What era of DC is your favorite? Why?
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The bronze era. We finally broke free from some of the comics code authority.
Comics code be real, with characters that were 3 dimensional, deal with issues of the day, tell great stories. However they didn’t need to be “dark and gritty” to do that. Our modern ideas of so many characters, from the silver and golden age, became fully dimensional characters in the Bronze Age. The modern Batman came about as did Wonder Woman. String characters based on psychological principles.
Yet you could give a 7 or 8 year old that same comic and they could enjoy it as much as a 20+ year old adult. Multilayered storytelling.
The Bronze Age is the foundation of modern comics. I still find most modern stories fall short of the brilliance of Bronze Age storytelling. Comics for adults need not be comics a young kid can’t enjoy as well.
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I tend to agree with DeSade, but I can’t deny my affection for the uninhibited imagination of the Silver Age. Lois Lane marries a gorilla! Batman has to win a dance contest against a Martian teenager…or Robin will die! Superman ate a magic bean and now, he’s an evil robot!
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Probably the post-crisis era of the modern age, since it is what I became a hardcore fan during, so I still associate most of the DC Heroes with those ages (Wally west is Still The Flash to me damni!). But the Bronze era does hold a special place in my heart, where my earliest memories of reading comics as a kid were, and had a mix of Silver Age creativity and modern age grounding that when done right worked very well.
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Post-Zero Hour all the way to Blackest Night (at some point, we’re gonna need an “Age” name to cover the 90s to the early 2000s).
We got:
Mark Waid and Tom Peyer’s Legionnaires
Geoff John’s Teen Titans, Hawkman, JSA, The Flash, Action Comics, and Green Lantern
Infinite Crisis and all its lead-in mini-series
52
Final Crisis
James Robinson’s Starman
Supergirl returned to main continuity
Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle
Connor Hawke as Green Arrow
Renee Montoya as the Question (heck, just Gotham Central in general)
A new Batwoman
Grant Morrison’s JLA and Batman runs
Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman
Superman: Red Son and All-Star Superman
No Man’s Land
…And I’m not even DONE naming everything great that came from that era! (Seriously, Neo-Silver Age? Post-Modern Age? Something like that?)
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@abfgmsw
I will recommend my favorite Bronze Age story. It is iconic, well written, beautiful artwork. A classic example of the brilliance of the Bronze Age, and I’m pretty gosh darn sure there isn’t a curse word in it. So well written it doesn’t need expletives.
Batman 232
First appearance of Ra’s al Ghul
Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano
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@biff_pow
I love the silver age as well, I’d make the argument that the Silver Age is the most important age of comics. Which sounds strange, since the golden age created comics. However, the Silver Age was the point when it became clear that characters could always be reimagined, even their identities changed, and still be at the core, the same great elements of a great character.
And straight up truth, the Silver Age was the most truly entertaining era of comics. Stories could be wild, fanciful, humorous, delightful & serious. The sky was truly the limit. It was the age that showed, with comics anything is possible. Let your imagination run wild.
It is my hope that with so many Silver & Bronze Age Comics now on DCU, fans can read them and understand their beauty and importance. Take a moment to “throw everything you think you know about comics out the window (or put it on the shelf or whatever) and read a comic as if it is the first comic you’ve ever laid your eyes on in your life.”
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You said it far better than I, @DeSade!
My favorite era of comics is RIGHT NOW, with greater accessibility to the entire history of comics than ever before.
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I agree with HCQuestion that right now is the best era. Id say 80s to Present day is the best. Idk if thats too broad or if that fits a particular “age”.
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Personally, I’m going to agree with @HubCityQuestion and @MajorZuma. The digital age has made getting into comics easier than ever, even for people who don’t have the money to spend on more obscure titles. It’s also made reaching out to fellow comic fans easier than ever. It’s such a pleasure to be able to chat with people who share a passion for comics, which is tied to our age and the internet.
