Favorite Era

General Discussion
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@abfgmsw and @baseballmanic01
(Yeah this is a long response. This is a subject around comics that I am truly passionate about. Also, I’ve got a big mouth and strong opinions.)

Just as a historical note, the artwork from Batman 232 (Neal Adams) is Bronze Age art work. You see the birth of a modern style where anatomy mattered. (Arguably similar to how anatomy changed and became important in the Renaissance)

I think we are still a bit bogged down by the “Dark Age” of comics. (1985-1995) especially in character development and plot. (Although books like Supersons, Naomi, and the like, might raise the bar out of so much “dark & gritty == real and depth”. The Bronze Age showed us that “real & deep” could still be fun, adventurous, beautiful, & real.

The Bronze Age was really defined as sort of (1970-1985) Modern Age is roughly (95-present)
My hope, especially with Silver and Bronze Age titles now easily available, writers, artists, & editors will have a chance to look back at many stories and story telling they never saw. (Any artist under 40, grew up in the post Bronze era) Perhaps we can get to a new-classical age (if you look at it from an art history era standpoint) and age that rediscovered classical and renaissance art styles again.

IMO, Watchmen was great & there is a reasoning behind s in the top 100 novels of the 20th+ century. However, I think there are to many folks trying to write the next Watchmen, the next “great novel” of comics. Watchmen was the right book at the right time. It was classical storytelling and I don’t think Moore was trying to make a great novel. It just sort of came together that way.

Let us return to the fun & adventure of comics. The place where a story can stand alone as a single issue, but also weave itself into a story arc, and if the audience wants to follow it. Great. However they don’t have to have or buy back issues if they happen to come in in the middle. Subtlety of arc, giving hints to the reader to use their own imagination on some deeper bits of character, rather than having a highly defined, specific deep psychologically of a character “shoved down the throat”.

Comics are about imagination and allowing the reader to fill in their own blanks as/if they choose to read between the lines/panels. Such is the nature of good storytelling and, I believe, allows readers to truly develop a deep personal connection with a character because there are bits and pieces of that character that they get to decide and make their own personal connection(s) to and about.

That’s my opinion and it’s just that, an opinion. I’m sure there are others who disagree and that’s great too. Passion of readers/fans is critical for the long term success of the comics medium.

Will my “hopes and dreams” for comics come to pass? Maybe…maybe not. Comics are the combination of storytelling and art, both of which can be cyclical. Now with a plethora of silver & Bronze Age Comics so readily available, I hope people look to the past to understand history. We are at a moment in time when there are issues of the day dividing not just the US, but other countries as well. While the issues may or may not be different, “cold civil wars” can be seen in many places, as the were during the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age got us through that era, and still raised awareness of issues and challenges of the sociopolitics of that time. Mirror the world we live in, yet give us hope for a better tomorrow.

The Silver & Bronze Ages showed us this was truly possible.

While it is true, those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. It can also be true that those that know history can use things that proved useful before and perhaps not directly repeat them, but embrace the underlying concepts that placed us on a path of a better tomorrow.

One more thing before I step off my soapbox. I want to credit DC Daily for their continuing work on talking to writers and artists of the Bronze Age, Marv Wolfman and Neal Adams, for example. I hope they continue this pattern. I find it not just entertaining but useful in historical contexts as well.

That is my opinion. I’m sure there are folks who disagree and that’s great too.

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I left comics probably before 1968 when i went to college and probably went back in 1972 when i was going for my Masters in Quantative Analysis. I had Accounting class at 10 am and then Linear Programming at 6 pm. ( If only one section of course offered at NYU it was at night so night students could take it.) So I had a lot of time on my hands. At a newstand near the subway they had Marvel Horror Magazines and i bought and enjoyed them.

I enjoyed DC comics as a kid because it wasnt kid stuff. The heroes were heroes had responsible jobs and had connections to the real world like non super girlfriends and friends. Often they solved problems by using science.

But the heroes had no personality unlike the new Marvel heroes. I grew to like them more and kept only my JLA Earth 2 and Hawkman comics for DC

Batman TV made the comics silly and so i left

During the Bronze Age i came back. There was nothing silly about monsters. Dracula Franenstein Zombie First Appearance of Tigra. First comics wriien by Chris Claremont with female leads

Then Tomb Of Dracula by Marv Wolfman. Man Thing had an annual called The Kid’s Night Out about a fat kid like me along with first Howard the Duck.

I bought back issues of the Kree Scrull War by Roy Thomas and some work by Neal Adams .Conan the Barbarian.

Bought DC back issues Swamp Thing GA/GL.

Dr Strange Avengers and New Xmen was great with art by John Byrne but so was Len Wein satellite JLA. Egleheart Detective Comics Spectre in Adventures comics. All Star Comics with JSA and then All Star Squadron. The artwork was often very clean and never bizarre like some comics today.

I really didnt see the purpose of Crisis of Infinite Earths and the deaths of Earth 2 Supergirl and Flash but Perez Wonder Woman and Byrne Man of Steel were great.

Later i would get every issue of Batman Year One Dark Knight Returns Watchmen Killing Joke and appreciated their sophistication but not their darkness.

I liked Gail Simone Birds of Prey and Secret Six very much. Trades started and i got Hawkman by Fox and Kubert in a durable format.

