Comic eras

What do you think the best era for comics was? I would have to say the 80s was the peak for comics. This is when the deconstruction culminated but Dennis O'Neil and Neil Adams had already set the stage for Moore with Watchmen. Those two were doing that in the 70s but I think a lot of their best work was in the 80s.

This is also the best era of Claremont. The 90s may have been peak Vertigo but it really started with that 80s feel of doing weird stuff and letting people write stories that aren't traditional.

If i have to rank the decades (there's blurring of course cause something like Sandman started in 89 but was mostly 90s)

80s > 70s = 00s > 90s > 60s >current

Haven't really read anything before 60s and even that has been sparce so maybe current is better than 60s.

Bronze Age is my favourite, though that's about a decade and a half ('70-'85), you've got the wacky inventiveness of the silver age filtered through a bunch of artsy smartasses (Gerber, Starlin, Claremont, O'Neil, Englehart) who bring a literary sense to the stories, some more complex or darker themes crop without getting too far from the superhero mark, and you got more for your money in a single issue (compared to today due to decompression).

Outside of capes you've also got all the underground comix stuff taking off.

Bronze Age takes the cake, it had all the cool creative madness of Starlin and Claremont, which is really all you need in life.

90s was the best era and current decade is the worst. Anyone who disagrees is a Marvelfag or a newfag.

This. Marvel Bronze Age kicked ass. DC Bronze Age wasn't quite as good but did have some of the best runs in comic history among the rough stuff.

DC post-'85 was on fire as well.

'00s were a dumpster fire and I don't get how anyone can like them unless they just grew up/started reading comics during that era. '10s aren't exactly excellent either but they're a million times better than the awful murderporn and event bullshit of the '00s.

Eras after the Bronze Age still aren't universally defined, but IMO:

>Dark Age = '85-'99
Characterized by influence of TDKR, Watchmen, Vertigo, Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld, and Image
>"Digital Age" = '00-'11
Characterized by influence of Warren Ellis, Brian Hitch, Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Ultimate Marvel
>Current era = '11-present
Characterized by influence of MCU films, webcomics, more diverse and stylized art/less "house style", less focus on continuity and events, "movie/TV pitch" indie/creator owned comics, social media, outside influences in general

Absolutely up for debate though. Especially because with the rise of the internet, art movements are incredibly fast or arguably non-existent. We may look back and see eras lasting less than five years or even merely months at a time rather than entire decades or more.

>DC post-'85 was on fire as well.
I thought DC pre-Watchmen was on fire. That's when it had those groundbreaking Green Arrow stuff with Grell, Adams and O'Neil. Plus you had Swamp Thing and The Question

61-86
FF 1- OG Secret Wars #1

I'm not really in to "non-traditional" stories. I just like stories about beutiful people doing impossible shit. I mark Secret Wars as an end point becuas that is around the time where crossovers started to make it necessary to skip from book to book to. Follow a single narrative.
That shit ruined comics- for me.

Newspaper comics: 30s and 40s
Superhero comics: 70s and 80s
Small press comics: Present day, present time

Yeah circa 1980 was when things really kicked into high gear with NTT and Legion and the pre-Vertigo stuff.

The 80s, full stop. Jim Shooter's tenure as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief ('78-'87) was the era that gave us the definitive, multi-year runs on Marvel titles by the greatest creators of that era:

Chris Claremont's X-Men: '75-'91
Walt Simonson's Thor: '83-'87
Louise Simonson's Power Pack: '84-'88
Frank Miller's Daredevil: '79-'83
John Byrne's Fantastic Four: '81-'86
Bill Mantlo's ROM: Spaceknight: '79-'86

This was the greatest era of cape comics, with individual creators practically owning their characters while working with editorial toward a singular vision of a shared universe. It felt like actions had consequences, like characters were capable of growth and change.

Be my friend.

Bronze age was probably the best of both worlds. As much as I liked Marvel from that period, you could really start to see DC stepping their game up

Stern's Spoder-Man and a good chunk of Master of Kung-Fu come from that period, as well. Secret Wars is an unforgivable sin, however, and I prefer Lee/ Kirby on The FF and Thor.

80s>70s>60s>90s=00s=10s

I don't think late 90s/early 2000s are getting enough credit in this thread. I get that no one wants to say the Era they grew up with was the best but this was a genuinely great time for comics. Even without the nostalgia factor

What do you like from that period, user?

