Your favorite era of DC and WHY

[Elmo]

the DCU is unique compared to most other comic book universes as there are so many eras and time periods with distinct differences between them. A lot of the characterizations of certain heroes and villains can be completely different in one era to the characterizations of those same characters in another era. You could also note the different art styles, or the way certain characters were drawn. Some have argued that the art simply got better over the years as people started paying more attention to comic books since they were getting popular. The DC heroes stopped looking like pulp characters from a comic strip and more like icons you could find in a museum. However, I appreciate all the different styles.

The question is what is your favorite DC era, and why? Was it the art style? The creative/editing teams they had at the time? The lineups of certain teams or books?

NOTE: This is NOT an excuse to bash a certain era. i.e., "I love the pre-Flashpoint era because the New 52 SUCKS!" This is just about appreciating what you like and what other people like, not to hate on stuff for the hell of it.


To answer the question, my favorite era in the DCU is the Pre-Crisis era, notably the Silver Age, from the 60s all the way to the mid 80s. Reading all the different stories, such as back issues of Showcase or Brave and the Bold, you can really feel that a universe is being built. Characters that you were introduced to in Showcase may suddenly pop up in Justice League or in a guest appearance in another book. And not only that, but all the heroes (and villains!) are friends. They're FRIENDS! Of course there are minor schisms and skirmishes between heroes but at the end of the day they're buds and there's a real sense of camaraderie and teamwork that doesn't feel as palpable nowadays. It feels FUN, and I'm not saying comics need to be fun, because I love and appreciate dark/mature/philosophical stories, but I'm a sucker for adventure and people working together and loving each other.

[Mike]

Most definitely pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths:
DC-Style-Guide-1.jpg

[Lee Stone]

My favorite period actually encompasses the last few years of the Pre-Crisis era up until just before Zero Hour. I'd say from about 1980 up to 1992.

From about the time of New Teen Titans #1 up through Firestorm's relaunch, Blue Devil, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, the Levitz Legion, Batman and the Outsiders, the Direct Market Baxter launches of Legion, New Teen Titans, Outsiders and Infinity, Inc., Who's Who, Secret Origins, Justice League Detroit (which started good, at least), Justice League International, Legends, Invasion!, Justice League Europe, Perez's Wonder Woman, Byrne's Superman, Baron's Flash, the pre-Larsen Doom Patrol, the Super Powers Action Figures, the Galactic Guardians season of Superfriends with Firestorm and Cyborg, the Mayfair DC Heroes RPG, single-issue stories, subplots with supporting casts...

It was a time when comics were made more for fun entertainment, with just a handful of them really trying to be taken 'seriously'.

[NeathBlue]

Definitely pre COIE’s, and especially from 1976-1980.

[SiegePerilous02]

Pre-COIE. Silver Age to the end of the Bronze Age. What the earlier Silver Age stories lacked in character nuance they more then made up for in the sheer imagination on display. Much like with Marvel, the foundation of the mythology for the DC universe was built in this era. As the Bronze Age came about, the lore established by the Silver Age was still in place, but the stories started to become more complex. Some great runs and limited series came out in this era. Englehart and Rogers on Batman, Wolfman and Perez on NTT, Levitz on Legion of Superheroes, Moore on Swamp Thing along with his Superman and GL stories, Gerber's Phantom Zone mini and Camelot 3000, among others.

My favorite lineups for the JL and Titans were in this era. Unfortunately, considering the time period they were invented, there was little to no diversity. So that is the one major advantage later eras have over this one. Still this was the period that I think DC's canon ever came the closest to making sense, and I would have liked to have seen what it evolved into if it hadn't been rebooted away.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I started reading comics in the mid-1970s, so it would be that era all the way through the early 1990s. I appreciated the way DC Comics grew up with me, and I do feel the post-Crisis DC was particularly strong with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman firing on all cylinders with other great titles like Ostrander's Suicide Squad and Justice League International (more for Maguire's art than for the comedy in my case).

