I have been working on a "Grand Unified Theory of Comic Book Ages" (one that everyone can agree on - Ha!) for some time now, but I'm having trouble getting started. I think I might be able to break up the logjam, however, if I divide it into more manageable chunks, as follows.
When people discuss comic book "Ages," I think that, for the most part, they are referring to superhero comics. Whereas I agree that that is the basis for the Silver and Bronze Ages (a.k.a. the "Second Heroic Age" and the "Third Heroic Age"), I think that's too limiting in scope for the Golden Age, during which many genres were popular. The first recorded use of the term "Golden Age" in reference to comic books was by Richard Lupoff in an article published in the fanzine Comic Art, April 1960, which is enough time since the end of the Age to provide historical perspective. the problem with subsequent Ages (as we shall see) stems from trying to define the term while still too close too it (or even from within it).
To qualify as an "Age," a genre must spark a leading trend. Furthermore, each Age must have a definite beginning, but it need not have a specific end. For example, even though "superheroes" waned in popularity after World War Two, the genre never did go away entirely, with some of the titles being published continuously to this very day. However, due to the nature of the Golden Age specifically, I do see the adoption of the Comics Code Authority as bringing it to a screeching halt.
There are those who mark the end of the Golden Age as coming to an end in 1949 (when Captain America Comics became Captain America's Weird Tales) or in 1951 (when All Star Comics featuring the Justice Society of America was replaced by All Star Western), but these changes merely reflect the waning popularity of superheroes in the post-war years. Those changes may have signaled the end of the Golden Age of Superhero Comics, but not the Golden Age of Comics.
EC Comics marked the very pinnacle of the Golden Age, not merely in one genre but in all genres (science fiction, horror, war, crime, humor and, to a lesser extent, western and romance), and any school of thought that does not include EC as part of the Golden Age is just wrong, plain and simple. Let's look at sales figures. Sales of superhero comics may have been declining in the years following WWII, but the sales of comic books themselves were stronger than ever. Of all the genres published, only crime and horror outsold superheroes in its heyday, so those are the trends, or "phases," to which I give the most credence.
SALES: In 1938, sales of all comic books totaled about 5 million per year. After Action Comics #1, sales continued rising steeply and steadily, leveling off in the 22-23 million range during the course of the war, but reaching nearly 24 million by the end of the war, at which point they resumed their steep and steady climb. By 1949 (34 million), the climb was less steep but just as steady, peaking in 1954 at around 74 million. Then came Fredrick Wertham and the Senate Subcommittee hearings and sales plummeted to a mere 12 million by 1956, but they were to fall further still (which we'll get to in "The Silver Age").
One other thing: my Ages and phases often overlap.
Taking all of what I have said into consideration, here is my definition of...
The Golden Age [1938-1954]
- Phase 1: Superheroes (Action Comics #1, 1938)
- Phase 2: Crime (Crime Does Not Pay #22, 1942)
- Phase 3: Horror (Adventures into the Unknown, 1948)
Here are some other genres popular during the Golden Age, with examples.*
- Adventure/Jungle (Jungle Comics, 1940)
- Science Fiction (Planet Comics, 1940)
- War (Military Comics, 1941)
- Humor (Joker Comics, 1942)
- Funny Animal (Animal Comics, 1942)
- Teen Humor (Archie, 1942)
- Western (?)
- Romance (Young Romance, 1947)
*A work in progress.
[To be continued in "The Silver Age of (Superhero) Comics"]
Replies
Most impressive. It will take a while to digest all that you have suggested.
The sales figures are very interesting. The drop in sales from 1954 to 1956 is astonishing. It is a wonder that any of the publishers survived this dark period. Imagine where comic book publishing would have gone had the industry been allowed to grow and expand without the interference of outside forces.
"Most impressive."
Thenk yew. I've been thinking about this for a long time.
"It will take a while to digest all that you have suggested."
My initial thought was to post one "Age" per week for that very reason, but now that the logjam has been cleared, I find myself eager to move on. Traffic on the board has been light for a couple of days; in retrospect, I'm not sure December 23 was the best time to start his, with the holidays and all.
"The sales figures are very interesting."