Start of The Goon, All Star Superman, Bendis' Daredevil (c'mon this was prime Bendis), No Man's Land (though over saturated at the time it still holds up really well + introduces Cass), Kingdom Come, Hellboy was going strong. Personal favorites but obviously there were a lot of big capeshit events and indie comics emerging

Coming into the medium after that point, and reading stuff from that era, I get a sense the creators 'got it'. As in it was a period where through the innovations and misteps of the 80's/90's an understanding of what worked in the medium and the Superhero genre especially had emerged.

Stuff like Starman, Planetary and others hit the mark in a way I don't really see later on outside of Morrisons work. Perhaps its to do with recognizing the ridiculous elements as ridiculous, but not having that smarmy self referential attitude.

For stories: probably the 80s. This was when long arcs started becoming more common but you could still pick any issue and not be completely lost unlike now. There weren't too many filler "cinematic" pages of just a soldier's boot walking down the stairs with a "clunk, clunk, clunk" text bubble or full page spreads that add nothing to the story.

As far as art goes, I'd say late 90s, early 00s, right before they started computerizing absolutely every thing. This is also when colorists were striking the ideal balance between realistic and outlandish colors and lighting

Yeah, Bendis, Waid, Quitely and Ross have never really done it for me. Actually, most of the big names from Marvel/DC at this period leave me cold.
BPRD and related are my picks for the best stuff from this period.

This. Watchmen was groundbreaking from the 80s, but after that there's not much(and no, not even the Marvel stuff) really comparable to the stuff DC, Vertigo and Dark Horse was putting out. It's laughable to compare Byrne's Fantastic Four or Claremont's X-men with Stray Bullets, Astros City, Starman, Sandman or Concrete.

Bronze Age for me as well, user.
The mid-70's to 80's.
After that comics creators got more insular and stopped having actual LIVES outside of comics, which meant they lacked the depth of experience and life that allowed Bronze Age writers to write so many different subjects so well.

Before the 90's, comics writers weren't JUST comics writers, they were other things too.

>Starman
I know nothing about this, can you tell me more?

>It's laughable to compare Byrne's Fantastic Four or Claremont's X-men with Stray Bullets, Astros City, Starman, Sandman or Concrete.

Why would you compare things made for vastly different audiences, anyway?

An examination of legacy and how people of the present treat the past told through the perspective of a man who has taken over the superhero mantle of his brother and his father before him.

Except for Astros City, they all are superhero related.

So what's great about it?

Did my pain meds send me on a drug trip back to Sup Forums circa 2008? Where the hell did all you Sup Forumsmrades with good taste come from?

>makes a gigantic newfag post
>claims others are new
90s has great comics but the crash and edge undeniably make it worse than the 80s and even the 70s. Comics are poorly judged by decades overall because the movements and editorial eras dont fit with them at all.
Modern is not as bad as post crash, though if Marvel keeps putting out less than 5 good books a year that will change.

I came from Sup Forums

Shit! I meant Stray Bullets, not Astro City.

>good taste
I'll be honest, has bad taste and a pretty limited view of comics.

Huh. When did you get here?

Yeah, but it's HIS taste, and he states it as such - he doesn't shit on non-traditional stories, he just says they're not his bag. I love non-traditional weird shit (pic related), but even the stock superhero stuff of the Bronze Age was legit good more often than not. If he blindly followed modern cape comics, THEN I'd worry about his taste.

Eh I wasnt alive for it so maybe that tints my perspective but the rise of Underground Comix and Aardvark Vanheim in the late 70s to Early 80s seem like the GOAT era for small press/self published/non mainstream stuff

Last spring.

90s yes, early 2000s less so, I think 2005-2011 is a strong time for the big 2 though.

Anything in particular draw you in or just general curiousity? Any fave western books/creators?

I've been getting heavily into the 70's lately. I love that era of more serious storytelling to match up with the now college-aged readership but the comics still haven't shaken off the pageantry and design of superhero comics. It obviously extend well into the 80's for a lot of titles but by then it's tried and true rather than desperately trying to figure out a new audience.

Though for less mainstream comics I don't really like all that much pre Los Bros Hernandez.

