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I ask this because the Modern Age has been going on for 30+ years. Should we start a new age of comics with a new age? Or rename the comic age from the late 80s to like the 2010s? Just a thought because havign 80s comics called modern age seems goofy. I dont know what you would call current issues. But with the start of 2020 come and gone i thought that would have been a good time for a new age.
[QUOTE=babyblob;4992524]I ask this because the Modern Age has been going on for 30+ years. Should we start a new age of comics with a new age? Or rename the comic age from the late 80s to like the 2010s? Just a thought because havign 80s comics called modern age seems goofy. I dont know what you would call current issues. But with the start of 2020 come and gone i thought that would have been a good time for a new age.[/QUOTE]
The Post-Modern Age?
Are we in the Digital Age of Comics?
The advent of the internet has changed the ways comics are created, bought, sold, discussed.
I think the ages stopped after the Bronze Age. After 1985, decades are far more relevant than trying to create clever names to group eras into.
Also, you never create a name for an era in the time that it's happening. That stuff is left to people looking backwards.
Says who???
Age of Corona?
Post Apocalyptic Corona?
Post Corona Era?
[QUOTE=C_Miller;4992568]I think the ages stopped after the Bronze Age. After 1985, decades are far more relevant than trying to create clever names to group eras into.
Also, [b][u]you never create a name for an era in the time that it's happening. That stuff is left to people looking backwards[/u][/b].[/QUOTE]
Yeah, think C_Miller is talkin' The Tea here.
[QUOTE=Riv86672;4992558]Are we in the Digital Age of Comics?
The advent of the internet has changed the ways comics are created, bought, sold, discussed.[/QUOTE]
I really like Digital Age.
golden age
1938 to 1955
Silver age
1956 1970
Bronze age
1970-1985
The Grim and Gritty era
1985-1994
The Reconstruction age
1995-2010
The mass media age
2010-2019
Golden Age
the creation of Superman and the solidification of superhero archetypes. includes the WW2 era and declines with the publishing of Seduction of the Innocent.
Silver Age
The rebirth of the superhero genre. Starts with the recreation of the Flash includes the creation of Marvel and ends when Kirby leaves Marvel.
Bronze Age
Characterized by the maturing of comics as a whole, and the growth of other genres outside of superheroes. Also characterized by the diversification of kinds of superheroes being created. Starts with the creation of more socially relevant comics Like Green Arrow/Green Lantern and the Spiderman drug issue and ends with Crisis on infinite Earths.
The Grim and gritty age.
Characterized by superheroes taking a darker more serious tone, and the deconstruction of many of the genre conventions. begins with Watchman and Dark Knight Returns ends with ends with the mid 90's decline of Marvel and the aftermath of the Death of Superman gimmick. Includes the rise of Image and other indie publishers.
The Reconstruction age
Characterized by the return of silver and bronze age sensibilities to mainstream comics. It starts with the publication of Alex Ross classics like Marvels and Kingdom Come. Includes things like Geoff John's JSA run, and Green Lantern Rebirth. ends somewhere between 2008 and 2010. It also sees the rise of manga as a major alternative to American comics. Hollywood starts to make superhero movies that are actually liked by fans and non-fans alike.
The mass Media age
Superheroes become the dominant driver of pop culture. This pretty much co insides with Marvel's dominance in Hollywood. I think it might just have ended with Endgame, but we are to close to the event to know for sure.
[QUOTE=babyblob;4992524]I ask this because the Modern Age has been going on for 30+ years. Should we start a new age of comics with a new age? Or rename the comic age from the late 80s to like the 2010s? Just a thought because havign 80s comics called modern age seems goofy. I dont know what you would call current issues. But with the start of 2020 come and gone i thought that would have been a good time for a new age.[/QUOTE]
Well DC has sayd officially that from 198-2011 it's the Crisis age and from 2011-on it's the Flashpoint age.
For a new age to exist amoung all companies, there should be some important change or event in publications, which hasn't been the cas since a long long time.