My source is, primarily, The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books: Volume One by Ernst Gerber. Over the years, whenever I have encountered statistics mentioning comic book circulation figures (in the Comics Buyers' Guide, for example), I have compared them against this chart and they always jibe. Last summer, when I was reading Seduction of the Innocent, All in Color for a Dime, (along with The Great Comic Book Heroes), The Comic-Book Book, and A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics, whenever I would come across such a statistic I would likewise compare it against the Gerber guide and I am convinced of the accuracy of his sales figures.
"The drop in sales from 1954 to 1956 is astonishing."
Not only that but, apart from the Golden Age boom and bust, it's difficult to glean any other "Ages" via annual total sales figures alone. Sales continued to fall through 1960, when they were at the 5 million level, almost exactly what they were in 1938. They continued to fall until 1963 (4 million) when they began to rise to a (very small) peak in 1966 (6 million). At that point, sales fell again until 1970 or so (3 million), where they remained steady through 1980.
"Imagine where comic book publishing would have gone had the industry been allowed to grow and expand without the interference of outside forces."
Exactly.
I am considering adding a fifth division between the "Bronze Age" and the "G.U.T.": the "Modern Age."
Once we get to the Silver and Bronze Ages, I'll be differentiating between when National/DC and Timely/Marvel entered the Age. If I were to do that for the "superhero" phase of the Golden Age, I would include Marvel Comics #1 (1939).
Speaking of superheroes, it occurs to me that that is one genre missing from the EC stable. (Yes, they published Moon Girl, but that was early on and not nearly as influential to superheroes as their later comics were to other genres.)
EC specialized in anthologies featuring stand alone stories. It doesn't seem as if they were geared for books featuring on-going characters. Based on some of the early parodies in Mad, I have the feeling William Gaines and Al Feldstein didn't think much of the super hero genre.
Does the fact that they dealt in anthologies exclusively make them unique among comic book publishers?
Probably not for that reason alone, Doc.
Anthologies were very ubiquotous indeed in the Golden Age and were still common even well into the Silver Age.
That's why I had some trouble coming up with a single title to represent the "Western" genre (above). Westerns (as well as most other genres listed) were included in the earliest anthologies, including Action Comics #1 and Marvel Comics #1. What's a good, early, representative all-western title?
In addition to sales falling off a cliff after the Comics Code, a whole lot of publishers went belly up or dropped their comic divisions in 1954-56, including Ace, Avon, Baily, Comic House/Lev Gleason, Comic Media, Eastern, EC, Fiction House, Key Publications, Mainline, Master, Nesbit, Orbit, Quality, Reston, Star, Sterling, Story, Superior, Toby, Trojan Magazines, United Feature and Youthful.
Fawcett, Hillman and Ziff-Davis went out in 1953; Green in 1957; and Farrell, Kirby, Magazine and St. John in 1958. Those may or may not be related to the Code, but they sure weren't selling.
Incidentally, if we call the Golden Age 1938-1954, the Silver Age 1955-1970 and the Bronze Age 1971-1986, then those three ages average to 15 years apiece.
That's an interesting coincidence, but a key component of my "Grand Unified Theory" (or "GUT") is that the "Ages" are unique unto themselves; what applies to the Golden Age may not apply to the Silver, or the Bronze, or whatever. If you look at, let us say, the causes and duration of World War I in comparison to World War II, you're going to find different set of circumstances behind each one.
Another interesting coincidence: the popularity of the superhero genre tends to run in 20 year cycles. Superheroes were popular in the 1940s, the 1960s, the 1980s. But, when I recently said that Bronze Age "encompassed" the '80s, you called me on it, and rightly so. That's what got me thinking about refining my definitions of the Ages... pulling a little bit from here, a little bit from there, until I find something that makes sense (to me if no one else).
People are less opinionated about the beginning and ending of the Golden Age than they are about the Silver and Golden Ages, so I'm expecting some lively debate going forward. Then again, it well turn out to be that everyone here is sick of these discussions. In either case, I hope to see you, all of you reading this, here going forward.
True, although World War Two would not have been what it was if World War One had not been what it was.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
That doesn't disprove my analogy. If anything, it strengthens it.
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