And, on just an aesthetic level, I do love how modern comics look. No shade to Gold and Silver age comics, which are beautiful and a ton of fun, but I adore how modern art programs and printing methods have revolutionized just how intricate and vibrant comic art can be.
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@Zatanna
While I understand the aesthetic argument. It always raises the same question to me. Adams, Kirby, Ditko and others of the “pre-digital age” could produce their work today, but I wonder how many artists today could do the inverse. I’m sure some could but even just having to make the art work in the physical medium of pre-digital offset printing and lousy paper. I wonder what it would be like.
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@DeSade-acolyte Just because many artists today couldn’t do the kind of things they do without modern tools doesn’t make them any less artists. I (and many others) couldn’t do what they do with those tools. That being said, I would love to see those artists try to go without modern technology for a bit though. It would be interesting. Maybe they could do a new DC retroactive series in that style?
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I’ll always have a preference for the modern stuff, because I find it more relatable. It’s all good fun though, no matter the era.
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@Awesome_Squid
I am sure many if not most could, but I think some styles would need to be different or not translate as well.
I would love to see a real throwback issue or three once a year. Old school print and paper.
Sort of like taking a great modern painter Chagall, Duffie and saying ok you can use oil or acrylics, but here, paint fresco. It’s a medium that works so differently. I think some would excel and really grow, others might not be able to work nearly as well in such a medium. It’s sort of the ultimate comic book challenge for artists. I think it would yield fascinating results.
The thought really struck me when walking through a Pollack retrospective and turned the corner saw a piece from a distance thinking what’s a Miro doing in here. Upon further examination it was Pollack working in the style of Miro. Really kinda changed my view on art.
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Rebirth, by far. Why?
-several great creative teams producing great books
-it was easy to get into for new readers
-it combined the best of The New 52 and pre-New 52
-Wally West returned
-Jon Kent embraced his destiny
-this is personal, but my favorite modern Superman writer (Dan Jurgens) returned to the character he writes best (Superman)
-the Rebirth Superman line was the best the Superman line had been since Jeph Loeb was on Superman/Batman and Adventures of Superman was a current title
-the best volume of Superman since volume two came out of Rebirth
-David Finch returned to Batman
-Greg Rucka returned to Wonder Woman
-it produced the best volume of Titans ever
-Jessica Cruz came into her full power as a Green Lantern
-Simon Baz shined in the spotlight in two books (Green Lanterns and Justice League)
-Bryan Hitch produced an assortment of entertaining time travel adventures in Justice League
-Super Sons
-Justice League vs. Suicide Squad was a fun event
Need I go on? =)
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Addendum: The twice per month shipping schedule was another highlight of Rebirth.
So too was the $2.99 pricepoint on everything in the first ten months or so of Rebirth.
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Spot on @DeSade-acolyte with your analysis of the Silver and Modern Ages of comics. Reinterpretation of icons with fully realized characterizations made these two eras the best in the history of the medium. This is a time of Peter Parker (“How do I pay the rent and stop Doc Ock?”), the Fantastic Four ("I’ll clobber that human matchstick for this!), and the emergence of THE Batman as “the creature of the night”. The art was spectacular (Kirby, Ditko, Adams, and Buscema) The writing was taut, topical, engaging–and FUN (Lee, Thomas, Goodwin, Wein)! And the books were for everyone to enjoy not just a small group of narrowminded sycophants who don’t know the meaning of fun and have no sense of humor. Sorry if this turned into a bit of a rant, but the medium we love is at a crossroads and unfortunately the road taken seems to be heading toward extinction. The powers that be at DC and Marvel should look to the past if they want to preserve their future.
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The low power low stakes more relatable themes of the golden age, the craziness, expansiveness, and brightness of the silver age, and the sense of weight and accountability the bronze age brought are all amazing. The most recent rebirth reboot has stripped every character down to their essential parts but I hope they start to embrace those parts of the older eras of comics.
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Post Watchmen and The Dark Knight Return-today is my favorite. That’s when the medium advanced and became enjoyable, for me personally.
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