[QUOTE=mathew101281;4992636]golden age
1938 to 1955
Silver age
1956 1970
Bronze age
1970-1985
The Grim and Gritty era
1985-1994
The Reconstruction age
1995-2010
The mass media age
2010-2019
[/QUOTE]
There are more ages than that if you want to be complete !
1500-1650 - Pioneer age
1650-1800 - Victorian age
1800-1938 - Platinum age
1938-1950 - Golden age
1950-1970 - Silver age
1970-1986 - Bronze age (aka Silver age 2)
1986-1992 - Iron age (aka Copper age, aka Dark age)
1992-1998 - Baroque age (aka Image age)
1998-2004 - Dynamique age (aka Millenium age)
2000-Now - New age (aka Diamond age)
Thing about categorizing these eras of comics is that fans will get dialed in on the trends that they can see, like tone or maturity of content across multiple titles. Sometimes, the change comes in places that aren't as easy to see, or at least, not as easy to connect to the published content.
Example: there was an extensive discussion on another thread about when exactly the Bronze Age began. It wasn't like the Golden/Silver Age boundary, where you had very clear changes in what was getting published. Opinions ranged from the late 1960s through the early 1970s. The answer I found that I preferred revolved around DC making major changes to its creative and editorial staff about 1968; that impacted not only what got written at DC, and how, but it changed the talent available to Marvel at the time. Symptoms of that included a move away from unquestioning US Nationalistic forms of patriotism, and early experiments with diversity and broadening the range of the superhero genre.
A likely point to look for an age change might be 2011; Marvel's Cinematic Universe had not only proven that there were more than 3 comics characters in existence that could found and maintain a franchise, but that entire cinematic comic Pan-Franchise offerings (Panchises?) were possible, and incredibly lucrative. That was also the year that Disney, who had purchased Marvel in 2009, took control of Marvel Studios' marketing. That changed the importance WB attached to DC's IP, and the way that players like Sony began looking at superhero IP they held. All of that was bound to have impact on the comics. A lot of that, we couldn't see; oh, these forums were alive with discussion of what that kind of change Disney's moves might represent, but we couldn't be sure at the time.
Contrast that with something else that might look like an inflection point to fans: Dan Didio's removal as DC's publisher. That is certainly having an influence on what DC publishes, but is it enough to move the whole industry? Doesn't seem likely, but it's too early to say.
I think a key part here is to look not at creative stuff, but the publishing side as well. The rise of the direct market should definitely be part of discussing these ages, and so should the process we're going through right now, as the direct market loses its dominance.
How about 1985-1997, Dark Age, 1997-2019, Diamond Age (after Diamond Comic Distributors) and 2020 onwards, Digital Age?
To clarify, the late 80s is often called the Dark Age, because comics got darker and edgier at this time. It's also when comics started vanishing from newsstands in the US. 1997 I picked as the end point as that's when Heroes Reborn happened, and around when Marvel nearly went bust. This led to the Diamond distribution monopoly, triggering a new era. The Coronavirus crisis has seen a lot of books go digital exclusive and Diamond's monopoly ended, so that's another new era.
I would say that the mid 80s to the 90s are probably the dark age. One guy wrote a book about it.
[url]http://markvoger.com/the-dark-age-grim-great-gimmicky-post-modern-comics-2006-twomorrows-publishing/[/url]
The phrase dark age can have dual meanings. Superhero comics started out often darker than what fans had been used to, so it fit in that way. In the space of little over an year in the Spider-Man comics, a long-standing character was killed in Berlin when his neck was slit, Spider-Man was tricked into killing an ex-girlfriend of Wolverine’s in a suicide by a cop style arrangement, he was buried alive by a villain who would go on to commit suicide, he found himself institutionalized, he learned that he had crippled a former enemy, and encountered a bigger nastier doppelganger. The reputation of comics at the time, as Marvel tried to ape the surface elements of successful books by artists turned writers gets to the other definition of dark age, “a period of intellectual darkness and barbarity.”
The 21st century kicked off the cinematic age, with more writing for the trade, an abandonment of narrative exposition, an emphasis on writers, and an increase in quality of printing, especially color, which has allowed for more precise art.
