Earth 1985 - what would you like to see?

[docmidnite]

Comics were a reflection of our social norms at the time.
And as perceptions changed in the real world, they also changed in the comics.

1976:





1977:



The Bronze Age was when comics started becoming more diverse and open.

Exactly! Excellent post.

[superduperman]

Comics were a reflection of our social norms at the time.
And as perceptions changed in the real world, they also changed in the comics.

1976:





1977:



The Bronze Age was when comics started becoming more diverse and open.

All the focus on the negativity overlooks the fact that this entire era was a period of change. At the same time that Super Teacher was facilitating a date rape, PG was pushing for women's rights. Periods of change are problematic regardless of how you do them because there will always be people working on the comics who still haven't caught up with the times. That's just how it is. There's also the fact that, to be quite blunt, writing comics in the 50s and 60s was hard regardless because the comics code stifled so much. So Superman playing tricks on his friends is probably the only thing they could do without worrying about some church lady running the code wetting her diapers. I'm surprised Marvel got away with as much as they did in the early days. Apparently Deadman's origin managed to sneak a drug reference in and nobody noticed it. Five years before Spider-Man had to run an anti-drug issue without the code approval. I think the Marvel approach is probably best. Just don't acknowledge it. Go back and look at the way Sue Storm was portrayed early on. She was literally useless. There's no way Marvel is going to remind people of that.

[docmidnite]

All the focus on the negativity overlooks the fact that this entire era was a period of change. At the same time that Super Teacher was facilitating a date rape, PG was pushing for women's rights. Periods of change are problematic regardless of how you do them because there will always be people working on the comics who still haven't caught up with the times. That's just how it is. There's also the fact that, to be quite blunt, writing comics in the 50s and 60s was hard regardless because the comics code stifled so much. So Superman playing tricks on his friends is probably the only thing they could do without worrying about some church lady running the code wetting her diapers. I'm surprised Marvel got away with as much as they did in the early days. Apparently Deadman's origin managed to sneak a drug reference in and nobody noticed it. Five years before Spider-Man had to run an anti-drug issue without the code approval. I think the Marvel approach is probably best. Just don't acknowledge it. Go back and look at the way Sue Storm was portrayed early on. She was literally useless. There's no way Marvel is going to remind people of that.

Speedy/Roy became a heroin addict in 1970-71. DC was not afraid to tackle these issues back then. I recommend that you read the Hard Travelling Heroes featuring the revamped versions of Hal Jordan and Olivier Queen. It deals with everything from racism to the Vietnam War to drug addiction to crooked politicians and more.

[Zaku]

That actually could be a cool thread in the Supermen forums

Thank you! How can we do it? A cut & paste of the more relevant post? A simple link to this discussion? I'm open to any suggestion

(by the way, as a newbie I can insert only three images per post, so this could be a problem...)

[superduperman]

Speedy/Roy became a heroin addict in 1970-71. DC was not afraid to tackle these issues back then. I recommend that you read the Hard Travelling Heroes featuring the revamped versions of Hal Jordan and Olivier Queen. It deals with everything from racism to the Vietnam War to drug addiction to crooked politicians and more.

IIRC, that was AFTER the Spider-Man story.

[Mr.B]

[docmidnite]

IIRC, that was AFTER the Spider-Man story.

I’m not sure. All that I know is Hard Travelling Heroes was critically acclaimed by the press for dealing with heavy real life social issues

[wickedmountain]

“Or just don't bring it up” strikes me as the right approach.

Exactly Problem solved

[Sacred Knight]

Everything with a pure late Bronze Age vibe, with 80s aesthetics but not really making the date an issue, and just telling wild, stand-alone tales without worrying a bit about any sort of continuity.

[wickedmountain]

Geez I loved the Bronze Age Superman comics! Reading this thread, I feel like I was a former Nazi or something.

They were different times then , They pushed the envelope and the world was different then, whether we think it was right or wrong . In the end they are just comic books for us to escape too and read, and were still marketed to kids and adults just like now but in a different time.

[wickedmountain]

It's quite interesting. It is very difficult to find (sometimes some copy pops up on Ebay) but there are scans of it on the web.



I think you may have something there... Go on!

By the way, it isn't like the BA Superman cast was so much better.

Here, two intelligent, successful, adult women cat-fighting for a man.


Anyone who wrote this should be asham...



Err, never mind.

Early Jerry Springer episode lol

[Factor]

Thinking about it again I'd just rename it Earth-1 and have it be the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 if none of Crisis happened.
I don't think the GN line is being used to its full potential and they could always adopt a new name (ala All-Star).
Stories would have an updated Silver Age feel, with more racial diversity.

The Satellite League would be back, but joined by Vixen and maybe some of the Super Friends like the Wonder Twins.
LOSH would be the Levitz version, prior to 5YL.
More Earth-2 team-ups.
Black Lightning having a bigger role.
A Batman Family book.

This would all be published under a Tales of the Multiverse banner, same as stories about the original Earth-2, Earth-52 and so on.

[OBrianTallent]

Thinking about it again I'd just rename it Earth-1 and have it be the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 if none of Crisis happened.
I don't think the GN line is being used to its full potential and they could always adopt a new name (ala All-Star).
Stories would have an updated Silver Age feel, with more racial diversity.

The Satellite League would be back, but joined by Vixen and maybe some of the Super Friends like the Wonder Twins.
LOSH would be the Levitz version, prior to 5YL.
More Earth-2 team-ups.
Black Lightning having a bigger role.
A Batman Family book.

This would all be published under a Tales of the Multiverse banner, same as stories about the original Earth-2, Earth-52 and so on.

This is an anthology book I would love to see...similar to the Wal-Mart books.

[Crisis]

Where did Birthright come in? (And frankly, Birthright is exactly the sort of thing that the Metaverse preserves: each time Superman's origin is updated, you get a new Earth featuring The old origin. If that's not Birthright, I don't know what is.)

Frankly, your arguments are sounding an awful lot like “preserve the things that I like, and ditch the rest”. That runs counter to the spirit of Johns' Metaverse.

Superman 200

[Factor]

Another cool concept DC is completely ignoring...