The State of Comic Books

The topic on the current state of comic books in comparison to ones of the Silver Age is one I have thought about on occasion over the years.

I haven't purchased any current comic books in ages. I have bought some Silver Age issues that I didn't have to fill in some gaps. I have to credit comic books in fueling my joy of reading.

Kirk Hastings, the administrator of the Facebook page, Silver Age Mythology of Superman, posted the following last night. I've noticed the same differences which mainly boils down to writers and publishers taking the fun out of comic books. I also wonder if the artists of today's comic books ever took a life drawing/anatomy art class in their lives.

He wrote:

Recently I’ve been reading through my old Silver Age superhero comics (mostly Superman/DC), and I’ve noticed a few things about them:

1. The older stories almost always focused on straightforward action, adventure, mystery, and non-stop thrills. Newer comics focus on disturbing violence, sexual situations, shock value, and constantly pushing the moral envelope. (And it seems each issue has to somehow “top” the previous one in these four categories too!)

2. In almost all older superhero comics, the conflict in the stories was between the hero and the villains. In today’s stories the conflict is almost always within the hero himself -- or between him and his friends (who often betray him or turn on him).

3. Older comics strove to be apolitical, and thus appeal to a mass audience of all persuasions. Modern comics always seem to want to push some radical new politically-based idea (usually leftist in nature).

4. Older comics almost always depicted women in a realistic fashion (both in character and appearance-wise). Today’s comics almost always depict women as sex objects with exaggerated sexual characteristics, and wearing ludicrously revealing outfits that no self-respecting woman in her right mind would wear in public!

5. The older superheroes were always sure of themselves, and were confident in their knowledge of right vs. wrong. Today’s (so-called) heroes almost always have feet of clay, don’t know what they believe, and have no personal moral code whatsoever. (And they are often little different than the villains they oppose!)

6. Older comics were almost always inspiring. Good always triumphed over evil, and most endings were (at least partly) happy ones. Modern comics are almost always downbeat, dark, and often show the bad guys (and evil) getting the upper hand.

7. Older comics were full of boundless imagination, and would not let much of anything stand in the way of an interesting, compelling story that couldn’t help but draw you into it. Today’s comics are mostly mired in “relevancy”, “realism”, so-called “mature themes”, and “political correctness”.

8. Older comics were almost always rated G or PG. Modern comics should almost always be rated R (or worse!). Older comics were deliberately produced for a mass audience consisting of ALL ages (good business practice!); most of today’s comics are NOT (most of them are directed toward some small minority audience).

9. Older comics taught respect for authority (particularly law enforcement officials). Today’s comics teach rebellion against any and ALL authority.

10. Older comics respected the high moral ideals of sexual decency, integrity, and moral self-control. Modern comics constantly push radical, explicit, deviant behavior into the face of its readers (and portray it as “normal”).

… Can YOU think of any OTHER ways in which older comics differed from modern ones?

Comments are welcome!