The Dark Age of Comic Books: Difference between revisions

{{tropeUseful Notes}}

[[File:New_Mutants_87_1714New Mutants.jpg|link=Cable|frame|[[Nineties Anti-Hero|Trendsetter coming through]].]]

[['''The Dark Age of Comic Books]]''' was the culmination of a gradual move towards an older audience for [[Comic Book|Comic Books]]s, particularly those featuring superheroes, that had started in [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books]]. It's sometimes also called [[The Iron Age of Comic Books]], to follow the Gold/Silver/Bronze progression, but Dark Age is the much more common term. Usually characterized as a [[Darker and Edgier]] period featuring an increased focus on sex, violence and dark, gritty portrayals of the characters involved, much of the content produced during this era is very controversial amongst comic book fans and is usually (depending on who you ask) considered either a welcome breath of fresh air after the medium languishing so long in its own version of the [[Animation Age Ghetto]], or a period of grotesque excess and immaturity...[[Take a Third Option|or both.]]

The Dark Age is generally agreed to have begun in 1986 -- a1986—a watershed year in comics, seeing the publication of [[Frank Miller]]'s ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' and [[Alan Moore]]'s ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. Whilst works both by these authors and others in the field had also displayed Dark Age sensibilities prior to these such as Moore's ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' (1982), and Miller's ''Ronin'' (1983), ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' were the two works which provided much of the [[Trope Codifier|direct inspiration]] for what followed. Both were dark, gritty and complex works which took the superhero genre and [[Deconstruction|deconstructed it]], infusing it with greater political and psychological complexity and a greater amount of graphic sexual and violent content than had been seen previously. They also kick-started a trend for portraying superheroes not as the [[The Cape (trope)|whiter-than-whitebread heroes of pure moral standing]] that had been the common default prior to these works, but as neurotic, tormented and at times borderline-fascistic [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroes]] whose violent methods masked a whole range of psychological and sexual issues. They also achieved widespread mainstream attention, and acclaim within intellectual circles, something unheard in the industry before. This in effect briefly turned comics into the "hip" and "rebellious" medium.

Liefeld, one of the most popular creators of the time, influenced the Age in three main ways. Firstly, the characters he devised acted as central [[Trope Codifier|Trope Codifiers]]s for the [[Nineties Anti-Hero]], the primary character archetype of the period. The character of Cable, introduced by Liefeld as leader of Marvel's [[X-Men]] [[Spin-Off]] ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|The New Mutants]]'', was a particularly important one; although initially a villain, his character was used to fill an editorial mandate calling for a [[Badass|"man of action"]] to act as a foil to Xavier's more gentle style of leadership. Secondly, Liefeld's artwork -- darkartwork—dark, gritty and angular -- wasangular—was perfect for the darker tone of comic books of the day, and began to be widely imitated -- toimitated—to the extent that even his flaws were emulated by other artists.

The resulting material has been hotly contested by fans with regards to its quality. Certainly, the age produced a lot of widely-acclaimed and notable works, both affiliated with the mainstream universes and the independents -- suchindependents—such as ''[[The Maxx]]'', [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Sandman]]'', [[Grant Morrison]]'s runs on ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' and ''[[Animal Man]]'', Todd McFarlane's ''[[Spawn]]'' and Erik Larsen's ''[[The Savage Dragon]]''. At their best, creators were using the new lack of constraints to transcend the old limitations and develop stories that were interesting, imaginative, complex and mature, embracing the possibilities of the medium and going beyond the traditional literature in the process. Many genuine classics have their origins in the moods and tones of the era.

The portrayal of women -- rarelywomen—rarely at its most mature to begin with in this genre -- plungedgenre—plunged to ever more absurd depths, at times bordering on outright misogyny (Except for ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' under [[George Perez]] who created one of the character's best ever periods). For example, during the Dark Age an entire sub-genre of "Bad Girls" comics started to appear, featuring female characters (usually [[The Vamp|Witches, Demons, Vampires, etc]]) in highly [[Stripperific]] outfits in Supernaturally themed, borderline pornographic storylines. An early [[Trope Codifier]] for this was ''[[Lady Death]]''. There was a time when this kind of material made up 90% of the material produced by [[Avatar Press]]. The "Bad Girls" genre has more or less died out, however some series like this (most notably [[Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose]]) are still around.

An overly dark, cynical tone appeared even in works for which such a tone was unsuitable. While not always a [[Deconstruction]] of [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]], it was certainly a [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|deliberate opposition]], and although touted as being more adult and mature, in too many cases the works produced during the age were no more sophisticated than or superior to earlier, 'immature' works -- merelyworks—merely nastier.

