I've always enjoyed stuff from DC's Vertigo label printed from around the late 80s to early 00s. Whether they were interconnected series that technically took place in the wider DC verse but mostly kept to their own corner (Swamp Thing, Sandman, Animal Man, Shade The Changing Man) or wholly independent series in their own continuity free to do whatever they wanted (Preacher, Fables, The Invisibles, Transmetropolitan), they offered readers a chance to read stories with a more serious tone, but mostly without falling for the grimdark edge trap that mainstream comics at the time were falling for hard. "Deeper, not darker" I believe was the mantra. I'm sure a lot of people will dislike me for the above opinion due to Vertigo's overt leftist progressive bend and the current state of cape comics which most likely is in some part due to early Vertigo inspiring current writers, but at least Vertigo comics still bothered with trying to tell good stories and making characters flawed rather than just diverse Mary Sues. And its desire to reflect the current times, with mention of contemporary social and political issues, means you essentially got a neat little pocket universe in a time capsule, which unlike the current Orange Man Bad comics at least are still interesting to look back on.

>>9332 The ridiculous played straight is always amazing. The problem is now everything has to be serious & played straight without the self awareness on the part of the creators to really think "Hey this is kind of dumb" to rein them in. Superheroes should not be gritty & grimdark. Vigilantes like Punisher or supernatural detectives like Constantine can do it but a guy in a bat themed hero costume should not be so fucking grimdark.

>>9334 >Brave and the Bold Mah niggest of niggas, Diedrich Bader did a fucking amazing Batman Whenever I read Batman or JLA I hear his voice when reading Batman's Speech Bubbles I need to watch Return of the Caped Crusaders, it's a shame how they kept West so far from the Franchise until he was in his 90s, too little too late.

>>9336 >kept West so far from the Franchise Batman in The New Adventures of Batman (1977) The Grey Ghost in BTAS Mayor Grange in The Batman Proto-Bot and Thomas Wayne in Brave and the Bold Batman in Batman: New Times (2005) After the conclusion of the Adam West series, Batman's TV presence was relegated to Hannah Barbara cartoons (The Adventures of Batman), which West and Ward weren't a part of, only for an eventual sequel series (The New Adventures of Batman) to pop up in 1977 after Challenge of the Superfriends in which they would reprise their roles as the caped crusaders. Upon its conclusion there would be nothing Batman related until the Tim Burton movie So it's not that West was kept away from it, just that he wasn't part of the live action movies (I suppose he might have made a good Commissioner Gordon). That they brought him onboard with voice acting roles where possible starting in the 90s shows the respect the showrunners had for his rendition of the character, even if they felt it was time for someone else to wear the cowl.

>>9332 I have few ages that I enjoyed a lot. >2000s and early 2010s indie books Image, Wildstorm, and Dark horse were putting out a lot of interesting stuff during this period, a lot of it was genuinely unique, interesting, or at the very least fun. New publishers like Boom had fun books too. There was nothing off limits. While edginess was still in fashion, it was not as overbearing as during 90s. Art was usually good, and digital art finally started being good enough to rival traditional. Even the big two were experimenting. There were downsides in the rise of superstar creators who were actually shit, like Millar, Bendis, and Ellis. That and event overdose. >Bronze/Silver Age Good mix of cheese and seriousness, there were competent creators around, and the industry was not dead yet. In spite of capeshit slowly consuming the medium, there were still good non superhero books published, like Creepy anthology and Canon. European comics and manga began to finally make it over to the U.S. too.

>>9341 Well disregard my retardation, thank you for this, I need to go back to BTAS, and listen for his voice. I guess I missed these things, and I felt like I was told he was kept from the franchise after the campy Batman TV Series, despite being an accurate companion to the comics of the time. I do remember Batman being on a Scooby Doo episode which I assume was Ward and West when the Batmania hype was still going, I know in a good chunk of roles West played there'd be Batman references sprinkled about, some subtle, some too on the nose. >>9380 Comics in the early 2000s had this transition to very rough "edgy" artstyles that makes it hard for me to sometimes get into, I have this "Best of Alan Moore"-type book with a bunch of DC cape stories, and one that in particular stood out because of the art was one about the universe ceasing to exist, I'm not knocking it at all, but it had this rough, and sharp look I'm not too used to, the story itself was pretty damn entertaining albeit teetering on edge here and there. I know I have a few Image and Wildstorm Comics lying around the house, but I've no idea if they're indie, my collection is limited right now, but I have a mix of older things going as far back to the Silver Age, and more recent cape stuff as recent as 2015, I think? Recently I've been getting into pic related, I dig her trying to balance being a lawyer with a superhero, those stories are pretty entertaining to me, but I haven't really sunk my teeth into it, I'm 3 issues in.

>>9398 Alan Moore was well past his time with DC by the early 2000s. IIRC all of his work with DC is from the '80s. I think I have the same collection as you, and I'm pretty sure the newest story in it is The Killing Joke. I really don't get how you could confuse '80s and 2000s art styles though. The rise of digital coloring alone makes it feel hugely different. To be on topic, Bronze Age is best age. Best balance of seriousness and lightheartedness. Continuity was relevant, but not so relied upon that new readers would never understand. I personally love the really autistic shit from the 'late '80s up to the last few years when SJWs took over, but the pace of stories is absurdly slow, and and the reliance on continuity is so heavy that you need a PhD in History of these fictional universes to understand anything.

