B5Erik

I know that I'm far more interested in the late Silver Age and the Bronze Age over anything else, but for you, what is the era of comic books that interests you the most?

For me, I've found some stuff from the last 25 years that I've really enjoyed that I missed the first time, some of it I've enjoyed a lot, but it still doesn't match the Bronze Age in terms of sheer entertainment and fun. And I prefer the art in that era, too.

But I do know that for a LOT of comic readers it's the exact opposite.

So for you, what era do you focus on the most? And is there anything that you would have as a secondary love - another era that connects with you more than others?

You may vote for more than one in the poll...

ddrknghtrtns

Voted for the bronze. I think that is when the comic book hit its creative peak.

morriscroy

Silver age. (Mostly Marvel).

Issues felt more like "standalone" type stories. Less convoluted storylines to follow.

morriscroy

Though with that being said.

My preference for non-Marvel and non-DC type stuff, is modern age. Mostly limited series, or series which ended and are not continuing storylines.

Nowadays I don't have the patience to search through deep catalog graphic novels (or floppies) to find something.

Josh-da-man

I'm an 80s guy.

Cut my teeth on Marvel's Transformers, moved onto X-Men, then to the pre-Vertigo DC stuff.

B5Erik

If I had to nail it down to specific years, it would be about 1967 to 1982.

Jim Shooter screwed up Marvel pretty good. Ironically, while I was a Marvel guy and not all that interested in becoming a regular DC reader, DC stepped up their game right around the same time Marvel started slipping. The New Teen Titans, Deathstroke The Terminator, the Batman titles, Green Lantern, Byrne's reworking of Superman, George Perez' Wonder Woman - DC was really hitting it out of the park!

But Marvel's stuff from '67 or so through the late 70's was pure magic. And some of their titles in the early to mid 80's were outstanding as well (sadly, Spider-Man had some lean years after issue 202 - up until the Roger Stern/Romita Jr team elevated the title again)

So, Bronze is my #1 choice for Marvel, followed by Silver, and then some Bronze and Copper Age stuff from DC.

morriscroy

I started slightly earlier, but nevertheless my heavy reading/collecting of comics was in the early->mid 1980s.


What eventually drove me away and stopped collecting comics altogether, was the Secret Wars 2 limited series. It was the first time I realized crossovers were completely hellish to follow and collect.

Slightly earlier, I thought the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series was cool, where I did pick up some of the crossover issues which were explicitly stated on the front covers of other series.

This issue of convoluted storylines via crossovers is the primary reason why I don't buy floppies at all. Easier to just buy (or borrow from the library) the graphic novel compilations of such involved storylines.


So the few modern era series I do buy as graphic novels (or occasionally floppies), are mostly limited series or standalone series which have ended already.

ytrez

Bronze for the mainstream (Marvel & DC) titles.

Copper for the independent titles.

morriscroy

My "pure magic" era was the period immediately before this ^

Roughly the era which was documented in the "Marvel Saga: The Official History of the Marvel Universe" chronicles series from 85-87.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Marve...Universe_Vol_1

Bronkster

Silver Age, probably because that's when I was exposed to comics. I'm also really into Golden Age Superman stuff.

brainee

I voted for Copper Age, just because that was a period I really got into the medium. I wasn't a big superhero comic fan as a kid, but things like Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, and Sandman pulled me back when I was college-age. For a few years there I was buying everything Vertigo published.

The Valeyard

Is there a middle spot? I'm a child of the Bronze Age and a reader/collector of the Copper Age. As a kid, my comics were mainly Star Wars and Micronauts. They were the only two titles I collected every month. Everything else was random issues here and there.

In the early 80s, I started drifting toward DC with Adventure Comics (Dial H For Hero), All-Star Squadron and Captain Carrot. Then went full DC after the Crisis. I LOVED the Post-Crisis DC. From Summer 1986 to Summer 1988, I didn't pick up a single Marvel title.

I'd probably lean toward Copper.

Paul_SD

I'd stretch it to '84 (for the Judas Contract alone), but that's generally my sweet spot too.

Mike86

I would go somewhere in between I think. A lot of my favorite stories are from the 80s, but I also like some arcs from the 70s, as well as the 90s and early 2000s.

rexinnih

Silver - before my time but the most important era IMHO.

PhantomStranger

I'll say 1972-1992, though I am not opposed to reading books outside that window. I mark 1992 because that was the beginning of Image Comics and I don't think the comic book market was ever really the same afterwards.

Hokeyboy

Yeah I would extend the Copper Age to 1992 and the rise of Image, as that was a clear demarcation point for comics to start really sucking for a good long while.

My sweet spot is 1980-1990 for both quality and nostalgia. I look back and see things like:

• Byrne's Fantastic Four, West Coast Avengers, and Superman
• Claremont's X-Men (granted this started in the 70s but it exploded in the 80s, starting with the Dark Phoenix saga)
• Simonson's Thor and Fantastic Four
• Michelenie's/Layton's Iron Man
• Gruenwald's Captain America
• Stern's Avengers
• So many great Marvel Graphic Novels, including
  • The Death of Captain Marvel
  • The New Mutants
  • Emperor Doom
  • Dr Strange & Dr Doom
• Levitz's/Giffen's Legion of Super-Heroes
• Wolfman's/Perez's New Teen Titans
• Perez's Wonder Woman
• Barr's Batman & The Outsiders
• Thomas's All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc
• Grell's Green Arrow
• Justice League International
• The classic miniseries like
  • Batman: Year One
  • The Dark Knight Returns
  • Watchmen
  • The Longbow Hunters
  • Ronin
• The pre-Vertigo onslaught with
  • Moore's Swamp Thing
  • Gaiman's Sandman and Black Orchid
  • Morrison's Animal Man
  • Delano's Hellblazer

Spiderbite

^This is totally me as well!

I started collecting around '79 around 6 years old and quit around '90 when I was 17.

I sold most of my collection back then for gas money and it was a really decent amount full of a large variety Silver Age and Bronze Age comics and of course Copper Age.

Wish I hadn't done that now.

sven

Modern. I really don't care for comics from the 80's or further back.

will travel

As a BATMAN fan my sweet spot is the Bronze Age.
DECTECTIVE COMICS #469 (Start of Steve Englehart's run) and ending with BATMAN #379 ( Last Don Newton artwork on Batman ).

B5Erik

I just picked up the Tales of the Batman by Steve Englehart collection this week!

Looks like good stuff in the first half of the book...

B5Erik

And I just got the Tales of the Batman by Len Wein book. Great collection. I love the Bat-Murderer story!

That era (the early to mid 70's) was so much fun to grow up and read comics in. The cover art was pure magic, and the stories were fun, but more sophisticated than they had been a decade earlier.

PhantomStranger

Agree it's a great era because the writers were still firmly grounded in comic book storytelling and knew how to tell a story, often in a single issue. Does anyone think decompression has made comics more readable?

ravenus

Love your choices. In fact Engelheart's run of Strange Apparitions is one of my all-time favorite Batman stories. I love the Bronze era in general, it was when superhero comics were less goofy and a little more serious, but also knew to have fun and not have the heroes be mopey / psychotic vigilantes.

PhantomStranger

Love Alan Moore's work but his deconstructions of superheroes in the 1980s more or less ended the Bronze Age's mostly straightforward storytelling. That is the bright dividing line between Bronze Age and whatever you want to call it afterwards. It's one of the reasons why those seminal 70s books still hold up.