Copper Age of Comic Books???

[Captain Craig]

While I was surfing through Ebay looking to get some books I came across a dealer who said he was specializing in CGC books of the Bronze and Copper Age.

The Golden and Silver Ages of comics are defined and the dates accepted within dealer/fan circles. The term Bronze Age has floated around for a good 10 years but just lately has started really firming up its dates(some discussion remains but its mostly settled) and now considered legit. Those dates being early 1970/71 thru 1982/83.

So when I saw Copper Age my intrest perked up and off to google and wiki I went. It seems the now that Bronze Age is nearly settled upon we the fans/industry have a gap of time to play with and define yet again.

Seemingly a newly-erected category, its borders are not sharply defined. The only definitive statement that can be made is its between the Bronze-Age and the Modern age of comics. At least one site implicates Batman:The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen as being the beginning of the Copper-Age. The 1984 date can be justified due to Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, I have yet to see two dating schemes agree. The following estimates of its duration have been found:

• 1982-199? Implication of Overstreet PG 2006's cover gallery. Note that a 1982 cover is associated with Copper, while a 1983 cover is associated with Bronze. OPG doesn't explicitly define the age.1984-1992 http://www.boneville.com/2006/09/09/comics-pop-culture-museum-opens-in-baltimore-md/
• 1986-? implication of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_comic_book from Modern Age description

What's not subject to dispute is that this era is distinct from the speculator's market of the early 90s. It is marked by a proliferation of Indie publishers, especially in black and white formats.
The formation of Image could be said to end the Copper Age.

I like the idea of the formation of Image as a milestone marker. It makes sense. Although with the Golden and Silver Ages covering nearly 2 decades+ apiece it seems the Bronze Age is getting cheated. I haven't read why the cut off at 82/83 anyway. I'd take the Bronze age from '71-'92 myself.

That being the case then I think the 1993-200? would have to be the Dark Age. Abandon the metallurgic trend altogether. With so many anti-heroes like Punisher with 3 books, Spawn, Venom(multi-miniseries), Death of Superman, Crippling of Batman, a new darker Wonder Woman(Artemis), Speculation that collapsed the industry, Marvel in bankruptcy and likely more candidates if thought upon the next Age would have to be Dark Age. You could argue we'd still be in the Dark Age. I can't see a rosy turn around anywhere. We have Identity Crisis, More Crisis events with misery, Civil War, Death of Captain America and the Dark Reign is ongoing. Maybe post Dark Reign will be the Renaissance Age at some point?

 

[Skywalker]

I agree that the Bronze Age should also span two decades like the Gold and Silver Ages. Books like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns fit in with the darker plots and more adult themes that started coming into the forefront during the Bronze Age. I think the Modern Age began in the early 90s with the formation of Image Comics and DC's Vertigo imprint (I'd argue that the formation of Dark Horse Comics in the late 80s could even be considered a prelude to the Modern Age, too).

I'd prefer to stick with the metallurgical theme, but "Copper Age" sounds dumb. Maybe "Iron Age"? I dunno.

 

[23skidoo]

I like "Dark age" but "Copper age" works well because copper is often tarnished, and that seems to well describe many of the characters, not to mention the industry itself.

At some point comics stopped being truly mainstream and became more of a niche. It reached this point sometime in the late 90s - no less than Todd McFarlane said this to me when I interviewed him for a newspaper. I recall he said the niche was formed around the time the trend towards variant editions started to really pickup steam. I don't have numbers to back that up, but there really was a point where comics stopped being something "everyone" read and became almost exclusively the domain of males in their twenties and older. (Yes I know kids and women still buy comics ... though it has been months, with no exaggeration, since I last saw a child or a non-tagging-along-with-her-boyfriend female in my local comic shop.)

There also needs to be consideration for the arrival of manga on the North American mainstream, which has occurred within the last decade or so. There are shops where only limited amounts of "standard" comics are being ordered now because everyone wants to buy the manga -- especially the female readers who aren't buying regular comics. I don't see girls in standard comic shops, but go into a place that specializes in manga or anime and they're in there for certain.

Alex

 

[Cicero]

I agree that the Bronze Age should also span two decades like the Gold and Silver Ages. Books like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns fit in with the darker plots and more adult themes that started coming into the forefront during the Bronze Age. I think the Modern Age began in the early 90s with the formation of Image Comics and DC's Vertigo imprint (I'd argue that the formation of Dark Horse Comics in the late 80s could even be considered a prelude to the Modern Age, too).

