Most important eras for DC Comics?

[mathew101281]

I think the best eras for DC were...

1. early Silver Age. from the creation of Barry Allen to the forming of the Justice League. I feel that conceptually that era essentially created The DCU we know today.

2. the Mid to late '80s. Watchman, Darknight return Crisis on Infinite Earths, The killing Joke, The Judas Contract. I feel this was when Dc's writing was at its best.

but my personal favorites are the late bronze age (new Teen Titans, Great Darkness Saga) and the post-death of Superman DC in the mid to late '90s.

[caj]

The Bronze Age is probably the best time IMO. Not sure when that officially ends, but the late 70s through the Crisis is probably the best. Before post-Crisis, if a character died a heroic death, they were usually gone for good.

However, I love just about every thing from the late 70s through mid to late 90s. Hated what they did to Hal Jordan in the 90s and killing off Ice in Justice League, but liked most every thing else.

[Captain Nostalgia]

The Bronze Age is probably the best time IMO. Not sure when that officially ends, but the late 70s through the Crisis is probably the best. Before post-Crisis, if a character died a heroic death, they were usually gone for good.

However, I love just about every thing from the late 70s through mid to late 90s. Hated what they did to Hal Jordan in the 90s and killing off Ice in Justice League, but liked most every thing else.

I agree the Bronze Age seems like the golden age for DC Comics with the classic JLA satellite heroes in the limelight. (1970's - 1984)

Before that things were too hokey (50's 60's), and afterwards (Crisis/85 to mid 90's) DC got too dark when they realized they could profit off of superhero deaths.

I would argue that 2000 to 2010 was a renaissance decade for DC as well, particularly the early 2000's and the rise of Geoff Johns.

[jb681131]

Well, I'd say the Golden because that's where DC invented most of its iconics heroes. And probably heroes known throughout the entire world without a doubt (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman).

But I sayd above the 70's-80's are very important for DC - the reign of Dennis O'neil and some memorable titles susch as Batman and the Outsiders, Swamp Thing, Legions of Superheroes, The New Teen Titans, Watchmen, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman by Neal Adams, Wonder Woman by Geroge Perez, ...

Then let's not forget the 90's with the creation of Vertigo Comics. It brought iconic non-superhero series to comics. A small revolution.

[Destro777]

Mid to late 80s. Crisis on Infinite Earths, Byrne Superman, Perez's WW, Watchman, Dark Knight Returns, Moore's Swampthing, Denny O'Neil's Question.

Early to late 00s. Hush. Johns' JSA, GL, Flash, Infinite Crisis. Gotham Central. Kevin Smith's Green Arrow. Morrison's 7 Soldiers, Batman, Final Crisis. And countless legendary Vertigo runs.

Those are the 2 best and most important DC eras by far. The DC of today is no where remotely close.

[FFJamie94]

I'm not the biggest DC reader, but the period from 1983-1987 is just full of classics. Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Batman Year Zero, A Death in the Family, Crises on Infinity Earths and more, just a killer era. I should honestly read more from that era.

[RobinGA]

1940s.

That was the era where the template was set with the trinity. All of the
most iconic supervillains largely appeared at that point in time as well.

Everything was built off of that building stage.

[Hol]

For me it is 1985 to around 2007. The Crisis, Wally West as Flash, Starman, Hawkworld, JLI, Animal Man, The JSA Returns, GL Rebirth and so many amazing things were done in that time frame. For me COIE to Final Crisis is where its at.

[Jim Kelly]

What's important is to get started in the first place--so the first ten years, from 1935 to 1945 are the most important. And then to stay in publication during the 1950s when so many other publishers closed up shop is next in importance. If it wasn't for Superman, they would have probably been done decades ago. And if it wasn't for Batman, they might have fared far worse in the 1960s and beyond.

[superduperman]

GA: 1939-1943. All the major heroes were created during this period. Superman, Batman, WW, GL, Flash, Hawkman, etc.

SA: 1959-1964: Most of the rebooted characters came out during this time. New GL, new Flash, new Hawkman, new Atom, etc. The JLA. The established characters like Superman and Batman started developing a stable continuity. Earth 2 was created.

Late 1980s: Post-Crisis era. Watchmen, DKR, Superman rebooted, Batman: Year One, Sandman, Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, etc.

Honorable mention:

1990s: Largely due to Vertigo. Cussing, killing, more mature themes. This was the precursor to things like Image's current line of creator owned, disconnected books that don't share a universe. This is largely it's legacy at other companies. Even Marvel's Max line is influenced by this. There were some other things that came out of this era. Superman's death and marriage, Kingdom Come, James Robinson's Starman; all of these things show you can do more mature themes with more traditional superheroes.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Most important and favourite are very different.

Clearly the big three most important are the early Golden Age (literally the creation of the superhero), early Silver Age (the return of the superheroes, for good this time) and the mid 1980s when superhero comics were finally allowed to grow up.

[Lee Stone]

The Golden Age, for the creation of heroes and superteams.

The Silver Age for the reinvention of them in their more recognized forms (JLA instead of JSA, Hal and Barry instead of Alan and Jay).

The Bronze Age for expanding beyond and seeing real growth outside of the characters that were originally created in the Golden Age, with stuff like Legion and Titans.
It was the era when the foundation was 'finished' and they were building onto it.

Since then, however, they've been too busy repeatedly tearing down the foundation and reconstructing it to have any other real distinctive eras.
In my opinion, they'll never rebuild the foundation in any way that will rival what was built in the Golden to Silver Ages. And trying to do so will only accentuate how important the above three eras are still.