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The Modern Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period of American Comic Books generally considered to last from the mid-1980s until present day. In this period, Comic Book characters generally became darker and more psychologically complex, creators became more well-known and active in changing the industry, independent comics flourished, and larger publishing houses became more commercialized. Other terms include the Dark Age of Comic Books (due to the popularity and artistic influence of grim titles such as '''' and '' Watchmen ''), and the '''Diamond Age of Comic Books''' (suggested by Scott McCloud , because of the new diversity found in the medium). The period is sometimes erroneously referred to as the Bronze Age of Comic Books (by analogy with archeological Bronze Age ), although this term is usually used more specifically in reference to comics published between the early 1970s and early 1980s. IMPORTANT EVENTS Because the time period encompassing the Modern Age is not well defined, and in some cases disputed by fans, and most professionals, it is difficult to write a comprehensive history. In rough chronological order by the beginning of the trend, here are some important developments that occurred during the Modern Age, many of which are interrelated: Fantasy, Horror and "sophisticated suspense" Horror and Science Fiction titles were absent from the comics market since the establishment of the restrictive Comics Code in the 1950s. In the mid-1970s, Marvel revived these genres with their new fantasy and horror comics, including '' Conan The Barbarian '' comics and '' Tomb Of Dracula .'' Starting with Alan Moore ’s groundbreaking work on DC Comics 's '' Swamp Thing '' in the early 1980s, horror comic books incorporated elements of science fiction/fantasy and strove to a new artistic standard. Other examples include Neil Gaiman ’s '' The Sandman '' and Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon ’s '' Preacher .'' These new comics transcended easily identifiable genres. Striving to apply some label to these titles, some of which did have at a similar feel and approach, some people began to use the phrase "sophisticated suspense." DC’s Vertigo line, launched in 1993, specializes in this genre. & Dave Cockrum .]] The revival and sales boom of the X-Men Development of the X-Men In ''Giant-Size X-Men'' #1 (1975), Marvel Comics introduced a new, ethnically diverse team of X-Men conceived by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum . Under writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne , this version of the team became one of the most successful properties of the 1980s and spawned several Spin-off s. By the early 1990s, the X-Men franchise was the most popular in the comic book industry. The success of the team lead to several Spin-off s, deemed " X-Books ." By the mid-1990s, over a dozen X-Men-related comic books, both continuing and Limited Series , were published each month. On an almost annual basis from 1986 until 1999, one storyline Crossed-over into almost every X-Book for two to three months. These "X-Overs" usually lead to a spike in sales. This sales boom resulting in a great deal of merchandising, such as Action Figure s, Video Game s and Trading Card s. This success was thanks in no small part to the Fox Network 's Animated X-Men Series , which debuted in 1992 and drew in a large number of younger fans. The sales boom began to wane in the mid to late 1990s, due to the crash of the speculators market and the effect it had on the industry. Marvel declared bankruptcy, and as a result, scaled back all of their franchises, including X-Men. A number of "X-books" were cancelled, and the amount of limited series published, as well as general mechandise, was reduced. In the early 2000s, a series of blockbuster '' debuted, while new toys have been developed and sold since the success of the first X-Men feature film. The comic books themselves have been reinvented in series such as Grant Morrison 's '' New X-Men '' by acclaimed writer Grant Morrison and the '' Ultimate X-Men '', which, like Marvels other "ultimate" series, is an alternate universe story, starting the X-Men tale anew. (This was done for X-Men, and other books, because Marvel feared that the long and complex histories of the established storylines of certain titles were scaring off new readers.) Effect on other comics and Marv Wolfman 's ''New Teen Titans'']] The success of the X-Men had several effects on the comic book industry. Series featuring superhero teams, especially ones in which internal friction contributed to storylines, became much more common. DC Comics 's '' The New Teen Titans '' series of the 1980s show the influence of the X-Men as do 1990s Image Comics teams such as Youngblood , WildC.A.T.s and Gen 13 . By the peak of the X-Men's popularity in the early 1990s, the team's chemistry often imitated and many series featured an obvious Cyclops character (stoic leader), Wolverine character (gruff loner) and Storm character (strong-willed woman). Also, many series tried to imitate the model the X-Men carved as a franchise. Marvel and DC expanded popular properties, such as Spider-Man , Batman and Superman into networks of spin-off books in the mid-to-late 1980s. Like the X-Books, some of these spin-offs highlighted a concept or Supporting Character(s) from a parent series, while others were simply additional monthly series featuring a popular character. Also like the X-Books, these franchises regularly featured crossovers, where one storyline overlapped into every title in the “family” for a few months. The rise of anti-heroes In the mid 1970s Marvel Anti-hero es such as the X-Men’s Wolverine , the Punisher and writer/artist Frank Miller ’s darker version