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Post by Jor-L5150 on Aug 3, 2011 17:52:02 GMT -5
ok, how do we technically define the end of the silver age and the beginning of the bronze?
i must assume that "bronze" ended when byrne brought the "modern" which is rapidly needing a new term.
anyway- the bronze age. been to a few shops all the f*ck over ohio in the last few weeks and i don't know whats up- but "bronze" superman is on the cheap!!
seriously- yesterday i payed 15 bux for list-price 80+bux bronze issues! it has to be the economy. shops go under and all the backstock gets liquidated for pennies on a dollar.
one of columbus' best shops just decided to let ALL backstock go for 1/2 off just to make room for more inventory!
damn. the stories might have been hokey but the ideas were delicious and the covers were dynamic!
curt swan was an elegant if conservative illustrator- but the covers were just amazing.
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Post by Valentine Smith on Aug 3, 2011 18:03:24 GMT -5
I consider the "official" start of the Bronze Age Superman to be:
Superman #233.
All of the notable bronze age tropes start getting introduced with this issue. First time we get Clark working for WGBS. Pretty sure it's the first Swan/Anderson art tandem. First "World of Krypton" back-up stories (and shortly after we start getting "Private Life of Clark Kent" as well)It was an editorial shake-up in general for ALL the Superman books and coincided with Kirby taking over Jimmy Olsen and launching the Fourth World stuff out of there. It's the beginning of Denny O'Neil's short run, but shortly after we start getting Elliot Maggin and Cary Bates who pretty much define that entire era.
It's pretty clear, even from the cover of the comic, that they wanted this to be an iconic, kind of "jumping on point" for something new. The tone of the Superbooks in general was set by this. Not too long after we also get the first Steve Lombard, etc.
Incidentally, I feel that for the duration of the Bronze Age, SUPERMAN was the superior title to ACTION.
And yes, the Bronze Age ends with "Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow".
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Post by Jor-L5150 on Aug 3, 2011 18:05:11 GMT -5
i KNEW this would get your attention!  i picke dup some early metallo issues and so forth. i'll make a full report shortly. (as an aside, i wish they'd do a TPB of the whole "kryptonite nevermore" arc) |
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Post by Valentine Smith on Aug 3, 2011 18:07:44 GMT -5
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Post by crazy_asian_man on Aug 4, 2011 12:38:05 GMT -5
Picked this up- Swanderson is great & LOVED the Neal Adams covers! Down side to this, was (as is it seems to be with other crossover reprints)/are the 'gaps' in story that appear because they don't include the bits and pieces where the story crosses over into another title.
Same thing with "Blackest Night" hc and tpb books. Blah.
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Post by Jor-L5150 on Aug 4, 2011 16:35:38 GMT -5
i love you guys!
going to try to flip through my new old issues tonight.
looking forward to those old school metallo stories.
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Post by Valentine Smith on Aug 4, 2011 17:01:27 GMT -5
When you do, let us know the creative teams on 'em, please!
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Post by Valentine Smith on Aug 7, 2011 21:51:36 GMT -5
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Post by Jor-L5150 on Aug 8, 2011 16:37:27 GMT -5
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Post by Jor-L5150 on Aug 9, 2011 10:34:54 GMT -5
"80's version" this week.
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Post by Jor-L5150 on Sept 1, 2011 18:30:35 GMT -5
 never mind the above post- wrong thread. (beer+sleep deficit= bad post) ------------------------------------------- anyhoo- down to my best comic shop and picked up some goodies. superman vol 1 # 323. 1st atomic skull!! 1978.
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Post by Jor-L5150 on Sept 12, 2011 17:33:02 GMT -5
recently acquired a stack of bronze and late silver age superman comics. flipped through a few, superman (vol1) 310 and 3161st appearance /origin of metallo II. after some research i learned that the original metallo (not metalo) was back in '59! and was killed off immediately.  well, 18 years later DC reinvented the character and kept continuity, by introducing the metallo II. whearas the original, john corben, was a clever con-man who fell into the cyborg experiment by accident, the new version is corben's brother and a complete dullard. the second corben was a patsy for a criminal cartel known as "skulls" and they used corben's hatred of superman to bait him. story: very good. i little hackneyed here and there but all in all smart. the 70's is when marvel and DC tried to make superheroes "legit" or more sophisticated so i'm pleased with what i read. the dialog was smart, if limited by the cliche's of superman hiding his clark identity, the subplots were meaningful; we see superman do some detective work; i'm intrigued enough to want to acquire the other issues inthis arc. art: covers by garcia lopez so they are obviously sweet. interior art by curt swan of course. this leads me to something i'll be bitching about elsewhere, the art has so much more.... depth. for all of his conservative restraint, swan could pack a lot of material into a page. it was a whole different sensibility. the staging looked realistic and the action sequences were surprisingly dynamic. if these scenes were shot in live-action they'd be very exciting! (as opposed to taking 2 or 3 swan pages and stretching them out 7 or 8 pages  ) verdict: having grown up on the byrne era it's fascinating to kick the tires on the bronze age again. it's actually very good. i'm looking forward to more of this stuff. |
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