When I was a lad, common knowledge held that the so-called "Silver Age" was ushered in by Showcase #4 in 1956. (The same "common knowledge" had it that the Bronze Age began in 1970 with the release of Conan #1, but we'll get to that soon enough.) But the more I examined that assertion, the less sense it made. I was raised to "Question Authority" and I never, then or now, accept things at face value, least of all commonly accepted knowledge, without checking it pout for myself.
When we left off in 1954, the Comics Code Authority had brought the Golden Age to a screeching halt and began a a nine-year freefall in annual sales from approximately 74 million annual sales of all comics in before the Code to a paltry 4 million when it bottomed out in 1963. Sales were right around 5 million in 1938, so the Code essentially brought the field right back to where it started with Action Comics #1.
1954 began a period of recovery, revival and reinvention. EC Comics was forced to cancel its entire line. (Shamefully, the self-implemented CCA was written specifically to eliminate the other publishers' biggest competitor.) MAD became a b&w magazine and EC introduce a line of seven "New Direction" titles designed to comply with the Code, none of which lasted more than six months. Timely/Atlas/Marvel, perhaps the first publisher to see the way the industry was going, launched revivals of their best-selling titles of the "superhero" phase of the Golden Age as early as late 1953. After this experiment had run its course (in 1955), National/DC followed suit in 1956.
This is where some people think the Silver Age began (but it's not). By 1956, total annual sales had plummeted to around 12 million (and would continue to fall for the next seven years). Showcase #4 didn't usher in $#!t. It took twenty months to produce a mere four (tryout) issues, and another eight months after that (two years and four months) before Flash was awarded his own ongoing title. In less time than that (eight months), the revivals of Captain America, the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner had racked up ten appearances each (including Young Men, Men's Adventures and their own solo titles). That's ten appearances in eight months for each of the three Marvel characters*, and only five appearances of the Flash in 28 months. By that metric, Marvel's was clearly the more successful revival (between 1953 and 1959, anyway).
*[Before someone "corrects" me, yes, I know Sub-Mariner had a total of 17 appearances between December 1953 and October 1955; reportedly the character was being considered for a TV show.]
Actually, neither DC's nor Marvel's 1950s revival could be considered successes, much lass the beginning of an "Age." A quick glace at "The Fearful Fifties" chapter of Tony Isabella's 1000 Comic Books You Must Read or DC's The Greatest 1950s Stories Ever Told will confirm that Flash was one on many experiments hurled against the wall during the post-Wertham period of recovery in the hope that something, anything, would stick.
So why do so many people believe that Showcase #4 ushered in the Silver Age? Two reasons, really. First, fans tried to define the "Silver Age" far too early. As I pointed out in my entry on "The Golden Age," the first use of the term (as it pertains to comic books) was by Richard Lupoff in an article published in the fanzine Comic Art in April 1960. By then, enough time had passed to view the period objectively. But the first (oblique) reference to a "Silver Age" was in the letters page of Justice League of America #42 (February 1966): "If you guys keep bringing back the heroes from the Golden Age, people 20 years from now will be calling this decade the Silver Sixties!" (Actually, I rather like the term "Silver Sixties." If only folks had waited 20 years before trying to define a "Silver Age.")
Second, I chalk it up to human nature. People love to trace a trend back to its roots. the problem is, some people get carried away. Let's look at the point at which annual sales actually started to increase (1963) and work back from there. This was two years after Stan Lee introduced a whole new method of superhero storytelling in Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961) which would influence the field for years to come. Reportedly, he was at least partially motivated by the sales of DC's Justice League of America (which debuted in The Brave and the bold #28, March 1960).
Whereas the Flash took five issues and 28 months to go to series, it took Green Lantern three bimonthly tryouts and a six month gap to come to series. JLA had only three bimonthly tryouts and came to series only three months after that, the same month Green Lantern #1 debuted. I submit it was not Showcase #4 which ushered in the Silver Age, but rather the bringing of the revival heroes together (in B&B #28) followed the next year by FF #1.
