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New Age of Comics Part II
What is the "Golden Age" of comics? The Golden Age started in 1938 with the release of Action Comics #1. This comic was the first to really catch the public's imagination with a flying man called "Superman". It started the "Super Hero" comic genre. Many more "Golden Age" heroes quickly followed as publishers tried to copy the success of Action comics. The true "Super Hero" part of the golden age lasted only until the mid 1940's, where the Super Hero genre became less popular. In the early to mid 1940's numerous other types of comics crowded the market.
The variety of comic books choices continued, and Superhero books continued to decline through the mid- 1950's where sales numbers continued to decline. William Gaines, son of Max Gaines, created the only notable new comic book genre during this time by reviving "EC" comics. From 1950 to 1956 EC was created to tell horror stories in a ironic and humorous vein. With the congressional hearings on communism and youth decency in the early 1950's comics continued to lose favor with the general public. I could make a case that the comic book industry has still never fully recovered from these congressional hearings, but I will leave that subject for another article. To protect themselves, and to be thought of as "wholesome" for the youth of America, the comic companies banded together in 1954 to create "The Comics Code Authority". Members of the Comics Code included National Periodical Publications (known today as DC) and Atlas Comics and Timely Comics, (today both part of Marvel Comics). EC did not join in the comics' code, and took their "Mad" comic book title to a black and white magazine format. MAD magazine is still going strong today, but unfortunately the other EC lines ceased publication in 1956. What is the Silver Age of Comics? In 1956 Julius Schwartz started a revival of the super hero comics with the publication of "Showcase" #4 featuring the Flash. This Flash would be different than the freedom-fighting flash of the 1940's. The new Flash was modern man named Barry Allen who worked in a police lab. In 1957 unusual type of heroes began to creep into Atlas comics "Journey into Mystery" and "Strange Tales". These comics featured fantastic tales of adventure and the extraordinary, sometimes reminiscent of the EC comics, sometimes war comics, and sometimes romance. These tales really began the Silver Age, although sales were still poor and the industry was in real trouble of having everyone go out of business. By the way, the young writer who wrote Strange Tales, as we as numerous other horror, teenage, and romance stories was Stan Lee. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article New Age of Comics II in Comic Books is owned by Robert Smithers. Permission to republish New Age of Comics II in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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