>>9399 DC Universe by Alan Moore? Mine doesn't have The Killing Joke in it, the story is called "The Last Ones" it's a WildStorm story apparently if you want to see what I mean, pretty entertaining. What's your favorite Bronze Age story? I think mine is the one of Bruce Wayne going to Scotland and the ghosts of his parents lead him to some underground cave of the place he's currently staying in, or something weird like that, I'm probably misremembering.

>>9399 >Bronze Age is best age <tfw lived long enough to see the Zinc Age

>>12755 Tell me of the Zinc age Anon? Is that our current comic book age? Or some alternate universe multi-dimensional shit I cannot even bein to comprehend.

>>12849 I don't know. I suppose zinc is useful. This might be the pyrite age, instead.

Get

>>12755 >Zinc Age Is it good or bad?

>>12895 >Is it good or bad? Bad, although it looks like I screwed up badly by comparing noble Zinc to CY+6 comics. It's worth way more than they are.

>>12899 ... What in the blue fuck? Here's what was supposed to be the second pic.

>>12755 >Zinc Age Nah, that implies the comics are at least good fap fuel. How about "Lead Age"? Toxic, associated with radiation hazards, inefficient but cheap acidic batteries, and bullets and most supply (at least in the US) comes from recycling.

>>12988 I miss the times when comics were fun.

>>9332 Pretty much everything from the Silver Age to the mid 2000s since I grew up reading all of it. Definitely have a huge soft spot for the Silver Age. The absurdity is great, a fuckton of the art is amazing and there's such a nostalgic innocence to it all. A good SA issue always makes me want to return to a time I never lived in. Probably the retro sort of comic I like the most though is Bronze and Copper Age books that had a balance of seriousness and camp/humor and were highly serialized and heavy on soap opera. Claremont is the gold standard obviously but shit like Wolfman TT, JLI and PAD Hulk all seem like the best capeshit ever got to me. It's a style of storytelling that was able to draw me in to a book and keep me there like no other when it was done well and a style unlikely to return any time soon because of fucking trades, omnis and interlacing megastories like BMB in the 00s or Hickman and Snyder today.

Been reading some old Marvel Star Wars comics, they are a fun read, but damn, sometimes I think the artist was having a stroke will drawing the ships.

>>12988 >Nah, that implies the comics are at least good fap fuel. ... How does Zinc indicate masturbation in any way, shape, or form? Wait... is this a Steven Universe thing? >search: "zinc gemsona" MY EYES!

>>15272 >doesn't know how zinc is related to masturbation

>>12988 I nominate the Mould Age: >lives from rotting existing material >thrives in staleness >colourful but vomit inducingly ugly >spreads quickly once has settled

>>15320 Mold is more useful than modern comics.

>>15320 How about asbestos age?

>>15323 >causes cancer >devalues all property by association >used in a broad selection of applications so you can always stumble upon another deposit >high effort to remove >brought into the market as wonder material >took decades too long before it got banned >problems not immediately obvious <technically doesn't cause harm if covered up <previously valued for its inertness and isolation, would be a useful material if it didn't cause harm <removal is dangerous <disposal impractical, put into landfills I still prefer mould.

>>15323 Pretty obvious, but how about cancer age? Cancer is nothing but a clump of rogue cells acting like parasites without sense of self preservation. Cancer cells multiply quickly, consume excess resources starving rest of the body, take up space, damage healthy cells as cancerous ones spread, and they eventually kill the host and themselves in the process. Granted, it's not as catchy as metals or mold.

>>12988 How about the Rust age >Contributes nothing >Destroys the base on which its on. >Is a clear sign of neglect >Could be fixed easily if caught early but becomes harder to fix as time goes on.

>>15388 Pyrite Age. All the usual gang of idiots think it's gold, but it's really worthless.

>>15366 Will get dated seeing how cancer is used as slang. >>15388 Rust doesn't have the same associations as some of the other suggestions. It's more of a natural deterioration and usually just conflated with the passage of time or getting old. Doesn't fit the current situation at all. >>15325 Except even normalfags hate this shit. Honestly I'm starting to warm up to "Asbestos Age". It continues the mostly material based theme and is obviously something no one wants. When you pick something that seems innocent, look a little harder and you'll find pocket upon pocket of pozz. The only way to prevent that for sure is to avoid anything made during the time. I like it even more than mould right now.

>>15320 Not all mold is bad >>15345 Sperm is largely zinc

>>15412 >Asbestos Age That works pretty well given there are still people out there; though they are very far and few these days, who claim that Asbestos' safety concerns for the general public is overblown and that it should still be used in buildings that are in geologicaly safe locations.

>>15345 >Pronouns Every fucking time, that shitty SU pronoun PSA didn't help either.

>>9332 I don't really care for the edit in the first image.

>>15844 Yeah well who asked you?