What is lacking is the original Marvel concept of a shared universe, changing and evolving. Better blogs than mine (see left bar - Wastebasket for example) set out the truth. From 1961 to 197x where x < 6 Marvel had a shared universe whose characters went through equivalent experiences to their readers, including college, birth, death and marriage - even tax problems, psychoanalysis and divorce etc.
The art back then ranged from superlative to quite crude - in fact Jack Kirby ran the entire spectrum embodied in one man - but the other driver was an inexhaustable font of ideas. Good ideas, terrible ideas, ideas spawned from current headlines - and lots and lots of conspiracy theory ideas. Take Marvel's two antithetical team books- the Avengers and Defenders. The Avengers had a published charter, a rich white guy's club (nicely skewered in its own pages too many times to count), government liaisons- and on top of all this, personal dramas, driven dark stories, villains more sympathetic than the heroes at times- a rich tapestry.
Then there's the famous non-team- The Defenders. Never equalled let alone bettered, Steve Gerber's run on the Defenders and his other Marvel books is probably the single biggest influence on today's Marvel writers, despite never being acknowledged. The Defenders featured Nighthawk- a realistic take on Batman minus the homoeroticism, Doctor Strange at the height of his bohemian lifestyle period (you could just weep for the shit they've put this character through in the last decade), Valkyrie (ditto), Hellcat (more modern and more interesting than any retconned "Jewel" or other such shit), and of course- The Hulk. Superb. The occasional extra fillip such as Submariner, Silver Surfer, and the antics of Power Man, Daredevil, Black Panther, Moon Knight, LMD Nick Fury- the book even after Gerber kept its powerful college kid doing drugs and pontificating feel.
Through all this DC was always like the polyester-suited standup comedian in one of those excruciating TV specials, but hey, you gotta have the bread as well as the turkey for a sandwich.
All it takes for the Silver Age to come back roaring into existence is for some of the first class indies to take off. And with sales figures in free fall for the brand managers, that could happen. The economics of monthlies means that the brand managers will always win that battle, but the war will be won in the graphic novel department. With even "hot!" "popular" "amazing" GNs selling 3000-10,000 copies, loads of indies can crack that market.
I disregard all claims of indie status for anything by anyone who takes coin from either Warner or Disney. With that sort of economic support, their "indie" projects are just hobbies. True indies are people outside that closed circuit of sympathy, doing it tough and truly independent. This is the same situation film was in, where real indies are up against "indie" "projects" by slumming Hollywood A-listers and producers desperate for the fata morgana of cinematic credibility.
Hit up IndyPlanet. Go through some of the lists. Feel that glorious Silver Age rush again. Walk amongst the crude, the sublime, the colorful to the point of distraction, the passionate to the point of embarassment. THAT is the Silver Age. And we are about to go into the Second Golden Age, the Great Fifty Years of Comics. I promise you that.
World War 3 and the generation of young warriors who fight it will help make this Great Fifty Years a true Golden Age- for all the same reasons as the first Golden Age, sadly enough.
Captain America might be part of it; Superman will lamely struggle on like the bastardised concept it is. Batman will unfortunately be part of it, at least at the beginning; but the Great Fifty Years will belong to the true indies.
Then in time they will become the new establishment, and the Toynbee cycles will continue...
TOYNBEE IDEA IN KUBRICK 2001 MOVIE
RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER
