I like to think that the current age we are in might be the digital age seeing as a lot of comic books that can be over 20 years old can be read online that and your more likely to find very old comics online more than you are in your local comic book shop
It stopped being called "Detective Comics" in 1967. They're just "DC Comics" now. Similarly, WWE stopped being "World Wrestling Entertainment" in 2011, they're just "WWE."
KingOfKingz819 Yes, but the “DC” stands for Detective Comics, and “WWE” stands for World Wrestling Entertainment, even if they still identify as DC Comics or WWE
*A Timeline of the Different Comic Book Ages!* Comic book history is typically divided up into a few different ages: The Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Modern Age, etc. ***** explains the characteristics of each age and how the impacted the comic industry today! What's your favorite age? Let us know in the comments! _Comic Misconceptions explores the all but forgotten stories, details, and little known fun facts about popular comic book characters while testing your knowledge with a weekly trivia challenge!_ Hosted by ***** *SUBSCRIBE now!* bit.ly/SubNerdSync *LIKE NerdSync on Facebook:* bit.ly/LikeNerdSync *FOLLOW NerdSync on Twitter:* bit.ly/FollowNerdSync *JOIN NerdSync on Google+:* bit.ly/CircleNerdSync *LISTEN to the NerdSync Podcast:* bit.ly/PodcastNerdSync #comics #comicbooks #batman #superman #marvelcomics #dccomics #goldenagecomics #silveragecomics #bronzeagecomics #modernagecomics #darkagecomics #ironagecomics #theflash #watchmen #nerd #geek #nerdsync #scottniswander #youtube #comicmisconceptions
***** Don't be sorry. We love questions! I was just letting you know that TH-cam won't let me respond to your comments even though I would like to. I was wondering if it was something your end that was preventing us from interacting with you. You ask good questions and leave good comments, but I can't respond to them for some reason.
You said comics were simple and cartooney but I have two questions. Some covers looked very realistic not just because of the art but the way they handled the ink on the cover. They looked like paintings instead of a scene from a comic-book, So: 1) Is there a name to this process of making a realistic cover in the 30s and early 40s? 2) Also. what are your thoughts in the art of Alex Raymond who was Jack Kirby's biggest influence and particularly Hal Foster who created Prince Valiant whose every panel is super detailed?
It's more of a generalization. Obviously not all artists are going to follow the common path of everyone else, but that common path is useful for creating a standard feel for comic art of the time. Even today you have comics that are pretty cartoony, but the majority are more on the realistic side with lots of detail in the lighting and shading and colors and all that stuff. What I mean by "cartoony" is that a lot of the art consisted of just enough lines to get the point across. Something like Prince Valiant didn't follow that style, but may have helped Kirby combine the two styles together in harmony. I'm no expert by any means, so take everything I said with a skeptical outlook. Haha
***** I would trade cartoony art for simplistic art. I think it was simply the natural progression of things. The older comics were so full of colors and detail because the action was either too fast or two slow. IE If you look at Flash Gordon the rockets are fast enough to travel to other planets yet characters move at a human pace, it's man vs machine. In Hal Foster's Prince Valiant or Tarzan the detail is probably to immerse the reader into the story, as in the many details from a tale of folklore are there to immerse the listener. You can also establish similarities with The Phantom, whom is considered to be the first modern superhero, stories were too long precisely because they were newspaper strips. If you look at Jack Kirby's wavy panels in Timely Comics it really feels like superhuman speed in a human body. So in order to incorporate the overall feel of speed and dynamism into the magazine itself the art on the comics had to be toned down. Before the Golden Age the focal point of the strips was the story regardless if it had superheroes or not, and when the Great Depression became unbearable and later when WW2 erupted, the focal point of the stories were the heroes themselves clearing off injustices, taking down bad guys and conquering evil. And I think that's the key to unveil why the Golden Age comics were the way they were, or at least that's my theory. Regardless, I think your show is awesome.
The kryptonite age The vibranium age The adimantium age The steel age The platinum age The new age This took 15 minutes to type I typed with my little toe.
I like the bronze age best, I think it has stories with more structure and gives enough depth to the comics without going overboard with the doom and drama like I think modern comics do. I got into comics from the animated Spiderman show in the 90s. I didn't actually start reading Spiderman, though. My first comics were Daredevil because he was in an (maybe multiple?) episode, and he really grabbed my attention with his backstory and I had to get the comics since he didn't have a movie (and as far as I'm concerned, he still doesn't) or a TV show or anything like that.
my opinion GA: Action Comics #1 to the end of the war SA: Barry Allen first appearance to death of Gwen Stacy BA: 73 to 85 Dark Age: Watchmen/Dark Knight Returns/ Crisis to 05 Modern Age: Civil War to present
I always loved the Golden Age of comics. As part of my graduate studies, I chose to focus on comic book history and criticism (I am on a society and culture track). I never get tired of it.
When I started collecting in the 80’s the Ages were loosely divided by superhero eras. Pre-war to the comics code was the Golden Age. The era in the late 50’s to 60’s when most DC characters were recreated and Marvel was creating their new universe was considered Silver Age. The Bronze Age was the 70’s when things started to get grittier - Green Lantern/Green Arrow. X-Men Giant Size.
The bronze age was the best in my opinion. It had the best artwork, and I think the best storylines. Once again marvel was ahead in this age. It's said the bronze age was the 70s and 80s. Grace Randolf even mentioned this.
I got into comics in the early 90's , my school had a few in the library G.I.Joe, Captain America (Capwolf) and I think Spiderman, I was hooked. Got older and had stopped paying as much attention. A quick return in '07 , had some free time, healing from a breakup; getting high drinking a beer, Watching Seinfeld DVD's and going through my new Set of cards. Collected all of the Marvel Universe Series 3 from '92, another collection started as a kid. Found 2 unopened boxes on Ebay. My things had since been stashed away, then I saw Age of Ultron , that got me to find my old collections and now Im back into comics. I had forgotten some of the things I had.
This was presented in a very honest, humble, and well researched way. Well done. I am a college history professor and I really appreciated your preparation and approach.
A couple of years ago I started reading Marvel's Silver Age comics (all of them, in fat) and was fascinated by it. All the books. I loved how it was one big universe, basically a city filled with superheroes that interacted with one another. But I eventually phased out of it when I reached the 70s... I stopped reading altogether around the time of Gwen Stacy's death. Not because of her death, that was an awesome story, but because it all just becamse too big for me. Too many books, way too many inconsistencies (time being really stretched out, characters never aging. Rick Jones still being a goddman kid +10 years after Hulk #1) for example. It was fun while it lasted to me at least.
It really depends on the character or team of characters, I love the modern era of comics because of how complex the stories an art is. However, I love the campyness of the silver age.
Silver Age seems to be the funnest. It's like fan-fiction without the tears. The animated show "Brave and the Bold", gave a sense of fun with some darkness and humor, it was well balanced imo. The 90s, was a hit or miss but it did bring in a lot of new writers and artwork.
I prefer the silver age, but from marvel's perspective. Not from DC. DC comic books at that time seemed silly... childlike as well as simple. When you stack the avengers against the legion of super heroes, both from the silver age, the differences are clear.
It always depends on the writer. DC comic books writing tended to have a fairy tale quality about it, and even worse when DC story telling was mixed in with ancient myths. Marvel story telling tended to be an extension of what was already possible. This is why Marvel films in tend to do alot better than DC at the box office, with the exception of Batman.
The Dark Age to me is the age where Rob Liefeld's bullshit was the most popular thing in comics, and the modern age started when we got beyond his stupidity. This makes the Dark Age a real Dark Age, a time where bad art, poor story writing and boring fight scenes where characters are uninteresting (because they are all the fucking same) and guns are just everyfucking where, even SUPERMAN had a gun (and a mullet) in that era. Truly it was horrid.
Ohhhhhhhh I was looking for something on the Comic Ages for a lesson i am teaching and stumbled across little baby Scott. Huge fan, my man. Thank you for all your hard work and material. You are awesome.
I would say we've gone past the Modern Age, and are now in The Cinematic Age of comic books ... and it all began with Iron Man ... however, I think the Pre-Cinematic Age started with X-MEN and died with Spider-Man 3. Just my opinions.
Ian Hollis Hmm, that's interesting. I hold the stance that we really can't define new ages until we are out of them. This way we can reflect back on them and see trends and study it. But you may be right.
I think I actually like the Silver Age the most. It's just so much fun. Plus you can not get enough of that Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko art. I'd like the Dark Age more if there wasn't so much bad imitations of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen flooding everything.
Looking back, I would have to say that the Bronze Age is my favorite. I started collecting comics back in the 70's and I was too young to really appreciate the more realistic stories but now I can appreciate the awesome story lines.
For a second, I thought the out of focus Green Lantern poster was actually a nude, slightly-chubby She-Hulk from behind. Hey, I've been awake longer than you should, so forgive me.