I was just looking for more stuff to read and ended up checking out stuff like Sandman, ended up falling in love with Moore's Swamp Thing. Like I said I'm a fan of Starlin and Claremont. Still got Simonson's Thor I need to read.
Planetary is the one and only omnibus on my shelf at the moment.

>limited
Not really, I've read everything from newspaper strips to euro to ndy and alt shit too. I like what I like. If Sandman is your bag, go nuts.
Why you felt the need to shit on me , though, is a mystery.
Often, when you're just 'being honest' you're merely showing everyone your ass.

Been here since 2010, user.

Please help me. Why can't I leave?

Not even the guy who you're responding to, but if you think Sandman is non-traditional compared to shit like Cerebus or Paul Kirchner's work you do kind of have a limited view.

>Limited
Just fucking stop.

Not that user, butt Marvel isn't putting out anything great at the moment, and neither is DC. So you're wrong. Most of the thrash that's responsible for the bad image of 90s was limited to Marvel and Image comics.
90s was good because it had more great mainstream stuff than other decades.

>What do you think the best era for comics was? I would have to say the 80s was the peak for comics.

I'd probably agree with that. For my money my personal favorite time of comics was probably the late 70's to the mid 90's. It was not only a peak for mainstream comics but also independent comics.

Say what you will about the whole Marvel Vs. DC meme, but for a good 15 to 20 years Marvel put out way better comics than DC (on average),

>Conan the Barbarian by Berry Windsor Smith
>Master of Kung-Fu by Gene Day
>Tomb of Dracula by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colon
>Daredevil and Elektra by Frank Miller
>X-Men, New Mutants, Wolverine (Dark Pheonix Saga, DFP, Mutant Massacare) by Chris Cleremont, John Bryne, Frank Miller, Bill Sikevitch, ect
>Captain Marvel and Thanos stories by Jim Starlin
>Secret War by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
>Spider-Man by various (Alien Costume Saga, Fearful Symmetry, Death of Jean DeWolf)
>Captain America by Mark Gruenwald
Even licensed comics from Marvel where good, like Transformers by Bob Budinsky and ROM: Spaceknight by Bill Mantlo.

Not to say there where no good DC comics in the 70's before Watchmen and COIE, but they where few and far between).

>Teen Titans: The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
>The Spectre by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo
>countless Batman comics by various artist/writers (DKR, Year One, Killing Joke, Gothic, A Death in the Family, The Cult, Arkham Asylum, Son of the Demon)
>Swamp Thing by Bernie Wrightson and later by Alan Moore, Steven Bisset, John Totleben and Rick Veitch
>Green Arrow by Mike Grell
>The Question by Dennis O'Neil
>Camelot 3000 by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland
>Ronin by Frank Miller
>Vertigo imprint under Karen Burger ( Sandman, V for Vendetta, Doom Patrol, Animal Man)

For the first time, mainstream comics seemed like they where a viable medium of creativity and storytelling.

Is that Gerbers Man Thing? Is it good?

well you started off with some great exposure to western comics. I think Simonson's Thor is the best superhero run ever, even compared to Claremont X-men (which I love too),

You seem to enjoy some of the weird stuff out there so I would recommend trying out some of Jodorowsky's stuff, either The Incal or The Metabarons (I prefer the later). It is off the wall crazy but extremely good and is up there with Sandman in some of the best comics ever made. Also, if you are a fan of Dune at all this all came from a failed movie project that was going to do that.

>neither is DC
you should check out some of the Hanna Barbarra stuff then, Flintstones is probably the best thing they are putting out right now

I mean I'm a DC fagboy but it is true. Marvel revolutionized comics in the 60's.

DC in the 70's had some excellent, excellent stuff, but overall they couldn't decide if they wanted to be kid friendly or take the more mature direction, and comic fans ridiculed them for it.

In the 80's after the Implosion, they got their shit together. Notice everything you listed is post 1980. DC fans loved it but the company still couldn't shake all the things Marvelfags said about them-- they had some kiddie comics, their universe was too complicated, they were old-fashioned, and so on. That was really the point of COIE, to just get through everybody's head once and for all the DC was now really competing with Marvel again.

O'Neil and Berger as editors just knocked it out of the park.

Actually, I dig stuff like this, RT/Buscema Conan, MOKF and Werewolf by Night. I just lump them in with bronze age Marvel.

