What's your favorite decade of comics? Now that it's 2020.

 

1970s. The end of the Silver Age and beginning of the Bronze Age had some epic covers.

 

Ok, I’m the odd ball that voted for the 90’s. Hear me out:

So why the 90’s? I was working in a comic book store in the 90’s and in high school so that’s my prime years of geekdom right there. And despite the overwhelming awfulness of the 90’s there’s a lot of good stuff in there.

Pre-crash you have the Valiant Universe under Jim Shooter.

Folks laugh at it now, but the complete arc of the Death and Return of Superman really is something special.

Most of early Image is glorified art books, but you do have The Maxx. Before the decade ends Ellis will have his run on Stormwatch that leads directly into Authority and Planetary. And Planetary will sneak in before the decade ends.

Jeff Smith’s Bone starts in the 90’s.

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman run is entirely in the 90’s, with Morrison’s JLA in there too. You also get Waid’s Kingdom Come, Jeph Loeb’s Batman: The Long Halloween, and some quality work on Legends of the Dark Knight. You also get Mark Waid’s Flash, Impulse, and Young Justice. You also get James Robertson’s Starman, the single best thing to come out of Zero Hour.

Marvel will completely crash, but before it does you get The Age Of Apocalypse, a story that is so epic it gets returned to on a regular basis. You get the Infinity Gauntlet at the start of the decade. You get Waid’s Captain America run. (Waid was on fire in the 90’s). You’ll get Kurt Busiek’s Avengers after Marvel craps the best with the Avengers subline.

You also get a pretty epic Marvel/Dc Crossover and the weird mix and match comic books that came out of that we will never ever see printed again.

You also get the Malibu Ultraverse. That’s a pretty fun little pocket of Comic book nostalgia that will never get to see the light of day again.

Even over at Dark Horse you’ll see some amazing stuff. Dark Horse will have the Star Wars imprint in the 90’s and print of Tales of the Jedi, the Rogue Squadron comic book, and a few other gems. They’ll have the classic Aliens vs Predator comics (so much better than the movies), Aliens stuff, and Predator stuff, as well as Terminator. You also get Grendel War Child. And don’t forget Hellboy.

So yeah, it’s a real crapfest in the 90’s but despite that there’s a lot of hidden gems in there worth reading. And it was exciting finding this stuff, talking with other readers, and collecting.

 

All of them. I just avoid duds.

 

For most people, it's probably either going to be now or the decade when they were 12-15 years old, which is a magical time when everything seems new like it hasn't been done a million times already, even if it has.

I like most decades for one thing or another. I wouldn't say I have a clear preference although I have nostalgia for the '80s. But I also love the '40s, the '60s, '70s, '90s, and everything after. There's always been something to enjoy, even during times the majority has been garbage.

I would say my least favorite decade is easily the 1950s. After the other publishers pushed out EC for being too successful, they struggled to produce anything not bland from the tiny box they'd inadvertently put themselves in.

 

The AoA storyline is one of my favorite X-Men arcs.

 

Mine too. I think it really sums up the concept of the X-men well, and the tragedy of the team. They’ll always be the line between humans and mutants intent on killing each other, hated by both. And even though they’ll save the universe more often than not no one will know or care what it costs them.

 

Gotta be the 80s: Claremont's X-Men, Levitz's Legion, Wolfman and Perez on Titans, Giffen and DeMatteis' JLI, Watchmen, DKR, Sandman, Swamp Thing... so many all-time greats.

 

More technically proficient, sure. But better? What a cynical attitude. The vast majority of the comics that came out of the US comic industry in the 2010s were garbage. So you're suggesting the average garbage that came out in 2014 is better than the average garbage that came out in 1984? I'm not really sure I buy that to begin with, but it's neither here nor there anyway. So let's compare outliers. What were the outliers published by the Big-2 from 2010-2019 that compare with -- or even approach -- the outliers published by them in the 1980s? Are you really going to suggest that this was a better decade for movies, on average, than the 1970s? Or that music releases last year, simply by virtue of their more recent birth, somehow surpass the boundless creativity experienced across the board during the late 1960s? This was a better decade for painting than the 1860s? A better decade for mystery novels than the 1930s? Oh I forgot, you're not talking about creative achievement, only technical proficiency. How hollow.

There is no such thing as "all other things being equal."

 

My favourite eras were:

1. The 60s

Which IMO Marvel really shone with Spidey, FF...some may feel that the stories and artwork may be dated but I beg to differ...

2. 80s to 90s

X-men, Silver Silver and most importantly brought back interest in the “cosmic heroes”...

I concur. I must highlight that I’m not from the US but comic book sales are down in the dumps in my country and surrounding neighbouring countries. Some that I know are even thinking of closing down.

Nowadays, comics (especially from the big 2 are hot garbage) and I’m not surprised by the state that its in. The weird thing is that the publishers don’t seem to care if they’re losing customers...what happened of focusing on storylines and creating new characters?

I recall some posters challenging my views that modern comics are in dire straits (1-2 years back) but got slammed instead. Looking at the state of things...guess who’s right now?

While sales may not be the ultimate indicator of how good a product is, most people “vote” with the wallets.

Although it pains me to post this...IMO I would rather let the whole comic industry just die than continue on its current trend.

 

And its a fact that a NUMBER of titles were rebooted. There’s only so much times a publisher can keep rebooting a title before readers get sick of buying issues no.1 for many times before they give-up.

2018 highest sales...right...there’s when I was slammed for other posters.

Here’s a fun fact: the no. of issues that Marvel cancels a title has been significantly lowered.

If the Transformers G2 issues reached today’s minimum sales numbers, it would still be considered “profitable” and still be ongoing.