It will take some time to recognize a new era. The monicker the Silver Age was coined in a fan letter in 1966. We may very well be in a new age, exemplified by digital comics, an emphasis on diversity, and growing nicheification.
1990s = Age of Excess
Personally I'd simplify things more into how comics were distributed.
First Age - Distribution was supermarkets, dime stores, drug stores, you name it.
Second Age - Direct market.
Third Age - Graphic Novel market. All or most comics are being written to be sold as GNs
Fourth Age - Digital being embraced rather than floppies. We have a ways to go, I think, before we get there
I want to call what DC is only just starting to move away from - the removal of as many legacy characters as possible and the return of the Silver Age versions to prominence - the Mercury Age. It looks like silver at a glance, but it's really, really toxic.
Many submissions I see here are about "what I read" with no thought about "why it happened."
[QUOTE=DrNewGod;4993860]Many submissions I see here are about "what I read" with no thought about "why it happened."[/QUOTE]
!? No.
The Plantinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze/modern ages are all ages based on the real why reason !
Pre-wartime, wartime, comics code time, lighter comics code, no more comics code !
Then the modern age had no real very distinguishable reasons why it evolved like it did.
So the reasons are eras are more defiened on the "what I read".
[QUOTE=jb681131;4994129]The Plantinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze/modern ages are all ages based on the real why reason !
Pre-wartime, wartime, comics code time, lighter comics code, no more comics code !
Then the modern age had no real very distinguishable reasons why it evolved like it did.
So the reasons are eras are more defiened on the "what I read".[/QUOTE]
You forget distribution. Seen in that light, the Platinum age was the age of comics being syndicated in newspaper distribution, and the Golden Age was the rise of the floppies. The rise of the direct market and the collapse of the newsstand distribution ought to fit into one age as well, as does the rise of the digital market and the trade market.
[QUOTE=kjn;4994159]You forget distribution. Seen in that light, the Platinum age was the age of comics being syndicated in newspaper distribution, and the Golden Age was the rise of the floppies. The rise of the direct market and the collapse of the newsstand distribution ought to fit into one age as well, as does the rise of the digital market and the trade market.[/QUOTE]
Maybe, but that not why those ages appeared.
Now we can see that comics are a lot digital, but it doesn't make a new age in style/content.
[QUOTE=jb681131;4994194]Maybe, but that not why those ages appeared.
Now we can see that comics are a lot digital, but it doesn't make a new age in style/content.[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily, but they are a huge outside factor that govern what type of readers you get, what type of visibility you have from "mainstream" society, and what storytelling formats to use. A shift in distribution is likely to mean that publishers are in great need of new creators who can understand and work with the constraints of the new distribution format as well, as not all of the established creators will be able to make the leap.
1990s - mid-2000s: age of speculators
since then: age of burst bubbles
The transition from one age to another isn't visible until years or decades after it happens. If you'd asked me in 1978, I would have said that we were still in the Silver Age. Nobody used the term Bronze Age until much later.
2010 - present
The movie age
[QUOTE=C_Miller;4992568]I think the ages stopped after the Bronze Age. After 1985, decades are far more relevant than trying to create clever names to group eras into.
Also, you never create a name for an era in the time that it's happening. That stuff is left to people looking backwards.[/QUOTE]
Dark, Iron, and Modern have been used quite a bit.
I think from 1999, onward, there should be a big reference to the Hollywood-ization of comics, but I don't know what.
[QUOTE=Rob Allen;4994595]The transition from one age to another isn't visible until years or decades after it happens. If you'd asked me in 1978, I would have said that we were still in the Silver Age. Nobody used the term Bronze Age until much later.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. For instance, "Golden Age" wasn't used until 1960, and it took several more years before we figured out what to call the Silver Age.
[QUOTE=MyriVerse;4995943]...I think from 1999, onward, there should be a big reference to the Hollywood-ization of comics, but I don't know what...[/QUOTE]
I see that in two stages. The first being in (as you say) 1999, when both [I]X-Men[/I] and [I]Spider-Man[/I] were in development or post-production. The second I think comes in 2011, when Disney took over Marvel's marketing.