When new 52 came in i bought every titles and loved Demon.Knights Earth 2 and Worlds Finest. I didnt like the new Superman. DC didnt have the staff or the editorial to keep up this promise

Early Rebirth gave me great hope especially the Titans. Now it takes an effort to get through most of the titles today except for Freedom Fighters and Hawkman. Gone are Tynion Detective Comics and Ruka Wonder Woman. Gone is the love of the Kent family ruined by Bendis.

Looking back i guess Bronze Age calls to me most but i am glad i can read most of my favorites here some long in the past and some fairly recent. I just want Spectre in Adventure Comics here and i could just be satisfied by reading the library.

I could wait a year for most of the r But like Charlie Brown i never get the football just mediocre new issues. I guess i am waiting fir Geoff Johns to say Never Mind and we get Dick Grayson Wally West Roy Harper JSA and Legion of Super Heroes back. I keep telling me it wont be long now.

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Most of my favorite books have been from the Zero Hour-to-Infinite Crisis stretch, especially right around the turn of the millennium. DC was decent at handling their characters with respect and the storytelling was mature without being overly gritty or edgy (except maybe towards the end of that timeframe with stuff like Batman: War Games).

Since the subject of swearing has come up, it happened, but wasn’t excessive or all that heavy, and would generally be censored. And frankly, swearing doesn’t bother me. Like, some writers feel the need to have every character fit at least three F-bombs into every sentence, and that’s stupid, but any word is a tool that can be used to better or worse effect. If Charlton Heston were yelling in front of the ruins of the Statue of Liberty “You maniacs! You blew it up! Dang you! Gosh darn you all to heck!”, it would kind of undercut the drama of the moment. Martin Scorsese movies, on the other hand, seem to feel the need to just sprinkle foul language in as needless word padding. But even that isn’t bad because it’s swearing or because it offends me; it’s bad because it’s needless word padding.

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Comixology is having a sale so i just bought two trades at half price for to get the Man Thing Annual I mentined. The other trade has the second appearance of Howard the Duck in this annual after a cameo.

It is a Steve Gerber story.

It is really excellent. A Bronze Age Story that could not have told in an earlier Age.

SPOILER OF STORY
THE KID’S NIGHT OUT.

Who ever feels fear burns at the touch of the Man Thing.

The main character Edward is already dead at the start of the story which is his funeral.

The minister tells each member of the family how much they loved Edward.

After a lot of these lies Alice his only friend shouts out that they hated him and he hated them.

She is dragged to the nearby swamp for the first encounter with Man Thing.

Then we find out that Edward left something behind which Alice will publish.

Later Alice reads to a group about Edward’s life. His dreams and his brutal reality.

The family find out thatif this is published their reputation will be ruined. They string Alice up.

Man Thing feel all that fear and comes into town.

Violence occurs

Man Thing feels sadness at the end.

He is a creature of emotion with no intelligence.

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@DeSade-acolyte, Amen, brother, Amen.

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Continuation of Spoiler

Edward died of a heart attack after running and running in the orders of a sadistic gym coach

Since Edward is dead her final words are the opposite of an Ordinary eulogy. Edward was fat a nobody. He is dead. No one cares

On a slower read it seems that it is Edward who forces Man Thing to go to the city to rescue Alice the only girl he has ever kissed.

Man Thing is clumsy like Edward was.

Steve gives Edward the narrative now as he enacts revenge.

Alice tells rescuers that she felt Edward had been there and asks him to stop after seeing the gym teacher dragged away by Edward/Man Thing.

It is stated teacher had every chance to say he was sorry but thought never entered his mind.

It must have been wonderful to have an Alice in a person’s life.

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For me, it was the early '80s.

From Firestorm joining the JLA and the New Teen Titans forming in 1980 up to Crisis on Infinite Earths.
There was so much variety. I love teams, and we had JLA, Titans, Legion, Outsiders, Infinity Inc, All-Star Squadron…
And other genres, with Amethyst, Arion, Arak, Warlord, Sgt. Rock, Jonah Hex and Blackhawk…

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I loved the early 90’s to just into the early 2000’s. I loved the DC 1,000,000 stuff and couldn’t get enough of the No Man’s Land that ran though every comic, as well as The Final Night event. I started to fall out a bit around Our World At War series.

I remember loving Young Justice and reading Robin, Superboy, and Impulse, Batman family titles, Superman family titles, and Green Lantern.

Also LOVED Garth Ennis’ Hitman and still hope he decides to bring Tommy back again.

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80’s and 90’s for me. Some people call it the “Dark Ages” but I’ve always seen it as more of a renaissance because if the renewed interest in the medium and a refocus on content. A return to form, if you will, with artist and writers freed from the draconian limitations imposed by the Comics Code Authority, and able to tell almost any story they could imagine.

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Bronze Age and late Silver Age. That’s what I grew up reading until comics costs exploded and I gave it up for awhile.

34

Silver age. SA supes was a god.

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I know I’m in the Minority but the New 52 is my favorite age. I liked how Batgirl and Supergirl were set up as characters. I also liked how sexually liberated Catwoman was and how there was room for lighter stories in the era like Gotham Academy. I could go on forever. I didn’t mind the changes to characters because I jumped into comics this age.

I also enjoy the modern age and the bronze age.

Sometimes I try a book from Rebirth but it more often than not pisses me off. (Must be what others felt like during the New 52)

The only current book I’m reading is Shazam and it’s pretty good so far but man do I miss the New 52 and those lost ten years.