DCs New 52 started in 2011, I just round it off....

I've always thought "modern age" should have ended with the turn of the century. But I have no idea what would be a good label for future eras of publishing. Maybe the "digital age"??

Yeah everything post that point I would consider the "Landfill Era".

I consider 1985-1994 the Copper Age, and 1995-2010 as some unnamed era all its own. 1995 was the point where it was abundantly clear that the comic book market was crashing, and publishers and distributors responded by focusing their energies even more explicitly towards their niche, built in audiences instead of the general masses, which also opened the playing field further for smaller, independent publishers looking to stake their claims. The Hero World fiasco might be a great defining moment from which to begin this era. I realize this makes the Copper Age alarmingly short, but sometimes comic book history doesn't progress across neatly divided increments of time.

And, sure, DC's reboot in 2010 can work as a neat beginning point for the Modern Era, I suppose. I know I jumped ship at this point because it was such an easy jumping off point, though I have no idea if others did the same.


Edit: Just saw mrp's breakdowns, and I largely agree.

Not that I think the question is a bad one, but I believe the problem has already been highlighted by the likes of Slam. I feel it’d be easier - and I am not volunteering for this - to put a particular publisher into a category, but as for generic eras? Not really. Because while DC did “start again” in 2011, the rest of the comicbook world, including outside North America, wasn’t part of that.

If you’re dealing with a single entity, it’s easy. People might separate Doctor Who into eras based not only on the actors, but behind the scenes talent, so someone - and I read this at least once - mentioned the John Nathan-Turner Era, he being the producer on that show from 1980 until its cancellation in 1989. Sort of makes sense. But it wouldn’t make sense if we tried to come up with a description for an era representing *all* TV science-fiction.

Another example might be your favourite sports team. Perhaps, if I felt inclined, as an Aston Villa supporter, I might split it into managerial eras, e.g. Unai Emery is the current manager, but I might mention the Graham Taylor Era (1987-1990, and again in 2002-2003). Not that I do use such terminology when discussing football, but I could if I wanted to. That’d be simple. But could I split football itself into different eras? No. Because while the Premier League here in the UK was one thing, how do I know what was happening with, say, Ligue 1 (France) or Bundesliga (Germany)? Football might have been different (in some respects) in various countries even though the rules are universal.

So, if I stick with my analogy (which is probably a bad one), and we imagine DC Comics represents the Premier League, that’s just one entity, which is in a bubble. Arbitrary cut-off points for comicbook ages mean nothing in relation to manga, UK comics, independent publishers in Canada, etc.