First of all, I want to thank you and everyone at NerdSync for all of the awesome content that you have done for us. I would love to see a show about the Marvel 2099 stories because I hear that they are planning to reboot these titles in some form which I think would be awesome but it makes me sad at the same time because I have written several stories that I have hoped to bring to Marvel's attention some day. Anyways, I would love to see a Comics Misconceptions episode on Marvel's various future timelines that they have done in the '90's. Even if they don't plan on rebooting the 2099 stories, how different do you think they would be if they wrote them now?
I've also heard of something called "The Dork Age" of Comics. It generally refers to any period that is looked down on. Clone saga, the Leifield era where every character had to have guns and pouches, or really just anything the reader didn't like. I'd say that a Dork age is not one signal time period but many periods where writers just got off track.
Also, I personally see the Dark Age as it's own separate thing. I agree that the Dark Age started right after the Bronze Age and transitioned slowly into the modern age, but I see the Dark Age as the age of gratuitous antiheroes, where deconstructions of comics became much more common than straight-up normal comics, and the Modern Age still having that stuff present, but to a much lower degree, more like a blend between all the ages.
Exactly! That's why, in my own opinion, it makes sense to say that the Modern Age started out with the Dark Age being brutal and violent, but then it slowly calmed down into what we have today. There's no real clear end point for the Dark Age (at least none that I found in my research) so it's much easier to say that they are a part of each other instead of their own completely separate things. Almost like the Dark Age is a subcategory of the Modern Age. They are very similar, except the Dark Age is much more, well, dark. Haha. But that's just my opinion. I really like what you are saying about the Modern Age being a blend between all the ages. I can definitely see that! You have comics today that are so simple and fun like the Silver Age, comics that tackle topical issues like the Bronze Age, and you still have violent, brutal stories like the Dark Age. I think comics today still suffer from trying to be overly complex. There are a lot of Marvel comics I can't read because I have no idea what's going on. When a comic goes back to it's roots of being a good guy triumphing over a bad guy, that's where some magic can be made, just like the Golden Age. It's a fine balance between them all. At the end of the day, I'm just glad we live in a world where comics exist!
It's Truly like this! In order: The Golden age 1938-1948. The Atomic age (or atom age),1949-1955. The Silver age 1956-1971. The Bronze age 1972-1984. Dark Age 1985-1996. The Retro Age 1997-2001. The Modern age 2002-.......…...?. :-)
I think this does a nice job of touching on the touching on the ages and the implications of each. I think the Gold and Silver Ages deserve recognition, because they are eras that started and relaunched comics and created some of it most iconic characters even to this day. However, both ages are tainted with the racism and sexism that defined those eras and stories that imo hard to read, because they so simplistic. Bronze and "Modern" Ages are probably the most impressive as more women and characters of color were introduced and stories became darker and sophisticated. This Modern Age is good in that still more diversity is introduced BUT I think the movies have hurt the comics, because the owners are starting let things like ownership of film rights effect the comics. At times the comics feel more like promotional material than stand-alone products.
It's interesting what you're saying about sexism across the different ages. There was a story I had to leave out about Wonder Woman in the Bronze Age (I think) when the women's rights movement was happening. They actually stripped Wonder Woman of all her powers and made her learn karate instead. The writer thought that it was what the woman wanted. A strong female character who could save the day just as she was. No super powers needed. She could be an inspiration to all the other women out there who want to change the world but don't have super powers. But, this totally backfired and the women readers felt like he took away everything special about the most famous female superhero. She wasn't this powerful female leader anymore. She was just a person. They demanded that they remake her according to her Golden and Silver Age runs. I found that interesting!
***** I agree with those women, I'm more jazzed about Wonder Woman than Black Widow, because WW has actual super powers. I can watch a spy movie any ol time.
According to the news I saw, she'll get her own movie in 2017 after Batman vs. Superman, a Shazam, and Sandman movie then after her movie a Flash & GL movie and finally Man of Steel II. Whether Gal Gadot can pull of that character, we'll have to wait and see. Whomever decided to make a Shazam and Sandman movie, before Wonder Woman must related to whomever works at Disney that decided to make Guardians, Ant-Man, and Dr. Strange before a Black Panther movie.
Here are what I believe set the ages. Platinum-1933 Famous Funnies #1 First true form factor as we know it. Golden-1938 Action Comics #1 First Superhuman. Silver -1956 Showcase #4 Superhero resurgance. Bronze-Tie Conan The Barbarian #1 began the pulp era, and Kirby leaving Marvel. As the bronze age was nearing its end, comic books splintered into several directions. The comics code had ended bringing multiple publishers on board. Dark Knight was the herald of the Dark Age. Walt Simonson started the Modern age with both the X-men/Tital cross-over and his definitive work on thor in 1982/83. Cerebus heralded the Independant age in 1977. The Movie age-1998-now. Blade started it. Comic book origins, line ups and story arcs all began changing to fit possible movie and/ or T.V. use. Basically, everything Magic became Science and comics started reflecting more of real life.
+gabriel51366 The Movie age started with Christopher Reeve's Superman and Tim Burton's Batman. Heck even Adam West's Batman movie was responsible for it's popularity
Have to disagree completely on your opinion that we are still in the same age that started in 1986. The end of the Bronze age and start of the Iron age is very clearly defined and the early nineties "Rusty" or "Steel" or "Image" age is fairly well defined as well, and the end of this Rust age started what most historians now refer to as a "Neo silver age" that started up in the early 2000s, although it's tone was mostly more akin to the Bronze age, the optimistic feel of it as compared to what had come before for more than a decade, reminded fans of the silver age, so the name stuck. The end of this "Neo silver age" began the current modern age of comics, which is marked by no single great distinction as previous ages were, because now comics for all kinds of taste exist side by side. Only in the future will patterns emerge that will enable those historians to rename our modern age into what it was. You also completely forgot to mention the name of the age that fit in between the Golden and Silver ages.. the 1950s pre- Flash silver age are referred to now as the Atomic age of comics. In short; Funny papers and newspaper funnies. Pulps Golden Age 1939 [Superman] Atomic Age 1949 [superheroes fade away] Silver Age [DC the Flash] 1956 / Silver Age [Marvel Fantastic Four] 1961 Bronze age 1971 [Mort Weisinger retires, Kirby change up] Iron Age 1986 [Watchmen] Rust - steel - Image age 1990 -1999 [Super edgy and violent, often overly complex, some focus on art over writing] and the speculator market boom and bust. Neo-Silver age 2000 [a return to optimistic storytelling with bronze age adult themes now allowed] Modern [current] age 2008 - present [Some return to very violent and horrific imagery, but not to the excess of the rust age] But this modern age will be cut up in the future and renamed as all previous modern ages were.
A bit more comment spam, I really like what this show is becoming. It's starting to remind me of PBS Idea Channel but for comics, that's a really good thing. You both have such interesting shows that I'm always looking forward to.
He's a good guy to get inspiration from, very fast paced and keeps your attention. It's nice to see that you're taking the same approach, it's easy to keep my attention locked on your videos which should be a great help in building an audience on this here website of short attention spans.
I think it helps now that I try to make sure I'm about 100% sure of what I'm talking about for each video. He's much smarter than I'll ever be, but having confidence in what I'm talking about might fool people into thinking I'm smart. Haha. I researched for almost a week straight, reading books and watching documentaries just to make sure I was certain with what I was talking about.
I guess I'm a fan of the bronze age, I was fan of the Avengers,Captain America, The Hulk, Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, ghost Rider, XMen, Defenders, Luke Cage Power Man (And Heros for Hire with Iron Fist), Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu, and the Savage Tales of Conan to name a few... Later when it started becoming a little more dark, like in the late 80's the Punisher was very successful. I was really in to it at that time, even DC started getting a little darker such as Batman, the Dark Knight.
I prefer the Bronze Age. This age was starting to adapt darker stories and psychological trauma. The Bronze Age has some similarities to the Modern Age. Some of the Bronze Age stories are for younger audiences such as Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, and Batgirl. In my opinion, I prefer the Bronze Age. I know the Bronze Age of Comics. After the Bronze Age, there's the Copper Age. I believe the Bronze and Copper Age of Comics, can be together as one era. Many people believed what if the Bronze Age of Comics still kept on going. For nearly 20 years. This explains why there's the Copper Age, known as the Post Bronze Age. The Copper Age, should be more like a companion and continuation of the Bronze Age. My idea naming for this era should be as "Bronze/Copper Age of Comics". Much like the Gold and Silver Age should be combined together. The Dark Age of Comics actually began with Rob Liefeld era and the start of the edgy aesthetic. This is why the Bronze and Copper should be combined together. This when the age of Patriotism and Innocence were slowly fading out. Which makes comics and other media be more philosophical, serious, mature, tragedy, and worth something fighting for. This is what feels like the beginning of the end.