Annnnd titles like Captain Marvel would be cancelled instead of being constantly relaunched again.

If you have time, you can go check it out.

Unless things change, the comics are going down the way of another franchise...Star Wars.

When TFA came out, Disney made billions but with each subsequent movie release ticket sales kept falling.

 

Wasn't that the year they started adding sales from non-traditional avenues like crowd funded comics into that total?

 

They did, but per the article:

So it breaks down like this:

Comic stores $510 million
Book stores: $465 million
Digital Download: $100 million
Other: $20 million

Which means crowdfunded was only ~$10 million out of $1.095 billion in sales. Or about 1% of the total market.

 

Late 70s to early 90s. While I love about modern comics that they are more modern and incorporate more stuff you know from daily life and realistic, I only get the same feeling I had as a kid when I read books from that era. The style was just awesome, it did not yet look ultra realistic, but realistic enough and still like a comic but not so bad like the early comics. Only sometimes they have stories that are boring and I just can't read in this day and age, but the fantastic ones still fill me with excitement and wonder. And as I did not read a lot comics as a kid, there's still so much to discover  

 

Errr, Agenda? What agenda? All I care is the longevity of the franchise I grew up with. And to clarify matters, I’m an Asian male so if anyone thinks I’m a white guy with a chip on my shoulder...think again.

Errrr, maths? Most folks/fans will find declining revenue a more important indicator.

With regards to the Star Wars movie franchise, you should also mention that The Rise of Skywalker made less money than the Last Jedi. Its not about haggling over a few billion dollars drop off, its an indication that the franchise has been negatively affected.

Heck, as a business person I would be concerned with billon dollar drop off. By the way, if you think a billion chump’s change...can you spare me a billion?

You can even read Hasbro’s annual reports (in previous years) to read about the poor sales in Star Wars toys...which I’m sure you know.

Recently, a Diamond Select toys exec even mentioned that the Disney Star Wars don’t sell...something the fandom has been saying for years. I can still find TFA toys in my part of the world...like in the US, UK etc.

I tell you what...let’s see if comics industry can pick up within 3-5 years (average business life cycle), without government bailouts and sticking to their new characters.

Disney should pay attention as to what happened to Star Wars (which folks predicted) will happen to Marvel if they insist on catering the vocal minority.

Oh yeah, the demand for the superhero genre is also declining.

In the meantime, I’m just going to enjoy the ongoing dumpster fire and shift to manga.

 

Ahhhh! Now I remember you! You were one of those that got on my case a few years back. Things sure have IMPROVED for comics haven’t they? Riiighhhhttt!

Godamn stir? Hmmm, go check the post history. I didn’t “quote” you or anything but instead agree with SouthtownKid. If anyone who’s stirred it is DEFINITELY not me.

Here I am agreeing with a fellow poster and you have to come in like a “white knight” to defend the (current) comic industry.

Good grief. The billion dollar comment was a retort to you with regards to me haggling about “nickle and dime”.

I’m curious...have you been in a board meeting? Because in the board meetings I attend, they tend to “round” numbers. I dare you to tell a Chairman or CEO that its ONLY $0.7 billion dollar less.

Let’s look at the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy box office:

1. TPM $1.03B
2. AOTC $653M
3. ROTS $868M

Then let’s compare them to the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy box-office:

1. TFA $2.07B
2. TLJ $1.33B
3. TROS $1.07B

*ps i rounded the numbers for ya.

Sooooo...can you spot the trend? While the there was a “drop” from AOTC from TPM, the final movie’s (ROTS) box-office rose to $868M.

While if one COMPARES the sequel trilogy...its on a downward trend. Exact same pattern? I don’t think so.

Anddddd that’s just ONE aspect because merchandise sales for Star Wars as a brand was STILL healthy (under the PT).

Fast forward to the sequel trilogy, and we can Hasbro making losses with the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy toys.

I suggest you do some more further “research” and look at the other avenues where Disney LOST moolah before you tell me that Star Wars is doing well. The brand has been in decline since the last quarter of 2016. You’re a SMART guy so go do your research before coming at me.

You want another example that Star Wars isn’t failing? Why did JJ have to “undo” things from TLJ in TROS? Good grief. If you don’t even know that, what more needs to be said?

In the meantime, I’ll just put you on my “ignore” list and continue watching the dumpster fire that is Disney Star Wars and the current Marvel comics! X)

ps why do you think Hasbro is releasing more PT and OT merch instead of ST stuff in the past 2 years? To throw $ in a black hole? Because they excess $ to burn?

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh, that's priceless. Someone said you work in the comic industry. It must be in some publisher's accounting department. Technical proficiency is the only way to measure "better"? What a soulless, creatively bankrupt position to take.

So a painter today, with infinitely better materials and a technical proficiency improved by centuries of building on techniques of the past would automatically be "better" than, say, Monet. This is possibly the most indefensible argument ever expressed at TFW.

 

This modern times gave us the uggo art of squirrel girl....

 

I like the 90's, 2000's and 2010's.
The 90's for trying to be cool, which was successful and unsuccessful, but good story arcs came. It had the creation of characters like Deadpool and Spawn too. Plus I like Todd Mcfarlane's Spider-Man artwork. This is when superheroes became mainstream.
The 2000's I like for changing the status quo of so many character, and breathing new life into them. Plus Punisher Max, Red Hulk arc and more.
2010's I like for the more modern artwork and more creator driven series. Each series looked unique with it's artwork. Plus good stories, like the best run of Deadpool by Gerry Duggan, the death and return of Wolverine, and lots of elseworld stories.

 

Wait, ignore lists are a thing? That's gonna make this board so much better. Thanks!