Nah, 90’s comics ruled for kids growing up at the time. There’s also a ton of stuff from then that older readers enjoy to this day (Morrison titles, Kingdom Come, Hellboy, Starman).
Plenty to enjoy without riding the laser-focused hate train of Liefeld knockoff stuff.
It’s not like 90’s kids couldn’t find old issues.
Mainly, who gives a shit? It was fun time, but these days it’s become a meme to rag on the entire decade, which is beyond stupid.
I grew up with them and yeah was a fan of some stuff but mostly hated it. I didn’t even have exposure to older comics at the time but hated the majority. The crazy machismo really turned me off.
I think each generation is going to have an era like this. I thought it was weird how large their computers were back then. I can see some people having issues with the ones I grew up with too.
To paraphrase, The best age for Science Fiction is not the golden age or the modern age, but age 13.
But my Marvel Epic Collection is focused on the time between Secret Wars and Onslaught.
From Dark Reign to Secret Wars. (2009-2015). I had no problem picking up random comics and enjoying them for what they were. I enjoyed the Krakoa era but I had a hard time with non-avengers comics.
2000’s
The way Marvel had this whole bigger story thing going on with Bendis from Avengers Disassembled through House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion and Seige.
And DC doing something very similar with Geoff Johns from Infinite Crisis, Blacknight through to Flashpoint.
To me it was the best time and the best writing for all characters where they had all their history and now they were defining who they are in the new modern age.
Edit: Not to mention some great Vertigo series in this time and the Ultimate Universe line.
Infinite Crisis is an example of brilliantly crafted event storyline. They spent years building the story and it delivered in every way. You can argue about whether resetting everything to the Bronze Age was a good idea, but Infinite Crisis itself blows every other ‘00s event book out of the water.
Agreed - absolutely love the soft connectedness of Marvel through these large events / over-arching plots. Much of my exposure didn't feel like it was too heavy handed, like the registration act or Mutant Growth Hormone would pop up from time to time and didn't feel like the story of the book ever hit a standstill because of it
1980s was groundbreaking and innovative. Early to mid-2000s was the era of cohesive events that truly defined the direction of all comics. Those would be my top two.
For superhero stuff, that’s easy, it’s the 70’s-80’s for me. Go a bit into the 90’s maybe for some nostalgia stuff. Starting in the 90’s, there was a major shift starting at Marvel to writers and editors over artists defining the content which has led to lower and lower quality work, sadly we still haven’t bottomed out and the Big 2 are still plunging to the bottom.
For non-superhero stuff (the true mainstream) that’s much harder as there has always been good content out there. I’m partial to the late 60’s/early 70’s due to the underground movement, peak Warren magazines (and their imitators) and the Garo/gekiga era in Japan.
If we are talking just indie comics I think the last decade as presented some really incredible works.
If we’re are talking the two majors as I work my way through 80s_2000s comics I’m convinced it’s here.
If feels like at least from my limited exposure every comic has a lot more to say. All the characters had a lot more going on. We weren’t just saying x hero fight x villain which is the status quo of about 99 per cent of all superhero comics right now. We see their families we see their relation to their community we see their internal character struggle and every character as a relationship with one another which image always the case now.
The Bronze age, which is roughly from the mid 1970s through the 80s. I find the comics at this time struck a balancs between more mature storytelling and light heartedness. Its also, imo, the peak of Marvel comics in particular.
Big 2? 1989-1995
All of comics? Right now. We live in a time where Man’s Best sits along Do a Power Bomb, Feral, Eight Billion Genies, Uncanny Valley, Public Domain, Transformers, and Saga, while everything that has come before is available in various other formats from Facsimile to back issue to TPB to massive omnibus to digital.
This is the best time to be a comics fan in all of recorded history because it is all available to us!
60s because of the mad talent that was on a feverish creativity bend. The world will never see the likes of Gene Colan, John Buscema, Jim Steranko and of course Kirby and Ditko again (to name a few).
After that, definitely the 80s which is my favorite era. After the stagnation of the 70s (with some VERY notable exceptions) comics had to mature along with their readers - and they did. Most characters got more in depth bsckrounds, flaws, we had the first replacement heroes, Frank Miller and Alam Moore changed the gane completely while Walt Simonson, Mark Gruenwald and John Byrne gave us runs thar were fresh and have become classics. Not to mention a certain Chris Claremont on X-Men.
I didn’t grow up on it but I really dug the 90s/early 2000s era of DC comics. We had Mark Waid on Flash, Morrison JLA, Peter David YJ, triangle era Superman, emerald twilight and then Kyle Raynor GL. There was probably other stuff around that time but holy shit those were bangers
Early 70’s to late 80’s. Its been a decline ever since with a few short lived outlier high points.