My time as a reader/collector was from the late '70s through the mid '90s, which sort of straddles the Bronze and Modern ages. As a result, this is still cemented in my mind as the ideal state of affairs. Most of the books I read were appropriate for 12-15 year old readers, but here and there you'd get more serious or shocking storylines/books that skewed into more late teen/adult territory. While I appreciated these more adult books, I found that the more books that took this approach, the less enamoured I was with the comic book scene as a whole. Yes, the emergence of creators who I found to lower the value of my reading experience (MacFarlane, Liefeld, etc) certainly helped push me out of the comics habit, but the continuing expansion of violence for violence's sake in the books left a bad taste in my mouth. Even as a person in my mid 20s I wanted most books to still be appropriate for that 12-15 year old population, and stories about rape and dismemberment just don't fit the bill most of the time. Sure, I wanted something dark like the Kraven's Last Hunt story every once in a while, but I didn't want all of the books to be like that. By the mid 90s I had left the whole thing far behind. Even though I have been a big fan of many of the movies based on comic book heroes that have appeared over the past 20 years, it hasn't taken more than a rudimentary look at the current books to confirm that I have no interest in a return to reading. As an adult and an educator who is in a position to recommend reading materials for parents to share with their kids I wish I could recommend super hero books, but that's just not going to happen the way things are right now. It's too bad, because studies have shown repeatedly that comic books can be powerful tools for building literacy, but I'm not going to harm my relationship with the parents of my students by steering them to the sort of things they'll see in current super hero comic books.
I would say Marvel NOW probably is not the start of a new age. Especially since they recently launched All-New Marvel NOW as well. Marvel is kind of a mess to me. They have this strategy of continually relaunching without actually rebooting anything. People love #1 issues, so Marvel has a series run for a few issues, then they relaunch it so people buy it again. It's a strategy that _kind of_ works, but only for that #1 issue. The New 52 was the right idea and I praise DC for doing it. But the style of story telling didn't really change that much. The ages are largely defined by the style of writing and style of art. I think you could probably pick up a story from before the New 52 and find it easily comparable to stories within the New 52. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know! Some People argue that the Dark Age ended with Ultimate Spider-Man #1 in the early 2000s (I think?), but again, just about everything is subject to opinion when it comes to this stuff. I was just letting you know what I believe, but I'm not saying that it's the only correct answer.
hey I had the same thought like Dakota. Considering that marvel now isn't that big a change as the new 52 one has to admit that dc took their comics to a next level (not necessarily a better one^^) and reinvented a lot of their charakters (like they did at the begining of the silver age). Even though marvel didn't do the same we can see the original x-men team back in action and so on... for me who reads comics since 2007 it is the first big change that i witness. not to forget that superhero movies have a huge impact on the comics they originated from and an impact on how comics are seen in general (most of all thanks to The Dark Knight and Avengers) with all that in mind i have the feeling that we are now in a new age - maybe the renaissence age oder the futur age
Frank G I can totally see that argument. As for most of the ages, it's all a matter of opinion. So if you believe we are in a new age, then we are in a new age! Haha
This oldie popped up in my recs and it's still entertaining and informative, but Scott looks like such a Jimmy Olsen style kid with that peach fuzz head, who knew this little boy who worries about the excessive length of a 15 minute video would grow into such a great man who gives me deep dives into the Scoobies and the Doobies along with Captain Barely Animated, with insightful social commentary, not to mention giving me an hour each week asking if it was aliens (probably not).
***** For me, the timeline of comics is: -Golden Age : start with Action Comics #1 -Silver Age: start with DC Showcase #4 -Bronze Age: start with Jack Kirby move to DC and his book at DC is Superman Pal's Jimmy Olsen #133 -Modern Age: start with Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and Crisis on Infinite Earths
I'm in the "Don't give a crap" age where I don't really give a crap about what age where in. But if I were to pinpoint an age we're in I would say Modern/Dark age.
The beefcake, "edgy", armed-to-the-teeth, macho-man, Rob Liefeld style comics all over the place, and the necessity to kill or cripple emblematic characters. But i guess it has its positives, cause it was also the blossoming of the Vertigo comics.
"Watchmen" and "Dark Knight Returns" were only revolutionary to non-comic fans. Anyone who read comics had already seen all that, in Claremont's X-Men, Miller's DareDevil, and O'Niel's Batman.
Modern just means the present. So technically, the modern age of comics is literally whatever is currently going on. We are always in the modern age for as long as comics exist. As such it doesn't make much sense namewise. To be clear, my views on whether this is still the bronze age or the modern age or whatever are irrelevant to my point. You can say we are still in the bronze age, or that the bronze age and the iron age and the dark age and the modern age all exist as separate entities, or anything in between. It's just the term itself is weird in how it's being applied and i found it interesting
They should really make it so it's more kid friendly, for example, my cousin loves batman, but he's only six! He only likes him because the costume is cool!
bobthecow connolly I hear ya. There's a series right now called Gotham Academy which is supposed to be a more kid-friendly comic set in Gotham city. I know it probably doesn't have Batman as a main character, but it still could be a fun read for the youngster who is into it.
Captain America, especially his new movie, sparked my interest in comic books. I think it comes as no surprise that I like the idea of the golden age, with patriotism and good beating evil, something I feel today's society is lacking.
I'd argue that 2020-2021 have started a new age the coal age I call it that due to some comics being good and some other comics like new warriors are just bad
I have a complaint to make. Your 15:41 timeline actually took over an hour. I did kinda paused the video frequently to look at the art. BUT THAT'S NOT MY FAULT.
This reminds me of a series of videos I recently watched about the history of science... where most of the "revolutions" were not really revolutions and they did not occur overnight, the same that in history of humans the "discoveries" and everything, in general, is done by many people at different times, ways and places. All companies have their own version of the "eras" cause they experience it in different ways...
Can you say why Batman should or it is logical that he use the lazarus pit. I mean he is still young in the comic but all the robins have grown up into adulthood.
okay it was got their idea what age is when it starts and ends starts and begins roughly every 20 years if you look at it every generation that is born will get into some form of comics in their adolescence and then to their teens and then upon their adults stage they most likely will find someone get married and have kids and the cycle as we start all over again it's how you can tell your ages of comics also you can tell in the way the stories reflect the era they're being printed in thank you
Here is my interpretation of the ages of comic books Pre-golden: funnies on parade-action comics #1 Golden: Action comics #1-Showcase #1 Silver: Showcase #1-amazing Spider-Man #119 Bronze: ASM #119-Crisis on infinite earths #12 Iron: Crisis on Infinite Earths #12-Adjectivless X-Men #1 Dark: Adjectivless X-Men #1-JLA #1 Copper: JLA #1 - Civil War #7 (this is where my interpretations take over) Mercury: civil war #7 - DC Rebirth #1 Modern: DC Rebirth #1-present
No, this: 1842 - 1897 Victorian Age Les amours de Mr. Vieux Bois (first comic ever) 1897 - 1938 Platinum Age The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats 1938 - 1947 Golden Age Action Comics 1 1948 - 1956 Atomic Age All American Western 103 1956 - 1970 Silver Age Showcase 4 1970 - 1985 Bronze Age Green Lantern 76, Conan 1 > 1985 past: Modern Age < 1985 - 1991 Dark/Copper Age Crisis on infinite Earths 1991 - 1998 Extreme Age X-Force 1 1998 - today Movie Age Blade
I like you kid. Your honest about your knowledge and research. You communicate very well. As far as what age I like best. Though I'm very patriotic I like the modern age. As far as who Lois Lane fell in love with. That would be yours truly. I'm sure. Keep up the good work. And don't feel so bad when Batman kicks Superman's ass. It was meant to be he had it coming and all the Dark Knight movies did anyway.
the dark age was 1990(ish) to 2005 this was the speculator boom this was when comic became unbearably dark and "mature". Today we have better selection. I like Squirrel Girl, she is the best. but in the 90's you would be hard pressed to find a more "happy go lucky" line of comics.
I got interested in comics and superheroes thanks to the 'animated series' era of cartoons, Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Spiderman TAS, etc. They along with Star Wars were the only things I was remotely interested in, up until I read LOTR of course.