of Daredevil challenged the previous model of the superhero as a cheerful Humanitarian . Miller also created Elektra who straddled the conventional boundary between love interest and Villain . Two artistically influential ,'' also by Frank Miller and '' Watchmen '' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons , both of which were series of impressive psychological depth that starred troubled heroes. By the early 1990s, anti-heroes had become the rule rather than the exception, and among the most popular were Marvel Comics ' Cable and Venom and Image Comics ' Spawn , although some fans complained that too many of them were unlikable Psychopath s of little depth and originality. Some critics believe that this trend is tied to the cynicism of the 1980s, when the idea of a person selflessly using his extraordinary abilities on a quest for good was no longer believable, but a person with a deep psychological impulse to destroy criminals was. The trend of creating characters with more psychological depth that were less black and white also affected Supervillains . For example, Batman's enemy The Joker was portrayed less as an evil criminal and more of a mentally ill psychopath who can't control his actions, Marvel Comics' galactic planet-eater Galactus became a force of nature who meant no personal malice in his feedings, and the X-Men's nemesis Magneto became more benign and sympathetic as a man who fights for an oppressed people, albeit through means others deem unacceptable. Creator Rights and Image Comics Ownership of characters and trademarks became a major issue for both DC and Marvel Comics in the late 1970s. In 1975, Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster launched a publicity campaign claiming unfair treatment from DC Comics. The two successfully sued Time-Warner , DC's parent company, and were awarded lifelong royalties and accreditation for Superman. At the same time, artist Jack Kirby , co-creator of many of Marvel's most popular characters, came into dispute with Marvel over the disappearance of original pages of artwork from some of his most famous titles. Alan Moore , Frank Miller and many other contemporary stars, became vocal advocates for Kirby. The combination of these events, as well as vocal proponents of independent publishing, helped to inspire a number of Marvel artists to form their own company, Image Comics , which would serve as a prominent example of Creator-owned comics publishing. By the early 1990s, Marvel artists, such as '' X-Men ''’s Jim Lee , '' The New Mutants / X-Force ''’s Rob Liefeld and '' Spider-Man ''’s Todd McFarlane , became extremely popular and were idolized by younger readers in ways more common to sports stars and musicians than comic book artists. .]] Propelled by star power and upset that they did not own the popular characters they created for Marvel, several illustrators, including the above three formed Image Comics in 1992, an umbrella label under which several autonomous, creator-owned companies existed. Image properties, such as '' WildC.A.T.s '', '' Gen13 '', '' Witchblade '' and especially McFarlane’s '' Spawn '' provided brisk competition for long-standing superheroes. However, many criticized Image for prioritizing flashy artwork and cheap gimmicks over storytelling and originality. (Image in particular is singled out by some fans for contributing to the conditions which led to the speculator market crashing, as Image was known to release many alternate covers, foil covers, and other "collectible" comics.) Many popular creators followed Image's lead and attempted to use their star power to launch their own series; ones that they would have licensing rights for and editorial control of. Chris Claremont, famous for authoring ''Uncanny X-Men'', created '' Sovereign Seven ,'' Joe Madureira , also made popular by ''Uncanny X-Men'', launched '' Battle Chasers '', and Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross , the creative team behind the popular Limited Series '' Marvels '', created '' Astro City .'' The rise of independent comics and self publishing In the late 1960s, " Underground Comix " became popular and associated with the " Counterculture " of the day, although they had little influence on the comic book industry at large. (Despite this, creator and artist R. Crumb has nonetheless gained a good deal of recognition and respect in the comics world.) In the Modern Age, independent comics had a more sizable artistic influence and market presence in the industry. The independent comics boom is often directly linked with the creators rights movement, as many independent publishers were very vocal supporters of the movement. While some fans argue over what exactly makes a publisher "independent," the most basic use of the term is for any publisher other than DC and Marvel. Some may include Image Comics in this list, but others would dispute that due to Image's huge financial assets. Image is covered elsewhere on this page, so this section will focus on other publishers. While fans also argue over the origins and roots of self-publishing in the comics industry, most agree that Dave Sim had a huge amount of influence in this area, with his '' Cerebus The Aardvark ,'' an offbeat title, published, written, and drawn primarily by Sim himself, starting in 1977. Sim is known for his activism in favor of creators rights and his outspoken nature in regard to the industry in general. (He often used the back of the book to deliver his "messages from the President", which were sometimes editorials concerning the comics industry and Self-publishing .) The comic itself was published under Sim's own "Aardvark-Vanaheim Inc." imprint. Other important early self-publishers include Wendy and Richard Pini , creators of '' Elfquest ,'' Colleen Doran , creator of '' A Distant Soil '' and Jeff Smith , creator of '' Bone .'' Due to the financial pressures and heavy workload involved in self-publishing, many of these series were sporadically published and each were finished with the assistance of larger publishers with special financial and editorial arrangements (in the case of the ''Elfquest'', Marvel's Epic Imprint and then DC and in the case of ''Bone'' and ''A Distant Soil'' Image Comics). Other important independent publishers include:
New publishers continue to appear today as the advent of the Internet , the wider availability of printing equipment and computer publishing programs and the reduced costs of printing, have made self publishing much easier and less expensive. Big budget film adaptations While comics had been adapted as Film s since the Serial s of the 1940s, these films had low budgets and were generally aimed at children, and were never meant to be taken seriously. In 1978, '''' became the first Superhero Film to feature sincere performances, convincing special effects and a storyline geared towards both children and adults. 1989's '' Batman '' was a similarly successful film that mirrored the dark tone of Modern Age comic books. Although both the Superman and Batman franchises became less critically and commercially successful with each Sequel , the series helped introduce the characters to new generations of fans, as well as demonstrating that comic based films could be major summer blockbusters. The early 2000s saw a renaissance of superhero films including 2000's '','' and '' Hulk '', 2004's '' Hellboy '' and '' Spider-Man 2 '' and 2005's '' Fantastic Four '' and '' Batman Begins .'' These films have helped popularize or re-popularize many of these heroes, and many, including ''Spider Man 2, Batman Begins,'' and ''X2'' have lead to Sequel s that are already in production. Several more superhero films are set to debut in 2006, including the eagerly anticipated '' Superman Returns '' Additionally, some non-superhero films based on comic books have helped draw attention to the diversity of the medium. These films include '' The Crow '' (1994), '' Ghost World '' (2001), '' Road To Perdition '' (2002), '' American Splendor '' (2003), '' Sin City '', '' A History Of Violence '' (2005) and '' V For Vendetta '' (2006). Big events In 1984, Marvel Comics debuted the first large Crossover '' Secret Wars ,'' a storyline featuring the company's most prolific Superhero es, which overlapped into a 12-issue Limited Series and many monthly comic books. A year later, DC Comics introduced its first large scale crossover '' Crisis On Infinite Earths ,'' which had long term effects on the " DC Universe " Continuity (see below). In the early and mid-1990s, big events were regularly published by Marvel and DC, often leading to extra publicity and sales. These events helped fend-off competition from Image Comics and such events were more likely to become "collector's items." Some events, such as DC's " Zero Hour " and Marvel's " Onslaught Saga " spanned a publisher's entire line while others only affected a "family" of interrelated titles. The X-Men and Batman franchises featured crossovers almost annually. Some of the most significant mid-1990s events, such as Spider-Man 's " Clone Saga ," Batman 's " KnightSaga " and particularly " The Death Of Superman " caused dramatic changes to long-running characters and received coverage in the mainstream media. These events led to significant sales boosts and publicity but many fans began to criticize them as excessive and lacking in compelling storytelling. They also complained that monthly series had become inaccessible because one had to follow a number of comics to understand the full storyline. By the end of the 1990s, the number of large crossovers decreased but were still launched sporadically. ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' Starting in the early 1960s, DC Comics maintained some aspects of its Continuity through the use of a Multiverse system of parallel Earths. A cosmic event in the 1985 Limited Series '' Crisis On Infinite Earths '' merged all of these realities and their respective characters into one universe, allowing writers to rewrite from scratch such long-running characters as Batman , Superman and Wonder Woman and also as an attempt at simplifying the DC Universe . In some ways, this helped revitalize DC's characters, though some fans debated (and continue to debate) whether such changes were necessary to begin with or truly beneficial. Since ''Crisis'', the trend of such Retconning /revamping of characters' histories has increased in superhero comics, as has such large-scale Crossover events. Even DC found cause to revamp its universe again (but on a smaller scale) with 1994 's '' Zero Hour '' crossover storyline. In the late 1990s, the concept of Hypertime was introduced as an attempt to satisfy fans of alternate realities, by stating that ''all'' comics published by DC (whether pre- or post-''Crisis'') had taken place in some corner of reality. In 2005, the Infinite Crisis series revived the idea of a multiverse. ''Watchmen'' and ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' In 1986, DC published two groundbreaking '' by Frank Miller . As described above, these series helped usher in the era of Anti-hero es. But, more importantly, they were two of the most artistically ambitious and psychologically complex comic book series ever produced. They helped gather respect for the medium and set the bar for subsequent writers. .]] Maus and other prominent non-traditional comics In 1987, Art Spiegelman published the first volume of the Graphic Novel '' Maus ,'' which recounts his parents’ struggle to survive the Holocaust as Polish Jews and Spiegelman’s own attempts to connect with them. The second volume was published in 