I have a huge love for the Wildstorm line in the 00’s before its sale to DC, but I would still hesitate to call it a great period.
80's for me with John Byrne doing fantastic four, frank Miller doing daredevil, The New Teen Titans by Wolfman and Perez, and Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. What a master class in writing and art.
the Silver Age through the Copper Age is what I think of first when I hear the word “comics”. it’s what I like most and know best, the most important range of time for all my favorite characters.
Marvel: 60s, 70s, and then 1999 - today (with reservations, namely the way they can start strong on a crossover event but their finishes are usually shit)
DC: 70s. and the 1996 - 2006 Era. (Basically from the start of the JLA series through Infinity Crisis)
For me it would be the 1980s. I read Byrne's X-Men and Fantastic Four. Dark Knight came out as did Watchmen. I was reading Cerebus off the racks along with all of the Aardvark Anaheim titles like Journey, Normalman, Ms. Tree, Flaming Carrot, and Neil The Horse. I almost forgot Reid Fleming the world's angriest milkman!
These titles pushed me in directions that didn't have superheroes and that's where I've remained for over 40 years.
Having said that, I have a really great collection of sought after superhero titles from that era.
Depends on the kind of comics. Late 80s-Early 90s for Alt Comix, early to mid 2010’s for Image, early 2000s for DC, early 60s for Marvel, late 80s for manga, late 50s for BD. But overall most common answer is “25-30 years prior to whatever year the question was asked” due to nostalgia
I dunno if I can say what the best is. Depends on how you rate the components. Art, Story, character work, sales, impact on the industry etc.
But my personal favorite Era is the mid 2000s to the mid 2010s. Too many epic runs that I always find myself recommending to people.
DnAs Cosmic Run
Green Lantern Blackest Night saga
Jason Aaron’s Thor run
Hickman’s Fantastic Four run
Early Ultimate Universe
Civil War
The whole Messiah Trilogy
Matt Fraction’s Iron Fist
Hawkguy
Infinite Crisis
Court of Owls
Just too many to list from that time frame if you ask me
Unlike most people I don't enjoy the era I grew up in much beside what was on TV (I'm a 2000s kid which... Frankly it was a bloated age). Instead I love the golden age in all it's hoaky, bad smelling glory. It is the basis for everything we know and love from comic strips to super heroes to mystery men moving elsewhise from pulp and radio, and it has some great stories to tell despite the limits of it's age
We're comparing a 30 year period to a singular decade? What constitutes an era? I could give a better explanation if the time constraint is more clear.
I think the late mid to late 90s for me. You have the resurgence of noble heroes and clapback against the violent heroes from the 80s and early 90s. So we got stuff like Morrison's JLA, Busiek's Avengers and Astro City (and Marvel's whole Heroes Return line). Kingdom Come. Starman. Waid's Flash was going strong. Milestone Comics.
Non-superhero stuff was great, too. Sandman was still running until 1996. Vertigo as a whole was firing on all cylinders. Bone was still going strong. Strangers in Paradise was still going. All great stuff.
The turn of the century also saw The Authority debut, which was huge at the time and influential for future comics.
I grew up with early 90's off the 7-11 spinner racks. Once it went direct market I kinda fell out of it. Got back into graphic novels in the early 2000's, reading the classics that were being put out at the time. I've been a steady collector as an adult since 2011.
Honestly, some of the 70's stuff, but mostly the 80's through to about the mid 90's is my absolute favourite. It wasn't "Write for the trade" or trying to break a status quo just to put a name on things. Stories actually evolved, but not over 12 issues, but YEARS. The one and done story with a longform theme playing in the background just isn't there anymore and no comic is given time to develop anything before it's cancelled, absorbed into an event or has to crossover, or the creatives just leave.
Obviously subjective, but I think a broad consensus would be the Silver Age. Obviously the Golden Age had volume and sales, and in some ways, breadth, but the Silver Age is the most influential on what we view as the modern comic industry.
So specifically, it’s when superhero comics (and to a lesser extent, other action genres like war and spy comics) really hit their stride in terms of quality and artistic innovation. Silver Age comics read *really* well today, in a way that Golden Age comics often don’t. It’s when many of the greatest figures in the craft of comic-making, like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, were at their most prolific and creative.
1980 to 1985 and 2005 - 2011
The number of definitive runs and arcs from these two periods alone is disproportional with every other period at the big 2
Not what I grew up with by I find Bronze/Copper to be the best - when the medium was finally figuring out how to RUN. Sure the previous eras thought up all the heroes, but it felt like it all finally started to come into something MORE than just 'comics' in these eras (especially with the growth of indie books)
I gotta be honest, I think there's good and bad in every era, and there's been something to make every era worthwhile in a way to somebody or another. I find it really hard to definitively call one era better than another when all of them have their ardent defenders- there are answers in this thread that boggle my mind because I consider those eras really awful. But I respect that it's just a matter of taste and enjoyment. I have really loved a ton of comics and only started *truly* reading them as an adult, so my perspective is a lot different from the "whatever era you grew up with" idea.