I actually think we are on the cusp of a new age of comics right now that is based on exploiting the multiverse concept more than ever before. The multiverse is basically the whole gimmick behind things like DCs New 52 and Marvel’s Ultimate comics while a number of recent cannon storylines like Superior Spiderman or the Original Sin crossovers are defined by major changes to conventional continuity in ways that used to only be seen in a few non-cannon one shots. Alternate universes and what if scenarios seem to dominate comics right now in a way that I don’t think they really have in a long time. I think that the rise of the superhero movie is what is really shaping this new age. As comic book heroes become more mainstream, things like origin stories and common arcs become common knowledge, even amongst people who don’t necessarily read comics. In a world where everyone knows the characters already, it becomes easier to create alternate versions of them, or to explore what would happen to them under different situations. Also, the increase in knowledge of the characters amongst people who previously hadn’t known who they were, generates a new market looking for something new, which prompts more what ifs and alternate reality scenarios. Heroes like Batman and Superman have always had a screen presence, and superman has a million alternate universe comics as a consequence, but nowadays the Guardians of the Galaxy are mainstream, an idea that I would have laughed at a decade ago. I think this mainstreaming of comics and comic characters has had a deep and tangible effect that may one day lead to comic historians referring to the birth of the Marvel Cinematic universe, and the weird unrelated comics that followed, as the start of a new comic age. I’ll call it the Aluminum Age (aluminum is the most common metal on earth’s surface, a reference to the entrance of integrated comic book continuity into the realm of mainstream common knowledge.)
Nice little nod to the Edgar Wright/Ant Man thing. I was honestly only interested in it because I love Edgar Wright's work, and him leaving the project brings me back to not caring much about Ant Man. Also, come on, man. Really should have thrown out a spoiler tag about Gwen Stacey dying. How could you ruin that for me? It's not like it happened 40 years ago.
Silver age ended later (and there are 2 phases built within Silver age). There is a point in 1974 where it actually ends. While stories were already getting more adult oriented, It has to do with a shift in character creations/stories/publishers (Wolverine first appearance, savage sword of conan etc). Bronze age ends in 1985/1986 with Secret wars/Crisis - those two events herald the end of that era. The copper age era ends in roughly 1994 with the collapse of the collectors and zero hour (Also intros of new characters/teams) - this is also the same timeframe where publishers moved everything to being under Diamond, creating a monopoly). The modern era ended in 2009 with the Final Crisis and the ending of Ultimate Spider-man (though the modern era could be split into two parts somewhere around 2000). The current era is on the verge of its end as well, I would say within the next 18 months IF NOT IN THE PAST MONTH, if you do not already consider the shift from Diamond, the mass layoffs et al. The next era will most likely be the final era for comics as we know them....and it will most likely be like a super-nova....fast, hard and big flash to a whimpering existence after that. Comics need at least 1500 stores to survive and they are barely above that number at the moment. i believe it is around 1700, which is way down from its peak of over 4000
The oldest comic I have is Fantastic Four #35 from 1965. I bought it not because I'm a speculator, but a lover of comics. Sure, I'll never read the story straight off the pages, which would basically disintegrate if I handled it, but that's what collected editions, youtube videos, and downloads are for. I've read the story, but I doubt I'll ever sell it. I just like having it because of the history it tells from the worn pages, the different art style, and the early renditions and depictions of characters which have endured up until today.
Keep the comic for 2 reasons 1.its fucking awsome to have it 2.Maybe in 100 to 300 years (if you have kids pass it on) I imagine in the said time the comic would be worth around a million bucks
I kind of consider the DC timeline from Crisis On Infinite Earths to Flashpoint as a one big era called The Crisis Age, since that particular era was filled with tons of crisis that affected the DCU and the biggest victim being the Legion timeline. Speaking of the Legion of Superheroes, I think they beat Spiderman to the punch as the first young heroes who weren't sidekicks having their own series unless we count Superman's years as Superboy, who made his first appearance in the Golden Age.
That's a good point. I might argue that Spider-Man was more influential because Superboy and the original Legion of Superheroes team were all born off of Earth. Spider-Man showed that a kid from this planet and this time can be a hero.
Captain America's origin copies that of an earlier character called the Shield, also dressed in Red, white and blue with white stars and red and white stripes it had nazi spies and a super strength formula which capt's story changed to super soldier formula. Wonder Woman also dressed in red, white and blue with white stars but add yellow eagle symbolic of american bald eagle and another character the Guardian has similar origin and shield and dressed in blue and yellow.
Please, please, please, please do an episode about the Comic Code Authority. Fredric Wertham was such an odious little troll. I want more people to know and despise what he did to artists.
I think we started off naming them poorly, not thinking comics would still go on and we'd run out of ages. Here's how we could start looking at it: [What division they fall into] 1st Eon [1E] Classical Era [CE] Golden Period [CE] Silver Period [CE] Bronze Period [CE] Iron Period [IP] New Wave Epoch [IP] Variant Epoch [IP] Dark Epoch [IP] Reboot Epoch [IP] Blockbuster Epoch 2nd Eon [2E] Post-Classical Era [PE] 2nd Golden Period (Modern) [GP] Mass-Market Epoch You could further divide Epochs into Chron: like British Invasion Chron, Dark and Gritty Chron, Mutant Chron, Death of Hero Chron
I think the "Dark Age" happened during the 90s when everything was "2edgy4me" and plot lines became overly convoluted. The "Modern Age" seems to have started with the beginning of Marvel's Ultimate universe.
THE ADULT AGE OF WHEN I CAN SPEND MY MONEY ON WHAT I LIKE INSTEAD OF ASKING MOM FOR MONEY TO READ AND BUY A COMICBOOK.
Almost there
Heh, my parents hated me reading them, so I bought the in secret with my lunch money, but now I can almost buy everything I want.
+buttascotchbro1 The best age!!!!!
One Love brah..and you you know this..
Haha yes! I'm at that age right now, and it is glorious!
NerdSync has so much replay value. I just watch and re-watch everything, never get bored.
Same
Wtf.....
Yep, I'm pretty sure I've seen all of his Spidey Videos at least 3 times each.
Geoffrey Blasiman this is my fourth time watching this
from the future, 2017, and i COMPLETELY agree. this is invaluable resource.
I like to think that the current age we are in might be the digital age seeing as a lot of comic books that can be over 20 years old can be read online that and your more likely to find very old comics online more than you are in your local comic book shop
Hawkman That's very true. Marvel Unlimited has over 15,000 comics and helps a lot when I want to read older issues.
Why do we call it DC Comics, when DC stands for Detective Comics? We're saying, Detective Comics Comics.
Oh shit!
And when you're talking about detective comics it's detective comics comics detective comics
It stopped being called "Detective Comics" in 1967. They're just "DC Comics" now. Similarly, WWE stopped being "World Wrestling Entertainment" in 2011, they're just "WWE."
there's a word for that. tautology
KingOfKingz819 Yes, but the “DC” stands for Detective Comics, and “WWE” stands for World Wrestling Entertainment, even if they still identify as DC Comics or WWE
I’m so glad that 2014 comic book nerd fashion is so well preserved on the internet. It’s *bold.*
Scott has had such a glow-up over the years.
*A Timeline of the Different Comic Book Ages!*
Comic book history is typically divided up into a few different ages: The Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Modern Age, etc. ***** explains the characteristics of each age and how the impacted the comic industry today!
What's your favorite age? Let us know in the comments!
_Comic Misconceptions explores the all but forgotten stories, details, and little known fun facts about popular comic book characters while testing your knowledge with a weekly trivia challenge!_
Hosted by *****
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#comics #comicbooks #batman #superman #marvelcomics #dccomics #goldenagecomics #silveragecomics #bronzeagecomics #modernagecomics #darkagecomics #ironagecomics #theflash #watchmen #nerd #geek #nerdsync #scottniswander #youtube #comicmisconceptions
***** Don't be sorry. We love questions! I was just letting you know that TH-cam won't let me respond to your comments even though I would like to. I was wondering if it was something your end that was preventing us from interacting with you. You ask good questions and leave good comments, but I can't respond to them for some reason.
You said comics were simple and cartooney but I have two questions.
Some covers looked very realistic not just because of the art but the way they handled the ink on the cover. They looked like paintings instead of a scene from a comic-book,
So:
1) Is there a name to this process of making a realistic cover in the 30s and early 40s?
2) Also. what are your thoughts in the art of Alex Raymond who was Jack Kirby's biggest influence and particularly Hal Foster who created Prince Valiant whose every panel is super detailed?
It's more of a generalization. Obviously not all artists are going to follow the common path of everyone else, but that common path is useful for creating a standard feel for comic art of the time. Even today you have comics that are pretty cartoony, but the majority are more on the realistic side with lots of detail in the lighting and shading and colors and all that stuff. What I mean by "cartoony" is that a lot of the art consisted of just enough lines to get the point across. Something like Prince Valiant didn't follow that style, but may have helped Kirby combine the two styles together in harmony. I'm no expert by any means, so take everything I said with a skeptical outlook. Haha
*****
I would trade cartoony art for simplistic art.
I think it was simply the natural progression of things. The older comics were so full of colors and detail because the action was either too fast or two slow.
IE If you look at Flash Gordon the rockets are fast enough to travel to other planets yet characters move at a human pace, it's man vs machine.
In Hal Foster's Prince Valiant or Tarzan the detail is probably to immerse the reader into the story, as in the many details from a tale of folklore are there to immerse the listener.
You can also establish similarities with The Phantom, whom is considered to be the first modern superhero, stories were too long precisely because they were newspaper strips.
