When is the End of Modern Age???? 0

[GotToHaveComics]

I'm just wondering when is Modern Age ends and what Age (name) will be next??

If I'm not mistaken:

Golden Age is from 1939 to 1959 (20 years)

Silver Age is from 1960 to 1969 (10 years)

Bronze Age is from !970 to 1979 (10 years)

Modern Age is from 1980 to present. (23 years)

 

I noticed inconsistencies on the time periods, who makes the determination of these time periods?

 

[awe4one]

what Age (name) will be next??

 

The Slabbed Age?

 

 

Jim

[Bronty]

I think it's too early to tell on the end of the Modern age. A new age has clearly begun but we don't really have the benefit of hindsight yet as to the cutoff point between the Modern age and the next age.

 

As for naming, there's no official nomenclature board or anything. It's just whatever people come up with and agree upon.

 

What inconsistencies are you referring to? If you mean the time elapsed, consider that golden age should really be broken down to include at least the atom age (50s).

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

We've discussed this a lot actually, if you have some time you should check out the which book ended the bronze age and related thread titles in the Bronze and Modern categories.

 

Modern is a term currently covering 1980 books to the present, but the general feeling is that modern is a designation to be saved for recent comics, so that if an age (or ages) get slipped in between 1980 and 2003 then the books that came out between the end of that age and today will remain "modern".

 

Kev

[valiantman]

I still vote that we drop the metals altogether once you hit the 1980s

and start using decades.

 

The 1980s should be called 'the 1980s'.

(We all know what books come to mind when you say "1980s"...

and it's not necessarily the same books as when you think "Modern Age".)

 

The 1990s should be called 'the 1990s'.

 

There's no need to introduce more (and lower valued) metals into comic book collecting.

 

What's "Silver" about 40 year old paper, anyway?

Copper Age? Give me a break.

[ninanina]

As Per Overstreet:

 

Death of Gwen Stacy starting the Bronze Age, ending in 1985.

DC's Crisis kicks off the new Copper Age (1986-1992)

Image Dubuts (1992-1999) Chrome Age

Make the modern era 2000-present.

 

(Read all about it page 866)

 

They're just "Starting the Discussion" as no decisions have been made. Right now everyone has their opinion, and I don't know how we are going to get 1000's of collectors to agree on this one.

 

Think we need a collective of some kind. It's the only way everyones gonna agree on this one.

[THE_BEYONDER]

Why do we need these labels at all?

 

Why can't a book just be "from the 70's".

[Kevin Boyd]

I vote that we get rid of the Cretaceous era, the Xenezoic Era, etc. and start calling them by their proper names... "millions of years of fish", "millions of years of dinosaurs", etc.

 

I mean, who the heck is going to remember how to spell Cretaceous anyway? Everyone loves dinosaurs and fish.

 

Kev

 

[Ares]

I HATE FISH

[valiantman]

I vote that we get rid of the Cretaceous era, the Xenezoic Era, etc. and start calling them by their proper names... "millions of years of fish", "millions of years of dinosaurs", etc.

 

I mean, who the heck is going to remember how to spell Cretaceous anyway? Everyone loves dinosaurs and fish.

 

Kev

At least those names cover spans of millions of years...

The first 10 years of the Cretaceous aren't the "Cretaceous Golden Age",

followed by 10 years of Cretaceous "Silver Age".

Roll them all up... one name... millions of years.

 

Again I ask, what exactly is so "silver" about 40 year old paper?

 

People outside comic book collecting just look at the whole deal as:

1933 to 2003 - The "Geeks, Nerds, and Dorks Who Collect Funny Books" Age

[Kevin Boyd]

What about "millions of years of aquatic creatures".

 

Then again, those are really age designations.

 

We should just call them the "hundred millions".

 

Kev

[valiantman]

What about "millions of years of aquatic creatures".

 

Then again, those are really age designations.

 

We should just call them the "hundred millions".

 

Kev

Good point.

 

Proposal: All comic books should fall into the "Americana Age" (1776 - present)

 

No wait, I really like this suggestion...

 

Why do we need these labels at all?

 

Why can't a book just be "from the 70's".

Let's just call them by their decades!

[Kevin Boyd]

Again I ask, what exactly is so "silver" about 40 year old paper?

 

Nothing at all is "silver" about 40 year old paper.

 

The "Golden Age" of anything... like radio, television, comics, newspapers, etc. tends to refer to the start of something great that has since gone on to be an institution.

 

The "Silver Age" of anything, refers to the next great expansion of something after the end of what is generally considered to be the "Golden Age". It could just as easily be called the second great era of comic books. It does not simply mean "the 60's".

 

The "Bronze Age" refers to the next age of comics after the end of the silver age, there is still a fair amount of dissention over when it ended. As with Olympic medals, "bronze" is used to designate third place - or the third great era of super-hero comics. It does not simply mean "the 70's".

 

The three eras combined covers 40+ years of time, not just three decades worth of comics. The designations are used to signify shifts in content, increases in sales and interest, new concepts, etc.

 

You can refer to the comics of the 80's as "the 80's" if you want, ditto for "the 90s".

 

The question of ages that is before is, essentially, was there a fourth great era (or wave) of titles after the end of the third great age of comics? One that signified a shift in content, a change in sales patterns, introduction of new concepts, etc.

