posted March 24, 2003 10:13 PM               

To you, when do the different comic eras begin and end? I know there are generally agreed on books/times, but this is more for what you read or have read.

MINE: (it should be noted I pretty much only read DC, I never really cared for marvel characters)

-Golden age: Action #1: is there really any argument for when the golden age began. It should be about the same for everyone.

-Silver age: Showcase #22: While flash came first, I never cared about him, nor about Wally West. And since GL was the second new SA character, if I recall, he is earliest enough to work. (PS: GL is my favorite DCU character)

From here on should have more variation...

-Bronze age: GL/GA #76. THe new rendition of GL, along with GA, was great. And to me, this was near the start of some of my favorite books/characters (Phantom Stranger, Deadman, Swamp Thing etc.)

-"Dark" Age: hmm, I'm not going with Batman here. I'd say Crisis. THis sort of made a clean slate that characters could be 'remade' on. Unfortunately, most were just remade as dark and violent.

-"best" age: A subset of the "dark age" Start: Swamp Thing #21. My favorite books ever are the "Mature" books that sprang out of ST. You know: Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade:TCM, Doom Patrol etc.). This age ended when Sandman ended. By then, only Hellblazer was (and still is) running.

-Current age: Sometime in the late '90s. While still somewhat dark, things seemed to have cooled down a bit. We've had some lighter books (though they usually fail). I have no idea what started it, so I'll just be boring and say JLA #1. Another aspect of this 'age' is the nostalgia feel (JSA, Hawkman, Green Arrow, etc...)

posted March 24, 2003 11:50 PM            

The Silver Age has to begin with the Showcase appearance of Flash, because that is also the first appearance of Earth-1.

The Bronze Age, for me, begins with Green Arrow/Green Lantern by Neal Adams, and continues through the 70s and 80s.

For me the BRASS Age of Comics, begins with the appearance of five (whoopee!) first editions of X-Men #1, which sold like air, and forced the comics industry to peak. And when you peak, you have to decline. And boy, what a decline it's been! I blame EVERYTHING that's bad in the current comics industry on that stinkin' X-Men #1. And I also wish ta heck that Marvel wouldn't REPRINT the stupid thing every two years! Why the hell would you reprint something that already has some millions of copies in existence? Does anyone here know a comics shop that's not still selling the original at or below cover price?? Bah!

posted March 25, 2003 03:01 AM               

Secondly, I'd say that, with exceptions, it pretty much only applies to the mainstream superhero publishers (though it can be usefully applied to some of their non-superhero material). It seems to me that it's nonsense to talk, for instance, of a Gold/Silver divide in Dell Comics (though early Gold Key adventure titles were certainly a phenomenon squarely rooted in the Silver Age), or in any western title I can think of, or of a Silver/Bronze divide in most war titles from DC or Charlton, or of any "age" divisions at all in funny-animal comics or in Archies, though other ways of dividing up that kind of material certainly could be used.

Third, I agree with NI (as I do on many things) that the transition zones are porous. For instance, I consider the whole run of All-Star Comics, ending in 1951, to be Golden Age. Likewise the whole Robin series in Star-Spangled, ending in 1952.
But I also consider the whole runs of Strange Adventures (begins 1950) and Mystery In Space (begins 1951) to be core DC Silver Age material.
If I have to assign the DC westerns to an age, I'll call the whole runs of All-American Western, All-Star Western (1st series), and Western Comics Silver Age, even though they began in 1948, 1951, and 1948 respectively.
In both the cases of the sci-fi and the western material, it's the creative staff and the overall look and feel of the story and art that makes the determination rather than the calendar.
So, for me, the DC Gold/Silver divide takes place on a title-by-title basis beginning as early as 1948 (in the case of the transition from All-American Comics to All-American Western) and stretching over the next few years. I frankly don't feel called upon to make any sort of Gold/Silver cut in the Superman or Batman titles, but if I had to, it'd be somewhere in the early '50s.

I part company with most people on the Silver/Bronze question. I think the most significant changes around this time at both DC and Marvel happened beginning in 1968, and that's where I begin the Silver/Bronze transitional zone.

At Marvel, it's the splitting of the three anthology titles (Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, and Tales to Astonish) into six solo titles, the advent of the solo Silver Surfer comic, and the introduction of Captain Marvel (all 1968) that begin the shift, and the loss of Kirby and the cancellation of X-Men (both 1970) that complete it. Pretty cut and dried.

At DC, I see the most significant events that can be used as a boundary as the promotion of Carmine Infantino to Art Director (or whatever his initial editorial position was on his way up the ladder to Publisher), and the defection of Dick Giordano from Charlton with Denny O'Neil, Steve Ditko, Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, and Pat Boyette in tow. That was all 1968, and it makes the whole Orlando-edited runs of House of Mystery and House of Secrets, all the Giordano-edited features like Creeper and Hawk & Dove and the Skeates/Aparo Aquaman Bronze Age titles, which I tink is correct given the general sensibility of those features and their similarity to what followed them and dissimilarity to what went before.
Again, it's a porous transition with a lot of interpenetration. Green Lantern is Silver, GL/GA Bronze. Schwartz Superman is Bronze.

Frankly, I've paid little enough attention to post-Crisis comics, especially from the mid-90s on, to be unqualified to have much opinion on subdividing them.
The age of multiple covers and cover gimmicks (chrome, diecuts, holograms, sealed bags with cards, etc.) could, I suppose, be called the Wizard Age...

posted March 25, 2003 10:13 AM            

Usually there is a trigger, something in a new direction, and over the next couple of years, other series fall into line following that trend. (also as stated above, it tends to follow management shifts at a company)

A good example is the Bronze Age, as you said some things began in 68; within the comics themselves would be Jonn leaving the JLA, Wonder Woman becoming "Diana Prince," the creation of Creeper, and Hawk & Dove, and the Teen Titans beginning to grow up.

posted March 25, 2003 11:31 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Keldin lauke:

-Silver age: Showcase #22: While flash came first, I never cared about him, nor about Wally West. And since GL was the second new SA character, if I recall, he is earliest enough to work. (PS: GL is my favorite DCU character)

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While determining the "ages" is invariably an arbitrary parlor game, there's just something about your rationale here that seems double-extra-secret arbitrary. The Flash didn't kick-start the Silver Age because you don't happen to care for him? Huh? Your personal opinions of Barrry Allen have nothing to do with the historical significance of Showcase #4. An arguement could be made for the Martian Manhunter's debut in Detective #225, or for Captain Comet, I suppose, but Showcase #22 doesn't mark the beginning of anything except the new Green Lantern feature.