With regards to comics.

[xyzzysqrl]

You know, when I was younger, I had comic books figured OUT.

There was Marvel, which was where you bought books about GRIM GRITTY REALISTIC ADVENTURES. Being young and in need of more than my share of edginess, I bought a lot of Daredevil and Todd MacFarlane's Spider-Man run and occasionally some Silver Surfer and somehow I ended up reading Nova and Quasar and Rocket Raccoon too. You know, REALISTIC GRIM GRITTY space raccoon adventures.

Anyway. DC was obviously for light fluffy superhero frippery. You'd buy something like Wonder Woman or Superman or Green Lantern or (my favorite) The Flash, and you'd get a superhero story where there is an Evil Villain and then the Evil Villain is punched while a one-liner occurs and everyone laughs. I was young, and thus stupid. I didn't buy many DC comics.

Now I am older, and I would very much like some light fluffy superhero frippery that's relaxing and gentle and silly, please. So I look at DC's...

Uh. I...guess...

Well, what about ... oh, uhm. Ew.

There's always ...nooooo, maybe not...

Marvel it is then.

Why don't I want to read any comic published after like 1985 anymore? Can anyone answer that for me?

"Maybe it's just me, but I'm not crazy about super hero stories where everything's all dark and moody. Personally, I like the ones where good guys fight giant apes on the moon and stuff. Remember those? I do. That was back when comic book worlds were places you wanted to escape to... not from." - Squirrel Girl.

Ah yes. Thank you, Doreen.

(Did I say 1985? Well. I can make an exception now and then..)

Comments

[phennphawcks.livejournal.com]

Well Watchmen and the Dark Knight happened, and then everything had to be dark and edgy. Unless it was just plain dumb (Superman Red/Superman Blue)!

Like Squirrel Girl said!

[kiruppert.livejournal.com]

Well, kinda. See, Watchmen and DKR didn't change the industry all on their own, the industry was already heading that way on it's own. By the Seventies, the panic that comics were going to turn our children into homosexual, crank-smoking psychopaths was starting to diminish and the social upheavals of the era began to find their way into comics. Hell, even DC got into things by hooking up Left Winger Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen and Right Winger Hal "Green Lantern" Jordan up for a co-headliner gig. Also remember that Green Arrow's ward Speedy got addicted to Heroine in the early 70s. And like the Sqrl mentioned, Marvel had made their bread and butter on that by that point too, using Humans Vs. Mutants as a metaphor for race relations.

Plus you had the emergence of "Comic Book Stores" for the first time in the 80s, which they found were places that you could sell the occasional comic without CCA approval (Granted, the CCA didn't die until within the last few years, it remained a strong influence in the industry for years to come). It's no accident that the "Dark/Iron Age" happened at the same time as the Indy Comics revolution of the 80s and 90s, since three guys in a basement probably don't care if the CCA approves them or not, they're not going to be sold in Gas Stations and Drug Stores anyway.

[kiruppert.livejournal.com]

TL;DR: I think the Iron Age was inevitable. If Watchmen and DKR had any real effect, it was only to hasten the start by a few years.

[xyzzysqrl]

Yeah, I really don't blame Watchmen or DKR. I do blame imitators, but only because they found a real popularity foothold.

You're right about the 70s being where it started to slide, I think. I dunno why I have nostalgia for stuff that happened more than ten years before I was born.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Captain America misses the old days too.

[pocketofheather.livejournal.com]

I hear what you're saying. I don't read superhero comics much at all any more, but there's still a warm spot in my heart for Grant Morrison's original JLA run (1997-2000). Even though some of the topics OUGHT to feel grim... the whole damn thing is so silly, I laugh my way through it from start to finish.

[orrin.livejournal.com]

This is why I liked the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon!

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Teen Titans and the xmen cartoon where they were all kids in high school were pretty upbeat too.

[xyzzysqrl]

Do not even get me started on fansquealing over Brave and the Bold.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Never trust anyone with a war moon!

[vulpisfoxfire.livejournal.com]

I miss the old Captain Carrot stuff from DC. Heck, DC's run on Star Trek was fun, too, until Paramount made them hit the reset button for the next movie. (Konom the Pacifist Klingon! Yay!).