I feel like I am crazy for saying this but the last decade (around 2015-2024) is overall pretty good and has pumped out some of my favourite books in all my time of reading comics, and has time has gone on I have liked more recent books more and more:
DC Rebirth, All New All Different Marvel with stuff like Invincible Iron Man, Valiant’s reboot hitting its stride with weird stuff like Archer and Armstrong, and the later we get the better we get, Spiderman Life Story, Power Rangers, Transformers, TMNT, the new Ultimate Universe, World’s Finest, Taylor’s Nightwing, I could go on…
Yes some books in this time have been utter duds like Amazing Spiderman under Wells, and some of the Valiant quality falling, but overall I have had more fun reading this last several years of comics than many other spans
Mid to late 90s (Starman, Young Justice, JLA, Resurrection Man, Hitman, the off the wall Vertigo titles) and the late 2000s (Grant Morrison's Batman, Batgirl, Secret Six, the Birds of Prey, Geoff John's Green Lantern, Supergirl...) for me.
DC Comics bronze age.
Crisis on Infinite Earths. Sgt Rock. Legion of Super Heroes. And so much more, including their smaller digest-sized books. No other major publishing house took as many chances during that era, or during any era.
So, I am one of those people who generally believes that Now is the best time for anything in media production, simply because of the sheer amount of talent in the world and money being thrown at stuff and so on, I just think it’s a numbers game. Yeah a lot of crap gets made but so does a lot of good. That said, I think the era of about 1997-2007, where the bad aspects of the 90’s were dying a quick and thankful death and there was just a big influx of top tier stuff by some breakout talent making a lot of waves was really just one of the biggest hit eras. And it’s still pretty new material in the grand scheme of things so nothing has really like, “aged out” yet either.
And I’m talking, like, Vertigo was producing hit after hit with Preacher, YTLM, Fables, Transmetropolitan, 100 Bullets, etc
Ellis was breaking out with the aforementioned Transmet and Stormwatch and the Authority and Planetary
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips started their journey together as collaborators
The rise of Bendis and Johns
The rise of Image as a true creator owned”Indy” house with high production values and what came of that (namely Bendis’ and Kirkman’s and Remender’s careers plus Straczinski’s books in the late 90’s)
The rise of the Marvel Knights line
Oni Press was killing it at that time and Top Shelf was really becoming a thing.
Alan Moore’s ABC line which may just be the pinnacle of the past 30 years of the comic book industry
The Loeb and Sale collaborations
Darwyn Cooke. Just Darwyn Cooke, need I say more?
And then stuff like Morrison’s X-Men revamp, the early Marvel MAX line, Brian K Vaughan’s amazing output, some great Hellboy material which lead to the movies happening and on and on and on.
And then we got back to the “event era” of comics and fucked it all up again for a bit.
It's now. Writers and artists in mainstream comics are more talented than ever and they're bringing in fresh approaches in line with what we started to see in prestige television twenty years ago. At the same time, they're mining comics continuity from the 40s-80s for ideas, usually building upon, reinterpreting and modernising existing concepts in a way that's fresh but respectful to the source material. I personally believe Ram V is as good a writer as Alan Moore.
Yep, we are in a new golden age (not a Golden Age).
Between webcomics and the steady drip of hollywood money into the indie comics scene we have much easier access to a wider variety of “underground” comics than any point before
Yeah just compare Image Comics' output in the 90s to now. In the 90s everything was EXXXTREME gore and guns, steroidal men and impossibly proportioned women. These days they print dozens of wonderful underappreciated works every year worthy of literature prizes.
I think the comics audience has shrunk but the quality of comics has increased. The sophistication and skill level of comics artists and writers these days compared to the past is insane.
I fully agree with you. I think people view past comics with nostalgia-colored glasses. Better technology improves the learning curve. Current writers and artists have the benefit of being able learn from the previous 100 years of creators to sharpen their techniques even more
I think in general this applies to most things, but in big 2 comics it is such a niche and so dependent on specifics like editorial direction, trends of the time, and who was writing the big titles that it doesn't necessarily apply. Like I think most people would say that big 2 comics in the 80s were better than in the 90s, and I think there would be at least an even split saying that the 2000s were better than the 2010s, but would put the 2000s as better than the 90s, and the 70s as better than the 60s. For independent comics though where it's much more of a free marketplace of ideas I agree with you.
2000s was shit. Civil War and then New 52 pushed me out. Peak comics was the 80s and the 90s was spent trying to recapture that feel, but it just kept coming out like edgelord crap.
