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▲[[File:bronze_age_2_6591.jpg|frame|What the Bronze Age looked like. (For the essence of the Bronze Age "Relevance," see the image at [[Very Special Episode]].)]]
[[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] was known for [[Lighter and Softer|goofy, lighthearted and rather fantastic plots]], [[Black and White Morality]], and a general absence of mature themes. [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere|Multicolored Kryptonite]], [[Non-Human Sidekick|dog sidekicks]], [[Everything's Better
Sources differ on when
▲[[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] was known for [[Lighter and Softer|goofy, lighthearted and rather fantastic plots]], [[Black and White Morality]], and a general absence of mature themes. [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere|Multicolored Kryptonite]], [[Non-Human Sidekick|dog sidekicks]], [[Everything's Better With Monkeys]] and [[New Powers As the Plot Demands]] were all characteristic tropes. And then...well, [[The Sixties]] happened. And [[The Seventies]]. Comics were swept up in the same post-Vietnam post-Watergate disillusionment as the rest of the USA. The [[Comics Code]] gradually loosened, letting [[Gray and Gray Morality|morally ambiguous]] stories appear more often. Character conflict as a plot device became the rule, and horror comics reappeared on the shelves. Some comics dispensed with the stamp of the Code altogether.
Without the constraints of the Code, comics were free to address [[Darker and Edgier|more mature issues]]. Creators were eager to prove to skeptical audiences that despite the Silver Age silliness that had become synonymous with the medium, comics could tell stories that were compelling to older readers. The Bronze Age is thus known for the first attempts to bring realism and adult issues to [[Superhero]] comic books, themes which would later overtake the genre entirely in [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]]. [[Fan Service|Overt sexuality]] appeared; necklines came down and hemlines came up. The [[Breast Plate]] started to appear on female characters such as Red Sonja, while males like [[Conan the Barbarian]] ran around with no shirt on. Religion also became available as a subject of discussion. [[The Legions of Hell]] started showing up, and religion-themed horror comics became popular. Perhaps most prominently, contemporary political issues appeared in comics for the first time since [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|the Golden Age]]. [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] went up against the Secret Empire, a conspiracy to take over the United States government whose leader was finally unmasked as a thinly veiled version of then-President [[Richard Nixon]]. This shook Cap so badly that he temporarily abandoned his hero identity, taking on the name "Nomad". Eventually, though, Cap realized he could champion the ideals of America without necessarily always supporting the government, and returned to the red-white-and-blue.
▲Sources differ on when [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books]] started and [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|the Silver Age]] ended. The most inclusive definition is that it started in 1970, when Jack Kirby left [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] to work for [[DC Comics|DC]], bringing with him the characterization-based style that had become Marvel's trademark created his ambitious, if short-lived, [[Fourth World]] titles. The same year saw the retirement of Mort Weisinger, Silver Age editor of the [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] titles. ''Amazing [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' #96 and 97 were the first to abandon the [[Comics Code]] entirely; these issues ran a story with a strong anti-drug message, but the Code at the time didn't allow any references to drugs at all. [[Stan Lee]] decided to defy the censors and had the story published anyway. The issues sold well even with<ref>Or perhaps ''because of''</ref> the controversy, and the gates were opened.
▲Without the constraints of the Code, comics were free to address [[Darker and Edgier|more mature issues]]. Creators were eager to prove to skeptical audiences that despite the Silver Age silliness that had become synonymous with the medium, comics could tell stories that were compelling to older readers. The Bronze Age is thus known for the first attempts to bring realism and adult issues to [[Superhero]] comic books, themes which would later overtake the genre entirely in [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]]. [[Fan Service|Overt sexuality]] appeared; necklines came down and hemlines came up. The [[Breast Plate]] started to appear on female characters such as Red Sonja, while males like [[Conan the Barbarian]] ran around with no shirt on. Religion also became available as a subject of discussion. [[The Legions of Hell]] started showing up, and religion-themed horror comics became popular. Perhaps most prominently, contemporary political issues appeared in comics for the first time since [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|the Golden Age]]. [[Captain America]] went up against the Secret Empire, a conspiracy to take over the United States government whose leader was finally unmasked as a thinly veiled version of then-President [[Richard Nixon]]. This shook Cap so badly that he temporarily abandoned his hero identity, taking on the name Nomad. Eventually, though, Cap realized he could champion the ideals of America without necessarily always supporting the government, and returned to the red-white-and-blue.
Of course, the traditional Silver Age goofiness never entirely disappeared, leading to occasional moments of [[Mood Whiplash]] like [[Wolverine]] having a conversation with a leprechaun.
