30:48 I was really excited when JMS was first announced to write Captain America, mostly because I liked his Spider-Man and Thor, and I like Cap. I got the first trade when it came out, and after the first issue I thought it felt weird and boring. There wasn’t much of anything to grip me, it wasn’t as exciting as some of my favorite Cap runs, and the young Steve Rogers flashbacks felt a bit unnecessary after a while. I was a bit disappointed and lost interest after the first 6 issues because I couldn’t bring myself to care about what was happening, which sucked.
Grant Morrison referred to the 2000's as the Renaissance Age in Supergods. Imo the Dark Age ends with Kingdom Come as a reconstructive response to the excesses of that age. Then there was an interregnum period. Then the then Modern, now Renaissance Age of comics would start with Ultimate Spider-Man. It ends, imo, with the end of the Ultimate Universe via Secret Wars 2015. Second interregnum period begins. Now in a post Covid world I think we're in a new age of comics arguably starting as early as Dark Knights Death Metal, which ties up ALL of DC's massive continuity and eventually leads up to Dark Crisis and/or the new Ultimate Universe at Marvel and Absolute with DC, now happening at the same time. Today's comics landscape feels completely different than it was before. What this current age will be called in about 20 years or so is anyone's guess until we get there. So in summary: Golden Age: Starts with Action Comics 1 and ends with the end of WW2. Silver: Starts with the introduction of Barry Allen's Flash and ends with the Death of Gwen Stacy. Bronze: Picks up immediately after the Death of Gwen Stacy and ends with Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns. Dark: Picks up right after Watchmen and DKR and ends with Kingdom Come. Renaissance or Diamond: Either starts right after Kingdom Come or with Ultimate Spider-Man, ends with Secret Wars (2015) or Dark Knights Death Metal. Modern: Picks up after Dark Knight's Death Metal/IRL Covid 19 pandemic or the inception of the new Ultimate Universe and of Absolute at DC and going forward.
@edmaldonado8207 I was thinking of designating the 2000s era as the start of the Cinematic Age - where comics started helping the silver screen and their relationship changed. I do agree that around 2015 or 16 is when the era changed. I like making it 2015 for Secret Wars as the end because 2016 and DC's Rebirth initiative seems like the start of what we're still in now, which won't have a name for a long time, haha.
I always thought it went, Gold (30s-50s), Silver (60s to mid 70s), Bronze (70s-80s), Dark/Extreme Age (90s) I do like the name diamond age for the 2000s
I actually thought the Golden/Silver/Modern age just to differentiate the size different of comics from each period of time. (and then add in magazine size, slab, and treasury)
Random question, but if you see this, i can't read the name on your hat Tiffany, and I'm a lake guy lol. I am always looking for a new destination for when I travel. Love your videos, guys 🍻
I always saw the Golden Age up until the publication of "Seduction of the Innocent" in, what 1954? Then a brief interregnum until the Silver age, which starts in, what 1957? The silver age starts with that camp and optimism, then is defined by Marvel dominating the market in the late 60's. The bronze age starts with the sort of attempts at "realism" with Speedy and Harry doing drugs in the 70's, the flailing for "modern" relevance with Mod Wonder Woman, all the Marvel takes on -xploitation films (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, etc.), and DC really leaning into their hokey grandpa image with things like Superfriends and Donner Superman. It's worth noting that the Bronze Age also correlates with the rise of the Direct Market and the decline of newstand, mainstream comics. Other means of youth entertainment are emerging and comics have to evolve to compete; sales are dropping from the insane highs of the 60's. Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen start off the "Dark Age," not dark in the way the European Dark Ages were supposedly dark, but dark in tone. We're deconstructing shit, we're paralyzing Barbara Gordon, we're killing Jason Todd, we're getting Kraven the Hunter to Last Hunt himself. And then the 90's tried to up the ante with "XTREEM" crap, a sort of shallow imitation of that late-80's darkness that just apes off of what worked in a shallow kind of way. Then you have a sort of "Modern age" starting with, what Kingdom Come, I guess? This is where comics started to actually feel more mature, typically. They start casually dipping into themes that an adult can kind of turn over in their head, even in the kids' books (Action #775, for example, or the Brubaker/Rucka stuff at DC (then Brubaker at Marvel). This is also a result of the Image Revolution, when they started using higher-quality (and higher-priced) paper stock, and su8ddenly comics were $2, and that number will continue to climb, pricing kids out of the hobby more and more. Sal's use of the phrase "Event Age" is great, because that feels like a good encapsulation of a time when the Big Two especially felt event-addicted. Every summer, we have to have a blockbuster event or 3. DC's throwing out Crises and Eternals and 52-issue maxi-series left-and-right, Marvel's got Civil War, annihilation, etc. The question is, what age is really DEFINED by those events? Infinite Crisis and Civil War both come out within about a year of each other, and probably set the stage for the events and reboots that would then plague the Big Two until diminishing returns ... but they're still doing events pretty frequently still. Are we still in the Event Age 18 years later?
