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Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12857
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| Posted: 20 June 2021 at 10:47pm | IP Logged | 1
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This was an era where I got the strong impression, just by the comics, that Marvel was deeply embarrassed by any of their characters that weren't X-Men or Spider-Man. Likewise, DC with Batman. This may still be true, but it was the most obvious back then.
Edited by Joe Zhang on 20 June 2021 at 10:48pm
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2294
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 2:55am | IP Logged | 2
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A year or so after CRISIS, I just sort of lost interest in DC and, for some reason, Marvel also lost me too. I stopped buying most comics for almost ten years. Curiosity kept me coming into the comics shop every blue moon, but I would often leave empty-handed. I remember the excitement in the air as the time for the Image Comics launch approached. I was excited too (though I didn't really know the "superstar artists" everyone was talking about)--finally a third company was going to reinvigorate things! And it did! And I loved Image...for maybe the first year and a half. Things got very bad, derivative, and amateurish very quickly! But I do give them credit--they got me back into the mindset of being at least willing to buy Marvel and DC again.
But I would never buy a whole line again. I (and I think a LOT of other people) would only "follow the talent" now. Whether brand new or from the back issue boxes, I would buy and enjoy Busiek & Perez on AVENGERS, JB on SHE-HULK and WEST COAST AVENGERS, Moench & Gulacy here, James Robinson or Alan Davis there, and other exceptional writers & artists on classic concepts--and leave when they did.
Edited by Eric Jansen on 21 June 2021 at 5:41am
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7633
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 3:16am | IP Logged | 3
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The '90s were without a doubt the decade of excess, really
bad costumes and over speculation.
I do remain amazed at the difference between what Image was
and what Image now is - their variety of content is
breathtaking and they do produce some very interesting
product.
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Eric Sofer
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 7:54am | IP Logged | 4
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The 90s are the "Golden Age" for readers who started reading in the 90s; from the current time frame, let's say 24 - 30 year olds. They started reading in the 90s and their standard of nostalgia isn't all that long ago.
The 80s Golden Agers are 34 - 40 year olds. They enjoyed/endured/suffered major changes at both of the big 2 in Secret Wars (dammit) and Crisis on Infinite Earths (GODDAMMIT). 90s books started changing their experiences but late 80s sorta kinda flowed a little into 90s books; not that much difference.
70s Golden Agers are 44 - 50 year olds. They endured changes from the Golden and Silver age books, and probably didn't enjoy 80s books as much (as, at least to me, so many of those books read like fill-in stories - even if they were new stories in series.) Crisis and SW are still "what the hell" experiences*, and 90s and later are nearly unfathomable - where's the story? What's with the crappy art? Isn't anyone EDITING these books?
60s Golden Agers are rare as hen's teeth. In their late 50s or older, they started reading back in the 60s (or even 50s), the standards of those books was the highest in comics history - Boring, Buscemas, Heck, Infantino, Kane, Kirby, Romita, Sekowsky, Swan - artists who were cracking down to make sharper and cleaner art, writers and editors who were pushing for the best product every two months (and monthly in rare cases). Obviously, I fall into that group - but there aren't many of us around any more. So our attitude, while still legit, is seldom.
The 90s readers are the ones who are still buying and reading comics. They're the ones who are saving their fifty - sixty dollars a week to still buy comics. They look at, say, Curt Swan, and say "Why's that art so stiff? And so serious? Gimme Mike Alred any day!"
To me it seems simply majority rule with favor for the 90s books; that's what makes them so popular now. Old enough to foster nostalgia, new enough to have a young readership. |
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Michael Murphy
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 341
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 7:57am | IP Logged | 5
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Most people seem to remember what they read growing up as their "Golden Age". Gotta love those nostalgia colored glasses.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 7:58am | IP Logged | 6
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I think it was Kurt Busiek who said “the Golden Age of comics is 12.”
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Michael Penn
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Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 8:14am | IP Logged | 7
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That's pretty much right. 8-12, a little more broadly.
I had an even more broad experience in my golden kid-years because I not only was reading contemporary comicbooks but a lot of older originals I'd gotten from relatives and through some reprints. For example, I discovered Spider-Man through Ditko, who was before my time, rather than through Romita, who was.
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Michael Roberts
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 14816
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 8:17am | IP Logged | 8
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QUOTE:
| The 90s are the "Golden Age" for readers who started reading in the 90s; from the current time frame, let's say 24 - 30 year olds. |
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QUOTE:
| The 80s Golden Agers are 34 - 40 year olds. |
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QUOTE:
| 70s Golden Agers are 44 - 50 year olds. |
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What year are you posting this from? Your reference frames are way off. From my experience, for readers in their mid-30s to mid-40s, the Image-era was their Golden Age. I mean, I can recognize now that a lot of the early 90s stuff was bad, but nothing really matches the excitement of collecting comics at the time.
40 year olds today were 3-4 when Secret Wars and Crisis on Infinite Earths came out. None of them are looking at those at stories as formative experiences. I’m older and my only takeaway from Secret Wars for years was that Spider-Man got a black costume. I was still too young to understand the consequences of either series.
Edited by Michael Roberts on 21 June 2021 at 8:21am
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Eric Sofer
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 8:38am | IP Logged | 9
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I'm writing it from 2021, Michael. 24 - 30 year olds were born 1987 - 1981. Maybe a little too recent, but I felt it was kinda close enough. If we use 12 years old and 1985, then they were born in 1973. Hey... that makes them FIFTY NOW???
Okay, your point is well taken. But I was thinking about reading and being introduced to comics between 10 and 13 years old. So my math is indeed a little off. But I think my points remain valid.
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Michael Roberts
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 14816
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 9:11am | IP Logged | 10
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QUOTE:
| If we use 12 years old and 1985, then they were born in 1973. Hey... that makes them FIFTY NOW??? |
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47/48.
QUOTE:
| But I think my points remain valid. |
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Half your point was about the ages of readers and their Golden Age, and your ages were about a decade off. This is not astronomy where half a million kilometers is close enough.
Using Michael Penn’s suggestion of 8-12, readers from 1988 when the Image boys started getting attention are now 40/41-44/45 and readers from 1992 when Image debuted are now 36/37-40/41.
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7633
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 9:39am | IP Logged | 11
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I think you are about 5 years out Eric.
I’m 52 & my golden age is the ‘80s & late ‘70s.
I grew up in the UK & in the ‘70s we were 10 years behind getting to
about 2 years behind by the end of the 70s (for the most part). Series
that came out late ‘70s were pretty much on time but I discovered JB’s
X-Men a few years later than America.
Golden period for me is up to around 1986 where a lot of things
changed. Although there was still a lot of good stuff after that.
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Philippe Negrin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 August 2007
Location: France
Posts: 2644
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| Posted: 21 June 2021 at 12:12pm | IP Logged | 12
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I'm 50 and my Golden Age is late 70s to mid 80s (X-Men became unreadable for me in the 240s (Inferno, Mutants Massacre) so 1988-1989 was when I realized comics weren't for me anymore.I was 17-18 so other interests happened !
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