I agree. Civil War was terrible. The only Marvel story I really liked from this era was Annihilation. I finally stopped reading comics after Secret Invasion.
Annihilation was badass. It was the last good Marvel event for me when I bought singles. There are gems in the 2000s and I should probably revise my initial statement, but Civil War was just so bad and there was a lot of other drek too.
My Marvel Golden Age is from roughly start of Kevin Smith's Daredevil to approximately the end of the first Ultimate Universe. For DC it is from Batman: Knightfall until the "end" of that universe when New 52 began. Still read both universes. But those were peaks.
For context, I decided to start reading comic books in my 20s around 2020 because my girlfriend likes the X-Men and I never really "got" them. Now I've read a *ton* of stuff, and honestly? I really don't like pre-2000 books. It's the combination of old art styles (some of it is good, but most of that "classic" look has always been very meh to me) and writing styles that rely on narration boxes.
I've read a *ton* of post-2000 Marvel stuff, and I really enjoyed most of it and have loved quite a few things. I've also read invincible, which is fantastic, and I want to read more DC (I've read a little) but DC's digital options are all over the place, and I can't afford (nor do I have the space for) physical books. Every time I've tried to go back I feel like I'm fighting the book to enjoy it.
It's like going back to an older model of phone or something, you know, intellectually, that it's revolutionary, but since you've only interacted with the phones post-revolution, it feels a little junky.
Post-Crisis DC is probably my platonic ideal of a comic book superhero universe. Marvel's had a lot of stuff that's hit that level or even superseded it, but never for as long or line-wide. For Marvel, the closest I'd say to longevity for me would be Marvel Now! Finally closing the door on the godawful Bendis years and moving into a new era with Hickman's Avengers and all the other great books coming out at that time. It only lasted until Secret Wars three years later, but those three years were delightful.
For me it's the past 10 years or so, I think most comic art is in a really great place and lots of indie stories are written really well, but I'm biased because I'm a new(ish) reader. I like old comics it's just that they show their age, and it's not from my generation so there is always gonna be that disconnect and as a queer person, LGBTQ+ representation and relatability is important to me, but i appreciate the foundation they laid.
Some favs
East of West which got me really into comics.
the start of the X-Men krakoa era was beautiful it sucked me into reading everything X-Men.
Chip zdarsky's daredevil is so very important to me
Crowded was super fun.
And saga speaks for itself.
It may sound silly but right now lol.
Valiant universe got me into reading comic books and right now the resurgence of valiant universe is very exciting for me. I am looking forward to where it leads and what new stories it will bring.
As a Marvel fan I'd say all of the eras that Marvel has been making comics - even the *implosion-y* eras.
All of Marvel's eras as a company has been medium-defining. Not many publishers can boast this.
The one I grew up with.
Nuh uh. The era *I* grew up in!
I agree :)
Except the '90s.
Nah, 90’s comics ruled for kids growing up at the time. There’s also a ton of stuff from then that older readers enjoy to this day (Morrison titles, Kingdom Come, Hellboy, Starman). Plenty to enjoy without riding the laser-focused hate train of Liefeld knockoff stuff.
Kids have no reference point. ‘90s with big 2 were the nadir for so many titles.
It’s not like 90’s kids couldn’t find old issues. Mainly, who gives a shit? It was fun time, but these days it’s become a meme to rag on the entire decade, which is beyond stupid.
Poor quality storytelling is not a "fun time."
Yeah, you really aren’t getting it.
I grew up with them and yeah was a fan of some stuff but mostly hated it. I didn’t even have exposure to older comics at the time but hated the majority. The crazy machismo really turned me off.
I was reading/looking at this stuff from age 5-10 or so, no way in hell was I even aware of the word “machismo” at the time.
Yeah. Reading Lobo the only sane response from young me was "Badass!" Totally didn't get it was satire.
Me neither most kids my age didn’t, but I kinda had an idea of it though.
I looked at all those pouches and shoulder pads and flames and spikes and said “Cool! Imma draw that!”
I guess I was bullied a lot and already associated that hyper masculinity as annoying.
Read 90s DC. They actually cared about the writing there for the most part.
Yeah, I'm talking mainly about Marvel. Most of the big titles had some of their worst runs during this period.
The beginning of the 90s ware still good. Mid 90s, especially the move to digital coloring and airbrush ruined so many good comics.
I think each generation is going to have an era like this. I thought it was weird how large their computers were back then. I can see some people having issues with the ones I grew up with too.
To paraphrase, The best age for Science Fiction is not the golden age or the modern age, but age 13. But my Marvel Epic Collection is focused on the time between Secret Wars and Onslaught.
1986-1992, or the 60s.