I'd prefer to stick with the metallurgical theme, but "Copper Age" sounds dumb. Maybe "Iron Age"? I dunno.

"Iron Age" is the term I've often seen. I think it's a fair separation; there's quite a bit of difference between a mid-1980s comic book and a 1970s or early 1980s issue. I thought the periods were laid out along these lines:

Golden: Mid 30s - Mid 50s
(Atomic: Mid 40s - Mid 50s)
Silver: Mid 50s - Mid 70s
Bronze: Mid 70s - Mid 80s
Iron: Mid 80s - Mid 90s
?: Mid 90s - Mid 00s (c. Infinite Crisis, Civil War)
?: Mid 00s - ? (Mid 10s?)

(Apparently, total US comic sales in North America presently surpass manga sales here by a factor of several when all distribution channels are included.)

 

[Skywalker]

I think it's a fair separation; there's quite a bit of difference between a mid-1980s comic book and a 1970s or early 1980s issue.

Yeah, after my post I went and read up on the Bronze and Modern Ages, and the mid-80s probably is the best dividing point after all.

 

[Mr Light]

Personally I view comic eras as Post Crisis (1984 to 1990) then Nineties (1990 to 1999) the era of big muscles big guns and big boobs and death/reboots, then Modern Age (2000 to present) when comics became 'realistic' and more entertaining.

 

[Cicero]

^ There was a major change c. 1996; comics became less gritty, dark, and over-muscled and were instead generally somewhat light and slightly cartoony.

Looking at Superman, Batman, and the X-Men, three of the most successful franchises of both the 80s-90s period and the 90s-00, all three franchises rapidly changed direction during the latter half of the 90s, largely setting aside the long-running story periods each had begun in the mid 80s. (For the X-Men, the Mutant Massacre, Inferno, etc. ceased to be relevant; for Superman, the details of post-Crisis stories were let go; for Batman, the Chuck Dixon era began, carrying a very different tone from the 80s and early 90s Bat-titles.)

 

[Captain Craig]

"Iron Age" is the term I've often seen. I think it's a fair separation; there's quite a bit of difference between a mid-1980s comic book and a 1970s or early 1980s issue. I thought the periods were laid out along these lines:

Golden: Mid 30s - Mid 50s
(Atomic: Mid 40s - Mid 50s)
Silver: Mid 50s - Mid 70s
Bronze: Mid 70s - Mid 80s
Iron: Mid 80s - Mid 90s
?: Mid 90s - Mid 00s (c. Infinite Crisis, Civil War)
?: Mid 00s - ? (Mid 10s?)

Granted I'd not heard of Copper Age till a few days ago so tossing the term Iron Age out there is yet another wrench in the possible naming scheme. Perhaps the naming along with setting a date scheme is still influx for this early 80s to early 90s period.
As for Atomic Age that is seen as a sub-era within the Golden Age. For pricing/grading purposes those books are still officially reognized as Golden Age books.
So when I start looking for Iron Age I find this bit of conflicting information.

The years between 1968 and 1978 represented the Iron Age of comics. During this period, comic book conventions became very popular and began popping up all around the country.

What? Those dates clearly straddle the Silver&Bronze Age. I notice to the left they have a definition for Copper Age, so I look at that.

The Copper Age of comics began in 1984 and ended in 1992. The copper age saw significant changes in comic book storylines and updated many characters and either brought back discontinued characters or reestablished them in a more modern setting.

This at least synch's up with what I read earlier basically. The end date is the same,so perhaps that is a loose consensus, founding of IMAGE COMICS. The start I saw as '83/'84.

I've also seen terms like Chrome Age tossed around now that I'm looking into this. It seems this article uses the mid 90s starting point, with no defined end, and acknowledges that many call it various names at this point. Chrome, Iron, Dark, Rust and Modern. This guy is in favor of Dark Age as well.

