SILVER TO BRONZEthe emergence of the “human” hero

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Jack Kirby Stan Lee

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“The characters would be the kind of characters I could personally relate to: They’d be flesh and blood, they’d have their faults and foibles, they’d be fallible and feisty, and - most important of all - inside their colorful, costumed booties,they’d have feet of clay”

Stan Lee

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Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug 1962)

Written by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko

Lee wanted to feature a teenager as the main character - as opposed to the sidekick.

Goodman wasn’t terribly interested in the idea - so he put the story in the final issue of a book that was being cancelled.

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comix are born

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THE EMERGENCE OF THE INDEPENDENTS

underground comix have their roots in Tijuana Bibles

Pornographic comics popular from the 1920s to the 1960s

created anonymously - for both the sake of copyright infringement & the illegality of much of what was depicted.

Bypassed traditional/mainstream comics distribution

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the impact of

COMIXon the mainstream

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CHALLENGING THE COMICS CODEa transition to the bronze age

United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare encouraged Stan Lee to use Marvel to educate youth about the dangers of drug use

Lee convinced the publisher that the lack of a CCA seal would not hurt sales - and would garner Marvel some good press

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Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 (1971)

Green Arrow’s teen sidekick (Speedy/Red Arrow) developed a heroine addiction, and was forcibly made to quit

Approved under the new Comic Code Authority guidelines

The stories were critically acclaimed, with publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek citing it as an example of how comic books were "growing up".

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gwen stacy and the darkening of marvel

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THE DEATH THAT CHANGED MARVEL

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Giant Sized X-Men #1 (1975)

All new international and multi-ethnic cast of characters: Russian, German, Canadian, African, Native American

attempt to relate fantasy to real world concerns of the late 60s and early 70s

characters fighting to defend a world “that feared and hated them” because of their genetic differences

the new economics of the comic book industry

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THE BIRTH OF THE MINI-SERIES

1978/1979 - severe winter storms (disrupted production and prevented many comics from making it to retain outlets) & economic downturn

DC’s parent company cancelled more than half of the existing titles (DC Implosion)

In 1979 DC began experimenting with a new idea - the mini series

World of Krypton - written by Paul Kupperberg, with art by Howard Chaykin & Murphy Anderson

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