Comic book history - the POST-SILVER AGE at The Comic Page

The Post-Silver Era... 1956 to 1969
...Part I

A time for change...

By 1970 the top selling title was non-superhero, Archie Comics was averaging more than 500,000 per issue and it was obvious superheros were declining again. New artist Neal adams and writer Denny O'Neil took over Batman, trying t o undo the campy image of the Adam West TV show and return the character to his dark and mysterious roots. Having done that, the moved on to Green Lantern No. 76 in May 1970. There they addressed dozens of social isues of the 1970's, nothing seemed off- limits, and teamed Green Lantern Hal Jordan with Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. Though innovative and a noble attempt, this approach did little to boost sales.

Declining sales had finally reached Marvel too, and in October 1970 it tried taking another approach, releasing Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian No. 1 with art by a talented young Brit named Barry Smith, known nowadays as Barry Windsor-Smith. Write r Roy Thomas moved away from Howard's ideas, including expanding a minor character named Red Sonja into Conan's companion. She proved so popular that she received her own title in January 1977. Seeing the Conan character work as a comic, Marval started a black and white magazine format featuring Conan called Savage Tales No. 1 in May 1971. The following month, another Howard character, Kull, started in Kull the Conqueror No. 1.

Drugs, The Code, and price increases...

Jack Kirby returned to DC Comics, who was willing to give him greater control over his characters. In March 1971 he began his "Fourth World" titles with Forever People No. 1 and New Gods No. 1. Mister Miracle No. 1 followed in April. in the Fall, Green Lantern Nos. 85 and 86 featured an anti-drug story. Jon Stewart, who would later become GL in No. 192 after Hal resigned, first appeared in Green Lantern No. 87. The Amazing Spiderman also featured an anti-drug story, in Nos. 96-98, but didn't have the CCA Comics Code logo on it as the issue showed actual drug use.

November 1971 saw both Marvel and DC increase prices from 15 cents to 25 cents, with the number of pages in the title increasing from 36 to 52. One month later, In December, Marvel returned back to 36 pages and lowered it's price to 20 cents. DC would k eep the 52 page, 25 cent format for another year.

Stan Lee produced the first black superhero named comic, Hero for Hire, Luke Cage No. 1 in June 1972. With No. 17, in February 1974, the title became Luke Man, Power Man.

Loosening of the Comics Code, because of the success of issues like the anti-drug Amazing Spiderman, gave publishers enough freedom to try some horror titles again. Werewolf by Night received tryouts in Marvel Spotlight Nos. 2-4 before receiving his own title with Werewolf by Night No. 1 in September 1972. Tomb of Dracula No. 1 premiered in April 1972. Seeing Marvel' success, Dc rolled out Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion No. 5 in May 1972 and Swamp T hing No. 1 in November. Jack Kirby's The Demon appeared in Augurst 1972 followed two months later by Kamandi: Th Last Boy on Earth No. 1

After appearing in Marvel Feature, Marvel banded together some loose existing characters for The Defenders No. 1 in August 1972. Supergirl finally got her own title in September 1974 with Supergirl No. 1.

Horror titles continued returning with The Monster of Frankenstein No. 1 in January 1973, the reprint title Vault of Evil No. 1 the following month, and World's Unknown No. in May. They also tried some titles in magazine format with Monsters Unleashed No . 1 in July, Dracula Lives No. 1, and Tales of the Zombie in May. Savage Tales also returned with No. 2.

After almost 40 years, Dell stopped publishing comics.

The Punisher, X-Men, and Wolverine...

DC brought back the previously Fawcett Captain Marvel, calling the title Shazam however, as not to confuse it with Marvel Comics in February 1973. Master of King-Fu premiered with No. 17 and the Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu No. 1 appeared as a magazine. The Savage Sword of Conan started in February 1974 with No. 1. The Punisher first appeared in Amazing Spiderman No. 129 in February 1974. Wolverine first appeared in The Incredible Hulk No. 180 and 181 in October and November of the same year. By now the y oung upstart Marvel had captured the majority of the market. It was during this time that DC's famous First Editions began appearing.

Giant Size X-Men No. 1, featuring the first appearances of Storm, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Colossus, appeared in Summer 1975. They returned as a monthy title written by Chris Claremon t with X-Men No. 94 and, the rest is history. Invaders No. 1 came in August 1975 and The Champions No. 1 came two months later.

New titles, crossovers, and publishers, oh my ...

DC released Warlord no. 1 in January 1976 along with the return of The Justice Society of America in All Star Comics No. 58. Steve Gerber's wacky hero Howard the Duck actually received his own title with Howard the Duck No. 1 in January 1976. Jack Kirby bounced back to Marvel and released Eternals No. 1 in July 1976.

1976 saw the publication of Superman versus the Amazing Spider-Man in a joint release from both publishers. It lead to Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk in 1981 and Marvel and DC Prsent the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans in 1982. Spider-Man received his second title with Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man No. 1 in December 1976. Star Wars came to comics three months before it came to the movie theaters. On May 25, 1977 Marvel began publish ing the six issue adaption with Star Wars No. 1. The issues were so popular they wnt to as many as 7 printings and Star Wars was the first comic since the Golden Age to sell more than a million copies per issue. John Bryne and Chris Claremont began thei r legendary run on X-Men No. 108 in April 1979. In No. 120 a Canadian team, Alpha Flight, was introduced. The Incredible Hulk TV show further helped Marvel's sales starting in late 1977.

By this time their were few publishers left. Other than Marvel and DC, only Archie, Harvey, Gold Key and one a two minor companies remained. In December 1977, with just 2,000 black and white copies, Dave Sim self-published Cerebus the Aardvark No. 1 through his Aardvark-Vanaheim publisher. The title skipped newsstand distribution and was self-distributed. Cerebus continues to this day, the grandfather for the literally hundreds of independent t itles on the market today.

And then there were two...

Jim Shooter, who would later found Valiant and Defiant Comics, took over as Marvel editor-in-chief in early 1978 and remained there until 1987. Warner Communications, who DC had merged with in 1968, began concerned about slumping sales and in June 1978 c ame the famous DC Implosion, with dozens of titles cancelled overnight and DC's distribution changed.

Marvel began two licensed comics based on toys, Micronauts No. 1 (January 1979) and Shogun Warriors No. 1 (February 1979.) With their success Rom No. 1 followed in December 1979.

Frank Miller began his legendary run on Daredevil starting with No. 158 in May 1979. The first mini-series in comics appeared with World of Krypton No. 1 in July. The Legion of Super-Heroe s returned in their own title with Legion of Super-Heroes No. 259 in January 1980. Superboy was no longer a member. Seeing the popularity of X-Men and looking for more teen teams, DC revamped the 1960's Teen Titans title as The new Teen Titans No. 1 in November 1980.

Gold Key abandoned the newsstands and limped along in department stores until ceasing publication in 1984. All that was left of Harvey by 1981 was Hot Stuff and Richie Rich. By 1982, these too were gone and so was Harvey.

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