I quit buying comic books on a regular basis in 2005, having reasoned that I had so many that I could never reread even the ones I liked more than once.
But of course the medium continued to develop, arguably becoming more "mainstream" than ever.
What are the most significant serials or franchises to have developed since 2000? WALKING DEAD comes to mind, though I didn't care for the one I sampled.

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  • That's a tall order.

    Saga, BPRD, Y: The Last Man, Gotham Central, and Criminal all seem significant to me.   

  • I haven't read Saga or BPRD, but I second Y: The Last Man, Gotham Central and CriminalI would add 100 Bullets.

    I've enjoyed G. Willow Wilson's Ms. MarvelCharles Soules's She-Hulk, and you might try AHOY Comics titles, like The Wrong Earth.

  • I should hold forth a little more on why the topic interests me:

    I've been giving some thought to the idea of "comic book ages," of what they would look in terms of the industry's marketing decisions during crucial periods: I've observed that most of the Ages as *I* reckon them are usually about 15-20 years, and that they go like this:

    GOLDEN AGE-- 1936 (or slightly earlier)-1955-- The form gets physically defined and is marketed mostly to kids even before the debut of SUPERMAN, though the Man of Steel is definitely the first property that puts comic books on the map in pop culture.

    SILVER AGE(1955-1970)- the comics are hemmed in by the Code, though oddly this has the effect of forcing at least two companies, DC and Atlas-cum-Marvel, to get better.

    EARLY BRONZE AGE (1970-1986)-- Though undergrounds and Warren magazines  paved the wall, 1970 marks the industry's first concerted efforts to appeal to older readers with CONAN, GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW, the return of horror comics, and, when newstand distribution withers away, attempts to woo the direct market with adult material

    LATE BRONZE AGE (1986- 2000, maybe)-- DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, MAUS and WATCHMEN are the first graphic novels to really catch the attention of the mainstream press, which marks the first time comics have a chance to break out of the ghetto. There are some movements that may have seemed like steps backward, like Image in the 90s, but even Image Comics didn't stick to their own "bulky and banal" brand much beyond that decade. The nineties is also the era that manga TPBs made significant gains in bookstores, which gave bookstores in America-- and, I assume, other nations as well-- the financial base to start carrying more graphic novels. 

    MODERN AGE, or IRON AGE (if you can avoid the negative connotations) might be from 2000 to now, except that I can't think of a particular publication or industry development that takes place in 2000 or shortly thereafter. There's one development outside the realm of comics, since 2000's X-MEN IMO initiates the first of the big-screen superhero films not based on Superman or Batman. (Whatever the successes of the Burton BATMANs, BLADE, and the Turtles, I would say X-MEN made superheroes seem like a dependable commodity.) But Hollywood's response to comics seems outside the boundaries of the comics industry, so I don't really want to use X-MEN as a transition-point-- even though it sorta is.

  • If you're looking for broad trends, I'd point to the rise of creator-owned projects and imprints. Vertigo began in 1993--but by 2000 it was almost entirely dominated by creator-owned series (as opposed to revamps--including Y:The Last Man and 100 Bullets). After Vertigo changed its ownership terms many creators started moving to Image Comics (home of Saga and Criminal). Dark Horse is also home to many creator-owned projects (including BPRD). Kirkman's Image title The Walking Dead has been topping best-seller lists for years, as has Saga.

  • .  Mark, please tell me about this " Vertigo changing it's ownership terms "! What was this? When did it happen? I assume, of course, that it amounted to Watner Brothers' corporate lawyers essentially saying " Uh uh, this is OURS now! "...Gawrsh...I wonder why I'm so cynical:-#? And 100 Bullets and Last Man were bases on old DC properties? Maybe this belongs in the thread on Vertigo and " adult ' DC in general I was planning...



    Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) said:

    If you're looking for broad trends, I'd point to the rise of creator-owned projects and imprints. Vertigo began in 1993--but by 2000 it was almost entirely dominated by creator-owned series (as opposed to revamps--including Y:The Last Man and 100 Bullets). After Vertigo changed its ownership terms many creators started moving to Image Comics (home of Saga and Criminal). Dark Horse is also home to many creator-owned projects (including BPRD). Kirkman's Image title The Walking Dead has been topping best-seller lists for years, as has Saga.

  • ...Does Maus, though, have much to do with superhero/comparable comics? This thread is basically about superhero/comparable, not " art/alternative " comics or even non-superhero genres...Three possible thoughts I'll throw in:.  