[QUOTE=DrNewGod;4996811]I see that in two stages. The first being in (as you say) 1999, when both [I]X-Men[/I] and [I]Spider-Man[/I] were in development or post-production. The second I think comes in 2011, when Disney took over Marvel's marketing.[/QUOTE]
I was thinking mainly about how comics were done in a more cinematic style (maybe starting with Ellis, but I'm not sure who should be credit for starting it), not necessarily superhero movies.
[QUOTE=MyriVerse;4997057]I was thinking mainly about how comics were done in a more cinematic style (maybe starting with Ellis, but I'm not sure who should be credit for starting it), not necessarily superhero movies.[/QUOTE]
Ah. I noticed that. I'm not sure when it started, somewhere in the late 1990s? Early 2000?
It was one of the things that turned me off. I had to wonder if some artists were auditioning for storyboard work.
[QUOTE=DrNewGod;4998682]Ah. I noticed that. I'm not sure when it started, somewhere in the late 1990s? Early 2000?
It was one of the things that turned me off. I had to wonder if some artists were auditioning for storyboard work.[/QUOTE]
Oh, it's obvious that some people are hoping to movie deals from their comics.
[QUOTE=C_Miller;4992568]I think the ages stopped after the Bronze Age. After 1985, decades are far more relevant than trying to create clever names to group eras into.
Also, you never create a name for an era in the time that it's happening. That stuff is left to people looking backward.[/QUOTE]
No way. There is a big difference between 80's and 90's comics and today's comics. I'd argue there is a bigger difference between today and twenty years ago then their is between the gold and silver ages.
[QUOTE=mathew101281;4998830]No way. There is a big difference between 80's and 90's comics and today's comics. I'd argue there is a bigger difference between today and twenty years ago then their is between the gold and silver ages.[/QUOTE]
In isolation, post-Crisis, you can track DC by reboot, even when it's soft. The industry as a whole is a bit messier.
[QUOTE=mathew101281;4998830]No way. There is a big difference between 80's and 90's comics and today's comics. I'd argue there is a bigger difference between today and twenty years ago then their is between the gold and silver ages.[/QUOTE]
"Decades are far more relevant than trying to create clever names to group eras into."
[QUOTE=DrNewGod;4993860]Many submissions I see here are about "what I read" with no thought about "why it happened."[/QUOTE]These are posts on a message board, so people aren't going to go into that much depth.
Typically, the changes do have some kind of basis.
The Silver Age was largely an effort to tell inventive stories for all ages after Seduction of the Innocent.
There are some developments that have affected recent comics, including better printing quality (which allows for greater artistic detail), methods of allowing readers to catch up on earlier issues which allows for more complex stories, greater coloring, etc.
[QUOTE=MyriVerse;4997057]I was thinking mainly about how comics were done in a more cinematic style (maybe starting with Ellis, but I'm not sure who should be credit for starting it), not necessarily superhero movies.[/QUOTE]Peter David described that change in his book "Writing For Comics."
It was a rather significant development, and I would agree that it kicked off a distinct age.
It probably started roughly when Quesada became Editor in Chief of Marvel, when he had a line of cinematic comics, and there was the assumption that all stories would be collected in TPB format.
[QUOTE=Mister Mets;4999295]These are posts on a message board, so people aren't going to go into that much depth.
Typically, the changes do have some kind of basis.
The Silver Age was largely an effort to tell inventive stories for all ages after Seduction of the Innocent.
There are some developments that have affected recent comics, including better printing quality (which allows for greater artistic detail), methods of allowing readers to catch up on earlier issues which allows for more complex stories, greater coloring, etc.
Peter David described that change in his book "Writing For Comics."
It was a rather significant development, and I would agree that it kicked off a distinct age.
It probably started roughly when Quesada became Editor in Chief of Marvel, when he had a line of cinematic comics, and there was the assumption that all stories would be collected in TPB format.[/QUOTE]
I would argue it started when manga started to influence western comics (which was the mid/late 90's).
[QUOTE=seismic-2;4993740]1990s = Age of Excess[/QUOTE]
Ah, yes. Most commonly referred to as the [B][I]"Brown Era"[/I][/B] of comics. A shameful moment in time for the industry.