But some people feel the need to extend the backward construct further into the past, reasoning that, since Flash was the first "Silver Age" hero (anachronistically speaking), then Showcase #4 must, ipso facto, be the beginning of he Silver Age. "But wait!" other fans declare. "The Martian Manhunter was a charter member of the JLA. Therefore Detective Comics #225 (November 1955) must be the beginning of the Silver Age!"
"But what about Superman? Although published continuously with no break, the original character had no career as Superboy, therefore More Fun Comics #101 (Jan/Feb 1945) must be the true start of the Silver Age!" Stop. Just stop.
Consider Vertigo. DC launched the Vertigo imprint in 1993, incorporating some new series and some existing series. But when did Vertigo really start? The longest running of the series was Swamp Thing, which then was up to #129. Therefore, the first Vertigo issue was Saga of the Swamp Thing #1 (1982). But wait! There was a previous Swamp Thing series, so Vertigo really began in 1972! but the character's first appearance was in House of Secrets #92 (1971)! No.
The Silver Age no more began in 1956 (or 1955, or 1945) than Vertigo began in 1982 (or 1972, or 1971). The Silver Age began in 1960 with the JLA's first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28, and Marvel followed suit a year later with Fantastic Four #1.
The Silver Age [1960 through approximately 1970]
- Phase 1: "The Silver Sixties" (The Brave and the Bold #28, 1960)
- Phase 2: "The Marvel Age" (Fantastic Four #1, 1961)
I end the Silver Age at "approximately" 1970 because, whereas the beginnings of "Ages" are at least relatively easy to pinpoint as long as one defines one's criteria, defining the end of an "Age" is a mug's game. Whereas the Golden age clearly ended in 1954, I'm content to let the Silver and Bronze Ages just "fade away."
Also, I'm using "age" in "Marvel Age" in a decidedly lesser context here.
[Continued from "The Golden Age of Comics"; continued in "The Bronze Age of (Superhero) Comics"]
Replies
If story count is a vital statistic, then when The Flash #105 (F'59) came out, so did Detective Comics #264 thus the Martian Manhunter had almost forty adventures by Flash's fifth.
I like your suggestion that the debut of the JLA in The Brave and the Bold #28 could be considered the start of the Silver Age.
When 11 1/2-year-old me saw it on the spinner rack I recognized three of the five heroes. I knew Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter from their backup stories. I didn't read Wonder Woman, but I knew her by sight. The guy in red and the guy in green and black were new to me.
I immediately started buying Flash. A little later I started buying Green Lantern. At some point soon after that, the Schwartz-edited books had ways of contacting each other and ads for fanzines, and I was off and running.
B&B 28 started my Silver Age.
I still think Flash succeeding, however, slowly, is enough of a game-changer to count. Without him, do we even get to B&B 28? And Showcase 4 isn't as clearly separate as (to use your example) early Swamp Thing from Vertigo.Yes, it was one of many experiments, but it's the one that worked. That's not a hill I would die on — there's certainly room for multiple viewpoints.
The targeting of EC may not have been about eliminating a competitor. Horror and crime books were the biggest offenders in the eyes of the anti-comics crusaders so it's not surprising a company that specialized in them would get pounded.
"If story count is a vital statistic... the Martian Manhunter had almost forty adventures by Flash's fifth."
That's a good point. I will incorporate it into my arguments going forward.
"Without [the Flash], do we even get to B&B 28?"
I think we do, yes. It was only a matter of time before Julius Schwartz brought back some version of the Justice Society of America. Perhaps he noticed the (ultimately unsuccessful) revival of Timely/Marvel's "Big Three" and decided that a straightforward revival wasn't the way to go. If he hadn't decided to revise and update the Flash in Showcase #4 (and Green Lantern in #22), I think we would have seen a version of the Justice League (or Society) which featured Jay Garrick and Alan Scott. Also, consider this: if Schwartz had decided to bring back Jay Garrick in Showcase #4, perhaps that version of the Flash would have had more than five appearances in 28 months.
