A new age of comic books?
We all know about the Golden Age from the late 30s to the mid 50s, the Silver age that lasted until the 70s, the Bronze Age that lasted until the mid 80s, but everything after that has just been referred to as the "modern age" (or the "dark age" for a while in the 90s).
Do you think, with such events as the DC reboot, we are entering a new "age"? Or did the new age already start several years ago?
And if we are, what do we call it?
I can only speak for Marvel's Marvel Now books representing a new age.
And personally both the X-men and Avengers titles are upholding their ambitions. The X-men titles....especially Wolverine and the X-men is holding on to the ideals of the original X-men series whilst pushing the saga ahead into the modern era.
Avengers on the other hand is separating their holy trinity into separate ideas.-
-Thor: Is keeping his mythological storytelling within the cosmic awareness of the universe.
-Cap: Is keeping his protection of Earth in check. As well as his future realized current storyline where he is struggling to raise a child in the future.
-Stark: Has recently contained the Extremis virus and is now ready to venture forth into space. Which is a step that I always perceived Tony flying into the next step of his evolution.
Personally I'm quite pleased with Marvel Now.
While the Avengers are doing well in this new "post Bendis" age, X-Men are doing pretty bad, at least where Bendis is concerned. If this is a new age, I can't think of a word harsh enough to describe it.
DC's new age has been somewhat successful for the most part. The difficult thing is going to be keeping the momentum they'd built up.
Re: A new age of comic books?
Originally posted by Endless Mike
We all know about the Golden Age from the late 30s to the mid 50s, the Silver age that lasted until the 70s, the Bronze Age that lasted until the mid 80s, but everything after that has just been referred to as the "modern age" (or the "dark age" for a while in the 90s).Do you think, with such events as the DC reboot, we are entering a new "age"? Or did the new age already start several years ago?
And if we are, what do we call it?
We've kinda had a few short-lived mini ages.
The 90s is often considered a 'dark age' of comics, but the late 90s/early 00s is very much a time of reconstruction, taking stuff from past eras and updating it. Then the late 00s has shifted again, with a return to a lot of the grittier/darker 90s ton, and often the removal of the more experimental 90s/00s stuff in preference to darker versions of the silver age versions.
Also, for quite awhile what's happened in Marvel and DC has closely paralleled each other, but in the last few years, they've had a divergence in philosophy. Marvel has had a steady stream of events in that tie into each other, using story/continuity and planning. DC, on the other hand, has obviously gone for more the reboot route, restarting the universe from scratch, and changes in story and direction can happen fairly suddenly, very different than the visible progression at Marvel and it's emphasis on both buildup and dealing with fallout.
Originally posted by -Pr-
While the Avengers are doing well in this new "post Bendis" age, X-Men are doing pretty bad, at least where Bendis is concerned. If this is a new age, I can't think of a word harsh enough to describe it.DC's new age has been somewhat successful for the most part. The difficult thing is going to be keeping the momentum they'd built up.
Sales wise, that remains to be seen.
DC's reboot... only got a small boost compared to pre.
Fan reception wise, I see more positive buzz about Marvel Now than 52, but it's not really too fair to compare a year and a half vs 2 months.
Re: Re: A new age of comic books?
Originally posted by Q99
We've kinda had a few short-lived mini ages.The 90s is often considered a 'dark age' of comics, but the late 90s/early 00s is very much a time of reconstruction, taking stuff from past eras and updating it. Then the late 00s has shifted again, with a return to a lot of the grittier/darker 90s ton, and often the removal of the more experimental 90s/00s stuff in preference to darker versions of the silver age versions.
Also, for quite awhile what's happened in Marvel and DC has closely paralleled each other, but in the last few years, they've had a divergence in philosophy. Marvel has had a steady stream of events in that tie into each other, using story/continuity and planning. DC, on the other hand, has obviously gone for more the reboot route, restarting the universe from scratch, and changes in story and direction can happen fairly suddenly, very different than the visible progression at Marvel and it's emphasis on both buildup and dealing with fallout.
Sales wise, that remains to be seen.
DC's reboot... only got a small boost compared to pre.
