Timeline (The Golden Heroes)

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The shift from typical superheroes to other genres also introduced darker themes and brought about the 'Grim Age of Comics' (beginning in 1959 and ending in 1971). The most notable example was Batman who genre moved to horror and crime. Many, now well-known, villains were introduced in this time such as Manbat in 1967, Mr Freeze in 1963 and the Dark Mask in 1970 (renamed Black Mask in 1978).

Rise of Atlas[]

Atlas Comics was founded in 1951 and was a comic book publishing comics. Near the end of 1957, the company was on the verge of collapse. In July 1957, Martin Goodman, the president of Atlas, decided to revive Captain America, a superhero created by Atlas' predecessor Timely Comics. Instead of having it a generic superhero story, they decided to follow the trend of darker themes and stories. On the 20th of September 1957, the comic book 'Behind the Mask' was created. It criticised the typical idea of heroes being pure good, without fault. It was met by overwhelming success and praise (however, it is criticised for being rushed and quite stereotypical by today's standard's). Over the next few years, Atlas would become a superpower in the Comic Book industry, on the level of DC Comics. Despite their original success being with darker material, they moved onto less grim content which brought the end of the Grim Age and brought about the Whimsical Age, similar in style to the Vintage Age.

Whimsical Age[]

The Whimsical Age of Comics was short-lived (1971-1979) but also birthed some of the best known superhero comics, films and TV show.

DC Comics[]

DC took advantage of it's popularity, gained in the Grim Age, but also the campy style of the Whimsical Age and created the Batman (1973-1975) TV show and Batman: The Movie (1976), both starring Adam West. In 1979, the first DC video game was made, Batman.

Fall of Superman[]

However, despite DC's success with Batman, DC failed with another one of their biggest properties, Superman. After the Superman film, of 1978, met with rather negative reception and a low amount of money made at the box office, DC attempted to create a sequel but was cancelled due to budget. Due to this, DC scrapped Superman all together.

Atlas and the Creation of Marvel[]

Atlas also produced many well known superheroes such as the Hulk and the X-Men, both created by Stan Lee. However, in June 1979, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby left Atlas as Martin Goodman (the president of Atlas) tried to dictate too much of Stan Lee's creations. Stan Lee created Marvel Comics in June 1979. This is what most people consider the event that ended, not just the 'Whimsical Age', but the entire 'Classical Era' and brings the beginning of the 'Modern Era'.

Modern Era[]

Intellectual Age[]

The 'Intellectual Age' (1979-2001) is one of the most well known ages of comics. This is the era when Marvel went into it's own, Batman became more popular then ever before or since and there was a large increase of superhero films. It was called the Intellectual Age as this age of comics focused on the psychology of the characters.

The Rise of Marvel[]

Marvel created their first comics in 1980 and their main comic lines were Fantastic Four and Spiderman. Marvel had many problems with Atlas as Atlas owned all of Stan Lee's creations when he worked for Atlas. Two notable examples are Hulk and the X-Men.

Fantastic Four[]

One of the most popular Marvel comic lines was Fantastic Four. The only point of contention was the audience disliked one of the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch. After a issue following the minor Fantastic Four character, the Silver Surfer, did extremely well, Marvel created an issue, in 1984, where they rewrote the Fantastic Four backstory and replaced the Human Torch with the Silver Surfer. Whilst this was meant to be a one-off experiment, the issue did so well that they permanently replaced the Human Torch with the Silver Surfer.

Spider-man[]

Spider-man was arguably the most popular Marvel comic line. It dealt with many heavy themes such as identity and death. James Cameron submitted a script in 1991 and a Spider-man film was started in 1992. After some delays, Spider-man (1995) was released.

Evolution of DC[]

Batman[]

After the two Francis Ford Coppela Batman films (1981 and 1983), which both met with moderate success, critically and at the box office, Batman (and DC) comic sales increased a large amount.

Martian Manhunter[]

Martian Manhunter, created in November 1955, began to gain popularity through the Whimsical Age and it continued growing into the Modern Era and the Intellectual Age.

Watchmen[]

Watchmen was created by Alan Moore and ran from September 1986 - October 1987. This team up included Captain Atom, Thunderbolt, Ted Kord's Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, The Question and Nightshade. It was extremely popular. However, DC limited Alan Moore's creativity as Watchmen included many already established DC characters.

Justice League: 2000[]

In 1999, a series of comics called 'Justice League: 2000' was released. It depicted that, on the first of January 2000, Y2K happens, in the DC Universe, and the world goes into chaos. All electrical devices go down, planes fall from the sky and super villians take to the street. This has been one of the best selling comic series of all time and lasted from 1999-2001. The ending of this comic series in November 2001 marked the ending of the Intellectual Age and the beginning of the Contemporary Age.