1992. The work won a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992, the first comic book to do so. ''Maus'' signified that the medium of comic books is capable of telling stories other than those of Superhero es and other fantastic beings, including ones of great emotional weight. Although superheroes remained, by far, the most prominent form of the medium, adult-oriented, non-superhero comics received notice after the publication of ''Maus.'' These include '' Ghost World '' by Daniel Clowes , '' American Splendor '' by Harvey Pekar , '' Strangers In Paradise '' by Terry Moore , and by '' Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth '' by Chris Ware . These series, often called " Graphic Novel s," have helped increase public respect for the comic book medium and have drawn in audiences who do not usually read comic books. Celebrity writers and artists While many creators, artists, and writers had achieved celebrity status by the modern age ( 1960s -era Marvel Comics innovators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee being perhaps the best known), the late 1980s and the 1990s saw this phenomenon become very widespread. Artists Rob Liefeld , Todd McFarlane , and Jim Lee , writers Neil Gaiman , Alan Moore , and Grant Morrison and writer/artist Frank Miller , became very well known and developed dedicated fans who followed their work closely. This changed comics readership to some extent. Previously, fans were more dedicated to specific characters and franchises than creators. By the 1990s, many readers, especially older ones, began to follow their favorite artists and writers more fervently. The rise of celebrity artists and writers helped to make the independent comics boom possible. Moore and Miller launched independently-published unconventional comics, such as Moore's historical fiction epic '' From Hell '' and Miller's Noir series '' Sin City .'' Meanwhile, Liefeld, McFarlane and Jim Lee banded together with four other former Marvel artists to form Image Comics in 1992, which used the star power of its owners/contributors to instantly become the biggest competitor to Marvel and DC in 30 years. The rise and fall of the speculator market See Also: comic book collecting .]] By the late 1980s, important comic books, such as the first appearance of a classic character or first issue of a long-running series, were sold for thousands of dollars. Mainstream Newspaper s ran reports that comic books were good financial investments and soon Collectors were buying massive amounts of comics they thought would be valuable in the future. Publishers responded by manufacturing collectors’ items, such as Trading Cards , and “limited editions” of certain issues featuring a special or variant cover. The first issues of Marvel Comics ' '' X-Force , X-Men ,'' vol. 2 and '' Spider-Man '' became some of the first and most notorious examples of this trend. This led a market boom, where retail shops and publishers made huge profits and many companies, large and small, expanded their lines. Image Comics in particular became notorious for this, with many of its series debuting with alternate covers, wide use of embossed and foil covers and other "collectible" traits. This trend was not confined to the books themselves, and many other pieces of merchandise, such as toys, particularly "chase" Action Figures (figures made in smaller runs than others in a particular line), Trading Card s, and other items, were also expected to appreciate in value. McFarlane Toys was notable for this, as it created many variations in its toys, most of which were main characters or occasional guest stars in the Spawn series. But few, in the glut of new series, possessed lasting artistic quality and the items that were predicted to be valuable did not become so, often because of huge print runs that made them commonplace. A crash occurred, sales plummeted, hundreds of retail stores closed and many publishers downsized. In 1996, Marvel Comics, the largest company in the industry, declared Bankruptcy (it has made a slow recovery since). The industry has still not yet fully recovered from the speculator crash. The crash also marked the relative downfall of the large franchises, inter-connected "families" of titles that lead to a glut of merchandizing. While the big franchise titles still have a large amount of regular titles and merchandising attached to them, all of these things were notably scaled back after the crash. Several franchises have once again gained prominence, such as the X-Men, due in large part to the feature films '' X-Men '' and '' X2 '', and many DC heroes thanks to the success of various animated series' based on their characters, such as ''Justice League'', ''Justice League Unlimited'', and ''Teen Titans''. The rise of the trade paperback format Although sales of comic books dropped in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, sales rose for Trade Paperback s, collected editions in which several issues are bound together with a spine and often sold in bookstores as well as comic shops. Some series were saved from cancellation solely because of sales of trade paperbacks, and storylines for many of the most popular series of today (DC’s '' JLA '' and various Batman series and Marvel’s '' Ultimate Spider-Man '' and '' New X-Men '') are put into trade paperback instantly after the storyline ends. Trade paperbacks are often even given volume numbers, making them serializations of a serializations of sorts. Because of this, many writers now consider their plots with the trade paperback edition in mind, scripting stories that last four to twelve issues, which could easily be read as a “ Graphic Novel .” TIMELINE OF EVENTS 1970s
1980s
1990s
Unknown Dates in the 1990s timeline
2000s
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