Silver Age Superheroes
A series of threads examining the history, context, and content of the Silver Age of superhero comics (1956-1973), with a special focus on innovative aspects of the period and its relation to the Comics Code.
What’s it all about?
The Silver Age was a period of significant upheaval in the world of American comics, spurred by cultural changes in the postwar society and a moral panic around comics that led to the adoption of the censorship program known as the Comics Code Authority in 1954. Superhero comics experienced a significant resurgence propelled by the post-Code decline of crime, horror, and romance comics, and—in the second half of the Silver Age—through the storytelling innovations of Marvel comics.
An Introduction to Silver Age Superhero Comics
The Silver Age of superhero comics can be characterized as a period of change & upheaval. In the shadow of WWII and the Comics Code, the Silver Age sometimes struggled to find purpose while also heralding generic innovations that are still being felt today. 1/10
You can also jump ahead to specific threads. Here’s a full list of topics:
An Introduction to Silver Age Superhero Comics
Feminine Utopias in Silver Age Wonder Woman
Supersex in the Silver Age
The Revolutionary Monsters of Fantastic Four #1
Shades of Grey in The Incredible Hulk #1
Spider-Man as Juvenile Delinquent
Patriarchal Competitions as Character/Story Structure in Early X-Men
Revolution & Assimilation in the Debut of Black Panther
Men, Monsters, and Marvelous Melodrama in Fantastic Four #51
Neo-Silver Age Comics
The Death of Gwen Stacy – and the Silver Age