Why does the adjective trigger you so much? You consider a story that uses a fairly linear narrative along with some vignettes, that explores some basic and classic themes, all while incorporating mythology, non-traditional. I think that is a shallow and LIMITED perspective. It's a very traditional fantasy and mythology story about inhuman godlike characters leaening human morals. You said you like stories about "beautiful people doing amazong things" and I think Sandman falls squarely into that category. Most of Vertigo is traditional as fuck storytelling.

>I think 2005-2011 is a strong time for the big 2 though.

That was a crap period for both outside of a few gems.

As bad as it can get, I've yet to find a better place to discuss comics than Sup Forums.

That's the tragedy of it all.

cont'...

This was also a time when independent comics starting being read by a much larger readership.

>A Contract with God (and other Graphic Novels) by Will Eisner
>Love and Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers
>Maus and RAW magazine by Art Spegelman
>Cerebus by Dave Sim and Gerhard
>ElfQuest by Wendi and Richard Pini
>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
>A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran
>Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
>Bone by Jeff Smith
>Ghost World by Dan Clowes
>Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics publishing Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, Sergio Aragonés's Groo the Wanderer, and James O'Barr's The Crow.
>Peter Bagge's HATE
>Jim by Jim Woodring
>From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Cambell
>Alec and Baccus by Eddie Cambell
>American Splendor by Harvey Pekar and Various
>Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

this is true. A lot of it depends on what times you come to Sup Forums. I find some of the best discussions happening when it's nighttime here (in North America)

I never said any of that, user. That is all you.
All of it.

Ignoring the fact that I don't think comics should be categorized by decade, the 80s had countless good mainstream books, that fortunately this guy listed a ton of
I also specifically said modern Marvel sucked, and I never said modern was better than the 90s just better than post crash comics which is like 98-2005. And while DC doesn't have any great comics right now (Shade is on the verge) they have a solid stable of 10-15 good titles, many coming out 2 times a month.

Unless you're not the guy who got anal-rampaged someone disagreed with him you absolutely did here you say you don't like " 'non-traditional' " storytelling and here you use Sandman as an example of those comics you don't like So you're either full of shit or a different user

Traditional cape comics, user. That's all. I said nothing about narrative structure.
And speaking of anal rampage, check yourself, user.

I've been here since maybe a little after the Jessi Slaughter incident. Hung out on Sup Forums for a while, got bored, started moving in and out of other boards until I found Sup Forums.

There are always going to be shitposters user, doesn't matter what board you go to, but there's always a good hunk who live and breathe the same stuff you do.

I've loved comics for as long as I can remember and still do, wasn't until I started coming to Sup Forums that I got back into them full time. I like a bunch of the big two's stuff, most of it older material, but I also read a good bit of indie books

What do you weigh irl, user?

Eh disagree. Saying it's carried by a few creators would be more accurate but it still is a pretty good era
Basically everything Johns did during that timespan is strong as fuck: most of his JSA, most of his GL (which then had good titles spin out of it like GLC), Superman, 52 and Booster Gold
Morrison Dominates the era too: Batman, 52 and Final Crisis (this is polarizing but Superman Beyond is undeniably amazing).
There are also several year long runs like Secret Six, All Star Western and Blue Beetle that are really strong throughout.
This is just DC, Marvel had shit like X Statix, Immortal Iron Fist, Hickman FF, Ennis Punisher Max, Brubaker Cap and Uncanny X Force for starters.
I'm not even mentioning critically acclaimed shit like Bendisvengers or Simone WW/BoP because I personally don'tlike it very much.
This era has a ton of long and strong runs, something that has basically disappeared from current comics.

No you said "traditional stories". If you meant capes you should have said it. Though the fact that you default "capes" as "stories" when talking about comics bellies that limited opinion we've been discussing

If you don't assume "I'm talking to a fat man" when you enter Sup Forums.org in your browser you're retarded

I'm going to let you have this, user. It seems pretty important to you.
I'm limited and you're clearly better than I am, based upon your choice of sophisticated picture books.
Good job, big guy!

Oh fuck off and learn how to use words properly, if you mean "superhero comics" say it. You're such a little faggot with your "haha I patronized you, now everyone knows I'm superior and unassailable" crap.
>inb4 more patronizing bullshit.

Gotten to

>I-I was just trying to get a r-rise, my inability to write above the 3rd grade level is irrelevant

...

Mid 80s-early 90s.

I am a huge fag for Vertigo so probably biased.