History MediaNotes / TheModernAgeOfComicBooks

Like the previous "Ages", the end of this age and the start of a new one would require a clear shift in the comic book industry, but such changes had always been gradual and may not be recognized right away, not unless we were already in the middle of the new age. Several turning points have been proposed, both in storylines (such as ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' in DC and ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' in Marvel) and in editorial events (such as the final end of MediaNotes/TheComicsCode), but didn't generate great changes in the comic book industry as a whole.

* The Creator/GeoffJohns run on ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' and ''Green Lantern Corps'', brought us the "war of light" MetaPlot, including the following major storylines:

* ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', ''Annihilation: Conquest'', and the revival of Marvel's cosmic line by Creator/DanAbnett and Andy Lanning through ''ComicBook/{{Nova}}'', ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', and ''ComicBook/WarOfKings''.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' and other Creator/VertigoComics titles start a trend towards comics meant for older readers that were less "dark" but rather "mature". Current titles like ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' move away from the superhero format but use the comic medium for stories that blend themes from the [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] with modern sensibilities including homages to many genres once popular in comics before the introduction of the Comics Code.

-->''When Marvel launched their 2099 line, then-Editor-in-Chief Creator/TomDeFalco said that he didn't expect comics in their current form to endure until that year. The history since has done nothing to suggest that he was pessimistic. DC has endured one Crisis after another, Marvel has seen its ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Secret Invasion|2008}}'', even ''Secret Wars'' return. But I fear that Image may have the last laugh, with [[ComicBook/TheWalkingDead their number one book]] being of a creature lurching on year after year, unaware that it's already dead.''

-->''Most of the universes were saved: DC, Marvel, those lines DC absorbed into itself like Milestone, those enduring Image studios, even Valiant struggled back to life. But did the comic book medium that endured World War, Cold War, social revolution, finally meet its own demise not from a threat from without, but from within, unwittingly destroying itself when it decided that making money wasn't everything, it was the only thing? We'll have to see. It doesn't look good, but then, that's usually the moment when someone comes to the rescue.''

[[caption-width-right:350: So many things have changed since [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the]] [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks beginning]]... and so many things [[{{Reconstruction}} have remained the same.]]]]

If UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks and UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks were the childhood of {{Super Hero}}es, UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks was their adolescence, and UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks was their [[EmoTeen angst-ridden teenage years]], then The Modern Age of Comic Books is surely the college years: [[ScheduleSlip all the work gets turned in late]], people come up to you with [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome crazy-awesome]] ideas all the time (most of which don't really pan out), and there's still some adolescent attitude about, but it's growing into something more mature. In the process, some things that are eschewed as childish in adolescence return because we're old enough to realize a little of that is [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not a bad thing.]]

If you want a start date for the Modern Age, then the publication of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan #1'' in 2000 is as good a signpost as any: definitely a sharp turn back towards lighter and happier comics, harbinger of a lot of Modern Age tropes like WritingForTheTrade (something of a side-effect of the DecompressedComic) and [[ScheduleSlip habitual lateness]], the beginning of [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]]'s [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate universe]], and hey -- it's a great big obvious #1 issue. Of course 1996 is just as good, since it's the year that ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' came out, and the year that ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' ended, and the year of UsefulNotes/{{the Great Comics Crash|Of1996}}. Or even 1995, when ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' came out. Hindsight is always clearer, though, so this is another thing we'll probably have to change in five or ten years, when we can look at the Age as a whole.

Depending on your viewpoint, we may still be in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks; or at least, there's still [[DarkerAndEdgier some]] [[{{Gorn}} lingering]] [[NinetiesAntiHero elements]] of the Dark Age hanging around. This generally seems to refer to tone and atmosphere more than actual content, since the extremes of that era have long-faded, and could be more of a sarcastic insult as much as actual criticism. Some consider the extended "Dark Age" to be UsefulNotes/TheIronAgeOfComicBooks.

Some suggested that, following the "metallic" scheme of Golden/Silver/Bronze/Iron, the current age may be known as "Aluminum", since so much of it is recycled. Another possible name is the "Diamond Age" or [[http://mindlessones.com/2008/08/03/a-hall-of-mirrors-ii-prismatic-age/ Prismatic Age]] because the medium has become multifaceted (or because Diamond has an effective monopoly on distribution, take your pick). Another suggested name is [[PostModernism "The Post-Modern Age"]], due to the growing number of post-modern books that have been coming out. The name "Neo-Silver Age" has also been used, considering the common values of the two. Creator/GrantMorrison recently referred to the current age as the "Renaissance", to contrast it with the Dark Age that had just come before. Some consider this and the Dark Age to be a single era, UsefulNotes/TheIronAgeOfComicBooks. Some pessimists have even suggested the "Twilight Age" or "Final Age", as they don't expect comics in their current form to be around for much longer.

Like the previous "Ages", the end of this age and the start of a new one would require a clear shift in the comic book industry, but such changes had always been gradual and may not be recognized right away, not unless we were already in the middle of the new age. Several turning points have been proposed, both in storylines (such as ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' in DC and ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' in Marvel) and in editorial events (such as the final end of UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode), but didn't generate great changes in the comic book industry as a whole.

