Post- "Modern" Age of comics?

[DJWhamo]

If this kind of thing has been posted before, please forgive me. If not, I figured it might be an interesting concept to consider:

So, I got to reading about the 'Golden', 'Silver', 'Bronze', and 'Modern' ages of comics- they're origins, attributes, endings, etc.- and got to wondering, what would the next "age" of comics look like, as opposed to this one? I mean, logic dictates it'll eventually happen, right? What conventions would be different? What new directions would the medium move towards? Or have we gotten to a point where changes to the industry and medium have become so lucid and constant that trying to define them within "ages" is no longer viable (I'm...hoping that made sense)?

[dupont2005]

i think they should classify the early 90's as their own "age" due to the massive amount of crap saturating the market. they could call it the totally fucking awesome polybagged chromium age with free collectors pogs. i was flipping through a comic from the 90;s the other day and saw a mention of a comic called "solar blading roller dudes" so i immediately looked all over for it online, unfortunately i don't think it ever made print.

i think as trends change there will always be definable periods in comic book publishing. will the "digital age" be next?

[Paradox]

Naming any age "Modern" is the height of stupidity. The current age is always "The Modern Age". Ages don't need to be named except in retrospect. You can't really tell where the divisions are until afterwards, anyway.

[Paradox]

dupont2005 wants a name:

i think they should classify the early 90's as their own "age" due to the massive amount of crap saturating the market. they could call it the totally fucking awesome polybagged chromium age with free collectors pogs. i was flipping through a comic from the 90;s the other day and saw a mention of a comic called "solar blading roller dudes" so i immediately looked all over for it online, unfortunately i don't think it ever made print.

'90s stuff is often referred to as "Dark Age" by many, because of the tone of the material AND the lack of intellectual growth.

[dupont2005]

i thought it was less dark than the 80's in a lot of titles. then again, didn't spiderman kill a guy in the 90's?

[stealthwise]

'90s stuff is often referred to as "Dark Age" by many, because of the tone of the material AND the lack of intellectual growth.

Agreed, it was a crappy time.

I'd call the next era after that (which seemed to run from 1999 to about 2004) the "post-9/11 era" or "innovation era," particularly short-lived, when you had some actual cool stuff coming out of Marvel, new Vertigo titles, ABC line, etc.

Currently we seem to be in the "nostalgia era."

[Michael P]

Naming any age "Modern" is the height of stupidity. The current age is always "The Modern Age". Ages don't need to be named except in retrospect. You can't really tell where the divisions are until afterwards, anyway.

In Literature, this led to the unintentionally hilarious fact of Modernism having been out of vogue for about 40-60 years now.

[Michael P]

Currently we seem to be in the "nostalgia era."

The Gold-Plated Age, as it were.

[Gumbo Maximillian]

i thought it was less dark than the 80's in a lot of titles. then again, didn't spiderman kill a guy in the 90's?

Accidently hurt that old guy w/a cane during a fight.....out and out kill somebody I don't recall it happening.

Though it was the 80's wasn't it when Jean DeWolf got killed and Spider-Man beat Sineater to a stuttering, cane holding wreck of a man I believe.

And I wouldn't call the 90's as a whole dark; really only the early 90's was really dark along w/blood n guts and "awesome to the extreeeme!!!!!"

Around the mid-late 90's it started kind of swinging to the direction its been about now I would say.

[DJWhamo]

Naming any age "Modern" is the height of stupidity. The current age is always "The Modern Age". Ages don't need to be named except in retrospect. You can't really tell where the divisions are until afterwards, anyway.

I'm not saying the present is CALLED "the modern age"- I literally meant, the scene right now.

Really, I'm just asking you what you think will come next, to the extent that, IN the future, a line would be drawn.

[dupont2005]

Accidently hurt that old guy w/a cane during a fight.....out and out kill somebody I don't recall it happening.

Though it was the 80's wasn't it when Jean DeWolf got killed and Spider-Man beat Sineater to a stuttering, cane holding wreck of a man I believe.

And I wouldn't call the 90's as a whole dark; really only the early 90's was really dark along w/blood n guts and "awesome to the extreeeme!!!!!"

Around the mid-late 90's it started kind of swinging to the direction its been about now I would say.

i never read the issue but there was a lot of hype after i quit reading comics about spiderman killing someone. maybe it never happened.

[dupont2005]

double post

[DJWhamo]

i never read the issue but there was a lot of hype after i quit reading comics about spiderman killing someone. maybe it never happened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Stacy#The_Death_of_Gwen_Stacy ?

"Peter is unsure whether the whiplash from her sudden stop broke her neck or if the fall killed her, but he blames himself for her death regardless..."

"The death of Gwen Stacy had an enormous impact in the world of comic-book fandom. Before her, except possibly as part of an origin story, superheroes simply did not fail so catastrophically; nor did a loved one of the superhero die so suddenly, without warning, or so violently. Because of this, some fans and historians take the death of Gwen Stacy as one marker of the end of the period they refer to as the Silver Age of Comic Books."

[dupont2005]

yeah i was thinking somewhere around 95, and him flat out murdering someone out of rage

[DJWhamo]

yeah i was thinking somewhere around 95, and him flat out murdering someone out of rage

Ah. Well, on that, I got nothin'. Sounds a hell of a lot cooler than the Gwen Stacy thing, though.

[Paradox]

DJWhamo mistakes me:

I'm not saying the present is CALLED "the modern age"- I literally meant, the scene right now.

Oh, sure, that wasn't directed at you. There are some that DO call it "Modern Age" and it's funny because I've seen that applied to like 40 years of different eras. :tongue: