present the industrial age, marked by not a direct innovation to the comics themselves but the mediums they were distributed on and through.
with the hyper success of comic based cartoons, regular movies based on comic stories in both their continuity and their non-continuous partners, and a growth of non-cannon made non-continuous cannon short stories, shorts and web-comics.
I think you should have mentioned the Indie or Underground comics too. After Comics industry got handicapped by Comics Code authority, Underground comics kept the idea of comics as literature alive with stories like Love & Rockets, American Flagg, Nexus, Contract with God, Cerebus, Krazy Kat ,Elfquest etc. Also Maus, came out right around the same time as TDKR & Watchmen and was the first comic to win a Pulitzer Prize.
I also believe Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, James Robinson ended the dark age of comics with stories like Starman, Kingdom Come, Flex Mentallo, Flash, Supreme showing how flawed & less fun the whole dark ages really were and reconstructed the entire superhero genre. 90s really ran dark & gritty theme right into the ground , especially Rob Liefeld's Image comics in the beginning.
Brings me back to the time i based my high school final exam thesis on this topic.
and heck yeah i graduated, i loved talking about comic books at a school exam.
We are clearly in a "Post-Modern Age" of comics now.
"Digital Age" is also a designation that exists in this era of the Post-Modern comic.
I noticed you didn’t mention a big comic event that happened in 1971 that also coined the end of the Silver Age. The controversial Green Arrow/Green Lantern series was being written and the release of the “Speedy on Heroine” story was released.
12:13
Personally, I dove slightly into comic books after I saw the 1994's cartoon The Amazing Spiderman (I watched the reruns on Fox Kids). Right at that time, I started reading The Ultimate Spiderman and it was slower than a snail. Up until 2009, I only watched movies. Batman: Arkham Asylum was a game which made me a DC Comics fanatic. And now, that I've read the three parts of Knightfall, I have to recomend it to anyone who loves, even likes, Batman. It's an excellent read.
i've only recently got into comics so i haven't really read much (probably 200- 300 issues of marvel comics) but atm i think the bronze age is the best it is darker than silver but not too dark and it's also age which is home to secret wars. The movie that actually got me into comics was captain america civil war but this was a few months before it came out, i just really loved the concept and decided to to start reading comics from then
I've loved comic book characters all my life, but maybe owned a dozen or so comics until recently. I would read IDW's Godzilla, and Doctor Who comics. After Marvel's first wave of movies I slowly started picking up different comics to learn more about these characters. After the Winter Soldier movie I was sold. I went and got the hardback book, borrowed my sisters growing Iron Man, and Thor comics. I just started becoming obsessed with everything comic. Not just the other forms of media these characters were appearing in. It's actually weird because I grew up a DC fanboy. I watched the cartoons, and anything DC related I generally had a interest in. Now I'm the complete opposite almost.
In response to you saying a lot of people probably got into comics from the comic book movies, I would like to say that I got into comics from the various comic book animated series. Especially the DC animated series. They were huge in my childhood, and it really drove me to comics.
I got into comics in the late 1970s with superman and Richie Rich from a collection of 60s books given to us. 1985 I went full force into comics and read them alot until 1993/1994. Too many books by then. I still read them from time to time and love comics
Just going to put my opinions on the silver age(s) and others:
Personally I feel that "the silver age" was two ages: the "late silver age", defined by the monkeys, transformations, shocking covers and just general silliness the age is classically known for, and the "early silver age" (or "white gold age", if I'm feeling conceited), which was focused on the "power of science", and heroes and villains trying to outsmart each other with puzzles, clever logic, and applied bullshit. The early Justice League comics are a great example of the latter. 60s Marvel is then its own parallel age, being more like the infant form of the bronze age than anything else.
As far as ages go, I have a soft spot for most of them. The golden age had some great twist endings (mostly not in the uperhero stuff, admittedly). The early silver age was just fun to read, and see the clever ways heroes would get out of various situations. I like laughing at the later silver age as much as the next guy. The bronze age was trying, if nothing else, and that counts for something. And there were some really nice stories published at DC under Paul Levitz, from around 2002 to 2010.
We can say that the period between 1999 and now can be called the "Reboot Age" because from this point Comic Book Heroes had to be remade to sell to New Readers and that meant Characters had to be De-aged to make them younger. But writers called that Continuity Ret-coning to make it seem less "Business" and more "Superhero Universe" driven. Yet, this "Rebooting" has been completely associate with Superhero Comics in the US as of the "Big Two". Other companies don't care so much like Image, Dark Horse, and others.
would love to see you do a pros and cons of digital comics video. You mentioned before you prefer digital and most sites and other bloggers like to bash digital a little bit so it would be interesting to hear from someone who likes the medium
Wow I didn't even know there was an iron age. Great job Scott, this research must have taken forever.
