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[[The Iron Age of Comic Books]] is a different interpretation of comic history that sees the [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]] and [[The Modern Age of Comic Books]] as one period. This age can be defined with its [[Retcon|Retcons]], [[Re Boot|Reboots]], [[Retool|Retools]] and [[Alternate Universe|AlternateUniverses]] that were deemed necessary after about fifty years of accumulated continuity threatening to create a [[Continuity Lock Out]] to new readers.
 
[[The DCU]] released [[Crisis On Infinite Earths]] in 1985, a [[Crisis Crossover]] that created the [[Post -Crisis]] universe that removed [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|the Silver Age's]] [[Shoo Out the Clowns|excesses]], in an attempt to make the stories more serious and plausible now given the opportunity to do so. [[Jim Shooter]] tried to mirror a move to realistic seriousness in [[Marvel Comics]] with [[The New Universe]] imprint, but this did not have good critical reaction at the time and thus Marvel would have to try again later, but they did put in their effort, the [[New Mutants]], as a part of the cultural atmosphere of the time, but this was not nearly as ground breaking of an effort as [[The New Universe]] was.
 
This zeitgeist of attempted plausibility and new found seriousness in superhero comic books is reflected in [[Alan Moore|Alan Moore's]] [[Deconstruction|Watchmen]] and [[Frank Miller|Frank Miller's]] [[The Dark Knight Returns]], both released in 1986. As well, the DC imprint [[Vertigo Comics]] also followed suit in tone, coming to its zenith with [[The Sandman]] in 1989. The turn to seriousness, especially in [[The Dark Knight Returns]] also inspired the efforts of the [[Batman]] film in 1989 and [[Batman the Animated Series]] in 1992.
 
Perhaps because of the new blank slate attitude that prevailed [[Post -Crisis]], new comic book companies remerged, like [[Dark Horse Comics]] in 1986 and [[Valiant Comics]] in 1989. They published such acclaimed works as [[Hellboy]] and [[Sin City]], as well as releasing works like [[Akira (Manga)|Akira]], perhaps because this tone of serious and plausible now matched Japan's similar sense of serious and plausible, not to mention [[Japan Takes Over the World|the economic success of Japan at the time as well.]] Other new companies include [[Image Comics]] founded in 1992, which was a major [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[Nineties Anti Hero]], in [[Spawn]] and most of Rob Liefeld's work. However these excesses quickly collapsed somewhere around 1996 due in part to the [[The Great Comics Crash of 1996]].
 
Also cutting down on the excesses from inside the pages of a comic book was [[Kingdom Come]] in 1996, which reminded writers and artists of the time that the goal was to be seriously realistic, not cynically gritty. Afterwards, [[Transmetropolitan]] was published in 1997, a celebrated work of plausible scientific rigor as well as reflecting the general tone of the period without dipping too far into the grittiness so as to be ridiculous.
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* [[The Dark Knight Returns]]: Not only did this effect comic books, but helped to shape a new, serious, plausible [[Batman]] that was the basis of many film series' and animated series'.
* ''[[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 [[Grimdark]]. Hellboy is shown to give very good advice, and enjoys pancakes.
* 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.
* ''[[Spawn]]'' (The scion of [[Image]] and the model for its many imitators)
* ''[[The Punisher]]'' (This pre-existing ultra-violent [[Anti -Hero]] [[Vigilante Man]]'s stock went way, way up)
* ''[[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.
* ''[[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.
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