The Ages of Comics

The Golden Age of Comics was from the 1930' to the 1940's, this is where comics started to become popular.  The superhero comics started to form, for example Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, and Superman all defined in the Golden Age.  This is where comics were seen as an art form and started to define the medium's artistic vocabulary and creative conventions by its first generation of writers, artists, and editors.  One of the first superhero comics was Superman in Action Comics #1 published by DC Comics.  The All-American Comics published some of the other famous superheroes like, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Hawkman, and Aquaman.  World War II also had an effect on the Golden Age comic books.  They were seen as an easy and portable book filled with good triumphs over evil.  Many comics featured heros fighting Nazis or Hitler and the fight against the Axis Powers.  

The Silver Age of Comics was from 1956 to the late 1960's or the early 1970's.  Previous to the Silver Age the superhero comics were in a decline, but during the Silver Age they went back up in popularity.   The Silver Age of Comic Books was one of the major commercial peaks of the comics industry.  During this time DC Comics came out with The Flash and Marvel Comics had The Fantastic Four comics.  Underground comics started in the Silver Age and Silver Age comic characters were "flawed and self-doubting".  The character make-up of superheroes also evolved during the Silver Age.  Aliens and science fiction replaced magic and gods. The children and girls were targeted by some publishers,

The Bronze Age of Comics was from the early 1970's to the mid-1980's.  The Bronze Age had retained many of the bright superhero titles that the Silver Age had had.  However darker plot elements and more mature story lines featuring real-world issues, such as drug use, began to appear.  Also 'modern horror' started to show up in the comic books in the mid 1960's.  There was DC Comics House of Mystery in 1968.  There was also a trend of feminism with the creation of female superheroes like Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, Red Sonja, and Ms. Marvel.

The Modern Age of Comics was from the mid-1980's to present day.  Characters during this age generally became darker and more psychologically complex. Also during this age independent comics flourished, and larger publishing houses became more commercialized.  Many new villains came out during this time, like Venom a new villain from Spider-Man and War Machine a new villain from Ironman.  There was also the creation of anti-heros and a new twist in X-Men.  Some of the new comics that came out during the modern Age were Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

The Platinum Age of Comics was from 1897-1938.  One of the first comics to come out in the platinum age was The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats it was published in early 1897 by G. W. Dillingham Company.  Many of the comics in this age were priced at 50 cents and before 1901 the comics were in black and white.  After 1901 the most of the comics were in full color.   The Adventures of Mickey Mouse was the first "true" mickey mouse comic book and it came out in 1931.  These comics were by David McKay Co. with a print run of 50,000 copies.