Eventually, Diamond resumed operations and comics began returning to circulation a few months later, but the damage was already done. Diamond's handling of the crisis was heavily criticized, and comic book publishers saw the writing on the wall that Diamond's monopoly was no longer sustainable.[[note]]Even before the pandemic hit, it was widely known inside the industry Diamond was unwilling to adapt to the modern era. [[https://www.comicsbeat.com/inside-the-dc-diamond-split/ As recently as 2019]], some of Diamond's customer service operations used [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 95]] as their OS, an OS that hadn't been supported for over '''17 years'''.[[/note]] Within the course of nearly a year, Diamond lost two-thirds of its business when DC and Marvel ended their contracts with them and shifted distribution to Indiana-based Lunar Distribution and Penguin Random House, respectively[[note]]While Diamond will still distribute Marvel material, they'll do so as a wholesaler on behalf of PRH[[/note]]. The latter deal has been seen as far more consequential, as Penguin Random House is a worldwide leader in book publishing[[note]]How big? They control 24% of the North American publishing market as of December 2020, more than any other book publisher; [=HarperCollins=] trails it by 11%[[/note]] and therefore could conceivably sell comic books to other retailers beyond comic book stores, including grocery stores and retail chains. While this has led to concerns about the future of comic book retailers as a whole, it could also lead to comic books being more widely available than they've ever been, which could push other comic book publishers to venture beyond Diamond as well.

* David S. Goyer and, later, Creator/GeoffJohns' run on ''[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'' not only followed ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA's]]'' example of shiny, colorful art, clearly heroic characters, and large-scale plots, but brought back classic [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] heroes that hadn't seen the light of day in years.

* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'', probably the most successful indie hero of recent years. It starts with [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] four-color heroics, subverts them with PlotTwist reveals, reconstructs them in a post-modern setting, as well as having a great deal of incredibly graphic violence showing the effects of superheroes not holding back against their opponents.

* ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'': The twentieth anniversary of the original [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths crisis]] saw Creator/GeoffJohns being given the task of coming up with a "sequel". What he came up with was that the survivors of the original crisis have been watching the DCU all along. And that they've grown so disgusted with [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks how dark it's become]], that they're willing to kill everyone in the existing universe to create a newer, "better" one. A continuity reset and a meta commentary on the evolution of comics at the same time.

* ''ComicBook/{{Justice|DCComics}}'', a GenreThrowback to the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Ages]] that manages to [[AdaptationDistillation distill the optimism and heroism of those eras.]]

** ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', a CrisisCrossover ZombieApocalypse encompassing the rest of Franchise/TheDCU. It uses a [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] GL tale penned by Creator/AlanMoore as a springboard for a commentary on the role of Death in Comic Books. It also introduces a number of other emotion-based "color corps".

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' and other Creator/VertigoComics titles start a trend towards comics meant for older readers that were less "dark" but rather "mature". Current titles like ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' move away from the superhero format but use the comic medium for stories that blend themes from the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] with modern sensibilities including homages to many genres once popular in comics before the introduction of the Comics Code.

Before this point, superheroes had never been much of a thing in the larger popular culture, and their fans were often seen as nerds and {{geek}}s with really weird tastes (the comic book guy from WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons is a good example). Superhero movies ranged from just mediocre at best to awful at worst, with the only exception of Batman, until ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' failed so badly it became a GenreKiller for many years.[[note]]The Film/BladeTrilogy was a success after it, but changed little for the genre because for the casual movie watcher it was VampireFiction and the usual superhero tropes were largely absent; so most would be unaware that Blade was a comic book character to begin with.[[/note]] All this changed as well at the turn of the century, with the Film/XMenFilmSeries, the Film/SpiderManTrilogy, Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy and the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which delivered blockbusters on a frequent basis. The idea of the superhero became more acceptable for the public, and many obscure characters like Iron Man became household names overnight. Of course, this revolution influenced the comic book themselves, who took great lengths to imitate the look and feel of the films.

-->-- '''Website/SFDebris''', ''The Rise and Fall of the Comic Empire: Afterword''

-->''When Marvel launched their 2099 line, then-Editor-in-Chief Creator/TomDeFalco said that he didn't expect comics in their current form to endure until that year. The history since has done nothing to suggest that he was pessimistic. DC has endured one Crisis after another, Marvel has seen its ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', even ''Secret Wars'' return. But I fear that Image may have the last laugh, with [[ComicBook/TheWalkingDead their number one book]] being of a creature lurching on year after year, unaware that it's already dead.''

-->''When Marvel launched their 2099 line, then-Editor-in-Chief Creator/TomDeFalco said that he didn't expect comics in their current form to endure until that year. The history since has done nothing to suggest that he was pessimistic. DC has endured one Crisis after another, Marvel has seen its ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', even ''Secret Wars'' return. But I fear that Image may have the last laugh, with [[ComicBook/TheWalkingDead their number one book]] being of a creature lurching on year after year, unaware that it's already dead.''

-->-- '''WebVideo/SFDebris''', ''The Rise and Fall of the Comic Empire: Afterword''

-->''When Marvel launched their 2099 line, then-Editor-in-Chief Creator/TomDeFalco said that he didn't expect comics in their current form to endure until that year. The history since has done nothing to suggest that he was pessimistic. DC has endured one Crisis after another, Marvel has seen its ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', even ''Secret Wars'' return. But I fear that Image may have the last laugh, with [[ComicBook/TheWalkingDead their number one book]] being of a creature lurching on year after year, unaware that it's already dead.

Most of the universes were saved: DC, Marvel, those lines DC absorbed into itself like Milestone, those enduring Image studios, even Valiant struggled back to life. But did the comic book medium that endured World War, Cold War, social revolution, finally meet its own demise not from a threat from without, but from within, unwittingly destroying itself when it decided that making money wasn't everything, it was the only thing? We'll have to see. It doesn't look good, but then, that's usually the moment when someone comes to the rescue.''