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Apr 12, 2021 · Film had 1939. For pop music, scholars often cite 1969 and 1984. And for comic books, especially superhero comics, the year that changed everything: 1986. In many ways, 1986 ranks as important a ...
It primarily involves the superhero teams the X-Men, X-Factor, and the New Mutants. Power Pack, Thor, and Daredevil cross over for an issue in their own titles. Captain Confederacy, created by Will Shetterly and Vince Stone, debuts, published by SteelDragon Press. It will run 12 issues.
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
- Watchmen
- Maus: My Father Bleeds History
- Elektra: Assassin
- Grendel: Devil by The Deed
- Demon with A Glass Hand
- The Puma Blues
- Salome
THEN: This four-issue DC miniseries provided the blueprint for the dark, brooding Batman we’ve come to know and love, as well as the breakout work of scripter/artist Frank Miller. Its portrayal of the “Dark Knight” as an aging vigilante in a nightmarish film noir netherworld was quite an eye-opener, as was Miller’s audacious visual design, which fo...
THEN:This miniseries, about geriatric superheroes and their offspring attempting to subside in an alternate universe America, was like nothing else. Another DC triumph, WATCHMEN was a comic that actually functioned as great literature, being unerringly thoughtful and sophisticated in its approach while still delivering the down-and-dirty goods. Wri...
THEN: I’ve always found the black and white MAUS, which premiered in 1986 after being serialized in the underground anthology RAW, a bit overrated, but it was quite a trailblazer. Back then depictions of the Holocaust were largely off-limits in popular culture (SCHINDLER’S LIST, let’s not forget, was nearly a decade in the future), which explains w...
THEN: This outrageous Frank Miller scripted Epic Comics mini-series (spun off from the more mainstream-friendly DAREDEVIL) can be viewed as THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS’S wilder sibling. Packed with over-the-top mayhem and watercolor imagery by Bill Sienkiewicz that runs the gamut from exaggeratedly cartoony to overtly hallucinatory, ELEKTRA: ASSASSINis...
THEN:Like MAUS, this twisted saga, of a fencing enthusiast-turned-crime boss battling a (literal) wolf man, was initially published in piecemeal format (as a “backup story” in its creator’s earlier series MAGE) before appearing in a single volume in 1986. That volume came complete with an introduction by Alan Moore praising writer/illustrator Todd ...
THEN: This adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s OUTER LIMITS script “Demon with a Glass Hand” was the most popular of a late eighties series of DC issued graphic novels that fleshed out famous science fiction stories (others included Ray Bradbury’s FROST AND FIRE, Robert Bloch’s HELL ON EARTH and George R.R. Martin’s SANDKINGS). Its 1986 publication was ...
THEN: This superbly drafted environmental screed-cum-apocalyptic nightmare was for much of its thirty year existence the most elusive title on this list. THE PUMA BLUES, which had a downright torturous distribution history, was widely acclaimed by the lucky few who managed to track down its complete run (which began in ‘86 and lasted roughly three ...
THEN/NOW:This isn’t the only comic book treatment of Oscar Wilde’s SALOME (it was also adapted, quite ably, by P. Craig Russell around the same time), but it is the best. For that matter, I’d say British artist David Shenton’s rendering of SALOME is one of the most visually innovative graphic novels I’ve ever laid eyes on, with a dazzlingly bold co...
In 1986, they realized that comics could be more than just throwaway newspaper print for children. In 1986, comic books became literature. Cover of the first issue of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller with Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley (via Open Letters Monthly) The Dark Knight Returns. Written and drawn by Frank Miller, with illustration ...
- Kevin Cortez
- Michael Edward Taylor
- The Citizen Kane of Comics. Watchmen didn’t just take the world of comics by storm: its significance spilled far outside the industry and impressionable fanboys.
- Controversial Ending. When it was revealed in the 10th issue (Two Riders Were Approaching) that Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) was the villain in Watchmen, it promised an exciting standoff against his former teammates.
- Tales Of The Black Freighter. A comic within a comic, Tales From The Black Freighter was one of the biggest (and oddest) narrative gambles of the storyline.
- Who Watches The Watchmen... while watching The Watchmen? One of the most adventurous and daring aspects of Watchmen’s plot was Moore’s use of parallel storylines.
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The Modern Age of Comic Books is a period in the history of American superhero comic books which began in the mid-1980s and continues through the present day. [1] [2] During approximately the first 15 years of this period, many comic book characters were redesigned, creators gained prominence in the industry, independent comics flourished, and larger publishing houses became more commercialized.
