sophisticated characterization into superhero comics, Marvel began targeting teen and college-aged readers in addition to the children’s market. Based on the success of The Fantastic Four, Lee and his artists created eleven new series over the next two-and-a-half years, with Spider-Man and, after a slow start, the Hulk among the most popular new characters. Other significant and enduring Marvel Silver Age heroes include Iron Man, Thor, Daredevil, the X-Men, and Marvel’s own all-star group, the Avengers. Captain America, a hero from the Golden Age, was revived in Avengers #4 (March 1964).
Comics historian Peter Sanderson compares the 1960s DC to a large Hollywood studio. Having reinvented the superhero genre, by the latter part of the decade he believes DC was suffering from a creative drought. The audience for comics was no longer just children, and Sanderson sees the 1960s Marvel as the comic equivalent of the French New Wave, developing new methods of storytelling that drew in and retained readers who were in their teens and older and thus influencing the comics writers and artists of the future. Comics historian Craig Shutt compares DC’s and Marvel’s differing styles: according to Schutt, DC heroes were straightforward in their dealings with each other, quickly banding together to defeat an enemy. In contrast Marvel’s heroes trusted each other less, and would frequently oppose each other before resolving their differences and joining against a common foe. DC’s approach settled conflicts between heroes without violence; Marvel’s “addressed the age-old, little-kid question of which hero would win in a fight”.
Other publishers
Harvey Comics focused on children during the Silver Age with characters such as Casper the Friendly
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21