So actual scholar here - the usual accepted ages are Golden age (Action Comics #1 to Seduction of the Innocent) Silver Age (Barry Allen Flash to the Death of Gwen Stacy), and Bronze Age, which ends with Watchmen and DKR. After that it gets really vague. There is an age some call "Modern", others "Dark", yet others "Iron". The end of that age is sometime given as early 2000s (usually Ultimate Spider-Man #1), but sometimes it is seen as having never ended. Those who believe the Dark/Iron/Modern age ended in the 2000s have proposed a variety of names for the new age: Gilded, Platinum, Diamond, Modern, PostModern, Renaissance, etc. What defines this age is also debated, though there seems to be a consensus around three features: - Decompressed storytelling and writing for the trade - a push towards multimedia integration and comics as "IP farms" - a reverential approach towards continuity, with a lot of long-dead characters being resurrected, heroic identity becoming "legacies" and "families" and meta-textual references and callbacks. However, some argue that those three features were already present in the 90s, so there is no need to create a new age. In short, after 1985, there is no concensus like there is for Gold, Silver and Bronze (And the exact start and end dates for Bronze are somewhat flexible as well depending on your source). It's hard to say if we'll ever come to a consensus on historiography of superhero comics post 85. My guess is that if we do, there will still always be a pre-1985 and post-1985 split, so the Gold/Silver/Bronze will always be seen as one continuous block on their own
For me, the release of the first issue of The Terminator in October 2024 marked the beginning of a new era in comics - the Age of Sal. 🎉
This is a great episode!
You're a great couple, it's a great show, here's to 11 more years!!🎉🎉🎉
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sal more excited holding a book than the DC Versus Marvel Omnibus, and I was the same way when I got mine.
31:49 Tiff put Sal in check. OMG
30:48 I was really excited when JMS was first announced to write Captain America, mostly because I liked his Spider-Man and Thor, and I like Cap. I got the first trade when it came out, and after the first issue I thought it felt weird and boring. There wasn’t much of anything to grip me, it wasn’t as exciting as some of my favorite Cap runs, and the young Steve Rogers flashbacks felt a bit unnecessary after a while. I was a bit disappointed and lost interest after the first 6 issues because I couldn’t bring myself to care about what was happening, which sucked.
Welp, guess I’m going to be using this channel and others to get me through next couple years
Grant Morrison referred to the 2000's as the Renaissance Age in Supergods. Imo the Dark Age ends with Kingdom Come as a reconstructive response to the excesses of that age. Then there was an interregnum period. Then the then Modern, now Renaissance Age of comics would start with Ultimate Spider-Man. It ends, imo, with the end of the Ultimate Universe via Secret Wars 2015. Second interregnum period begins. Now in a post Covid world I think we're in a new age of comics arguably starting as early as Dark Knights Death Metal, which ties up ALL of DC's massive continuity and eventually leads up to Dark Crisis and/or the new Ultimate Universe at Marvel and Absolute with DC, now happening at the same time. Today's comics landscape feels completely different than it was before. What this current age will be called in about 20 years or so is anyone's guess until we get there.
So in summary:
Golden Age: Starts with Action Comics 1 and ends with the end of WW2.
Silver: Starts with the introduction of Barry Allen's Flash and ends with the Death of Gwen Stacy.
Bronze: Picks up immediately after the Death of Gwen Stacy and ends with Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns.
Dark: Picks up right after Watchmen and DKR and ends with Kingdom Come.
Renaissance or Diamond: Either starts right after Kingdom Come or with Ultimate Spider-Man, ends with Secret Wars (2015) or Dark Knights Death Metal.
Modern: Picks up after Dark Knight's Death Metal/IRL Covid 19 pandemic or the inception of the new Ultimate Universe and of Absolute at DC and going forward.
@edmaldonado8207 I was thinking of designating the 2000s era as the start of the Cinematic Age - where comics started helping the silver screen and their relationship changed. I do agree that around 2015 or 16 is when the era changed. I like making it 2015 for Secret Wars as the end because 2016 and DC's Rebirth initiative seems like the start of what we're still in now, which won't have a name for a long time, haha.
