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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 8:51:42 GMT -5
The post on the Favorite Fantastic Four Runs got me thinking. Some posters "feel" that the Silver Age stuff was the best. After that really nothing. Others liked some Bronze Age stuff. A few liked stuff after the Bronze Age. But the majority liked either Silver Age or SA/BA runs.
I'm curious is this just the FF or do most posters feel great comics ended at the end of the Silver Age? The Bronze Age? or another point in time? |
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Post by tingramretro on May 14, 2017 9:06:40 GMT -5
I've voted other, for the simple reason that neither wasn't an option. There are still plenty of great comics being produced today. The poll implies that it's a foregone conclusion that there aren't, but that simply isn't the case.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 14, 2017 9:53:55 GMT -5
While I love the spirit of the question, I think it's ultimately an unfair one to ask as there have always been some lousy comics and there will always be some great ones. For me personally, mainstream comicdom was at its height between 1970 and 1990, but while the whole of comics fell into decline after that, folks like Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, Stan Sakai, Kurt Busiek, James Robinson, Paul Dini, and Darwyn Cooke were just getting started.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2017 10:03:48 GMT -5
There are still great comics; but, there is also the question of when you consider the end of the Bronze Age. Back in the 80s, a lot of people felt it ended around 1980 (give or take) and the Modern Age started. That term was being bandied about a bit during the run of the 8s and the start of the 90s, before the fallout of the speculator boom and the distribution wars. Since then, a lot of people have extended the Bronze Age into the 80s. Every era has had its great work and a whole lot of mediocre to average. It's the nature of publishing. The market focus has changed significantly, though, which affects the types of stories being told. the Silver Age is firmly aimed at children, with some creators treating them as simpletons and some as smart, sophisticated readers, much like children's book authors. The Bronze Age is still mostly aimed at children; but, teens grow as an audience, while females shrink. The Bronze Age is when a lot of "girl's comics" start disappearing (romance comics, some of the Archie and Harvey material, etc...). You also get the rise of the Direct Market and the after-effects of the Undergrounds; so, you see more material aimed at late teen and adults. By the 80s, kids are starting to be completely ignored, in favor of teens and adults. As the Direct Market becomes the main distribution channel, collectors become more important than casual readers. The 90s saw a big shake out of the casual readers and there isn't much evidence that they were ever recaptured. Females were still mostly ignored, until the manga boom. As a byproduct of that, we see more female readers of mainstream titles, though they are still a distinct minority (relative to males) compared to manga (where they are probably the majority).
When you started reading comics greatly affects how you may see this question.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 10:31:11 GMT -5
While I love the spirit of the question, I think it's ultimately an unfair one to ask as there have always been some lousy comics and there will always be some great ones. For me personally, mainstream comicdom was at its height between 1970 and 1990, but while the whole of comics fell into decline after that, folks like Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, Stan Sakai, Kurt Busiek, James Robinson, Paul Dini, and Darwyn Cooke were just getting started. For me, the decade of the 80's ... I was too busy with my career, work, and running two clubs that I was just got started, and among other things as well. After 1990 and beyond ... I tried my best to get back into comics and had difficulty enjoying it until 1995 and after that. I wanted to give my two cents worth of Shax rebuttal that he claimed that mainstream comicdom was in the decline during the period that he stating here. I can't say that because I wasn't involved in that at all and yet I did manage to read a mere 100 Comic Books or less during the 80's decade. To be fair ... about the list that Shax listed here. I did not know any of these names until around 1995 or after and I was pretty much lost in the world of comicdom and I was playing catchup and all that.So, back to the question ... I grew up reading comic books in the Golden Age of Comics from hands me down from my older brothers and friends and started reading comics books right around 1964 two years before Batman's Adam West Series came to play and to me the end of great comics was the Silver Age. Seriously folks, I did not really know anything about Bronze Age because I wasn't involved in it and I can't say anything about it. Bronze Age did nothing for me - Seriously because of work, career, running two clubs, and all the rest that I was involved in. I grew up with Mike Sekowsky, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Carmine Infantino, Lee Wein, Julius Schwartz, Don Heck, John Broome, Dick Giordano, Bob Haney, Murphy Anderson, and a list of dozen more and these guys were my heroes of the world of Comics. They made me enjoy Comics and to me ... the era of Great Comics ended in the Silver Age of Comics |
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Post by String on May 14, 2017 12:19:55 GMT -5
When you started reading comics greatly affects how you may see this question. ^This. You're basically asking us to judge quality which is a subjective POV. In the case of your OP, my first intro to the FF was by Bryne but I've also gone onto reading some of the Lee/Kirby run as well. It's just by case of my introduction, I will always refer back to Bryne's FF run before Lee/Kirby. That's not to say that I don't find any quality in Lee/Kirby's run. Instead, I think each age from Golden to Silver to Bronze to Modern and so on has great comics within them, each defined by the times and culture that produced them and thus can be enjoyable for many on those merits and more. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 14, 2017 12:40:08 GMT -5
Ummmm...none of the above. No matter what ages or decades you put in the poll. Alan Moore's work. Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Either put 99.99% of what came out in the Silver or the Bronze Age to shame. Darwyn Cooke's New Frontiers was a great comic and his Parker adaptations are the gold standard by which any adaptations should be compared. Currently The Flintstones is as good a comic as I've read in decades. Brubaker and Phillips keep creating comics that push the boundaries of genres that we think of as appropriate for comics.
There are always great comics.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 17:03:12 GMT -5
Personally I still think there are great comics. I still buy NEW ones! So I am happy to see this response on the poll I made. Thanks for the responses.
And a shoutout to Slam_Bradley the current Flintstones book has been great!
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 14, 2017 18:06:17 GMT -5
When you started reading comics greatly affects how you may see this question. Yes and no. I started in '89 and my favorite Era is 1970-1990, meaning most of my favorite stuff is before my time, but I think most folks tend to judge books that were before their time more kindly than books that came after their time. |
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Post by MDG on May 14, 2017 20:51:35 GMT -5
Are you talking comics or just Marvel and DC?
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 20:55:26 GMT -5
Are you talking comics or just Marvel and DC? Sorry guys. I guess I was being too literal. The thread was meant to be slightly silly. Obviously there are great comics out there in every era in every genre. |
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Post by hondobrode on May 14, 2017 23:48:57 GMT -5
I voted Other cause there were still great comics being published past the Bronze Age, into the Copper Age, and the Modern Age (I hate that name - there needs to be a more appropriate name).
Yes, there are still great comics, but, the mainstream Big Two, esp Marvel IMO, mostly quit being good before the end of the Copper Age, when Image debuted.
Is that clear as mud ?
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Post by tingramretro on May 15, 2017 2:45:58 GMT -5
I voted Other cause there were still great comics being published past the Bronze Age, into the Copper Age, and the Modern Age (I hate that name - there needs to be a more appropriate name). Yes, there are still great comics, but, the mainstream Big Two, esp Marvel IMO, mostly quit being good before the end of the Copper Age, when Image debuted. Is that clear as mud ? There are still some outstanding Marvel titles. They just tend to be lower selling books featuring less well known characters. The Vision was one of the best titles in recent years from any publisher, in my opinion. |
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Post by Icctrombone on May 15, 2017 9:20:38 GMT -5
Yes, maybe they should come up with another name other than modern. IMHO, I don't think anything worth while has been created past 2010.
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Post by tingramretro on May 15, 2017 9:25:22 GMT -5
Yes, maybe they should come up with another name other than modern. IMHO, I don't think anything worth while has been created past 2010. Totally disagree. |
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