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Since Morrison's 90s JLA run, TPTB has resolved to turn Batman into the Reed Richards of the JL. Where is intellect is more useful that his physical abilities. It's kind of annoying in certain writers hands. The term Bat God has been spun out of that. Bruce's son Damian has the same treatments. The boy's balls haven't even dropped and he's also hyper competent to the point of being better than other teenage heroes and some adult ones too. These other heroes who have had careers fighting crime longer than Damian's been wearing the green p̶i̶x̶i̶e̶ combat boots.
I have no problem with Bruce being really, really ridiculously smart. But it annoys me that so many writers make Clark dumber the moment he stands next to Bruce.
I have no problem with Bruce being really, really ridiculously smart. But it annoys me that so many writers make Clark dumber the moment he stands next to Bruce.
Since Morrison's 90s JLA run, TPTB has resolved to turn Batman into the Reed Richards of the JL. Where is intellect is more useful that his physical abilities.
Acid and steroids. Morrison goes WAY over the top with his stories. Really in your face at times. A lot of the times though, Morrison can get lost in his own delivery.
Didio is of that generation, but guys like Lee and Johns are a bit younger. More of the Bronze and Dark Age generation. Johns seems to have liked the Silver Age stuff, so maybe he was a back issues guy.
Yeah, I looked Johns up on Wikipedia after my post and he's actually a good bit younger than I thought he was. DiDio, Lee, and Morrison are all old enough to have been reading comics during the Silver Age, though.
I'm the same age as Morrison and I cross over from the Silver to Bronze in my formative reading years. The Dark Age stuff helped me rationalize reading comics in my twenties.
I'm the same age as Morrison and I cross over from the Silver to Bronze in my formative reading years. The Dark Age stuff helped me rationalize reading comics in my twenties.
Kind of of. With the exception of Johns, Manapul, Morrison and a few others, most writers seem to be taking the Bronze and Dark Age approach to characters. A lot of violence and in your face story lines. The New 52 era was all about being edgy and "cool". Not that Morrison and Johns don't indulge in this same kind of behavior, because they do, but they do work in those yesteryear elements with good updates and twists.
The "ages" of comics aren't specific to DC, although they tend to be demarcated by events in DC. The Golden Age began with the birth of Superman in 1938, followed by characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Timely's Sub-Mariner and Captain America, and Fawcett's Captain Marvel over the next few years. The Silver Age began with the debut of the Barry Allen Flash in 1956, and is defined by the "Earth-One" DC continuity and the rise of the Marvel Universe under Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and their peers. (You could say the Marvel Silver Age began with The Fantastic Four #1 in 1961.) The Bronze Age began around 1970, when Kirby left Marvel and the original Marvel Universe creative team began to gave way to the next generation, and when creators like Denny O'Neill and Julius Schwartz began bringing more serious, socially relevant storytelling to DC. It ended in the mid-'80s with Crisis on Infinite Earths and the first of the many, many massive continuity overhauls DC has had since. After that came what's variously called the Modern Age, the Dark Age, or the Iron Age, defined by The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and the generation of subsequent comics that have tried to emulate them, along with other trends like the proliferation of multi-title series, big crossover events, and the independent comics boom of the '90s.
Off the top of my head
Golden Age: 1938-1951(Creation of Superman marks the beginning. The cancelation of All-Star Comics marks the end)
Interregnum: 1951-1956 ( Super hero comics go into a slump.)
Silver Age: 1956-1971 (Creation of the SA Flash marks the beginning. Kirby leaving Marvel marks the end)
Bronze Age: 1971- 1986 (KIrby comes to DC. Ends with Crisis On Infinite Earths)
Dark Age-1986-? (Post Crisis, Dark Knight Returns. Man of Steel. Watchmen. Vertigo)
Golden Age: 1938-1956
Here you find GA Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice Society, Captain America, Seven Soldiers of Victory, western comics etc.
Silver Age: 1956-1970
This the era of scifi being added to comics. Recall the Toy Story 2 conversation between Woody and the Prospector, "two words Sputnik". "Once the astronauts went up, all the kids wanted to play with were space toys".
Here you find Fantastic Four with their adventures in space and in other dimensions, space GL Hal Jordan, Barry Allen and his more scifi angle compared to Jay Garrick, the Avengers, the Justice League, Spider-Man and his list of scifi villains, Iron Man etc.
Bronze Age: 1970-1985
This is were comics started to add real drama, tension and stakes to superheroing. Things weren't all fun and games anymore. Things like Gwen Stacy dying, Sue Richard's miscarriage, Iris' death and Barry's trial for murder, X-Men DOFP and the Phoenix Saga, Dick Grayson leaving Batman and finding his own identity, Tony Stark's alcohol addiction and other things of that nature.
The Dark Age: 1985-1999
This age runs parallel to the "Modern Age" of comics. This is where comics skewed more "adult", with violence, subject matter and just in your face content.
It started with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Later you would get things like Spawn, Deadpool, X-Force, The Authority, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, The New Guardians (1988), Extreme Justice, Heroes Reborn, Armageddon 2001 etc.
Modern Age Part 1: 1986-2003
This era continued from the Bronze Age, with DC doing a reboot of their universe in 1985 (Crisis on Infinite Earths), but also is where comics started to take a darker tone. The the late 80s through the mid 90s were brutal to both Marvel and DC. As I mentioned above for the Dark Age, there was a tendency to be as intense and in your face as possible with these stories.
Superman dying, a Robin dying, Batgirl being crippled, Marv Wolfman's Titans going way, way dark, the Onslaught arc at Marvel (which "killed" the FF and most of the Avengers), Spider-Man's time with the black suit and the subsequent Venom and Carnage stories, Hal Jordan going evil and killing the GL corps, Lobdell's X-Men run etc.
While this era might sound bad, the late 80s and the 90s did have some gems.
Byrne, Jurgens and Stern's Superman
Perez's WW
Ron Marz's GL with Kyle Rayner
Morrison and Waid's Flash with Wally
Jeph Loeb's Batman
Justice League International
Mike Grell's Green Arrow
Tim Truman's Hawkworld
Claremont and Lee's X-Men
Byrne's West Coast Avengers
Mark Gruenwald's Captain America
Joe Kelly's Deadpool. Much better than Liefeld's.
DC and Marvel started to turn this around in 97 and 98. The best representatives of this were Morrison's JLA and Buisek and Perez's Avengers EMH. Gone were the ridiculous 90s era costumes and the characters started to look like themselves again.
From this time going forward, I think both Marvel and DC were in tip top shape. I think JLA vs Avengers (2003) with Kurt Buisek doing the writing and Perez doing the art, was the last great hurrah for both DC and Marvel before things got dark and frustrating again.
I'll make a separate post for the 2004-2016 era. I have a lot of thoughts and this age can be a real shit show.