Big fan of this breakdown but I don’t like the idea of “modern” being a floating term that always refers to the current
@@jessebaughman3139 I feel like we should either just say "this current era" or refer to whatever era we're in as the contemporary era.
I always thought it went, Gold (30s-50s), Silver (60s to mid 70s), Bronze (70s-80s), Dark/Extreme Age (90s)
I do like the name diamond age for the 2000s
I actually thought the Golden/Silver/Modern age just to differentiate the size different of comics from each period of time. (and then add in magazine size, slab, and treasury)
We are in the post-modern/indie age or maybe the Eastern/Manga Age.
Random question, but if you see this, i can't read the name on your hat Tiffany, and I'm a lake guy lol. I am always looking for a new destination for when I travel. Love your videos, guys 🍻
@@Runge_was_here It says Toluca Lake, it’s a Silent Hill reference!
@digitalcoffin3779 That's funny. Scratch that off the destination list. 😂
The 90's should be referenced as the EXTREME! age.
90's Admantium era. We are in the Vibranum era. Leading into Nth metal era in the future.
I always saw the Golden Age up until the publication of "Seduction of the Innocent" in, what 1954?
Then a brief interregnum until the Silver age, which starts in, what 1957? The silver age starts with that camp and optimism, then is defined by Marvel dominating the market in the late 60's.
The bronze age starts with the sort of attempts at "realism" with Speedy and Harry doing drugs in the 70's, the flailing for "modern" relevance with Mod Wonder Woman, all the Marvel takes on -xploitation films (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, etc.), and DC really leaning into their hokey grandpa image with things like Superfriends and Donner Superman. It's worth noting that the Bronze Age also correlates with the rise of the Direct Market and the decline of newstand, mainstream comics. Other means of youth entertainment are emerging and comics have to evolve to compete; sales are dropping from the insane highs of the 60's.
Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen start off the "Dark Age," not dark in the way the European Dark Ages were supposedly dark, but dark in tone. We're deconstructing shit, we're paralyzing Barbara Gordon, we're killing Jason Todd, we're getting Kraven the Hunter to Last Hunt himself. And then the 90's tried to up the ante with "XTREEM" crap, a sort of shallow imitation of that late-80's darkness that just apes off of what worked in a shallow kind of way.
Then you have a sort of "Modern age" starting with, what Kingdom Come, I guess? This is where comics started to actually feel more mature, typically. They start casually dipping into themes that an adult can kind of turn over in their head, even in the kids' books (Action #775, for example, or the Brubaker/Rucka stuff at DC (then Brubaker at Marvel). This is also a result of the Image Revolution, when they started using higher-quality (and higher-priced) paper stock, and su8ddenly comics were $2, and that number will continue to climb, pricing kids out of the hobby more and more.
Sal's use of the phrase "Event Age" is great, because that feels like a good encapsulation of a time when the Big Two especially felt event-addicted. Every summer, we have to have a blockbuster event or 3. DC's throwing out Crises and Eternals and 52-issue maxi-series left-and-right, Marvel's got Civil War, annihilation, etc. The question is, what age is really DEFINED by those events? Infinite Crisis and Civil War both come out within about a year of each other, and probably set the stage for the events and reboots that would then plague the Big Two until diminishing returns ... but they're still doing events pretty frequently still. Are we still in the Event Age 18 years later?
So actual scholar here - the usual accepted ages are Golden age (Action Comics #1 to Seduction of the Innocent) Silver Age (Barry Allen Flash to the Death of Gwen Stacy), and Bronze Age, which ends with Watchmen and DKR. After that it gets really vague. There is an age some call "Modern", others "Dark", yet others "Iron". The end of that age is sometime given as early 2000s (usually Ultimate Spider-Man #1), but sometimes it is seen as having never ended. Those who believe the Dark/Iron/Modern age ended in the 2000s have proposed a variety of names for the new age: Gilded, Platinum, Diamond, Modern, PostModern, Renaissance, etc. What defines this age is also debated, though there seems to be a consensus around three features:
- Decompressed storytelling and writing for the trade
- a push towards multimedia integration and comics as "IP farms"
- a reverential approach towards continuity, with a lot of long-dead characters being resurrected, heroic identity becoming "legacies" and "families" and meta-textual references and callbacks.
However, some argue that those three features were already present in the 90s, so there is no need to create a new age.
In short, after 1985, there is no concensus like there is for Gold, Silver and Bronze (And the exact start and end dates for Bronze are somewhat flexible as well depending on your source). It's hard to say if we'll ever come to a consensus on historiography of superhero comics post 85. My guess is that if we do, there will still always be a pre-1985 and post-1985 split, so the Gold/Silver/Bronze will always be seen as one continuous block on their own