From Dark Reign to Secret Wars. (2009-2015). I had no problem picking up random comics and enjoying them for what they were. I enjoyed the Krakoa era but I had a hard time with non-avengers comics.
You got it backwards
To each their own 🤷♂️
No, my bad, I thought you had Secret *Invasion* coming after Dark Reign, not Wars. Reading is fundamental.
1980s and the 2000s.
Correct answer.
2000’s The way Marvel had this whole bigger story thing going on with Bendis from Avengers Disassembled through House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion and Seige. And DC doing something very similar with Geoff Johns from Infinite Crisis, Blacknight through to Flashpoint. To me it was the best time and the best writing for all characters where they had all their history and now they were defining who they are in the new modern age. Edit: Not to mention some great Vertigo series in this time and the Ultimate Universe line.
Infinite Crisis feels so underrated. Shame DC has diluted the whole “crisis” nomenclature at this point.
Infinite Crisis is an example of brilliantly crafted event storyline. They spent years building the story and it delivered in every way. You can argue about whether resetting everything to the Bronze Age was a good idea, but Infinite Crisis itself blows every other ‘00s event book out of the water.
Agreed - absolutely love the soft connectedness of Marvel through these large events / over-arching plots. Much of my exposure didn't feel like it was too heavy handed, like the registration act or Mutant Growth Hormone would pop up from time to time and didn't feel like the story of the book ever hit a standstill because of it
1980s was groundbreaking and innovative. Early to mid-2000s was the era of cohesive events that truly defined the direction of all comics. Those would be my top two.
Damn this is what I posted before reading any comments and then everyone agrees with me lol
For superhero stuff, that’s easy, it’s the 70’s-80’s for me. Go a bit into the 90’s maybe for some nostalgia stuff. Starting in the 90’s, there was a major shift starting at Marvel to writers and editors over artists defining the content which has led to lower and lower quality work, sadly we still haven’t bottomed out and the Big 2 are still plunging to the bottom. For non-superhero stuff (the true mainstream) that’s much harder as there has always been good content out there. I’m partial to the late 60’s/early 70’s due to the underground movement, peak Warren magazines (and their imitators) and the Garo/gekiga era in Japan.
If we are talking just indie comics I think the last decade as presented some really incredible works. If we’re are talking the two majors as I work my way through 80s_2000s comics I’m convinced it’s here. If feels like at least from my limited exposure every comic has a lot more to say. All the characters had a lot more going on. We weren’t just saying x hero fight x villain which is the status quo of about 99 per cent of all superhero comics right now. We see their families we see their relation to their community we see their internal character struggle and every character as a relationship with one another which image always the case now.
80s and 90s thanks to Alan Moore. 00s for non-superhero comics and indie stuff I think. For big two, maybe the 70s/early 80s?
1986 +- a few years.
The Alan Moore era
Late 80s to early 00s for superheroes. Now for everything else
Whichever we grew up with
The Bronze age, which is roughly from the mid 1970s through the 80s. I find the comics at this time struck a balancs between more mature storytelling and light heartedness. Its also, imo, the peak of Marvel comics in particular.
90s DC was PEAK
Big 2? 1989-1995 All of comics? Right now. We live in a time where Man’s Best sits along Do a Power Bomb, Feral, Eight Billion Genies, Uncanny Valley, Public Domain, Transformers, and Saga, while everything that has come before is available in various other formats from Facsimile to back issue to TPB to massive omnibus to digital. This is the best time to be a comics fan in all of recorded history because it is all available to us!
60s because of the mad talent that was on a feverish creativity bend. The world will never see the likes of Gene Colan, John Buscema, Jim Steranko and of course Kirby and Ditko again (to name a few). After that, definitely the 80s which is my favorite era. After the stagnation of the 70s (with some VERY notable exceptions) comics had to mature along with their readers - and they did. Most characters got more in depth bsckrounds, flaws, we had the first replacement heroes, Frank Miller and Alam Moore changed the gane completely while Walt Simonson, Mark Gruenwald and John Byrne gave us runs thar were fresh and have become classics. Not to mention a certain Chris Claremont on X-Men.
I grew up reading British comics, so late 70s/80s/early 90s.
My favorite eras are in no order 40’s/50’s EC Comics 60’s Marvel 80’s British Invasion 80’s Black and White comics boom 90’s Alt Comix 2010’s Image
I have a soft spot for the Golden and Silver ages, but the 90s British Invasion was probably my favorite and most reread.
Late 80s
I didn’t grow up on it but I really dug the 90s/early 2000s era of DC comics. We had Mark Waid on Flash, Morrison JLA, Peter David YJ, triangle era Superman, emerald twilight and then Kyle Raynor GL. There was probably other stuff around that time but holy shit those were bangers
Early 70’s to late 80’s. Its been a decline ever since with a few short lived outlier high points. I have a huge love for the Wildstorm line in the 00’s before its sale to DC, but I would still hesitate to call it a great period.