2 documentaries, 3 books, and countless internet articles. And everything is still based on opinions, so someone could easily say I'm wrong. Haha.
I got into comics because of YOU Scott. Thank you.
To explain the difference between the Iron, Dark and Modern age when they are considered 3 different periods:
*The Iron Age* is the tail-end of what would otherwise be considered the Bronze age and that grey-area where the Bronze age transitioned into the Dark age. When people say it was characterized by big retcons, they don't mean that those didn't happen later to, but that this was what dominated the era and that it did so in contrast to what had come before. It is most notable at DC with Crisis and the comics that followed it (Batman: Year One, Superman: Man of Steel and vol. 2 of Wonder Woman). There wouldn't be any retcons on this complete, cosmic, overarching scale until the New52. And Marvel too was investing significantly in organizing and codifying it's cosmology.
*The Dark Age* (the 90's more-or-less) was characterized with and overarching, well, darkness. Be it serious darkness as in Watchmen, Maus and Sandman, braindead-action darkness like in a lot of the Image comics, silly-darkness like early TMNT and the revived Lobo or just the economic darkness of the almost-collapse of the industry. The age was also characterized by a boom in indie comics (which almost imploded by it's end).
*The Modern age* (ca. the 2000's and onward) is/was characterized by a counter-reaction to the preceding darkness. A reaction to the amoralness of it's characters and stories and a nostalgic longing for the good qualities of the Silver and Golden age. The darkness didn't go away, but it was no longer the big, defining trend and when it showed up was often used as contrast to the ideal. This age is strangley not defined as much by the works that actually came out in it as by the mid-90's works that inspired it, like Mark Waid's Kingdom Come and Grant Morrison's run on JLA. The defining work of the actual era is probably All-Star Superman.
In my opinion, as the big nostalgic elements of the above description aren't really that defining of the industry anymore, the Modern age might be further divided into two further categories: *The Renascence* which is what I described above and *The Current Modern age* which is defined more by a pluralism in what kind of comics comes out, with no big defining trend, and the introduction of digital-media as common-place.
One major breaking point I see between the Dark Age and more recent comics is the color palette. In the late 80s and the 90s, comics still looked like, well, comics. The switch away from cheap newsprint also plays into it. Comic books almost don't feel like the same medium anymore. Sure, the industry was already experimenting with these changes in the Dark Age, but they weren't the norm yet. The clearest threshold would probably be Ultimate Marvel.
Modern just means the present. So technically, the modern age of comics is literally whatever is currently going on. We are always in the modern age for as long as comics exist. As such it doesn't make much sense namewise. To be clear, my views on whether this is still the bronze age or the modern age or whatever are irrelevant to my point. You can say we are still in the bronze age, or that the bronze age and the iron age and the dark age and the modern age all exist as separate entities, or anything in between. It's just the term itself is weird in how it's being applied and i found it interesting
I'm 52 and started learning to read with my oldest brother's comic book collection around 1970. Therefore, the bronze age is my favorite with just a dash of the silver. There was an optimism and sense of adventure in those comics that are missing now, and every modern comic is just a nonstop cesspool of turmoil and human misery. I know that the gritty, ultra-realism of the modern age now fits current readership expectations, but I prefer the slightly more fantastic and upbeat atmosphere of those ages to the darker reality of the modern.
I used to read comics to enter a bright new world full of possibilities so I could be elevated to a higher level infused with hope. Allowing reality to intrude on the fantasy is utterly depressing and drags that world down to my level. I don't want my fantasy world invaded by drugs, alcoholism, physical abuse, and heroes struggling with the same issues that plague "normal" humans. You may want them to be emotionally complex and relatably flawed, but I expect them to be nobler than we are. Certainly better than the enemies they face.
This is why I've never liked or understood the love affair people now have with the anti-hero. "Oh, they do heroic things, but they're plagued with doubts, fears, and character flaws!" What's so great about that? You get pissed at cops and soldiers who succumb to these issues, but expect it from your superheroes? I don't get it.
This, added to terrible art styles, constant needless crossovers/alternate covers, and dramatic price hikes led me to abandon comics forever around 2004. I miss the unfettered optimism of those older ages. My two cents.
The vest is working! I feel spoiled since this is the first video from this channel that I'm watching. I'm going to want to see the vest in every video