Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Chromium Age, ______?

This comes out of a twitter conversation with Matt. What is the post-Chromium Age? Is it over, or soon to be? I think we need to get in front of the curve and lock down a term for this age of corporate synergy and dwindling actual sales.

Decompression Age? Helium Age?

silicon era

wasn't there a mylar age in there somewhere?

Wikipedia only has Golden/Silver/Bronze/Modern. I though Chromium was accepted as the post-Death In The Family through whenever. I don't know when this current phase started - when was Ultimates? 2002? I feel like there was a recovery in both companies in the early part of the decade, and newer writers/artists came to the fore. Then the parent companies saw the characters as licensing opportunities not an end in themselves, which makes this seem like End Times.

Is it over, or soon to be?

Until the ridiculous cover variant thing ends, I think we're still stuck in it.

Do individual comics have long-term (or even short-term) value for collectors anymore? Is there a market for individual issues, regardless of cover, if it came out in the last 5-10 years? Everything's collected in a trade every 6 issues.

celluloid age

oooh, I like.

nearly the digital age, but that's what's next.

it would be very very strange for comics to transition into digital while still being comics and not say, not-very-interactive video games.

thought the whole collecting comics for value thing died in the late 90s after the early 90s multiple covers / huge event issues speculation bubble burst

i don't know, i read comics on my ipad all the time

they'll be on web and tablets, in paper-like sizes with pointless bells and whistles optional. The floppy single issue of superhero adventure time is going to become economically unfeasible before long. They don't sell enough, even at $4 or $5 each.

like i know online newspapers are starting to get all hypertexted out (esp the ones that are web-based to begin with) but it seems like people still read not very interactive books too

wtf paper comics cost $5 now?!?

I think most are in the $2.99 - $3.99. I think the recent DC annuals are $4.99

but why would you read adventure time the comic book on your ipad when you can just watch adventure time? (for presumably the same or less $)

Different stories. I dig the show and get the comic for my daughter. She eats up both.

This may, however, not always be the case.

Four dollar floppies would be the name for the punk band I'll never start. Such a ridiculous idea. At that price they're not disposable entertainment. Though some of the bigger publishers are getting smart and making their trade collections reflect a 6 dollar per issue single issue price (and not just matching the cover price.)

well this is gonna sound corny but i generally prefer reading to watching tv or playing video games and i figure at least one in ten kids feels the same way

did someone seriously just ask what the difference is between comics and video/TV

but why would you read adventure time the comic book on your ipad when you can just watch adventure time?

I dunno if the show is even on here at all but Michael DeForge did a back-up story in one issue of the comic

Just a quick FYI: I said "Superhero adventure time" and meant it as short hand for the dominant subject matter of the industry. Not "Adventure Time" which I know about but have never seen nor read, or thought to do either.

But hey, the Adventure Time talk has kept the thread going when The Sclerotic Age talk wasn't that interesting.

Pope's doing a story too. Plenty of talented cartoonists have worked on it. It's not a regular kind of licensed book. More like STRANGE TALES (the alt/Marvel anthology) without the constant feeling of sniggering at the source material.

yeah the adventure time comic pulls a lot of unexpected talent, same as simpsons comics -- maybe that's an even better test case.
why would you read simpsons comics on an ipad when for the same or lower price you could watch a simpsons episode? (even with the caveat that recent simpsons comics are probably better written than simpsons tv.)

i really don't think major studio digital emulations of comics will survive past major studio print comics in any meaningful sense in the same way that konami doesn't make NES titles anymore, although many people still play the old ones on emulators, etc...

Tom Herpich is on the Adventure Time team too... he published two very awesome and promising magazine-size comics in the first half of the 90s and then went to off to do animation etc...

Though some of the bigger publishers are getting smart and making their trade collections reflect a 6 dollar per issue single issue price (and not just matching the cover price.)

And therefore 6 dollars for each 5 minutes of reading time. Blegh.

cbz age

wait, people are increasing the trades so they cost more per issue than the pamphlets? that's weird

Yes and no. Perceptions of permanence/form, etc. I could make a lot of arguments that trade collections have been underpriced for some time (if I was purely a moneygrubbing asshole, that is.)