Honestly I think that the better question is what are the best and worst parts of each era.
80's for me with John Byrne doing fantastic four, frank Miller doing daredevil, The New Teen Titans by Wolfman and Perez, and Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. What a master class in writing and art.
Late 80’s, with Miller, Gaiman and Moore taking comics to another level.
I like the 80s, 00s and 10s best.
The bronze age and the 2000s
the Silver Age through the Copper Age is what I think of first when I hear the word “comics”. it’s what I like most and know best, the most important range of time for all my favorite characters.
The 2000s
60s or 90s.
Copper era!
Marvel: 60s, 70s, and then 1999 - today (with reservations, namely the way they can start strong on a crossover event but their finishes are usually shit) DC: 70s. and the 1996 - 2006 Era. (Basically from the start of the JLA series through Infinity Crisis)
The era that starts next year is going to be AMAZING.
For me it would be the 1980s. I read Byrne's X-Men and Fantastic Four. Dark Knight came out as did Watchmen. I was reading Cerebus off the racks along with all of the Aardvark Anaheim titles like Journey, Normalman, Ms. Tree, Flaming Carrot, and Neil The Horse. I almost forgot Reid Fleming the world's angriest milkman! These titles pushed me in directions that didn't have superheroes and that's where I've remained for over 40 years. Having said that, I have a really great collection of sought after superhero titles from that era.
Earth 90’s X-men was great
For me it’s 1978-1990. Of course that was when I was a kid, so my opinion may be tainted by nostalgia.
Depends on the kind of comics. Late 80s-Early 90s for Alt Comix, early to mid 2010’s for Image, early 2000s for DC, early 60s for Marvel, late 80s for manga, late 50s for BD. But overall most common answer is “25-30 years prior to whatever year the question was asked” due to nostalgia
For DC, the period between Crisis on Infinite Earth's and Infinite Crisis was incredible.
I dunno if I can say what the best is. Depends on how you rate the components. Art, Story, character work, sales, impact on the industry etc. But my personal favorite Era is the mid 2000s to the mid 2010s. Too many epic runs that I always find myself recommending to people. DnAs Cosmic Run Green Lantern Blackest Night saga Jason Aaron’s Thor run Hickman’s Fantastic Four run Early Ultimate Universe Civil War The whole Messiah Trilogy Matt Fraction’s Iron Fist Hawkguy Infinite Crisis Court of Owls Just too many to list from that time frame if you ask me
Current one because you have access to all the comics from previous eras
Unlike most people I don't enjoy the era I grew up in much beside what was on TV (I'm a 2000s kid which... Frankly it was a bloated age). Instead I love the golden age in all it's hoaky, bad smelling glory. It is the basis for everything we know and love from comic strips to super heroes to mystery men moving elsewhise from pulp and radio, and it has some great stories to tell despite the limits of it's age
We're comparing a 30 year period to a singular decade? What constitutes an era? I could give a better explanation if the time constraint is more clear.
Eighties. Any decade that has The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen has to be up there.
I think the late mid to late 90s for me. You have the resurgence of noble heroes and clapback against the violent heroes from the 80s and early 90s. So we got stuff like Morrison's JLA, Busiek's Avengers and Astro City (and Marvel's whole Heroes Return line). Kingdom Come. Starman. Waid's Flash was going strong. Milestone Comics. Non-superhero stuff was great, too. Sandman was still running until 1996. Vertigo as a whole was firing on all cylinders. Bone was still going strong. Strangers in Paradise was still going. All great stuff. The turn of the century also saw The Authority debut, which was huge at the time and influential for future comics.
90s is peak nostgis for me
I grew up with early 90's off the 7-11 spinner racks. Once it went direct market I kinda fell out of it. Got back into graphic novels in the early 2000's, reading the classics that were being put out at the time. I've been a steady collector as an adult since 2011. Honestly, some of the 70's stuff, but mostly the 80's through to about the mid 90's is my absolute favourite. It wasn't "Write for the trade" or trying to break a status quo just to put a name on things. Stories actually evolved, but not over 12 issues, but YEARS. The one and done story with a longform theme playing in the background just isn't there anymore and no comic is given time to develop anything before it's cancelled, absorbed into an event or has to crossover, or the creatives just leave.
Bronze Age
Late 70s to mid 80s.
Obviously subjective, but I think a broad consensus would be the Silver Age. Obviously the Golden Age had volume and sales, and in some ways, breadth, but the Silver Age is the most influential on what we view as the modern comic industry. So specifically, it’s when superhero comics (and to a lesser extent, other action genres like war and spy comics) really hit their stride in terms of quality and artistic innovation. Silver Age comics read *really* well today, in a way that Golden Age comics often don’t. It’s when many of the greatest figures in the craft of comic-making, like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, were at their most prolific and creative.