If you look at Jack Kirby's wavy panels in Timely Comics it really feels like superhuman speed in a human body. So in order to incorporate the overall feel of speed and dynamism into the magazine itself the art on the comics had to be toned down.
Before the Golden Age the focal point of the strips was the story regardless if it had superheroes or not, and when the Great Depression became unbearable and later when WW2 erupted, the focal point of the stories were the heroes themselves clearing off injustices, taking down bad guys and conquering evil.
And I think that's the key to unveil why the Golden Age comics were the way they were, or at least that's my theory.
Regardless, I think your show is awesome.
Modern!
The kryptonite age
The vibranium age
The adimantium age
The steel age
The platinum age
The new age
This took 15 minutes to type I typed with my little toe.
What about the Uru Age?
You missed the goddamn commas.
What about the carbodonium age??
Or dianesiam age???
but why?
The gallium age
"...and Spider-Man's clone saga."
Aw shit not this stuff again
I like the bronze age best, I think it has stories with more structure and gives enough depth to the comics without going overboard with the doom and drama like I think modern comics do.
I got into comics from the animated Spiderman show in the 90s. I didn't actually start reading Spiderman, though. My first comics were Daredevil because he was in an (maybe multiple?) episode, and he really grabbed my attention with his backstory and I had to get the comics since he didn't have a movie (and as far as I'm concerned, he still doesn't) or a TV show or anything like that.
Daredevil has a Netflix show! As does Jessica Jones. Both were awesome, especially in live action! - Nali
He didn't then, though. I'm talking about the animated Spiderman that ran from 94 - 98.
Perry Turner that was a great show.
It really was
Perry Turner i loved that show and thats the show that got me in to superheroes!!
my opinion
GA: Action Comics #1 to the end of the war
SA: Barry Allen first appearance to death of Gwen Stacy
BA: 73 to 85
Dark Age: Watchmen/Dark Knight Returns/ Crisis to 05
Modern Age: Civil War to present
W
I completely agree with your thought.
Modern Age has been plagued with one sided events and forced characters being added to books
I agree with this
Digital Age 2008-present (Start of the MCU with the Iron Man film) (My opinion)
You said that 1996 almost killed comic collecting. Is this something that you can elaborate on in one of your videos?
Already did. th-cam.com/video/W9Xq6sDntpE/w-d-xo.html
Thank you! Just subscibed, so I haven't had a chance to check out all the videos. :)
PhantomRX Thanks for subscribing! I hope you enjoy your stay!
***** That's what I call efficiency.
PhantomRX they theorize that speculating the value of comics somehow brought down the collecting side.
I always loved the Golden Age of comics. As part of my graduate studies, I chose to focus on comic book history and criticism (I am on a society and culture track). I never get tired of it.
people be like WHENS THE ALUMINUM FOIL AGE WHENS THE TIN AGE WHENS THE COPPER AGE WHENS THE MERCURY AGE WHENS THE DOORKNOB METAL AGE
Ben Adams Hahahaha. Pretty much!
You joke but the 90s with their over-abundance of Foil-covers could be called an Aluminum Foil Age LOL. :-D
I love this lol
When I started collecting in the 80’s the Ages were loosely divided by superhero eras. Pre-war to the comics code was the Golden Age. The era in the late 50’s to 60’s when most DC characters were recreated and Marvel was creating their new universe was considered Silver Age. The Bronze Age was the 70’s when things started to get grittier - Green Lantern/Green Arrow. X-Men Giant Size.
The bronze age was the best in my opinion. It had the best artwork, and I think the best storylines. Once again marvel was ahead in this age. It's said the bronze age was the 70s and 80s. Grace Randolf even mentioned this.
I got into comics in the early 90's , my school had a few in the library G.I.Joe, Captain America (Capwolf) and I think Spiderman, I was hooked. Got older and had stopped paying as much attention. A quick return in '07 , had some free time, healing from a breakup; getting high drinking a beer, Watching Seinfeld DVD's and going through my new Set of cards. Collected all of the Marvel Universe Series 3 from '92, another collection started as a kid. Found 2 unopened boxes on Ebay. My things had since been stashed away, then I saw Age of Ultron , that got me to find my old collections and now Im back into comics. I had forgotten some of the things I had.
Golden Age: 1938-1956
Silver Age: 1956-1970
Bronze Age: 1970-1986
Dark Age: 1986-1998
Modern Age: 1998-Present
This was presented in a very honest, humble, and well researched way. Well done. I am a college history professor and I really appreciated your preparation and approach.
A couple of years ago I started reading Marvel's Silver Age comics (all of them, in fat) and was fascinated by it. All the books. I loved how it was one big universe, basically a city filled with superheroes that interacted with one another. But I eventually phased out of it when I reached the 70s... I stopped reading altogether around the time of Gwen Stacy's death. Not because of her death, that was an awesome story, but because it all just becamse too big for me. Too many books, way too many inconsistencies (time being really stretched out, characters never aging. Rick Jones still being a goddman kid +10 years after Hulk #1) for example. It was fun while it lasted to me at least.
It really depends on the character or team of characters, I love the modern era of comics because of how complex the stories an art is. However, I love the campyness of the silver age.
Silver Age seems to be the funnest. It's like fan-fiction without the tears. The animated show "Brave and the Bold", gave a sense of fun with some darkness and humor, it was well balanced imo.
The 90s, was a hit or miss but it did bring in a lot of new writers and artwork.
I prefer the silver age, but from marvel's perspective. Not from DC.
DC comic books at that time seemed silly... childlike as well as simple.
When you stack the avengers against the legion of super heroes, both from the silver age, the differences are clear.
Eh depends on the writer. There are a lot of dc silver age stories with a lot of depth.
It always depends on the writer.
DC comic books writing tended to have a fairy tale quality about it, and even worse when DC story telling was mixed in with ancient myths.
Marvel story telling tended to be an extension of what was already possible. This is why Marvel films in tend to do alot better than DC at the box office, with the exception of Batman.
+BearCubster The movies have nothing with the comics though. The writers of the movies does not write the comics
Try to keep up.
Wasn't talking about the movies.
The Dark Age to me is the age where Rob Liefeld's bullshit was the most popular thing in comics, and the modern age started when we got beyond his stupidity.
This makes the Dark Age a real Dark Age, a time where bad art, poor story writing and boring fight scenes where characters are uninteresting (because they are all the fucking same) and guns are just everyfucking where, even SUPERMAN had a gun (and a mullet) in that era. Truly it was horrid.
Scott with hair old school
Ohhhhhhhh I was looking for something on the Comic Ages for a lesson i am teaching and stumbled across little baby Scott. Huge fan, my man. Thank you for all your hard work and material. You are awesome.
Jesus this video is old, he still has a full head of hair
Since I don't know: What happened to him?
@@thenoirknight5729 he had hair back then and now he’s bald. Not exactly a “trilling” tale
Should propably mention direct sales to comic book shops and self publishing as impacting content.
I would say we've gone past the Modern Age, and are now in The Cinematic Age of comic books ... and it all began with Iron Man ... however, I think the Pre-Cinematic Age started with X-MEN and died with Spider-Man 3. Just my opinions.
Ian Hollis Hmm, that's interesting. I hold the stance that we really can't define new ages until we are out of them. This way we can reflect back on them and see trends and study it. But you may be right.
I loved Spiderman 3 .....
I think I actually like the Silver Age the most. It's just so much fun. Plus you can not get enough of that Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko art. I'd like the Dark Age more if there wasn't so much bad imitations of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen flooding everything.
Looking back, I would have to say that the Bronze Age is my favorite. I started collecting comics back in the 70's and I was too young to really appreciate the more realistic stories but now I can appreciate the awesome story lines.
For a second, I thought the out of focus Green Lantern poster was actually a nude, slightly-chubby She-Hulk from behind. Hey, I've been awake longer than you should, so forgive me.
Tracer-Hulk
I see it yo. I see dem cheeks. I know its green lantern, but i prefer imagining it is she-hulk’s booty
First of all, I want to thank you and everyone at NerdSync for all of the awesome content that you have done for us. I would love to see a show about the Marvel 2099 stories because I hear that they are planning to reboot these titles in some form which I think would be awesome but it makes me sad at the same time because I have written several stories that I have hoped to bring to Marvel's attention some day. Anyways, I would love to see a Comics Misconceptions episode on Marvel's various future timelines that they have done in the '90's. Even if they don't plan on rebooting the 2099 stories, how different do you think they would be if they wrote them now?
Adding it to the list! And now I'm interested in reading those stories you've written.
the Golden Age: Savior, Myhtical, Rebels, Patriots, Vigilantes, Cosplayer.
the Silver Age: Scientist, Teenagers, Cosmic, Diverse, Dammigod.
the Bronze Age: Crusaders, Activits, Fugitives, Anti Warriors, Humanist, Philosopher, Minority, Creatures.
happy January 1 2015 at this was posted at 12:32
Spencer MacDougall Happy New Year!!!
