Let's Talk Comic History

by Caroline Rea

Let's take a break from the heavy details and talk about the history of comics. This can be helpful when you're looking for retro comics, trying to see when a hero first appeared, or when you're just looking to have some fun facts in your repertoire. 

Created by Caroline Rea

The Ages

We can start by discussing the timeline breakdown people have overwhelmingly agreed upon. Generations of comics are broken down into four general "ages". Those are the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Modern Age. There are also two older and lesser-known categories called the Victorian Age and Platinum Age. 

Knowing which age your comic falls into isn't critical, but it can make it easier to find things if you know what age the comic you're looking for is from. Comic books are also often different sizes for different ages, so if you're looking for storage options, it's good to check if you have any comics from an older age. 

When it comes to the Victorian Age and the Platinum Age, I'm going to skip going into too much detail with those, but the infographic to the right has some facts about them.

Victorian Age - (1842-1897)

Platinum Age - (1897-1938) 

Golden Age - (1938-1951) 

• Superman debuted in 1938 by Detective Comics (predecessor of DC Comics)
• Captain America debuted in 1941 by Timely Comics (which would later become Marvel Comics)
• Archie Andrews was introduced in 1941 by MLJ Magazines (which would later become Archie Comics)
• A character named Captain Marvel was introduced in 1940 by Fawcett Comics. This character, although named "Captain Marvel" has no association with Marvel Comics or any character by that company. The character would later become known as Shazam and would be associated with DC Comics.

Silver Age - (1956-1970)

• Timely Comics became Atlas Comics in 1951 and Atlas Comics became Marvel Comics in 1961.
• DC Comics began to expand from their long-standing three heroes, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.
• The Flash debuted in 1956 by DC Comics.
• The Justice League of America was introduced by DC Comics in 1960.
  
• The X-Men were first introduced by Marvel Comics in 1963. 
• The Fantastic Four first appeared in 1961, published by Marvel Comics. 
• Harvey Comics, was forced to discontinue their horror comics because of the Comics Code Authority. They shifted the focus to comics for younger children. This saw the creation of characters like Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Little Dot.

Bronze Age - (1970-1985)

• The Comics Code was revised in 1971 and some of the rules relaxed. This allowed for supernatural/horror-oriented characters and titles to be introduced. This included titles like Swamp Thing, Ghost Rider, and The Tomb of Dracula.
• There is a strong return of darker plot elements and storylines that focus on current social issues like racism, drug abuse, etc. 
• One of my personal favorite examples from this era is Chris Claremont's X-Men: God Loves Man Kills, which focuses on religious fear-mongering and hate crimes based on things people cannot control.
• Other examples include Green Goblin Reborn! and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Both of which discuss the dangers of drug use and addiction. 
• They also touch on child sexual abuse in Spider-Man/Power Pack in 1984.
• The turn toward darker storylines also meant that characters, formerly thought to be untouchable, were in danger of dying. One of the most notable examples of this is the death of Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man's long-time love interest.

Modern Age - (1985-Present)

• This era saw a huge spike in the number of independent publishers. Some comic creators left big companies like Marvel and DC to work on their own personal projects that they would release through small publishers that encouraged creators to make more personal stories. 
• By the 1990s, antiheroes had become extremely popular. One of the main sources for these antiheroes was the numerous X-Men runs, often called X-books.
• There is also a huge spike in other media based around comic books. Video games, action figures, trading cards, as well as animated and live-action shows and movies. 

If this timeline is something you're interested in you can check the link up at the "The Ages" line for a better view of the timeline, or you can click here to see an article by Biowars going into more detail.