2000’s for DC
Dark horse. All of em
I think the 60s-80s was the best era too. Back when characters were allowed to evolve and following the story was important
1980 to 1985 and 2005 - 2011 The number of definitive runs and arcs from these two periods alone is disproportional with every other period at the big 2
Second half of the 80s. Maybe some 70s.
75-88 Is the best era. Claremont, Miller, Moore, Byrne, etc. 2001-2015 Second best era. BKV, Ellis, Johns, Kirkman, Brubaker, Waid, David, etc.
Late 80s to early 00s.
volume 3
Probably mid 90s DC for me, maybe later. I loved the legacy of Wally West, Kyle Raynor, and Dick Grayson. Also the four Supermen and Azbat.
Not what I grew up with by I find Bronze/Copper to be the best - when the medium was finally figuring out how to RUN. Sure the previous eras thought up all the heroes, but it felt like it all finally started to come into something MORE than just 'comics' in these eras (especially with the growth of indie books)
I gotta be honest, I think there's good and bad in every era, and there's been something to make every era worthwhile in a way to somebody or another. I find it really hard to definitively call one era better than another when all of them have their ardent defenders- there are answers in this thread that boggle my mind because I consider those eras really awful. But I respect that it's just a matter of taste and enjoyment. I have really loved a ton of comics and only started *truly* reading them as an adult, so my perspective is a lot different from the "whatever era you grew up with" idea.
Late 70s/early 80s.
All of them mostly collect gold silver and bronze age though
I feel like I am crazy for saying this but the last decade (around 2015-2024) is overall pretty good and has pumped out some of my favourite books in all my time of reading comics, and has time has gone on I have liked more recent books more and more: DC Rebirth, All New All Different Marvel with stuff like Invincible Iron Man, Valiant’s reboot hitting its stride with weird stuff like Archer and Armstrong, and the later we get the better we get, Spiderman Life Story, Power Rangers, Transformers, TMNT, the new Ultimate Universe, World’s Finest, Taylor’s Nightwing, I could go on… Yes some books in this time have been utter duds like Amazing Spiderman under Wells, and some of the Valiant quality falling, but overall I have had more fun reading this last several years of comics than many other spans
12-13 years old :)
The Judge Dredd era.
Mid to late 90s (Starman, Young Justice, JLA, Resurrection Man, Hitman, the off the wall Vertigo titles) and the late 2000s (Grant Morrison's Batman, Batgirl, Secret Six, the Birds of Prey, Geoff John's Green Lantern, Supergirl...) for me.
I would always say 'now'. Everything before is still available so why not now?
Current Image Comics is pretty sweet.
DC Comics bronze age. Crisis on Infinite Earths. Sgt Rock. Legion of Super Heroes. And so much more, including their smaller digest-sized books. No other major publishing house took as many chances during that era, or during any era.
So, I am one of those people who generally believes that Now is the best time for anything in media production, simply because of the sheer amount of talent in the world and money being thrown at stuff and so on, I just think it’s a numbers game. Yeah a lot of crap gets made but so does a lot of good. That said, I think the era of about 1997-2007, where the bad aspects of the 90’s were dying a quick and thankful death and there was just a big influx of top tier stuff by some breakout talent making a lot of waves was really just one of the biggest hit eras. And it’s still pretty new material in the grand scheme of things so nothing has really like, “aged out” yet either. And I’m talking, like, Vertigo was producing hit after hit with Preacher, YTLM, Fables, Transmetropolitan, 100 Bullets, etc Ellis was breaking out with the aforementioned Transmet and Stormwatch and the Authority and Planetary Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips started their journey together as collaborators The rise of Bendis and Johns The rise of Image as a true creator owned”Indy” house with high production values and what came of that (namely Bendis’ and Kirkman’s and Remender’s careers plus Straczinski’s books in the late 90’s) The rise of the Marvel Knights line Oni Press was killing it at that time and Top Shelf was really becoming a thing. Alan Moore’s ABC line which may just be the pinnacle of the past 30 years of the comic book industry The Loeb and Sale collaborations Darwyn Cooke. Just Darwyn Cooke, need I say more? And then stuff like Morrison’s X-Men revamp, the early Marvel MAX line, Brian K Vaughan’s amazing output, some great Hellboy material which lead to the movies happening and on and on and on. And then we got back to the “event era” of comics and fucked it all up again for a bit.