    1.   A recent trip to the bookrack at my local Target  made me realize how many popular modern-era graphic novels, including series, there are that are aimed at the younger market (I'm not speaking now of more " adult " graphic novels/works that emulate adult-audience novels and memoirs, of which I'll...) are which I guess avoid the comic book market entirely (maybe they're offered through PreviewzI dunno, I don't see it).
    2.   The rise of adult-audience graphic, not genre, stuff. The " acceptability ", do to speak, of graphic works on the " polite)genteel " National Public Radio-Atlantic Monthly-New York Times Book Review et all level, so to speak. But are these works trying a little too hard to follow/emulate the customs of " literary ' fiction and non-fiction in America? A Danish Facebook friend of mine thinks so.
    3. And, returning to the Marvel)DC s)c universe s - This century, does the endless retconning/characters being replaced by different versions of the same name who are replaced by the standard version eighteen months later betray a certain desperation/search for novelty/rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?  

  • Yes, Vertigo started retaining some rights on the creator-owned stuff, mainly licensing to other media. As I understand it for new projects creators were cut out of negotiations for film and TV rights. So that's not really ownership, is it? Didn't mean to imply that Y and 100 Bullets were based on old DC properties. Sorry for the poorly constructed sentence. 

    Emerkeith Davyjack said:

    .  Mark, please tell me about this " Vertigo changing it's ownership terms "! What was this? When did it happen? I assume, of course, that it amounted to Watner Brothers' corporate lawyers essentially saying " Uh uh, this is OURS now! "...Gawrsh...I wonder why I'm so cynical:-#? And 100 Bullets and Last Man were bases on old DC properties? Maybe this belongs in the thread on Vertigo and " adult ' DC in general I was planning...



    Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) said:

    If you're looking for broad trends, I'd point to the rise of creator-owned projects and imprints. Vertigo began in 1993--but by 2000 it was almost entirely dominated by creator-owned series (as opposed to revamps--including Y:The Last Man and 100 Bullets). After Vertigo changed its ownership terms many creators started moving to Image Comics (home of Saga and Criminal). Dark Horse is also home to many creator-owned projects (including BPRD). Kirkman's Image title The Walking Dead has been topping best-seller lists for years, as has Saga.

  • I wasn't thinking purely about superhero comics, and the only comic that I mentioned in my initial post was WALKING DEAD. Remember that only half of the so-called Golden Age is dominated by superheroes, while the other half is best known for horror comics, funny animal comics, SF comics, etc. 

    Right now I think that we're at a point when the comics medium is about as popular as it's going to get. While American comics will probably never again have the huge readership seen in the Golden Age, and probably won't even ever equal the medium's popularity in Asia, we're now at a point where collections of both genre works-- which to me means BONE as much as BATMAN-- share bookstore shelf space with the arty stuff, even when that "shelf space" is a virtual one like on AMAZON.

    I had not heard anything about what Mark said about Vertigo changing its licensing terms, and thus making it possible for Image to upgrade its, er, image. At a glance this would seem to make it possible for Image and other companies that aren't the Big Two to cross over into the profitable "young adult" market, since by all indications no one can beat the Big Two at superheroes.

    So if this change took place in the late nineties, then yes, that would be an industry game-changer, and might indeed mark the conclusion of the Late Bronze Age, as Image and others managed to garner the bookstore acceptance that many eighties companies-- not least my old stomping-ground Fantagraphics-- sought for so long.

    Does anyone have further info on the licensing revisions?



    Emerkeith Davyjack said:

    ...Does Maus, though, have much to do with superhero/comparable comics? This thread is basically about superhero/comparable, not " art/alternative " comics or even non-superhero genres...Three possible thoughts I'll throw in:.  

    1.   A recent trip to the bookrack at my local Target  made me realize how many popular modern-era graphic novels, including series, there are that are aimed at the younger market (I'm not speaking now of more " adult " graphic novels/works that emulate adult-audience novels and memoirs, of which I'll...) are which I guess avoid the comic book market entirely (maybe they're offered through PreviewzI dunno, I don't see it).
    2.   The rise of adult-audience graphic, not genre, stuff. The " acceptability ", do to speak, of graphic works on the " polite)genteel " National Public Radio-Atlantic Monthly-New York Times Book Review et all level, so to speak. But are these works trying a little too hard to follow/emulate the customs of " literary ' fiction and non-fiction in America? A Danish Facebook friend of mine thinks so.
    3. And, returning to the Marvel)DC s)c universe s - This century, does the endless retconning/characters being replaced by different versions of the same name who are replaced by the standard version eighteen months later betray a certain desperation/search for novelty/rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?  

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