Big Events and [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]]s were also immensely common by this point, with events such as [[Superman]] [[The Death of Superman|dying and being replaced by feuding alternatives]], [[Batman]] [[Knightfall|having his back broken and]] [[Anti-Hero Substitute|replaced by a considerably more psychotic]] [[Azrael|individual]], the [[Silver Age]] [[Green Lantern]] [[Zero Hour|turning evil]] and [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] [[The Clone Saga|being replaced by a clone]]. Even [[Wonder Woman]] and the [[Flash]] were briefly replaced by darker doppelgangers, and [[Aquaman]] lost a hand and [[Growing the Beard|grew a beard]]. However, many of these events were poorly received by fans, who didn't appreciate their favourite characters being altered beyond recognition, and the constant crossovers tended to interrupt the flow of stories in individual titles (thus making a jumbled mess of ongoing storylines), requiring readers to purchase numerous different books -- includingbooks—including titles they may not particularly like or usually read -- inread—in order to follow the narrative.

[[Broken Base|Opinion is divided]] on when -- orwhen—or even if -- theif—the Dark Age ended. Earliest estimates put it in the mid-to-late 1990s. In 1995, the critically acclaimed ''[[Astro City]]'', a [[Reconstruction|love letter]] to super-heroes of the Silver Age Style debuted. 1996 saw the publishing of ''[[Kingdom Come]]'', a brutal, barefisted [[Deconstruction]] of [[Darker and Edgier|the direction comics had been going in for the past ten years]]. 1996 also saw the end of ''[[The Sandman]]'', [[Valiant Comics]] being bought out, and [[The Great Comics Crash of 1996]]. It's also worth noting that DC's [[Crisis Crossover]] for 1996 was Final Night, which undid [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan's]] [[Face Heel Turn]] through his [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to re-ignite the sun. 1997 saw [[Grant Morrison]]'s celebrated run on JLA, which did more to [[Reconstruction|Reconstruct]] the main DCU than anything else. 1997 was also when Marvel filed for bankruptcy (See [[The Great Comics Crash of 1996]] for more details). The late 90s saw [[Warren Ellis]] gaining prominence with works such as ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' (1997) and ''[[Planetary]]'' (1999), as well as DC's acquisition of Wildstorm, and is thus often tied into [[The Modern Age of Comic Books]]. Later estimates put it at the turn of the millennium, with the introduction of [[Ultimate Marvel]] via ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' (2000), offering a fresh take on the Marvel Universe unfettered by decades of continuity and modernized takes on old stories and characters. Still others argue that whilst the excesses of the Dark Age have by-and-large disappeared, comics today are nevertheless still notably dominated by a [[Darker and Edgier]] mindset which indicates that it might be around for a while.

In at least one medium, the [[Dark Age]] is still going strong; [[Comic Book Adaptation|superhero movies]] have been increasingly focusing on much darker takes on superheroes, primarily represented by the release of ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' in 2008 and [[The Movie]] of ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'' in 2009. (Rather fitting, knowing [[Watchmen (comics)|what]] [[The Dark Knight Returns|comics]] kicked off the original Dark Age.) Ironically, during the Dark Age in comics, superhero movies had actually been a lot [[Lighter and Softer]] than the material they were taking inspiration from. So far, however, the Hollywood Dark Age is taking a much more nuanced approach than the comic one. Whereas the comics, for the most part, crammed as much sex and gore as humanly possible into the pages they were given, the movies are taking a less bloody approach; ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' relies on [[Bloodless Carnage]] like no other, and ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'' is gory but doesn't rely on the gore to tell a story (in fact, the climax is less gory in the movie than it was in the comic). For all we know, this could change in the future, just like how Alan Moore and Frank Miller gave way to [[Todd Mc FarlaneMcFarlane]] and [[Rob Liefeld]], although Hollywood's desire to attract wide audiences for their blockbusters will most likely keep things PG-13. But then, there's 2010's [[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick Ass]].

As for the men who arguably started it all, at least one later appeared less-than-impressed by what followed. Moore became one of the era's most outspoken critics, revamping ''[[Supreme]]'' -- originally—originally a standard grimdark Superman clone -- intoclone—into an in-depth exploration of the Superman myth and what made it work, and many of his works for his America's Best Comics line, such as ''Tom Strong'', display a notable [[Lighter and Softer]] tone in order to balance the extremes of this era. The other, Miller, seems to be more on the fence, with his later works, including ''[[The Dark Knight Strikes Again]]'' and ''[[All Star Batman and Robin]]'' either [[Self-Deprecation|openly making fun of his own earlier work]] or providing a terrible example of its worst excesses, depending on who you talk to.

=== {{examples|Notable series of the [[Dark Age]]: ===}}

* ''[[Starman (Comic Bookcomics)|Starman]]'', which started out as a spinoff of ''[[Zero Hour]]'' but surpassed its originator in terms of quality. A thorough exploration of the [[Legacy Character]] concept that delved into DC's rich history like few comics before it and helped lead the way to the [[Modern Age]].

* [[The Darkness (comics)|The Darkness]], about a mafia hitman with demonic powers - it's in the name

Usually accepted as beginning with the publishing of ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''. Alternatively described as lasting until either the publishing of ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' (1986-1996), the publishing of ''Ultimate Spider-Man #1'' (1986-2000), or not ending at all (1986-present1986–present).