COMICS: Mutants Battle Mutants in the WARZONES! of X-TINCTION AGENDA #1

Very original

I don't care how long it's been in play . . .

Havok'scostume is just one more step in the, "Costumes? We don't need no stinkin' costumes!" Era.

Golden Age lead to Silver Age lead to the Bronze Age lead to an "undefined age" lead to THIS, The Slver-Screen Age of Comics.

Just saying . . .

We are in the Silver-Screen Age of Comics.

But I DO LOVE the "character-head box" in the upper left corner.

Hope they do that more often.

Havok is a badass. Would wish to see more of him on the movies, but not gonna happen, sadly.

@JoshWilding

@KrazyForKomix iwas under the impression that the 'era' of comics entered into after Dark Knight rturns and Watchmen was known as the 'Modern Age'.

I like your Silver Screen Age for the current crop though.

Could also be the age of the unnecessary reboots... or Age of Political Correctness... Hmmm i'll think on it

The reimagining of covers is a tradition that I love. The X-Men get this treatment quite a bit.

@KrazyForKomix I like it :-)

Silver screen Age may stop when Doctor strange comes out and no one goes to see it ;-)

@Parkerluckpersonified

Oh I think it'll go on past that. As long as the movies so heavily influence the comic content as it has begun to now.

Enjoyed the original X-Tinction Agenda,So I'll definitely be checking this out.

@MrCummings

No flammability here.

"Platinum Age?" Never heard of it. But sure, all those newspaper compilations did exist. So I guess THAT'S the Platinum Age, yes? Then, I think we can both agree that Action Comics #1 begins the new Golden Age. It's almost as if Jerry and Joe invented the wheel.

As far as the start of Copper Age goes I can't REALLY argue. You'll notice that the Golden Age ends in the early 50s yet the Silver Age doesn't really begin until Showcase rolls around in late '56 (October to be precise). This is recognized primarily because between 1948 and 1954, the majority of "super hero" comics had not sold very well after the war ends. So there's not a hard and fast, mutually pin-pointed date where the Golden ends and the Silver begins.

I think this is also true for Bronze into Copper. I think that same lack of a pin-pointible date is in play for the start of the Copper Era.

1985-1986 – Starting in mid '85 the writing is on the wall for Charlton Comics as most titles have been cancelled and the company folds by early '86

April 1985 – Crisis on Infinite Earths

August 1985 – The first of two Alan Moore Superman tales "For the Man Who Has Everything." These serve as book ends to the end of Silver/Bronze Age Superman.

February 1986 – Miller's The Dark Knight Returns

September 1986 – Moore & Gibbon's Watchmen

September 1986 – The second of two Moore Superman tales "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?"

I think you, I and others could EASILY argue any of this events (yes, less so for Charlton) as THE event that STARTED the Copper Age. I appreciate your argument for the Miller's Dark Knight, but that trend to dark-grittiness (that I know we're all sick and tired of hearing about) had already been established with the death of Elektra in '82. Throw Moore's Miracleman and to a lesser extant V for Vendetta, both from 1982, into the cauldron that established this new and dawning dark age. I agree with you that Dark Knight is one of THOSE seminal events, but THAT particular dark & gritty boat had already sailed.

Another point I respectfully disagree on is your overly generous inclusion of Marvel's evasion of the Comics Code Authority. While it is a fact they they bucked the code in '71 and stepped away from it altogether in 2001, I don't believe that either was a watershed moment. Marvel (and the other's watching Marvel) continued producing their comic-products as they had been. To suddenly alter their editorial output or philosophy (in both cases) would have drawn unwanted and more vigilant attention form the press and parents groups. Besides, both Marvel and DC had been printing without the seal when their respective comics came back from the CCA with a big fat, red, "NO"s stamp on it.
The CCA abandonment, even MORE SO than the "dark & gritty" trends discussed earlier, was a slow developing, glacially paced series of changes to the industry as to be almost imperceptible. You can't necessarily see where it began, but you sure as hell can recognize it when it pokes it's ugly, irresponsible head where it doesn't belong (I'm looking at you Identity Crisis).

Onto the highly debatable Modern Age.
Comicvine.com defines it as 1985/6 to present. Clearly they're clumping it together with the Copper (sometimes referred to as Dark) age and your Modern Age. comicbookresources.com gives us the Iron/Dark Age 1986-92 with Image Comics marking the beginning of the Baroque/Image Age, 1992-1998. I know ridiculously short. They say 1998-2004 is the Dynamic Age, and 2004-Present is the Modern Age. While I (of course love their Image Comics acknowledgement, they invalidate themselves with the VERY short following Ages. More than a few websites and blogs just stop thinking about it with 1986 and referring to that as the beginning of the Modern Age which continues today.

I like your point about the Copper Age being just as much about merchandising and product licensing as it was about the comic books. And it's largely BECAUSE of that marketing and merchandising that leads to the watershed moment of Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino taking off to get some of their own. Now with Image's creation the whole game has changed when it comes to writers or artists deciding whether to bring their creativity to Marvel/DC, or to buck the big two and keep the proceeds AND licensing AND merchandising for themselves. And part of the problem that your Copper Age to Modern Age transition faces . . . is that it hasn't changed. In fact, the marketing, merchandising, and licensing only marches on with greater and greater ferocity.

I believe that no matter how we get from the end of the Bronze to the end (and I DO believe it has ended) the end of the Modern Age is shut down and transformed by a new age that begins with 2008/9.

Iron Man's success has created a an unstoppable monster. The phrase that anyone over 45 plays over and over in their head . . . "Be careful what you wish for . . ."

I stand by my belief that the Iron Man movie marks the pin-pointible beginning to this new age we are in. With A) Iron Man's success, B) the purchasing by Disney in '89, C) the realization that a connected cinematic universe is feasible, marketable and profitable, D) the waking up of the slow-to-wake slumbering giant – Warner Brothers/DC and E) the NOW voracious appetite of Hollywood in general for not only superheroes, but ANYTHING that used to be merely a comic book.
When you combine ALL of that (starting with the success Iron Man and subsequent Disney purchase), combine ALL of that with the very slow, but very REAL transformation that the printed comics are going through . . . you have an extremely definable new age. I couldn't possibly tell you what it will come to be know as. Perhaps, The Corporate Age; as suggested before Silver Screen Age; how about The Sulfur Age (ooops, my bias is showing).

Never before has the production of movies so complete altered the trajectory of the comic plots, characters, and costumes. It may in fact be that the industry will rebound, and once again, one day, have the content it produces driven from within as apposed to being "inspired" by another medium on the out side. Comics now have begun skewing their plots, characters, and even changing costumes in the hopes of inspiring general audience, family friendly silver screen appearances. Costumes have already begun to move away from the fantastic, seeking out instead more utilitarian, practical uniforms or outfits that when translated to the movies, won't be such a dramatic change from the comic. Anyway . . .

So there you have it! With your help, my revised timeline is as follows . . .

Platinum Age – Dawn of the printing press to mid 1938
Golden Age - 1938 to the early '50s
Silver Ager - Mid '50s (Showcase #4) to 1971 Speedy and Harry on drugs
Bronze Age – 1971 to 1985/6 (Crisis on Infinite Earths/Dark Knight)
Copper Age – 1985 to 1992 (formation of Image Comics)
Modern Age – 1992 to 2008 (Iron Man movie)
Corporate Age – 2008 to TBD

@Melkaticox Yes. Its called logic. If they had retained their previous quality, I would still read them. Would you like me to type larger, or spell it out for you?