I can't commit fully to either pre or post Crisis as the better era because there were missteps in each. Pre-Crisis, Superman and Wonder Woman were in dire straits. Julie Schwartz ran out of steam on Superman by the late 1970s, and things became really juvenile. Superman was an example of a character who did NOT grow up with me and actually began to regress into childish stupidity. The early 80s Superman and Action Comics were particularly bad. The John Byrne reboot really saved things, and when Mike Carlin and his team took over and began the weekly thing, Superman had never been better in my lifetime.

Batman had been good pre and post Crisis. I liked Dick Giordano's stint as Bat-Editor in the early 80s where he made Batman and Detective into a continuing biweekly -- years before the Super titles were connected that way.

Wonder Woman by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, and Don Heck -- no, just no. Again, the post-Crisis take with George Perez gave me the best Wonder Woman in my lifetime.

However, post-Crisis Aquaman, Hawkman, and Legion all suffered due to the excessive retconning. Put Donna Troy in there as well.

Pre-Crisis Legion and New Teen Titans were better than post.

Comics are always a mixed bag in terms of quality, so both pre and post Crisis eras had their successes and their failures, but overall, I'd say that the 1980s from start to finish was DC's best decade in terms of interesting stories, a commitment to experimentation and letting characters grow, and an influx of talent from Marvel and England/UK that took DC to mostly better directions.

[Thor2014]

I grew up in the 80s. I mainly followed the DC characters through movies and television so the BA versions of the characters seemed definitive to me. I picked up a WW comic in the early 90s and it was the issue that had a mugshot of Diana on the cover. Some Amazons were slaughtered and I was like this is darker than I expected. I've obviously grew up and became desensitized to that type of content but at the time it was a wake-up call. That was not 'My Wonder Woman,' I took the plunge with DC's comics and loved it. It was also a shock when I learned that Lois knew Clark's identity (via L&C) but i'm glad that DC is willing to progress their characters like that. After all, it only makes sense if Lois is supposed to be a top reporter.

[Assam]

The Jenette Kahn era (1989-2002) No, things weren't perfect, BS things still happened and there were still some bad books, but for my money, DC has never had as high a percentage of fantastic books, produced more amazing characters, and made as good usage of their characters than they did during this era. And of course there was the great feeling of the progression of the universe during this time.

I've said this several times before, but I believe DC as a whole has been mostly crap since shortly after this era ended.

[Lucky]

My love of DC is mainly due to four things: Superboy (Conner Kent), Young Justice/Teen Titans era teens, Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), and Green Lantern (Kyle and Hal). I started buying DC during Reign of the Supermen and followed Superboy into his own series. Superboy was the only comic I bought for a while. Then I expanded to Young Justice and grew to love those characters and followed them to Teen Titans. I next started Green Lantern while in the later years of Kyle's tenure as the star of the book. Supergirl became the fourth after her debut in Superman/Batman. I tried other DC books from time to time, but those were the four that I consistently bought.

I guess my favorite era was from 2003-2011. While I loved Young Justice, I got into it kind of late, so I think 2003 (with the debut of the Teen Titans) is the best place to start, since that was when I started immersing myself more into the DCU. Since Flashpoint wiped out my favorite character, Superboy, and reset the histories of the Teen Titans and Supergirl, my era ends at 2011.

[Jekyll]

My favorite era is incredibly biased to when I grew up, so 1987-2000ish. My favorite title was of course The Flash and during that time you had Mark Waids run with the Flash family. I also loved Jurgens on Superman during that time.

Fast forward to today and the majority of back issues I read and purchase are also from that time as well.
The Power of The Atom
Robinson’s Starman
The Power Of Shazam
Impulse
Jurgens Teen Titans
Johns first JSA run started towards the end as well.

[Sutekh]

Same as many others here.

I loved the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans relaunch, and where the Legion of Super-Heroes was at that time. Suicide Squad and the Outsiders were still pretty fresh. Infinity Inc. was looking at the legacies of the All-Star Squadron / Justice Society. Generally speaking heroes weren't as regularly being 'deconstructed' or going dark or going insane or turning to villainy (and fewer villains were on hero teams, for that matter). It was a good time.

