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[[The Dark Age of Comic Books]] was the culmination of a gradual move towards an older audience for [[Comic Book|Comic Books]], 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 -- a watershed year in comics, seeing the publication of [[Frank Miller]]'s ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|The Dark Knight Returns]]'' and [[Alan Moore]]'s ''[[Watchmen (
1986 also saw the wholesale [[Retcon|rewriting]] of [[The DCU]] [[Post-Crisis|following]] ''[[Crisis
In order to draw in more adult readers whilst still keeping their main universes at least nominally family-friendly, the main publishers began to set up and use "imprints", sub-publications of a company that specialized in specific content for people with certain interests. One of the most successful imprints was [[DC Comics|DC's]] [[Vertigo Comics]], which specialized in a [[Revision|re-imagining]] of obscure characters from [[The DCU]] in [[Darker and Edgier]] contexts.
Also around this time, creator-owned companies such as [[Dark Horse Comics]] (founded in 1986) and [[Valiant Comics]] (founded in 1989) began to gain prominence following disputes between creatives and [[Executive Meddling|executives]] over issues such as creators' rights and the restrictions of the [[Comics Code]], the influence of which was steadily weakening. Like the imprints of the main publishers, these smaller companies often specialised in material aimed at more adult readers than previously, and which continued the process of deconstructing established tropes of the superhero genre. Dark Horse, founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson out of his chain of same named comic shops, still exists to this day, and is well known for being versatile. It published such critically acclaimed creator owned series as ''[[Hellboy]]'' and ''[[Sin City]]'', as well as licensed works, such as comics set in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], and was even an early source for translated Manga (itself a growing cultural force) such as ''[[
Whilst the groundwork had been laid during the eighties, the Dark Age reached its peak in the early [[The Nineties|90s]], the same period that spawned ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' and [[Grunge]] rock. No, this is not a coincidence; all had their roots in the same jaded, cynical, Gen X attitude that was common at the time. In fact a key figure of the Dark Age, [[Rob Liefeld]], was even the same age as [[Nirvana|Kurt Cobain]] (both being born in 1967).
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Marvel was also actively trying out new concepts and characters, giving them their own series, including ''[[The New Warriors]], [[Sleepwalker]], [[Darkhawk]]'' and ''[[Thunderstrike]]''. Sadly, all of these titles would eventually be canceled, although they all had their own merits and cult followings.
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 -- such as ''[[The Maxx]]'', [[
However, at the other end of the scale, a number of critics argue that in many cases "mature" content was actually closer to "adolescent"; while creators were taking inspiration from ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|The Dark Knight Returns]]'' and ''[[Watchmen (
The portrayal of women -- rarely at its most mature to begin with in this genre -- 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 -- merely nastier.
Big Events and [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]] were also immensely common by this point, with events such as [[
[[Broken Base|Opinion is divided]] on when -- or even if -- 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 (Comic Book)|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
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 (
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 a standard grimdark Superman clone -- 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.
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=== Notable series of the [[Dark Age]]: ===
* ''[[Hellboy (
* Venom went from being an evil version of Spider-man, to an [[Anti-Hero]], to a [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] with his own book, before his symbiote split and bonded to an [[Axe Crazy]] [[Serial Killer]], creating Carnage, an evil(er) version of Venom.
* ''[[
* [[The Maxx]] came out of this era, and while the series was published by [[Image]] and the titular character may look the part, the series itself is far stranger, more metaphorical and a good deal smarter than the other stuff that came out around this time, and thus it receives a far better reputation than many of its contemporaries nowadays.
* ''[[Watchmen (
* ''[[The Punisher]]'' (This pre-existing ultra-violent [[Anti-Hero]] [[Vigilante Man]]'s stock went way, way up)
* ''[[
** Other notable Dark Age ''[[Batman]]'' stories include ''[[The Killing Joke]]'', ''A Death in the Family'', and ''[[Knightfall]]''. The first modern [[Batman (
* ''[[Wolverine]]'', like the Punisher and Batman, was a preexisting hero who attained new heights of popularity because he fit the grim and gritty trend; his regular series began in 1988, and [[Wolverine Publicity]] spread like Kudzu.
* The one-off ''[[Doom (Comic Book)|Doom]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yc5bnOrSc comic] wasn't exactly ''notable'', but it perfectly illustrates the excesses of the age.
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* [[The Crow]], first published in 1989, is about a brooding pretty boy goth who comes back from the dead to take revenge on the gang that murdered him and his girlfriend by killing them in brutal and symbolic ways. It spawned a TV Show and a few movies, briefly becoming a Gothic icon.
* [[The Darkness]], about a mafia hitman with demonic powers - it's in the name
* [[X
* [[Death's Head
* [[Darkhawk]] seemingly had his cake and ate it too. He looked dark and brooding and had a cool name that didn't really match the character (he had a dark costume but there was no hawk motiff). Despite that, he was a pretty normal teenager that wasn't very violent.
* Similar to the [[Incredible Hulk]] example above, The Power of [[Shazam]] subverted this, keeping an optimistic approach in the Dark Age.
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Usually accepted as beginning with the publishing of ''[[Watchmen (
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