The Golden Age of Comics was perhaps the greatest era in comic book history. Many people loved the comics during this time period because they were all stories about good triumphing over evil. Many of these stories reflected over historical events over the time period.
But it was two young men from Cleveland who created the character who truly launched the superhero genre. Lobby Card for The Green Hornet (1940). DC Comics introduced the first costumed superhero, Superman, in Action Comics #1 (June 1938).
Silver Age, in Latin literature, the period from approximately ad 18 to 133, which was a time of marked literary achievement second only to the previous Golden Age (70 bc–ad 18).
The “Modern Age†of comics is the current age we are in. The time period is spanning from 1985 to the present day. It is clearly the longest-running comic age to date. Counting from 1985, this age is 36 years old.
The Silver Age is commonly considered to have begun in 1956 and to have lasted until about 1975. Many people consider DC Comics' Showcase Number 4 to be the beginning of the Silver Age. The Silver Age was preceded by the Golden Age and followed by the Bronze and then the Modern Ages.
Through a natural evolution, cartoons developed into comic books, first through publications containing compilations of cartoon re-prints, then as books with original cartoon artwork, before reaching critical mass through the creation of superheroes in 1938.
Comic books were big money and portended the youth culture to come in the 1950s. The comic book actually became a part of the war itself. It showed what children and young men could do to help the effort through the character's actions and through advertisements in the comic itself.
In order to capitalize on the growing popularity of comic books—especially those starring superheroes—Goodman created Timely Comics. Timely's first comic book was Marvel Comics no. 1 (cover dated October 1939), which featured several superhero characters, most notably the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.
The 19th centuryThe modern comic book is at least as old as the movies. Richard Fenton Outcault's “The Yellow Kid,†which debuted in The New York World in 1896, is generally credited as the first comic strip.
The general consensus of comic book readers and historians has established that there are four ages for comics. Each age is distinguished by the characters, drawings, plot lines, and even the size of the comic books. The four eras are divided into the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and the Modern Age.
The oldest known American comic strip that is still being published, and not in reruns, is the The Katzenjammer Kids, which started on December 12, 1897. Incidentally, two of the oldest strips are continued by the same cartoonist: Hy Eisman produces both Popeye and The Katzenjammer Kids.
The Swiss schoolmaster Rodolphe Töpffer (1799–1846) is usually credited with the invention of the comic strip, publishing seven of what we today would call comic books or, more recently, graphic novels. He drew his first, The Loves of Mr. Vieux Bois (fig.
1962: DC Comics Explains Its First-Ever Price Increase — From 10 Cents To 12 Cents.
Blumberg places the end of the Silver Age in June 1973, when Gwen Stacy, girlfriend of Peter Parker (Spider-Man), was killed in a story arc later dubbed "The Night Gwen Stacy Died", saying the era of "innocence" was ended by "the 'snap' heard round the comic book world – the startling, sickening snap of bone that
Created by Lee Falk (USA), the first superhero was The Phantom, who debuted in his own newspaper comic strip on 17 Feb 1936.
Also, while comic books consistently kept a height of 10 1/2 inches (26.7 cm), their width narrowed from the Golden Age dimension of 7 3/4 inches (19.7 cm) to a Silver Age width of 7 1/8 inches (18.1 cm), then widened to 7 1/4 inches (18.4 cm) in the 1970s and 1980s before narrowing to 6 7/8 inches (17.5 cm) in the
However, since American comic book page lengths stabilized at what they are now in the 50s, they finally decided to start raising comic prices.
Comic prices with and without inflation.
| Year | Cover price | In 2020 dollars |
|---|
| 1960 | $0.10 | $0.88 |
| 1965 | $0.12 | $0.99 |
| 1970 | $0.15 | $1.02 |
| 1975 | $0.25 | $1.24 |
Just to be clear, the “Dark Age†of comics isn't used in the way that most people think of the term. Rather, the Dark Age saw comics and their heroes get grittier, more violent, and more adult. In a way, it almost mirrored the cinematic shift in tone from the late 1970s to 1980s.
Comics were relatively popular in early 1800s America and England. However, the very first comic book is widely considered to be The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats which was published in 1897. In 1933, Funnies on Parade became the first colored comic book printed in the now-standard comic book format we know today.
The birth of a new generation, to an all-new world. "You'll Believe A Man Can Fly!" 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.
The issue of Action Comics No. 1 went for $3.25 million in a private sale, ComicConnect.com, an online auction and consignment company, announced Tuesday. It narrowly bested the previous record for the comic, set at the auction of another copy in 2014 for slightly more than $3.2 million.
