The Dark Age of Comic Books: Difference between revisions

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 (Comic Book)|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 (Comic Book)|Watchmen]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|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|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.

1986 also saw the wholesale [[Retcon|rewriting]] of [[The DCU]] [[Post-Crisis|following]] ''[[Crisis On Infinite Earths]]'', which would itself be incredibly influential on what followed for numerous reasons. Firstly, it was the first [[Crisis Crossover]] (while [[Secret Wars]] was published first, it was only in response to Crisis which was already on the planning table, and lead Marvel to panic and rush it out before Crisis), and its success paved the way for more Big Events over the decade. Secondly, the reboot itself was important in setting the overall tone of the comics that would follow and as editors began to pick and choose what stayed and what was discarded; it seemed increasingly clear that more of the [[Lighter and Softer]] elements were [[Shoo Out the Clowns|being removed]] as comics were beginning to cater towards a more mature audience.

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 ''[[Akira (Manga)|Akira]]''. Valiant was founded in 1989 by former [[Marvel Comics]] Editor in chief [[Jim Shooter]]. In 1986, Shooter spearheaded the short lived [[New Universe]] imprint, with the idea of creating a new "more realistic" approach to traditional superhero tropes. Its failure inspired him to leave and try the same thing again with a new company. Valiant attempted to create a hard [[Sci Fi]] superhero universe without [[Comic Book Time]], with events happening in the same time frame as the publication schedule. Valiant achieved a lot of early success, briefly becoming a legitimate competitor to the Big Two, and producing such critically acclaimed works as ''Harbinger'' and ''[[Solar Man of the Atom]]'', and still has a [[Cult Classic|small, but devoted]] following of fans.

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]]'', [[Neil Gaiman (Creator)|Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Sandman (Comic Book)|The Sandman]]'', [[Grant Morrison (Creator)|Grant Morrison]]'s runs on ''[[Doom Patrol (Comic Book)|Doom Patrol]]'' and ''[[Animal Man (Comic Book)|Animal Man]]'', Todd McFarlane's ''[[Spawn (Comic Book)|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.

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 (Comic Book)|Watchmen]]'', many had completely missed the point, focusing [[Misaimed Fandom|merely on the surface details]] in order to [[Follow the Leader]] without coupling them with the depth of narrative and the thematic and psychological complexity that had made these works unique and well received. Complaints centre around a crowd of [[Nineties Anti-Hero|deeply disturbed and unpleasant 'heroes']] who were quite frequently little more than psychotic thugs cut from the same template.

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.

Big Events and [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]] were also immensely common by this point, with events such as [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] [[The Death of Superman|dying and being replaced by feuding alternatives]], [[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]] [[Knightfall|having his back broken and]] [[Anti-Hero Substitute|replaced by a considerably more psychotic]] [[Azrael|individual]], the [[Silver Age]] [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|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 (Comic Book)|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 -- including titles they may not particularly like or usually read -- in order to follow the narrative.

[[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 (Comic Book)|Hal Jordan's]] [[Face Heel Turn]] through his [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to re-ignite the sun. 1997 saw [[Grant Morrison (Creator)|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 (Comic Book)|what]] [[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|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 Farlane]] 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]].

* ''[[Hellboy (Comic Book)|Hellboy]]'' Debuted in 1994. [[Legions of Hell|A demon]] [[The End of the World As We Know It|who is destined to bring about the apocalypse]] fights Nazis and [[Cosmic Horror|Lovecraftian abominations]] with [[BFG|a huge gun]] and the title character himself is a huge mass of psychological issues. The premise itself is very [[Dark Age]], but the series actually isn't supremely dark. Hellboy is shown to give very good advice, and enjoys pancakes.

* ''[[Spawn (Comic Book)|Spawn]]'' (The scion of [[Image]] and the model for its many imitators)

* ''[[Watchmen (Comic Book)|Watchmen]]'' (Along with ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|The Dark Knight Returns]]'', one of the kickoff series of the Age)

* ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]: [[Batman: Year One|Year One]]'' (Went hand-in-hand with ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' in defining Frank Miller's vision of the Caped Crusader)

** Other notable Dark Age ''[[Batman]]'' stories include ''[[The Killing Joke]]'', ''A Death in the Family'', and ''[[Knightfall]]''. The first modern [[Batman (Film)|Batman movie]] also came out during this era.

* [[X Force]], the [[X Men]] spin off that gave the world Cable, Deadpool, and, for better or worse, launched the career of [[Rob Liefeld]].

* [[Death's Head (Comic Book)|Death's Head II]], a sequel [[In Name Only]] to Marvel UK's [[Death's Head (Comic Book)|Deaths Head]]. At his peak, he was [[Wolverine Publicity|as popular in the UK as Wolverine was in the US]].

Usually accepted as beginning with the publishing of ''[[Watchmen (Comic Book)|Watchmen]]'' and ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|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-present).