Fan reception wise, I see more positive buzz about Marvel Now than 52, but it's not really too fair to compare a year and a half vs 2 months.
Comparing the numbers from previous years, DC had a considerable boost. Same with Marvel, seeing as they were going down.
Re: Re: Re: A new age of comic books?
Originally posted by Golgo13
Comparing the numbers from previous years, DC had a considerable boost. Same with Marvel, seeing as they were going down.
The line-wide events did help both of them. It's definite short-term good moves, and good moves for the industry, long term it remains to be seen. DC's still got major weaknesses outside their main books, they can boost sales of the major ones pretty well, but they have trouble promoting the minor and mid tier ones.
I like Marvel's move a lot better because it's a much more repeatable move, and seems a better way to gain new people while holding on to more of the old, so I suspect long term it'll pan out better.
Originally posted by Q99
We've kinda had a few short-lived mini ages.The 90s is often considered a 'dark age' of comics, but the late 90s/early 00s is very much a time of reconstruction, taking stuff from past eras and updating it. Then the late 00s has shifted again, with a return to a lot of the grittier/darker 90s ton, and often the removal of the more experimental 90s/00s stuff in preference to darker versions of the silver age versions.
Also, for quite awhile what's happened in Marvel and DC has closely paralleled each other, but in the last few years, they've had a divergence in philosophy. Marvel has had a steady stream of events in that tie into each other, using story/continuity and planning. DC, on the other hand, has obviously gone for more the reboot route, restarting the universe from scratch, and changes in story and direction can happen fairly suddenly, very different than the visible progression at Marvel and it's emphasis on both buildup and dealing with fallout.
Sales wise, that remains to be seen.
DC's reboot... only got a small boost compared to pre.
Fan reception wise, I see more positive buzz about Marvel Now than 52, but it's not really too fair to compare a year and a half vs 2 months.
I wasn't talking so much sales wise, but yeah.
Originally posted by Golgo13
Someone already posted the sales compared to the first issues of the DCnU and so far, DC is holding onto the sales a bit better. Uncanny Avengers for example is already pushed out of the top 10.
We have precisely two months of sales and Marvel Now started higher, and has major books that have not yet started, it is a *bit* soon to draw conclusions 🙂
Originally posted by Galan007
I think the sole purpose of DC's "New 52", and Marvel's "NOW" was to usher in a new age of comics.
Interestingly, it's always been considered DC that has ushered in the new ages.
Now, if in ten or twenty years when this new age has a fancy name or whatever, it's sure as shit not going to be defined by "NOW".
The interesting debate will be whether it was started by the New 52 or the sudden prominence of super hero movies.
Originally posted by Cogito
Interestingly, it's always been considered DC that has ushered in the new ages.
Mind you, while they often get a starting point*, it's generally just because their points are somewhat sooner, and Marvel's are often more influential**.
*The first appearance of Barry Allen
** The creation of the Fantastic Four [first series with more 'imperfect' heroes who argued among themselves], Spider-man [Spider-man], and the Hulk [having a 'hero' often fight the army, and not desire to be a hero? Nothing like it before] really revolutionized comics.
And/or in some cases, the changes were happening at the same time in both.
DC lead the Golden Age, Marvel the Silver, both jumped into the Bronze and Modern at around the same time as there was more back-and-forth with the writers.
Originally posted by Q99
Mind you, while they often get a starting point*, it's generally just because their points are somewhat sooner, and Marvel's are often more influential**.*The first appearance of Barry Allen
** The creation of the Fantastic Four [first series with more 'imperfect' heroes who argued among themselves], Spider-man [Spider-man], and the Hulk [having a 'hero' often fight the army, and not desire to be a hero? Nothing like it before] really revolutionized comics.
And/or in some cases, the changes were happening at the same time in both.
DC lead the Golden Age, Marvel the Silver, both jumped into the Bronze and Modern at around the same time as there was more back-and-forth with the writers.
I would say more mainstream. Fantastic Four was based a little bit off of Challengers of the Unknown. The Hulk isn't a new concept, either. Some of the things Marvel made homage to like Imperial Guard, Dr. Strange, X-Men, FF, etc... Had DC come first. Then Marvel made it into something bigger (like X-Men or FF).