I enjoy some specific things that came later, like PAD's Young Justice or Birds of Prey, but a fair amount of what came after the Crisis was not as dear to me.

[Talon1load]

Post Crisis for sure. I love that era. Justice League International, Justice League Europe, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Superman, Wally West Flash, the Suicide Squad, so many great titles. It was fun and there were well written stories, also, not everything had to be world changing. You could have stand alone stories and everything wasn’t written for a trade.

[Jim Kelly]

While there might be one or two comics that I missed the first time around in the '90s and '00s, I feel like I've read all I need to from those decades and I don't need to go back there again. Whereas, I sense that I missed a lot from the previous decades and if I had a time machine and some cash, I'd buy up all the fresh DC titles from the spinner racks or newsstands in earlier eras.

There's so many western, humour, romance, science fiction, war, mystery and even super-hero comics that have been forgotten by time and I'd want to get all those comics spanking new. When I think back to those early times, I see a wide open field, with a big sky and a brilliant sun. But when I think about the recent times, I see a crowded room, darkly lit and claustrophobic. So I'd want to visit those wide open spaces, far from the madding crowd.

[Sacred Knight]

Being primarily a Superman fan my opinions are based first and foremost on him. So, circa 1992-1999, which for Superman constituted a lot of the original triangle era was my favorite. Granted throughout the years I grew to have a distinct dislike for some of Superman's defining features, but at the time I loved it at all, and it was what I grew up with. There's a magic to comics as a kid that just cannot be captured as an adult, in my opinion. In that vein I'm positive that had I grown up in any other era, it would have been that era that would have been my favorite.

Second favorite would be the New 52. That time on the other hand was the most I have enjoyed Superman since becoming an adult.

[Soubhagya]

DC Rebirth.



That's the only era i have read.

(If you consider a year and a half to be an era).

I love the titles that i am following. There are problems. For instance i am noticing that suddenly there are a lot of evil versions either future selves or evil family members running around. (Its good story but when it happens everywhere it becomes noticeable). Some of the team books i am currently following are trying my patience. Just because i love these characters i am following them. But overall its really well done.

Mister Miracle is existing alongside the Metal Event. Seriously events shall be like this. Its serious but its fun. And it does not intrude a lot on the books i am reading. I can easily enjoy the event without getting everything.

There are a lot of good books i haven't even tried yet. There's a limit to how much one can read at a time. (Maybe i will leave those team books i am not enjoying like others and start them soon).

They are taking risks and telling stories which might have been impossible in a previous age. Superman has a son. I did not see that coming. And also that i could even love him as a father. I was burned by Superman Returns and honestly hated the idea of a son of Superman. They changed that completely. Batman is perhaps going to marry. How did this even happen? Will Selina give up her ways and try to fit in with the high society? These are unknown and unexplored territories in regular books. These are risky. Removing a marriage is not so easy. And i love that they are taking them. And i am not even getting into things to come. Some Dark Matter titles sound really promising. There are so many choices. I have heard some good stuff in Young Animal and Hanna Barbara books.

The concept of legacy matters to me. When i go back and read those older books i shall see the connection or the threads to the present books. It makes a more satisfying experience if they are connected even if loosely. And another thing is relationships. When Superman called Batman his brother in Metal it filled my heart with so much joy. DC is full of people who have friendships, relationships even enemities which run from a long time. That's really beautiful. Superman visited his cousin in one wonderful issue while Damian and Jon are becoming best friends. Titans feels like another family while Teen Titans is slowly becoming one. Instead of going away from past they are building upon what has come before while forging a brave and bold future.

I am very satisfied by DC Rebirth. Hope they improve the weak spots and keep the good ones good. And do events like that. Serious, fun, non-intrusive and the characters actually feel like they are the same guys and not like some dopplegangers who took their place. Sadly, i do not have that wonderful experience of growing up with comics that other fans have here. But better be late then never.