Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 52
  1. #31
    Extraordinary Member superduperman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Metropolis USA
    Posts
    7,210

    Default

    A toss up between the 60s or the 80s. Both eras had a lot of creative ideas. The SA saw a lot of reboots of old GA characters along with a lot of new ideas like Metamorpho, Doom Patrol, Deadman, Teen Titans, and the original Suicide Squad and Challengers of the Unknown. Characters like Superman and Batman had their histories streamlined while characters like Flash and Green Lantern got new leases on life. The Justice League even lead to the creation of Marvel. Hawkman, the Atom, Earth 2; the list goes on and on. While the 80s saw the books take a more realistic, and in some cases, a more darker turn. DC experimented with an adult line. Superman got a more down to Earth reboot. For better or worse. Batman became even more grounded. Books like Watchmen and V for Vendetta experimented with the genre. Hellblazer and Sandman explored more magical themes and targeted an audience that doesn't necessarily read superhero comics.
    Assassinate Putin!

  2. #32
    My Face Is Up Here Powerboy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    7,725

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mathew101281 View Post
    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.
    Obviously, a question like this is problematic. The people answering it are all people still on a comic book forum in 2021 so it's going to be largely a current perspective of "best".

    I think there are many contenders.

    The 1930s, as far as American superhero comics go, is a contender just by starting it all, especially if we count the '30s and '40s together since we would generally say the genre began in 1938.

    The 1950s developed most of the things we think of today and was maybe when comics were at their height.

    My decade of childhood reading was the '60s, mostly the late '60s, but I can't think of anything too outstanding that was not a product of the '50s.

    The '70s were fantastic. We got the beginnings of Batman as the Dark Knight without pushing it totally over the top. There was the GL/ GA trip across America.

    The '80s had some great and some horrible stuff, some of it the same thing, having it's good and it's bad.

    The '90s seemed a mixed bag and I pretty much have to drop out of the conversation beyond that since mostly "Elseworlds" stuff is my knowledge beyond that. Although I guess almost anything can end up being Elseworlds in the last twenty years which is itself a problem.

    I would say the '50s was indeed the most iconic in terms of introducing most of the innovations.
    Power with Girl is better.

  3. #33

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Alpha View Post
    Kyle Rayner, Wonder Woman by William Messner Loeb, Grant Morrison's JLA, Young Justice by Peter David and Impulse, Batman No Man's Land, Batman The Long Halloween, Mark Waid's Flash, Starman by James Robinson, The Power of Shazam by Jerry Ordway, and plenty more I can't remember right now. Plus a lot of ideas ended up paying off really well down the line like Reign of Supermen and even Azrael.
    When people think of the 90's they are thinking of Marvel with all of it's excesses at the time. It affected DC too (the edgy reboot of Dr Fate for instance) but overall DC was in a much better spot creatively at the time than Marvel was.

  4. #34
    Retired
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    18,747

    Default

    National Allied which would later be Detective Comics, Inc., started in January of 1935. So really their decades should start on the 5s--1935 - 1944, 1945 - 1954, 1955 - 1964, etc. I'm a pedant.

  5. #35
    Three Legged Member married guy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Your mum's place
    Posts
    3,239

    Default

    As mentioned, it comes down to personal taste, but I would consider the 50s and 60s to be DC's most creative.
    But as a reader, the 90s were MY favourite. It seemed DC were keen to get out of the rut they managed to find themselves in and try some off the wall stuff.
    The creation on Vertigo was a masterstroke.
    You had monthly titles like Sandman, Preacher, Hitman, Starman, Young Heroes in Love, Major Bummer - the Bat-titles were the strongest they'd been in ages (and yet to be matched since IMO) with Nolan, Kelly, Dixon, Grant, Breyfogle, Moench, Aparo. The Superman line was also strong with Jurgens, Stern, Kessel, Grummett & Co. Waid was kicking all sorts of arse on Flash. Green Lantern introduced Kyle Rayner with Marz and Banks/Tanghal, Beau Smith giving us the take-no-**** Guy Gardner we all now take for granted. Connor Hawke was Green Arrow with Dixon and DaMaggio.
    I haven't even touched upon Aquaman, the Legion books, Elseworlds so much great stuff.

    I loved it all!!
    Last edited by married guy; 04-17-2021 at 06:26 PM.
    "My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive!"
    I'll try being nicer if you try being smarter.

  6. #36
    Black Belt in Bad Ideas Robanker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    7,986

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Alpha View Post
    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.
    It's for reliving...


    It's mostly for people to wax philosophical about when they started reading.

    Truthfully, there's good and bad stuff in every decade. Most the seminal runs come from the 80s onward, but the iconic interpretations and visuals of the characters predate even that. There's a lot of criteria to judge by, but make no mistake, most answers in these topics come down to "when did you start reading?"

