I very much disagree with the following two paragraphs, but I wanted more input before I did something about it. For one thing, we're talking about comics, not movies. Not even "comic book movies," a term I'm just not comfortable with. We're talking about the comics themselves. "In at least one medium, the Dark Age is still going strong; the number of comic book movies has increased in recent decades, and these tend to have darker takes on superheroes and other comics material. Arguably, this started with Batman (1989), which sharply contrasted with the Adam West TV show. Batman was followed by the even darker Batman Returns (1992). The following films were relatively Lighter and Softer, but the series returned to a darker mood with the reboot Batman Begins (2005) and its sequels, The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Blade (1998) and X-Men (2000) and their sequels continued the trend of movie superheroes wearing black. Frank Miller's Sin City and 300 were adapted into films in 2005 and 2006. The Movie of Alan Moore's Watchmen came in 2009. The latest Superman movies have also reflected the trend: 2006's Superman Returns was a sequel and deliberate homage to the 70s-80s ones while also questioning his 21st century relevance, making him a parent out of wedlock and brutally sending him to death's door, and 2013's Man of Steel was a Continuity Reboot eschewing camp for a more serious and deconstructive take on his origin story. While the Batman movies of Christopher Nolan were certainly "dark," and the Superman movies were relatively dark compared to the films of the '70s and '80s, the Avengers wasn't particularly dark. Of the films that lead up to it, the one that was arguably the "darkest' did worst at the box office (The Incredible Hulk) and while Iron Man 3 was promoted as going in a "darker" direction, it really didn't. If anything, it was shakey. Then there's Spider-Man and, okay, The Amazing Spider-Man is slightly darker than the films that came before (all of which were in the '00s) but it's not like night and day. Dark simply isn't the word that comes to mind. Finally, The Wolverine was surely "dark," but X-Men: First Class wasn't really, and the older ones were kind-of "dark" by virtue of intense scenes of violence and black costumes, but again, it's just not the first word that comes to mind. There have always been "dark movies," but at no point, do we refer to a "dark age" of movies. The '80s/'90s are considered the "dark age" not just because there were "dark comics," but because they were the going trend. Mere inclusion doesn't make something a "dark age." "Ironically, during the Dark Age in comics, superhero movies had actually been a lot Lighter and Softer than the material they were taking inspiration from. So far, however, the Hollywood Dark Age is taking a much more nuanced approach than the comic one. Whereas the comics, for the most part, crammed as much sex and gore as humanly possible into the pages they were given, the movies are taking a less bloody approach (except when justified); The Dark Knight relies on Bloodless Carnage like no other, and Watchmen is gory but doesn't rely on the gore to tell a story (in fact, the climax is less gory in the movie than it was in the comic). For all we know, this could change in the future, just like how Alan Moore and Frank Miller gave way to Todd Mc Farlane and Rob Liefeld, although Hollywood's desire to attract wide audiences for their blockbusters will most likely keep things PG-13 such as with the 2012 megasmash The Avengers that seems to balance light stuff with dark. But then, there's 2010's Kick-Ass." This paragraph just seems a little confused. I'd suggest that they should have used an example of a "lighter & softer" film, but then, I'd really suggest these paragraphs be rewritten or jettisoned.
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Sweet zombie Jesus, learn about paragraph breaks. Nobody's going to read that massive wall of text.
Cutmaster-san
Carried over from the original Dark Age discussion page:
The archived discussion
94.2.212.203: The Fanta...our cover? That's not photoshopped is it?
Some Guy: I believe it's a real cover. However, it's not really a Dark Age cover so much as it is a painfully ugly one. Removed.
arbane: Wasn't it Marvel that bought out Malibu Comics? Edited by Ironeye I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me. Hide / Show Replies
So, this part:
"The portrayal of women – rarely at its most mature to begin with in this genre – plunged to ever more absurd depths, at times bordering on outright misogyny (except for Wonder Woman under George Pérez, which is actually considered one of the best runs on the character). For example, during the Dark Age an entire sub-genre of "Bad Girls" comics started to appear, featuring female characters (usually Witches, Demons, Vampires, etc) in highly Stripperific outfits in supernaturally-themed, borderline pornographic storylines. An early Trope Codifier for this was Lady Death. There was a time when this kind of material made up 90% of the material produced by Avatar Press. The "Bad Girls" genre has more or less died out, though some series like this (most notably Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose) are still around."
Is... Kinda wrong, and the Bad Girl page itself is saying different stuff: the Bad Girl genre hasn't died out at all, after the '90s it survived and became a stable niche, and Lady Death in particular has been publishing frequently in recent years and there's a kickstarter going on right now with almost $400k pledged by supporters.
Also, this whole paragraph in general is exceedingly negative in an article that is otherwise striving to include the positions of both appreciators and critics of this period, it's painting the whole Bad Girl genre as negative which is definitely uncalled for, and I find it weird how it describes the genre of badass superpowered chicks as an example of borderline misogyny because they also happened to be heavily based on sex appeal.
There's plenty to discuss about female characters being stuffed in fridges for edge points in '90s comics, but I'm not sure that the Bad Girl genre, the one that also had a following among women, is the one thing to call into question.
This paragraph kinda needs a rewrite so it talks about the issues this period had with female representation (the fridging, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge
) without the apparent bashing of Bad Girl genre which demands a more nuanced description (on one hand it introduced very powerful, very independent female characters, their very sexualized nature on the other hand meant that they weren't quite feminist products, but I'd argue that sexuality doesn't and shouldn't take away from the personality and ability of the characters), and also explain better how the Bad Girl genre developed into its own enduring niche after the '90s.
If no one's against it I could go ahead and rewrite it in a few days.