I've also heard of something called "The Dork Age" of Comics. It generally refers to any period that is looked down on. Clone saga, the Leifield era where every character had to have guns and pouches, or really just anything the reader didn't like. I'd say that a Dork age is not one signal time period but many periods where writers just got off track.
Hî Scott, I typed this on my big toe.
We are clearly in a "Post-Modern Age" of comics now.
"Digital Age" is also a designation that exists in this era of the Post-Modern comic.
Also, I personally see the Dark Age as it's own separate thing. I agree that the Dark Age started right after the Bronze Age and transitioned slowly into the modern age, but I see the Dark Age as the age of gratuitous antiheroes, where deconstructions of comics became much more common than straight-up normal comics, and the Modern Age still having that stuff present, but to a much lower degree, more like a blend between all the ages.
Exactly! That's why, in my own opinion, it makes sense to say that the Modern Age started out with the Dark Age being brutal and violent, but then it slowly calmed down into what we have today. There's no real clear end point for the Dark Age (at least none that I found in my research) so it's much easier to say that they are a part of each other instead of their own completely separate things. Almost like the Dark Age is a subcategory of the Modern Age. They are very similar, except the Dark Age is much more, well, dark. Haha. But that's just my opinion.
I really like what you are saying about the Modern Age being a blend between all the ages. I can definitely see that! You have comics today that are so simple and fun like the Silver Age, comics that tackle topical issues like the Bronze Age, and you still have violent, brutal stories like the Dark Age. I think comics today still suffer from trying to be overly complex. There are a lot of Marvel comics I can't read because I have no idea what's going on. When a comic goes back to it's roots of being a good guy triumphing over a bad guy, that's where some magic can be made, just like the Golden Age.
It's a fine balance between them all. At the end of the day, I'm just glad we live in a world where comics exist!
It's Truly like this!
In order:
The Golden age 1938-1948.
The Atomic age (or atom age),1949-1955.
The Silver age 1956-1971.
The Bronze age 1972-1984.
Dark Age 1985-1996.
The Retro Age 1997-2001.
The Modern age 2002-.......…...?. :-)
Did Lousis (I can't spell) Lane fall in love with superman's dad (just a guess)?
Curious to see what the Modern Age will be called in the future. You should make a video speculating ideas around this.
I think this does a nice job of touching on the touching on the ages and the implications of each.
I think the Gold and Silver Ages deserve recognition, because they are eras that started and relaunched comics and created some of it most iconic characters even to this day. However, both ages are tainted with the racism and sexism that defined those eras and stories that imo hard to read, because they so simplistic.
Bronze and "Modern" Ages are probably the most impressive as more women and characters of color were introduced and stories became darker and sophisticated.
This Modern Age is good in that still more diversity is introduced BUT I think the movies have hurt the comics, because the owners are starting let things like ownership of film rights effect the comics. At times the comics feel more like promotional material than stand-alone products.
It's interesting what you're saying about sexism across the different ages. There was a story I had to leave out about Wonder Woman in the Bronze Age (I think) when the women's rights movement was happening. They actually stripped Wonder Woman of all her powers and made her learn karate instead. The writer thought that it was what the woman wanted. A strong female character who could save the day just as she was. No super powers needed. She could be an inspiration to all the other women out there who want to change the world but don't have super powers. But, this totally backfired and the women readers felt like he took away everything special about the most famous female superhero. She wasn't this powerful female leader anymore. She was just a person. They demanded that they remake her according to her Golden and Silver Age runs. I found that interesting!
***** I agree with those women, I'm more jazzed about Wonder Woman than Black Widow, because WW has actual super powers. I can watch a spy movie any ol time.
I just need Wonder Woman to have her own movie. I need it so bad!
According to the news I saw, she'll get her own movie in 2017 after Batman vs. Superman, a Shazam, and Sandman movie then after her movie a Flash & GL movie and finally Man of Steel II.
Whether Gal Gadot can pull of that character, we'll have to wait and see.
Whomever decided to make a Shazam and Sandman movie, before Wonder Woman must related to whomever works at Disney that decided to make Guardians, Ant-Man, and Dr. Strange before a Black Panther movie.
I can't complain because I like all those characters!
I have faith that you can keep an objective view and deliver the right information
Shanette Trice I'll look into it and hopefully be able to do it right.
Here are what I believe set the ages.
Platinum-1933 Famous Funnies #1 First true form factor as we know it.
Golden-1938 Action Comics #1 First Superhuman.
Silver -1956 Showcase #4 Superhero resurgance.
Bronze-Tie Conan The Barbarian #1 began the pulp era, and Kirby leaving Marvel.
As the bronze age was nearing its end, comic books splintered into several directions. The comics code had ended bringing multiple publishers on board.
Dark Knight was the herald of the Dark Age.
Walt Simonson started the Modern age with both the X-men/Tital cross-over and his definitive work on thor in 1982/83.
Cerebus heralded the Independant age in 1977.
The Movie age-1998-now. Blade started it. Comic book origins, line ups and story arcs all began changing to fit possible movie and/ or T.V. use. Basically, everything Magic became Science and comics started reflecting more of real life.
+gabriel51366 The Movie age started with Christopher Reeve's Superman and Tim Burton's Batman. Heck even Adam West's Batman movie was responsible for it's popularity
The Bronze Age was really a tonal shift. Conan represents that for Marvel, but for DC it was Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil who set the tone, not Kirby.
Have to disagree completely on your opinion that we are still in the same age that started in 1986.
The end of the Bronze age and start of the Iron age is very clearly defined and the early nineties "Rusty" or "Steel" or "Image" age is fairly well defined as well, and the end of this Rust age started what most historians now refer to as a "Neo silver age" that started up in the early 2000s, although it's tone was mostly more akin to the Bronze age, the optimistic feel of it as compared to what had come before for more than a decade, reminded fans of the silver age, so the name stuck.
The end of this "Neo silver age" began the current modern age of comics, which is marked by no single great distinction as previous ages were, because now comics for all kinds of taste exist side by side. Only in the future will patterns emerge that will enable those historians to rename our modern age into what it was.
You also completely forgot to mention the name of the age that fit in between the Golden and Silver ages.. the 1950s pre- Flash silver age are referred to now as the Atomic age of comics.
In short;
Funny papers and newspaper funnies.
Pulps
Golden Age 1939 [Superman]
Atomic Age 1949 [superheroes fade away]
Silver Age [DC the Flash] 1956 / Silver Age [Marvel Fantastic Four] 1961
Bronze age 1971 [Mort Weisinger retires, Kirby change up]
Iron Age 1986 [Watchmen]
Rust - steel - Image age 1990 -1999 [Super edgy and violent, often overly complex, some focus on art over writing] and the speculator market boom and bust.
Neo-Silver age 2000 [a return to optimistic storytelling with bronze age adult themes now allowed]
Modern [current] age 2008 - present [Some return to very violent and horrific imagery, but not to the excess of the rust age]
But this modern age will be cut up in the future and renamed as all previous modern ages were.
A bit more comment spam, I really like what this show is becoming. It's starting to remind me of PBS Idea Channel but for comics, that's a really good thing. You both have such interesting shows that I'm always looking forward to.
I may or may not have gotten some inspiration from Mike. I'm trying my best not to copy everything he does. Haha.
Also, thank you!
He's a good guy to get inspiration from, very fast paced and keeps your attention. It's nice to see that you're taking the same approach, it's easy to keep my attention locked on your videos which should be a great help in building an audience on this here website of short attention spans.
I think it helps now that I try to make sure I'm about 100% sure of what I'm talking about for each video. He's much smarter than I'll ever be, but having confidence in what I'm talking about might fool people into thinking I'm smart. Haha. I researched for almost a week straight, reading books and watching documentaries just to make sure I was certain with what I was talking about.
I do wish that people would comment more about the video itself instead of just the trivia challenge, but hey, what can I do?
I guess I'm a fan of the bronze age, I was fan of the Avengers,Captain America, The Hulk, Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, ghost Rider, XMen, Defenders, Luke Cage Power Man (And Heros for Hire with Iron Fist), Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu, and the Savage Tales of Conan to name a few... Later when it started becoming a little more dark, like in the late 80's the Punisher was very successful. I was really in to it at that time, even DC started getting a little darker such as Batman, the Dark Knight.
The Modern Age is my favorite age.