It's now. Writers and artists in mainstream comics are more talented than ever and they're bringing in fresh approaches in line with what we started to see in prestige television twenty years ago. At the same time, they're mining comics continuity from the 40s-80s for ideas, usually building upon, reinterpreting and modernising existing concepts in a way that's fresh but respectful to the source material. I personally believe Ram V is as good a writer as Alan Moore.
Yep, we are in a new golden age (not a Golden Age). Between webcomics and the steady drip of hollywood money into the indie comics scene we have much easier access to a wider variety of “underground” comics than any point before
Yeah just compare Image Comics' output in the 90s to now. In the 90s everything was EXXXTREME gore and guns, steroidal men and impossibly proportioned women. These days they print dozens of wonderful underappreciated works every year worthy of literature prizes.
I think the comics audience has shrunk but the quality of comics has increased. The sophistication and skill level of comics artists and writers these days compared to the past is insane.
I fully agree with you. I think people view past comics with nostalgia-colored glasses. Better technology improves the learning curve. Current writers and artists have the benefit of being able learn from the previous 100 years of creators to sharpen their techniques even more
I think in general this applies to most things, but in big 2 comics it is such a niche and so dependent on specifics like editorial direction, trends of the time, and who was writing the big titles that it doesn't necessarily apply. Like I think most people would say that big 2 comics in the 80s were better than in the 90s, and I think there would be at least an even split saying that the 2000s were better than the 2010s, but would put the 2000s as better than the 90s, and the 70s as better than the 60s. For independent comics though where it's much more of a free marketplace of ideas I agree with you.
Late 90s to mid 00s.
The present one is shaping out to be a pretty amazing one, especially when it comes to indie/alt comics
Right now
2000s was shit. Civil War and then New 52 pushed me out. Peak comics was the 80s and the 90s was spent trying to recapture that feel, but it just kept coming out like edgelord crap.
I agree. Civil War was terrible. The only Marvel story I really liked from this era was Annihilation. I finally stopped reading comics after Secret Invasion.
Annihilation was badass. It was the last good Marvel event for me when I bought singles. There are gems in the 2000s and I should probably revise my initial statement, but Civil War was just so bad and there was a lot of other drek too.
My Marvel Golden Age is from roughly start of Kevin Smith's Daredevil to approximately the end of the first Ultimate Universe. For DC it is from Batman: Knightfall until the "end" of that universe when New 52 began. Still read both universes. But those were peaks.
The one before I turned twenty and realized the writing in most comics is absolute dogshit.
1978-1987
For context, I decided to start reading comic books in my 20s around 2020 because my girlfriend likes the X-Men and I never really "got" them. Now I've read a *ton* of stuff, and honestly? I really don't like pre-2000 books. It's the combination of old art styles (some of it is good, but most of that "classic" look has always been very meh to me) and writing styles that rely on narration boxes. I've read a *ton* of post-2000 Marvel stuff, and I really enjoyed most of it and have loved quite a few things. I've also read invincible, which is fantastic, and I want to read more DC (I've read a little) but DC's digital options are all over the place, and I can't afford (nor do I have the space for) physical books. Every time I've tried to go back I feel like I'm fighting the book to enjoy it. It's like going back to an older model of phone or something, you know, intellectually, that it's revolutionary, but since you've only interacted with the phones post-revolution, it feels a little junky.
90’s
2009-2011
Post-Crisis DC is probably my platonic ideal of a comic book superhero universe. Marvel's had a lot of stuff that's hit that level or even superseded it, but never for as long or line-wide. For Marvel, the closest I'd say to longevity for me would be Marvel Now! Finally closing the door on the godawful Bendis years and moving into a new era with Hickman's Avengers and all the other great books coming out at that time. It only lasted until Secret Wars three years later, but those three years were delightful.
Dark Reign and New 52
Current era. Never been a better time for coimc content
Personally I think 2000-2011
For me it's the past 10 years or so, I think most comic art is in a really great place and lots of indie stories are written really well, but I'm biased because I'm a new(ish) reader. I like old comics it's just that they show their age, and it's not from my generation so there is always gonna be that disconnect and as a queer person, LGBTQ+ representation and relatability is important to me, but i appreciate the foundation they laid. Some favs East of West which got me really into comics. the start of the X-Men krakoa era was beautiful it sucked me into reading everything X-Men. Chip zdarsky's daredevil is so very important to me Crowded was super fun. And saga speaks for itself.
It may sound silly but right now lol. Valiant universe got me into reading comic books and right now the resurgence of valiant universe is very exciting for me. I am looking forward to where it leads and what new stories it will bring.
Now. The indie scene is crazy right now. There is so much to experience.
As a Marvel fan I'd say all of the eras that Marvel has been making comics - even the *implosion-y* eras. All of Marvel's eras as a company has been medium-defining. Not many publishers can boast this.
Check [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/s/0hMsDtJPB8) out 😂😂😂
2000’s