Bronze Age: Otherwise known as the mainstream American comic books, sprouting up around the 1970's through mid-1980's. This era of comic books gave off bright colored scenes and characters with a deeper more provocative issues. An example of these issues that I'm talking about include.. Spiderman and his drug issues.. Minority groups shown in comics just like X-Men.. Heroin addictions in a hero's sidekick shown in Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Common real life issues like, racism, segregation, sexism showed through in a almost apparent yet "hidden" way. The one thing about this time period, was that superheros were no longer just white males. Women, African Americans, and Wolverines (etc.) started becoming main characters in the comics. The Bronze age also showed characters in more realistic perspective, they weren't only bugged eyed little bunnies or cats, with the shiny almost tear drop eyes, but they began looking like real characters, real characteristics, real features, and even more realistic emotions
Silver Age: Lasting from the 1950's to late 1960's, producing an artistic advancement in a comic book's look. Before this time,
superheros were in a decline, and this period revived them
for who they once were. A Major commercial peak in the comic book industry was also created. The once god-like and magical ideas were now replaced by Science fiction and aliens. The twist about this era though, is that most of the main characters had flaws and were self-doubting. The Silver Age also brought upon comics direction towards kids, like the ever famous comic Archie. This era was believed to end because of the rise of price of the comic books, and some even say it ended because changes in popular comics, [ex: Green Lantern series] plot lines and characters.
Modern Age: Beginning in the 1980's and continuing until present day, The Modern Age of comic books gave the characters darker and more physhologically complex attitudes and characteristics. This was a time when independent comics flourished and publishing houses became more commercialized. This era not only has one main title, it has quite the abundance. From the title "Dark Age of Comic Books," due to the influence of grim tales to the title "Diamond Age," due to the diversity found in the mediums. Alas one of the other titles was "The Iron Age," due to the Greek mythology ranking. [ex: Gold, Silver, and Bronze] This era brought upon the anti-hero, the characters that despite the they do help out the good people, they have a dark side, a mysterious side, an almost angry side.
The Golden Age: The beginning of modern day comics first publications, starting around the 1930's and going til the late 1940's. This is the era the superhero was created and defined. It created a new fresh look at mainstream art, and was a signifigant contribution to the pop culture. An example that everyone would know that sprouted up around this time was none the less "SUPERMAN."