I prefer the Bronze Age. This age was starting to adapt darker stories and psychological trauma. The Bronze Age has some similarities to the Modern Age. Some of the Bronze Age stories are for younger audiences such as Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, and Batgirl. In my opinion, I prefer the Bronze Age. I know the Bronze Age of Comics. After the Bronze Age, there's the Copper Age. I believe the Bronze and Copper Age of Comics, can be together as one era. Many people believed what if the Bronze Age of Comics still kept on going. For nearly 20 years. This explains why there's the Copper Age, known as the Post Bronze Age. The Copper Age, should be more like a companion and continuation of the Bronze Age. My idea naming for this era should be as "Bronze/Copper Age of Comics". Much like the Gold and Silver Age should be combined together. The Dark Age of Comics actually began with Rob Liefeld era and the start of the edgy aesthetic. This is why the Bronze and Copper should be combined together. This when the age of Patriotism and Innocence were slowly fading out. Which makes comics and other media be more philosophical, serious, mature, tragedy, and worth something fighting for. This is what feels like the beginning of the end.
i think the bronze age is still going
mircro usb charger well... nope- that's wrong
My time as a reader/collector was from the late '70s through the mid '90s, which sort of straddles the Bronze and Modern ages. As a result, this is still cemented in my mind as the ideal state of affairs. Most of the books I read were appropriate for 12-15 year old readers, but here and there you'd get more serious or shocking storylines/books that skewed into more late teen/adult territory. While I appreciated these more adult books, I found that the more books that took this approach, the less enamoured I was with the comic book scene as a whole.
Yes, the emergence of creators who I found to lower the value of my reading experience (MacFarlane, Liefeld, etc) certainly helped push me out of the comics habit, but the continuing expansion of violence for violence's sake in the books left a bad taste in my mouth. Even as a person in my mid 20s I wanted most books to still be appropriate for that 12-15 year old population, and stories about rape and dismemberment just don't fit the bill most of the time. Sure, I wanted something dark like the Kraven's Last Hunt story every once in a while, but I didn't want all of the books to be like that.
By the mid 90s I had left the whole thing far behind. Even though I have been a big fan of many of the movies based on comic book heroes that have appeared over the past 20 years, it hasn't taken more than a rudimentary look at the current books to confirm that I have no interest in a return to reading. As an adult and an educator who is in a position to recommend reading materials for parents to share with their kids I wish I could recommend super hero books, but that's just not going to happen the way things are right now. It's too bad, because studies have shown repeatedly that comic books can be powerful tools for building literacy, but I'm not going to harm my relationship with the parents of my students by steering them to the sort of things they'll see in current super hero comic books.
What about the Marvel NOW! and DC New 52 reboots? Would that be the beginning of another age?
I would say Marvel NOW probably is not the start of a new age. Especially since they recently launched All-New Marvel NOW as well. Marvel is kind of a mess to me. They have this strategy of continually relaunching without actually rebooting anything. People love #1 issues, so Marvel has a series run for a few issues, then they relaunch it so people buy it again. It's a strategy that _kind of_ works, but only for that #1 issue.
The New 52 was the right idea and I praise DC for doing it. But the style of story telling didn't really change that much. The ages are largely defined by the style of writing and style of art. I think you could probably pick up a story from before the New 52 and find it easily comparable to stories within the New 52. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know!
Some People argue that the Dark Age ended with Ultimate Spider-Man #1 in the early 2000s (I think?), but again, just about everything is subject to opinion when it comes to this stuff. I was just letting you know what I believe, but I'm not saying that it's the only correct answer.
hey I had the same thought like Dakota. Considering that marvel now isn't that big a change as the new 52 one has to admit that dc took their comics to a next level (not necessarily a better one^^) and reinvented a lot of their charakters (like they did at the begining of the silver age). Even though marvel didn't do the same we can see the original x-men team back in action and so on... for me who reads comics since 2007 it is the first big change that i witness. not to forget that superhero movies have a huge impact on the comics they originated from and an impact on how comics are seen in general (most of all thanks to The Dark Knight and Avengers) with all that in mind i have the feeling that we are now in a new age - maybe the renaissence age oder the futur age
Frank G I can totally see that argument. As for most of the ages, it's all a matter of opinion. So if you believe we are in a new age, then we are in a new age! Haha
Props for the quick response, NerdSync. :D
Dakota Williams It's literally because of you guys that I can continue to do this. So I try to respond as much as I can. :)
This oldie popped up in my recs and it's still entertaining and informative, but Scott looks like such a Jimmy Olsen style kid with that peach fuzz head, who knew this little boy who worries about the excessive length of a 15 minute video would grow into such a great man who gives me deep dives into the Scoobies and the Doobies along with Captain Barely Animated, with insightful social commentary, not to mention giving me an hour each week asking if it was aliens (probably not).
Jor-El?
***** For me, the timeline of comics is:
-Golden Age : start with Action Comics #1
-Silver Age: start with DC Showcase #4
-Bronze Age: start with Jack Kirby move to DC and his book at DC is Superman Pal's Jimmy Olsen #133
-Modern Age: start with Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and Crisis on Infinite Earths
I'm in the "Don't give a crap" age where I don't really give a crap about what age where in. But if I were to pinpoint an age we're in I would say Modern/Dark age.
“I am in no way a comic book historian...”
Just you wait, past Scott, just you wait...
The 90's: the crap age of comics.
The beefcake, "edgy", armed-to-the-teeth, macho-man, Rob Liefeld style comics all over the place, and the necessity to kill or cripple emblematic characters. But i guess it has its positives, cause it was also the blossoming of the Vertigo comics.
Dc was really good in the 90's for the most part. Vertigo included of course.
Robson Pommer Cough* Cough* Amalgam comics
Robson Pommer ts not the fault of miracleman, the dark knight returns, sandman and spawn that dc and marvel screwed theyre shit up.
The 90s was a time where everyone wanted to invest in books foe future money. However so many people did this that the copies are worthless
I think that DC's "New 52" - with its emphasis on same-day digital copies - means we are in a new age.
"Watchmen" and "Dark Knight Returns" were only revolutionary to non-comic fans.
Anyone who read comics had already seen all that, in Claremont's X-Men, Miller's DareDevil, and O'Niel's Batman.
Modern just means the present. So technically, the modern age of comics is literally whatever is currently going on. We are always in the modern age for as long as comics exist. As such it doesn't make much sense namewise. To be clear, my views on whether this is still the bronze age or the modern age or whatever are irrelevant to my point. You can say we are still in the bronze age, or that the bronze age and the iron age and the dark age and the modern age all exist as separate entities, or anything in between. It's just the term itself is weird in how it's being applied and i found it interesting
I'm kind of a bronze age man myself. Chris Claremont's X-Men run and the later Romita years on Spider-Man are where it's at
They should really make it so it's more kid friendly, for example, my cousin loves batman, but he's only six! He only likes him because the costume is cool!
bobthecow connolly I hear ya. There's a series right now called Gotham Academy which is supposed to be a more kid-friendly comic set in Gotham city. I know it probably doesn't have Batman as a main character, but it still could be a fun read for the youngster who is into it.
thanks!
You could show him old episodes of Batman the Brave and the Bold, that was fun for all ages.
FaceUnreality Batman the Brave and the Bold was great!
The creation of Image launched both the modern and ultimately the dark age in the late 90s, Hands down.
Captain America, especially his new movie, sparked my interest in comic books. I think it comes as no surprise that I like the idea of the golden age, with patriotism and good beating evil, something I feel today's society is lacking.
If I could guess who she fell in love with, I guess I'll choose arm fall off boy
Isn't he really the answer to everything?
I'd say the modern age. It brought the dark knight returns, the killing joke, A death in the family, just a lot of great batman stories.
Oh and I THINK Under the Red Hood, which was sort of a sequel to A Death in the family.
No sort of, it was a straight-up sequel
+Sebastian Lee it took place around 5 or 6 years after
TheEdgyOnion also death of the family
Don't forget Daredevil Born Again and The Man Without Fear and countless other great Marvel stories
I'm going to guess Jor-El, since there are only a few kryptonians that are regularly known to people.
The new 52 is the dark age of comics
I'd argue that 2020-2021 have started a new age the coal age I call it that due to some comics being good and some other comics like new warriors are just bad
I have a complaint to make. Your 15:41 timeline actually took over an hour. I did kinda paused the video frequently to look at the art. BUT THAT'S NOT MY FAULT.
The original draft of Fantastic 4 was very dark. Sad as it is to say, the closest we've ever seen to that is.... Fant4stic.
the modern age is easily the best. silver and gold suck
This reminds me of a series of videos I recently watched about the history of science... where most of the "revolutions" were not really revolutions and they did not occur overnight, the same that in history of humans the "discoveries" and everything, in general, is done by many people at different times, ways and places. All companies have their own version of the "eras" cause they experience it in different ways...
Can you say why Batman should or it is logical that he use the lazarus pit. I mean he is still young in the comic but all the robins have grown up into adulthood.
okay it was got their idea what age is when it starts and ends starts and begins roughly every 20 years if you look at it every generation that is born will get into some form of comics in their adolescence and then to their teens and then upon their adults stage they most likely will find someone get married and have kids and the cycle as we start all over again it's how you can tell your ages of comics also you can tell in the way the stories reflect the era they're being printed in thank you
think the best was both the golden and silver age, just simple old stories of good over evil, sometimes a weird comic like a fat ray or something
I guess you could say he's INVESTIGATING the comic book ages
I don't really have a preferred Age, I just like a variety of everything.