Non-white [[Superhero
With contemporary relevance a major priority, existing characters experienced major changes as writers tried to "update" them for the times. Superman briefly lost his vulnerability to Kryptonite and quit his job at the ''Daily Planet'' to work as a TV
This was the time when many now-classic comic stories
On the DC side, it was during this time that [[Green Lantern]] and [[Green Arrow]] teamed up for a groundbreaking socially conscious series where they [[Very Special Episode|tackled real-world problems facing society, such as racism, poverty, corruption, and drug abuse]]. [[
Not only the content but the format of comics was being experimented with. Comics creators were ready to take chances for the first time since the creation of the [[Comics Code]] in the late 1950s. The first "[[Graphic Novel|graphic novels]]" showed up, complete book-sized stories in a single volume. Black-and-white, non-Code-approved magazines appeared on the newsstands. Satirical comics, political comics, comics that pushed the envelope of art, many different gimmicks were thrown at the wall to see what would stick. At DC, this meant a boom of new titles, and larger comics with more pages dedicated to story, in what was called the "DC Explosion". Over 50 new titles were created. Unfortunately, most of these were later canceled in the infamous "DC Implosion" of 1978. With that debacle, the new management of DC picked up the pieces with more sensible moves like the [[Limited Series]] publishing concept, which allowed comics that could tell stories in deliberately short runs that don't have to trap the talent into unsustainable indefinite runs. In addition, the magazine
Some people consider this the time period when comics started getting more insular, creating today's view of the geekish, obsessed comic book fan. Certainly, the average age of readers increased, as the "adult" aspects grew more and more prominent in the books of the day. Eventually, this trend would take over the genre so completely it culminated in a new era, [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|Dark Age]].
The Bronze Age's end is debated, including whether it has ended at all. One suggested turning point is 1986, when DC's ''[[Crisis
The Bronze Age is underrepresented in the area of trade paperback and hardcover reprint collections. The Age ended just about the time such collections started happening ''at all,'' and they tended to be of ''recent''
* Jack Kirby's Fourth World cycle consisting of ''[[Mister Miracle]]'', ''[[The New Gods]]'', ''[[Forever People]]'', and ''Jimmy Olsen''. (Kirby had just defected from Marvel. Indeed, a [[Take That|thinly-veiled attack on]] [[Stan Lee]] appears in one of these books.) This introduced characters such popular characters as the [[Big Bad]] [[Darkseid]]. He intended the story to work, after release, in what we would now call a graphic novel-style trade paperback format. Unfortunately, Kirby was ahead of his time and DC editor in chief, Carmine Infantino, pulled the plug when sales apparently didn't match the hype, although the characters soon became mainstays of [[The DCU]].
* The [[Satire|satirical]] ''[[Howard the Duck (
* ''[[Green Lantern]]''/''[[Green Arrow]]'' (tons of "relevant" storylines and political satire)
* ''Luke Cage, Hero for Hire'' (first black [[Superhero]] with his own series)
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', which eventually became so popular it nearly took over the [[Marvel Universe]]. The Bronze Age X-Men was defined by [[Chris Claremont
* ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|The New Teen Titans]]'' became DC's answer to ''X-Men'', and was so successful a rework of a formerly failed property that it inspired the company to have the book's creative team do the same for the whole [[The DCU|DC Universe]] during and after ''[[Crisis
* The Superman story "[[Whatever Happened to
* Britain's ''[[
* ''[[Swamp Thing]]'', both the original version (debuting in DC's horror series ''The House of Secrets'' in 1971), and the earliest part of [[Alan Moore|Moore's]] celebrated run (beginning in 1984) came out during this period. As did [[The Movie]] in 1983. Under Moore it became deeply political, dealing with themes such as race, feminism, environmentalism, and animal rights.
* ''[[Camelot 3000]]'', one of the first major direct market projects, and DC's first maxi-series. Also notable for its [[Genre Busting]], political commentary, and for pushing the envelope in terms of adult content and themes.
* ''[[
* ''[[Secret Wars]]''. Marvel got wind of DC's planned ''[[Crisis
* ''[
* Marvel's ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'', as well as spin-off title ''The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian'' (usually just called "Savage Sword" for short), both the biggest [[Heroic Fantasy|sword and sorcery]] [[Comic Books]]
* ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'', a Marvel maxiseries by Mark Gruenwald, explored the ideas of superheroes taking over the world to create a utopia in a realistic manner, i.e. everything goes wrong by the end of the series. Possibly the first serious exploration of "superheroes in the real world" in American comics, predating such works as ''[[Watchmen]]'' and ''[[Kingdom Come]]''.
* [[Jonah Hex]], the last great [[Comic Book]] [[Western]] character, was created during this period.
* ''The World of Krypton'', the first major limited series title, which gave the mainstream comics market a new publishing flexibility.
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Usually accepted as lasting from [[Jack Kirby
{{reflist}}
{{The Ages of Super Hero Comics}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The Seventies]]
[[Category:The Eighties]]
[[Category:The Ages of Super Hero Comics]]
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