 

Kev

 

 

[valiantman]

The "Golden Age" of anything... like radio, television, comics, newspapers, etc. tends to refer to the start of something great that has since gone on to be an institution.

 

The "Silver Age" of anything, refers to the next great expansion of something after the end of what is generally considered to be the "Golden Age". It could just as easily be called the second great era of comic books. It does not simply mean "the 60's".

 

The "Bronze Age" refers to the next age of comics after the end of the silver age, there is still a fair amount of dissention over when it ended. As with Olympic medals, "bronze" is used to designate third place - or the third great era of super-hero comics. It does not simply mean "the 70's".

 

The three eras combined covers 40+ years of time, not just three decades worth of comics. The designations are used to signify shifts in content, increases in sales and interest, new concepts, etc.

 

You can refer to the comics of the 80's as "the 80's" if you want, ditto for "the 90s".

 

The question of ages that is before is, essentially, was there a fourth great era (or wave) of titles after the end of the third great age of comics? One that signified a shift in content, a change in sales patterns, introduction of new concepts, etc.

 

Kev

Fantastic reply!

 

While it can be argued that there were major shifts beyond the Bronze Age,

the question is whether introducing some other metal is the appropriate way

to signify the 4th, 5th, or 6th shifts for comic books? I don't think so.

Looking to radio and television as examples, I don't think I could even describe

the Silver Age of Radio... much less what comes after Bronze, if there is one.

 

At some point, Television becomes "Television of the 1970s", "1980s", etc.

Everyone knows what you mean inherently when you talk about the 1980s...

you name the subject: television, comic books, sportscards, politics...people know.

 

Even the indication that this hobby isn't sure when the Bronze Age ends

signifies to me that the concept of the "Age" is outliving its purpose.

When do the 1970s begin and end? That's easy. The 1980s? Again, no problem.

 

In fact, what is the first thing you have to do to describe the Silver Age of comics?

You have to describe the years it covers. Then there's the inevitable question,

"What's so important about 1956?"

 

At the end of the day, even the Silver Age isn't "one thing".

Marvel 1968 is very different than Marvel 1962.

In essence, Marvel in the early 1960s differs quite a bit from Marvel in the late 1960s,

even though it's all "Silver Age".

 

While some might consider "comics by decades" to be a dumbing-down of the hobby,

it seems unavoidable. There's already no way to describe the Bronze Age without

some mention of the 1970s and some debate about the end of the Bronze Age

occurring either with the end of the 1970s or early in the 1980s.

 

Golden Age - you bet... even Atomic Age, if you like.

Silver Age - ok... I think I know what you mean, even though Marvel is later than DC.

Bronze Age - makes me think of Conan, bronze sword and all, but ok... Bronze Age.

Copper Age? Chrome Age? Do you mean the 1980s? Well why didn't you say so.

[500Club]

I still vote that we drop the metals altogether once you hit the 1980s

and start using decades.

 

The 1980s should be called 'the 1980s'.

(We all know what books come to mind when you say "1980s"...

and it's not necessarily the same books as when you think "Modern Age".)

 

The 1990s should be called 'the 1990s'.

 

There's no need to introduce more (and lower valued) metals into comic book collecting.

 

What's "Silver" about 40 year old paper, anyway?

Copper Age? Give me a break.

 

You numbers only guys....

 

What's next?.... only numeric grades on CGC slabs?...

[500Club]

I think it's too early to tell on the end of the Modern age. A new age has clearly begun but we don't really have the benefit of hindsight yet as to the cutoff point between the Modern age and the next age.

 

From the short-sighted perspective of now, Ultimate Spidey 1 seems to be the point at which this new age started.....

[harveyfan323]

Obviously the farther one gets beyond a certain year or group of years, the easier it is to categorize it into a discrete grouping. So maybe we won't know what was after the Bronze Age until 20 years from now when it will be more obvious to most people and a general consensus will be reached.

 

I agree that the 1950s always seemed a little early for the Silver Age to begin, but I can accept that. For some reason though, it always seemed like 20cent Marvels were more Bronze Age books than Sivler Age. Iron Man #1 seems more Bronze Age'ish than Silver Age to me.

 

It does seem like a good end to the Bronze Age would be 1980, but then you have books like the Claremont/Byrne X-Men which spill over into the 1980s and seem like they should belong in the Bronze Age. But 1985 seems like going way too far to end the Bronze Age.

 

I agree that the 1980s, 1990s, etc are currently the best designation for those "eras". Getting into "copper", "chrome" etc seems a little silly, and "Atom" Age isn't metallic, so no reason to stick to that style of naming.

 

[GotToHaveComics]

Thanks for your responses.

 

Valiantman's feedback is logical.

[kav]

Question: what did they call the bronze age, during the bronze age?  Didnt they call them modern?

Eventually the 'modern age' will be called the iron age, and new comics will then be the 'modern age'.

[ADAMANTIUM]

16 minutes ago, kav said:

Question: what did they call the bronze age, during the bronze age?  Didnt they call them modern?

Eventually the 'modern age' will be called the iron age, and new comics will then be the 'modern age'.

Makes sense.

Others have responded the era of cgc could eventually be the plastic age. 

Can you imagine everything coming out as preslabbed? Jk

Edited December 28, 2019 by ADAMANTIUM