30s to 50s GA
50s to 70s SA
70s to 90s BA
90s to 06 Dark Age
06-Ongoing Modern Age
The Silver Age has some good stories you just gotta look for them the age wasn't all bad
Superman's dad? If so: JOR EL!!! JOR EL!!! JOR EL!!!
Here is my interpretation of the ages of comic books
Pre-golden: funnies on parade-action comics #1
Golden: Action comics #1-Showcase #1
Silver: Showcase #1-amazing Spider-Man #119
Bronze: ASM #119-Crisis on infinite earths #12
Iron: Crisis on Infinite Earths #12-Adjectivless X-Men #1
Dark: Adjectivless X-Men #1-JLA #1
Copper: JLA #1 - Civil War #7 (this is where my interpretations take over)
Mercury: civil war #7 - DC Rebirth #1
Modern: DC Rebirth #1-present
No, this:
1842 - 1897 Victorian Age Les amours de Mr. Vieux Bois (first comic ever)
1897 - 1938 Platinum Age The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats
1938 - 1947 Golden Age Action Comics 1
1948 - 1956 Atomic Age All American Western 103
1956 - 1970 Silver Age Showcase 4
1970 - 1985 Bronze Age Green Lantern 76, Conan 1
> 1985 past: Modern Age <
1985 - 1991 Dark/Copper Age Crisis on infinite Earths
1991 - 1998 Extreme Age X-Force 1
1998 - today Movie Age Blade
1,000th like!
I like you kid. Your honest about your knowledge and research. You communicate very well.
As far as what age I like best. Though I'm very patriotic I like the modern age.
As far as who Lois Lane fell in love with. That would be yours truly. I'm sure.
Keep up the good work. And don't feel so bad when Batman kicks Superman's ass.
It was meant to be he had it coming and all the Dark Knight movies did anyway.
Fat Mann Thank you very much. I really appreciate that!
the dark age was 1990(ish) to 2005 this was the speculator boom this was when comic became unbearably dark and "mature".
Today we have better selection. I like Squirrel Girl, she is the best. but in the 90's you would be hard pressed to find a more "happy go lucky" line of comics.
+Gilhelmi There was the Tick, Slapstick, Rescue Rangers comics, and several more happy go lucky comics in the 90's.
She fell in love with Jor-El Supermans father.
I got interested in comics and superheroes thanks to the 'animated series' era of cartoons, Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Spiderman TAS, etc. They along with Star Wars were the only things I was remotely interested in, up until I read LOTR of course.
What about Spawn TAS?
I actually think we are on the cusp of a new age of comics right now that is based on exploiting the multiverse concept more than ever before. The multiverse is basically the whole gimmick behind things like DCs New 52 and Marvel’s Ultimate comics while a number of recent cannon storylines like Superior Spiderman or the Original Sin crossovers are defined by major changes to conventional continuity in ways that used to only be seen in a few non-cannon one shots. Alternate universes and what if scenarios seem to dominate comics right now in a way that I don’t think they really have in a long time. I think that the rise of the superhero movie is what is really shaping this new age. As comic book heroes become more mainstream, things like origin stories and common arcs become common knowledge, even amongst people who don’t necessarily read comics. In a world where everyone knows the characters already, it becomes easier to create alternate versions of them, or to explore what would happen to them under different situations. Also, the increase in knowledge of the characters amongst people who previously hadn’t known who they were, generates a new market looking for something new, which prompts more what ifs and alternate reality scenarios. Heroes like Batman and Superman have always had a screen presence, and superman has a million alternate universe comics as a consequence, but nowadays the Guardians of the Galaxy are mainstream, an idea that I would have laughed at a decade ago. I think this mainstreaming of comics and comic characters has had a deep and tangible effect that may one day lead to comic historians referring to the birth of the Marvel Cinematic universe, and the weird unrelated comics that followed, as the start of a new comic age. I’ll call it the Aluminum Age (aluminum is the most common metal on earth’s surface, a reference to the entrance of integrated comic book continuity into the realm of mainstream common knowledge.)
you are absolutely correct
Nice little nod to the Edgar Wright/Ant Man thing. I was honestly only interested in it because I love Edgar Wright's work, and him leaving the project brings me back to not caring much about Ant Man.
Also, come on, man. Really should have thrown out a spoiler tag about Gwen Stacey dying. How could you ruin that for me? It's not like it happened 40 years ago.
Retroactive spoiler-alert! Haha
Silver age ended later (and there are 2 phases built within Silver age). There is a point in 1974 where it actually ends. While stories were already getting more adult oriented, It has to do with a shift in character creations/stories/publishers (Wolverine first appearance, savage sword of conan etc). Bronze age ends in 1985/1986 with Secret wars/Crisis - those two events herald the end of that era. The copper age era ends in roughly 1994 with the collapse of the collectors and zero hour (Also intros of new characters/teams) - this is also the same timeframe where publishers moved everything to being under Diamond, creating a monopoly). The modern era ended in 2009 with the Final Crisis and the ending of Ultimate Spider-man (though the modern era could be split into two parts somewhere around 2000). The current era is on the verge of its end as well, I would say within the next 18 months IF NOT IN THE PAST MONTH, if you do not already consider the shift from Diamond, the mass layoffs et al. The next era will most likely be the final era for comics as we know them....and it will most likely be like a super-nova....fast, hard and big flash to a whimpering existence after that. Comics need at least 1500 stores to survive and they are barely above that number at the moment. i believe it is around 1700, which is way down from its peak of over 4000
The oldest comic I have is Fantastic Four #35 from 1965. I bought it not because I'm a speculator, but a lover of comics. Sure, I'll never read the story straight off the pages, which would basically disintegrate if I handled it, but that's what collected editions, youtube videos, and downloads are for. I've read the story, but I doubt I'll ever sell it. I just like having it because of the history it tells from the worn pages, the different art style, and the early renditions and depictions of characters which have endured up until today.
Keep the comic for 2 reasons 1.its fucking awsome to have it 2.Maybe in 100 to 300 years (if you have kids pass it on) I imagine in the said time the comic would be worth around a million bucks
I have the fantastic 4 issue 1 comic
The oldest comic I have is amazing fantasy issue 15 first appearance of spiderman
jack brass no way man u would love to have that comic
I like silver age just because of Kid Flash (Wally West)
I kind of consider the DC timeline from Crisis On Infinite Earths to Flashpoint as a one big era called The Crisis Age, since that particular era was filled with tons of crisis that affected the DCU and the biggest victim being the Legion timeline.
Speaking of the Legion of Superheroes, I think they beat Spiderman to the punch as the first young heroes who weren't sidekicks having their own series unless we count Superman's years as Superboy, who made his first appearance in the Golden Age.
That's a good point. I might argue that Spider-Man was more influential because Superboy and the original Legion of Superheroes team were all born off of Earth. Spider-Man showed that a kid from this planet and this time can be a hero.
I used to watch the first spiderman at least 1 time a week
Captain America's origin copies that of an earlier character called the Shield, also dressed in Red, white and blue with white stars and red and white stripes it had nazi spies and a super strength formula which capt's story changed to super soldier formula. Wonder Woman also dressed in red, white and blue with white stars but add yellow eagle symbolic of american bald eagle and another character the Guardian has similar origin and shield and dressed in blue and yellow.
I believe the Shield was who Joe Simon was referring to when he said that quote at the end about using ideas at least 8 times. Haha
Bravo Scott wonderful video; I've been discovering your videos and you do a great job. I think we are in the modern age of comics
Please, please, please, please do an episode about the Comic Code Authority. Fredric Wertham was such an odious little troll. I want more people to know and despise what he did to artists.
Fieongoodness I have it planned for next year!
I think we started off naming them poorly, not thinking comics would still go on and we'd run out of ages. Here's how we could start looking at it:
[What division they fall into]
1st Eon
[1E] Classical Era
[CE] Golden Period
[CE] Silver Period
[CE] Bronze Period
[CE] Iron Period
[IP] New Wave Epoch
[IP] Variant Epoch
[IP] Dark Epoch
[IP] Reboot Epoch
[IP] Blockbuster Epoch
2nd Eon
[2E] Post-Classical Era
[PE] 2nd Golden Period (Modern)
[GP] Mass-Market Epoch
You could further divide Epochs into Chron: like British Invasion Chron, Dark and Gritty Chron, Mutant Chron, Death of Hero Chron
I think the "Dark Age" happened during the 90s when everything was "2edgy4me" and plot lines became overly convoluted. The "Modern Age" seems to have started with the beginning of Marvel's Ultimate universe.