What was DC’s best decade?

[mathew101281]

What was DC’s best decade of publishing. I’d argue that the 50’s were their most iconic. But I’d also argue that the 80’s were their most important.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I’d argue that the 50’s were their most iconic . . .

1950s were a really mixed bag. You had the last gasp of the Golden Age at the beginning, then later on in the decade you slowly had the dawn of the Silver Age.

But in between, there were also the few superhero titles that at times were doing their best not to be "superhero" titles. Things like Batman with all the weird space / inter-dimensional stories, etc.

[The Darknight Detective]

The decade(s) where DC was #1 would have to be the best, so basically almost none of us remember it (I was a toddler at the tail end of DC's glory days).

[MajorHoy]

The decade(s) where DC was #1 would have to be the best . . .

Not always.

Being #1 would be the most popular, but popularity doesn't necessarily have anything to do with quality.

[Jekyll]

1. 90s: most of my favorite characters, teams, and stories debuted during this decade.
2. 80s: mainly for the Ray Palmer stories we got during this time.

[Nomads1]

What was DC’s best decade of publishing. I’d argue that the 50’s were their most iconic. But I’d also argue that the 80’s were their most important.

I'm gonna go with the 80's. DC really was a trailblazer during that decade. So many iconic projects como to mind. Camelot 3000, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchman, All-Star Squadron, The Judas Contract and the rest of Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans, The Great Darkness Saga, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Byrne's Superman, Batman Year One, Perez's Wonder Woman, Giffen and DeMatties JL/JLI, Ostrander's Suicide Squad, and so on and on... It was, no doubt, a remarkable decade for DC and Comics in general.

Peace

[atomicskull]

The 90s, the 2000s and the 2010s to be honest. I find a lot of really really old DC comics to be boring, honestly speaking. The only books from the 80s i really liked was Ostrander's Suicide Squad, Green Arrow, Vigilante Blue Devil and Watchmen.


Edit: I even liked the Detroit era and proudly owns the omnibus.

[The Darknight Detective]

Not always.

Being #1 would be the most popular, but popularity doesn't necessarily have anything to do with quality.

But it's impossible to compare decades based on quality when there were different rules, audiences, and economic factors involved. It's like comparing Super Friends with Justice League Unlimited when the latter could never have been created during the '70s and '80s (while the former had the bigger audience).

[Alpha]

This is a dumb question. What purpose does this have? It's all about personal preference. In terms of sales, DC probably sold a lot more comics between the 40s and the 60s than at any time since. The prices were much lower though so profit might not be comparable. As far as everything else, it's really just preference.

[Jim Kelly]

I like the 1950s, because the demise of super-heroes gave other genres a chance to shine. I think the real glory days of National Comics/D.C. were when they were a big tent and put out comics for every taste. So the 1950s represent that iconic period. However, I'd probably pick either the 1940s or the 1960s, because those were the decades when the most new ideas were created. In terms of super-heroes, the concepts that the comics keep harvesting were germinated in those decades (with maybe a bit of overlap in the early 1970s).

[atomicskull]

This is a dumb question. What purpose does this have? It's all about personal preference. In terms of sales, DC probably sold a lot more comics between the 40s and the 60s than at any time since. The prices were much lower though. As far as everything else, it's really just preference.

Which is why i think it's a valid question. I don't think there's any right or wrong answers.

[Alpha]

I like the 1950s, because the demise of super-heroes gave other genres a chance to shine. I think the real glory days of National Comics/D.C. were when they were a big tent and put out comics for every taste. So the 1950s represent that iconic period. However, I'd probably pick either the 1940s or the 1960s, because those were the decades when the most new ideas were created. In terms of super-heroes, the concepts that the comics keep harvesting were germinated in those decades (with maybe a bit of overlap in the early 1970s).

I mean, the 50s were famously the era of the Comics Code.

[Alpha]

Which is why i think it's a valid question. I don't think there's any right or wrong answers.

It's like asking what's the best movie of all time. At least phrase the question apropriately. "What's your favourite decade of DC comics".

[Jim Kelly]

I mean, the 50s were famously the era of the Comics Code.

Since the Code came in the middle of the decade it splits the 1950s down the middle. But in terms of D.C, it didn't matter that much because they already had their own in-house Code, which they had for years. The big publishers got to decide what was in the Code and they made sure it favoured the kinds of comics they were already publishing. In terms of E.C. the Code was written to make it impossible for them to keep going. Yet the early 1950s are known for some of the greatest comics ever published from E.C.--none of those being super-hero comics. They did keep publishing MAD which was one of the biggest hits of the 1950s (didn't need Code approval because it was a black & white magazine).

[Nomads1]

Edit: I even liked the Detroit era and proudly owns the omnibus.

Ah, so you're the OTHER ONE who bought this?

Peace