The Dark Age, also known as the Iron Age, the Rust Age, the Lead Age or the Chrome Age, was the culmination of the move towards an older audience for Comic Books, including superhero books, that had started in the Bronze Age. It was encouraged and supported by the semi-coincidental rise of "direct market" comic book shops, which were not covered by the Comics Code and thus could sell books that did not have Code approval, and which also served as a convenient gathering place for fans of the medium to meet and discuss them. The Dark Age is most usually characterized as being a Darker And Edgier period, with an increased emphasis placed on sex and violence.The Dark Age is usually agreed to have begun in 1986, or at least have planted roots then. Opinion is divided on when — or even if — the Dark Age ended. At earliest, the Modern Age is said to have begun in the mid 1990s, with the release of the critically-acclaimed love-letter-to-the-Silver Age Astro City in 1995; the release of Kingdom Come, a brutal barefisted deconstruction of the direction that comics had been going in for the past 10 years, in 1996; and the debut of a new version of the Justice League Of America in 1997, with a line-up that echoed the best parts of the Silver Age and the Bronze Age. Later estimates place it at the turn of the millennium, with the introduction of Ultimate Marvel via Ultimate Spider-Man, debuting a fresh take on the Marvel Universe unfettered by decades of continuity and modernized takes on old stories and characters.

However, whilst the extremes and excesses of the era have largely disappeared except for the purposes of parody, deconstruction or reinvention, many note that a Darker And Edgier atmosphere continues to permeate and even dominate comics; characters and works with Dark Age themes continued to be released after 1997 (including Marvel Zombies, Captain America: Truth, Winter Soldier, X-23, Spiderman: The Other, House Of M, Decimation, and most notoriously Civil War, and in 2005 DC’s Infinite Crisis was intended to partly undo some of the trends described here (such as Batman being too obsessed and grim), which indicates that some writers thought there was something left to be undone. And the Big Event and Crisis Crossover certainly haven't faded away, either.

I think if Copper Age is going to be '84/'92 then we stick with this next age post '92 as having roots and not overlapping, that's not kosher imo.

Modern Age is always referring to books published in the most reason 10yr span usually so I disagree with the site that '92-present is Modern Age.

The years between 1992 and the present are called the The Modern Age of Comic Books. The Modern Age of Comic Books has produced a greater interest in comic book characters than anyone could have imagined.

I still say Dark Age is most fitting the '93-?? some point period. As noted in my prior post it was a Dark time for comics, its characters, publishers and direct dealers.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I agree that the Bronze Age should also span two decades like the Gold and Silver Ages. Books like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns fit in with the darker plots and more adult themes that started coming into the forefront during the Bronze Age. I think the Modern Age began in the early 90s with the formation of Image Comics and DC's Vertigo imprint (I'd argue that the formation of Dark Horse Comics in the late 80s could even be considered a prelude to the Modern Age, too).

I'd prefer to stick with the metallurgical theme, but "Copper Age" sounds dumb. Maybe "Iron Age"? I dunno.

"Iron Age" is the term I've often seen. I think it's a fair separation; there's quite a bit of difference between a mid-1980s comic book and a 1970s or early 1980s issue. I thought the periods were laid out along these lines:

Golden: Mid 30s - Mid 50s
(Atomic: Mid 40s - Mid 50s)
Silver: Mid 50s - Mid 70s
Bronze: Mid 70s - Mid 80s
Iron: Mid 80s - Mid 90s
?: Mid 90s - Mid 00s (c. Infinite Crisis, Civil War)
?: Mid 00s - ? (Mid 10s?)

(Apparently, total US comic sales in North America presently surpass manga sales here by a factor of several when all distribution channels are included.)

Nicely done..I like this list...My favorite era here is the bronze age...JLA was great, Brave and The Bold as a BATMAN teamup mag was in its prime...great time to be alive!!!

Rob

 

[suarezguy]

I'd go with a few
Golden Age 1938-56 (Superman to Showcase #4)
Silver Age 56-69/70 (to O'Neil on Batman and Green Lantern)
Bronze Age 69/70-85 (to Crisis)
Dark Age 86-97/99 (Watchmen/TDKR/Byrne's Superman followed by the Death of Superman/Knightfall/going from Hal to Kyle Raynar/the Spider-Man Clone Saga)
Ultimate Age-97 or 99 to present (the end of the Spider-Man Clone Saga or Byrne's Spider-Man followed by the Ultimate line, returning Hal as GL, and Brand New Day, all attempts to make books either newer and fresher or more Silver Age-ish).

 

[miraclefan]

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