"The guy in red and the guy in green and black were new to me."
Look at Richard's reaction. He bought B&B #28 not because of the revised characters, but because of the ones he recognized.
"The targeting of EC may not have been about eliminating a competitor."
The publishers wanted the Senate sub-committee off their collective back, certainly, but banning words such as "weird" and "horror" and "terror" from comic book titles has always seemed pretty pointed to me.
That last point cuts both ways: horror, terror and weird were precisely what the critics were holding up as the worst of the worst. Of course it's entirely possible both reasons apply.
I reread the JLA's debut recently as part of going through the Silver Age (or as much of it as I have handy) and regardless of whether it starts the Age or not, it's very well set up to introduce the team and showcase characters the readers didn't know (https://atomicjunkshop.com/starfish-snail-mail-and-the-silver-age-j...)
On a side note, the Superman books were in a relative fervent of creativity in the late 1950s and beginning of the 1960s: Bizarro, multiple types of kryptonite, Luthor becoming Superboy's childhood pal, the Phantom Zone and the Legion of Superheroes. Not citing this as evidence for or against your point, but it's an impressive run of new ideas.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
"Of course it's entirely possible both reasons apply."
That is my belief.
"On a side note, the Superman books were in a relative fervent of creativity in the late 1950s and beginning of the 1960s"
Absolutely. As Baron Bob said over in the "Golden Age" discussion...
"I've often felt that there was an 'interregnum' between the Golden and Silver Ages, and characters that didn't quite 100% fit into either."
...citing the Kathy Kane Bat-Woman as one such "transitional" character. Because Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman were published continuously, it up to readers were to draw the line regarding these character that "didn't quite fit into either."
I've always had a problem with Showcase #4 as the start point of the Silver Age due to the amount of time that passed between it and any further significant events. To me, Flash receiving his solo title in 1958 is a more appropriate start point due to the number of new titles and characters that were introduced in the five years immediately following Flash #105.
I've heard the same point made about the Silver-to-Bronze transition — the Silver Age ends with the Fourth World (or Commander Benson's 1968 cutoff for that matter) and the Bronze starts with the New X-Men, for example.
Someone once suggested "Atomic Age" for the stretch between Gold and Silver though it didn't catch on.
Fraser
Jeff of Earth-J said:
"To me, Flash receiving his solo title in 1958 is a more appropriate start point due to the number of new titles and characters that were introduced in the five years immediately following Flash #105."
I like the think that Flash and Green Lantern presaged the Silver Age.
"I've heard the same point made about the Silver-to-Bronze transition"
I will attempt to account for that when I post my thoughts on the Bronze Age.
"Someone once suggested 'Atomic Age' for the stretch between Gold and Silver"
I try to stick primarily to the divisions Golden, Silver and Bronze. I'm not a big fan of those "cutesy" divisions people put out there every once in a while ("Atomic Age," "Platinum Age," "Mylar Age," etc.), although I do allow for such lower-case "a" subdivisions such as the first heroic age (Action Comics #1, Marvel Comics #1), the second heroic age (B&B #28, FF #1) and so on. Is it confusing that I accept both "ages" as well as "Ages"? Perhaps. but I didn't come up with them. I borrow them from popular usage and try to differentiate between and "Age" and an "age" as I see it. More on that to come.
"Showcase #4 isn't as clearly separate as early Swamp Thing from Vertigo."
Perhaps not, but I have heard it argued that Vertigo began with Alan Moore's run.
"Yes, [Showcase #4] was one of many experiments, but it's the one that worked."
I've tried to demonstrate that it didn't work... until Julius Schwartz folded Flash into the JLA.
"I've heard the same point made about the Silver-to-Bronze transition — the Silver Age ends with the Fourth World"
I've never heard that before. I have heard the "Fourth World" argued as the start of the Bronze Age, however. In any case, I'll address that in my look at the "Bronze Age."
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