    Everything was new and possibilities infinite with no retcons impeding the stuff you liked yet, hence why those days remain evergreen in their wonder while everything before and since get muddled by more complicated recollections/experiences.

  7. #37
    Fantastic Member atomicskull's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Posts
    276

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Robanker View Post
    It's for reliving...


    It's mostly for people to wax philosophical about when they started reading.

    Truthfully, there's good and bad stuff in every decade. Most the seminal runs come from the 80s onward, but the iconic interpretations and visuals of the characters predate even that. There's a lot of criteria to judge by, but make no mistake, most answers in these topics come down to "when did you start reading?"

    Everything was new and possibilities infinite with no retcons impeding the stuff you liked yet, hence why those days remain evergreen in their wonder while everything before and since get muddled by more complicated recollections/experiences.

    I wish more people were able to admit this.

  8. #38
    BANNED
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Posts
    143

    Default

    I know the 90s get trashed on for all the cheap deaths and devastating injuries on major characters to boost sales while also making people like Aquaman edgy but I really liked it. I enjoyed the start of all the ongoing solo series for the different supporting Batman characters like Robin and Azrael: Agent of the Bat. It was new, different, and entertaining. However, these ongoing supporting Batman character series are not as good anymore in the current decade. Especially Nightwing's. The only one I say improved was Catwoman's in the the 2000s.

  9. #39
    (Formerly ilash) Ilan Preskovsky's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    2,102

    Default

    Mid '80s thru early 2000s. Or Watchmen thru All Star Superman, basically. Yes, not everything released in these years were great but it was DC's most mature (in the true sense of the word), creative and consistently great period with major superhero runs like Giffen/ Dematteis' JLI, Starman, Waid's Flash, PAD's Supergirl, Robinson's Starman, Ennis' Hitman, Morrison's JLA, and the triangle era of Superman comics (especially the early years) running side by side with Vertigo and proto-Vertigo.
    Check out my blog, Because Everyone Else Has One, for my regularly updated movie reviews.

  10. #40

    Default

    The early 2010s as far as I’m concerned.
    Pull List: Currently Empty

  11. #41

    Default

    Never mind. Posting out of emotion is never wise.
    Last edited by Timber Wolf-By-Night; 04-18-2021 at 12:13 AM.

  12. #42
    Astonishing Member Jekyll's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    4,179

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BatmanJones View Post
    Agreed. That’s partly why my answer is always the most current one. Except the 90s. The 90s should be retconned out of existence IMO.
    Dan Didio did a great job of this, which is why I don't really care about DC comics anymore.
    AKA FlashFreak
    Favorite Characters:
    DC: The Flash (Jay & Wally), Starman- Jack Knight, Stargirl, & Shazam!.
    MARVEL: Daredevil, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), & Doctor Strange.

    Current Pulls: Not a thing!

  13. #43
    Astonishing Member Adekis's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    2,889

    Default

    I don't think there is a single Best Era of DC.

    Rather I think that there are eras when Your Favorite was doing Something You Liked Personally, and in which you're willing for one reason or another to overlook other stuff.

    I mean for example, I love New 52 Superman, I think under Grant Morrison's Action Comics, he's a near perfect blueprint for the character, and so I've got a lot of fondness for the New 52. But ultimately the New 52 is kind of a mess in a lot of ways. Wonder Woman, despite a great Hellboy-esque arc from Azzarello, has these awful barbarian Amazons that many fans justifiably hate, Batman's timeline gets crunched painfully down to what, five Robins in five years, Martian Manhunter got kind of vilified and made to fight the League and join Morally Grey Team Stormwatch, and The Flash, well, it was great for Barry fans, but Wally fans suffered a lot. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, obviously.

    And you can say similar things about different other eras.
    "You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."

  14. #44

    Default

    I've enjoyed DC comics from every decade, but when I thought the overall lineup was its strongest and they were firing on mostly all cylinders was not a calendar decade, but the 10-year period from 1986 to 1996.

    It's bookended by the Superman relaunch by John Byrne on one end and culminates in the marriage of Superman and Lois Lane on the other.

    In between, we really got DC's best stuff overall even though there were lots of great things before and after.

    However, those 10 years just had an amazing output of classics.

    Beyond all the reboots that mostly worked and the new series that mostly worked, there was the heyday of Vertigo, plus Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Killing Joke, Kingdom Come and much more.

  15. #45
    Retired
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    18,747

    Default

    I think the thing that's against D.C. in its later decades is that it was always number 2. And Marvel was number 1. However, it beat Marvel/Atlas/Timely in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s--it wasn't even a contest. If there was a bigger company, it was probably Dell (later Gold Key)--all the other publishers put out less titles than D.C. and Dell.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •