Golden, Silver, wha?

[Naraht]

OK, what are the Golden, Silver, etc. age versions refering to?
I know one is the campy versions...but...

[Karkull]

This is an incredibly simplified version of how these eras are broken down, but they will serve our purposes for talking about DC characters. Here we go...

The Golden Age is anything from Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) until the end of the fifties, when...

The Silver Age starts about the time that the Barry Allen Flash first appears in Showcase #4 (September/Octover 1956). When we're talking DC I'll usually let this era run until 1985 because those versions of the characters stop being used following Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985-1986).

The Modern Age is anything Post-Crisis up to now. Probably the most notable starting point is Man of Steel #1 (October 1986).

Now, this is way off, but it does the job telling the difference between Golden Age Superman, Silver Age Superman, and Modern Age Superman. It's not perfect, but it does the job.

[Naraht]

ah, ok, thanx

[The Game]

What exactly is the "crisis" that is refered to?

[Naraht]

Originally posted by thegame8866
What exactly is the "crisis" that is refered to?

Something I do know..

Crisis on Inifinate Earths, where DC tried to tie up a number of gaps in their long, long continuity...

Not sure how well it worked...it's available as a BIG TPB...

[The Guard]

The Crisis.

SPOILERS

The Crisis occured when a villain called the Anti-Monitor released a destructive entropy in each of the parallell dimensions that existed in the DCU. The entropy enveloped worlds, destroying them.

Worlds lived. Worlds died. And the DC Universe was never the same.

The Anti-Monitor was opposed by The Monitor, who gathered a group of the most powerful heroes and villains from all of the universes to combat The Anti-Monitor's evil.

Basically, world after world died, until the heroes stopped the Anti-Monitor, but not before several heroes perished, including Barry Allen, some of the JSA, and Supergirl.

At the end, some of the heroes from the alternate dimensions had nowhere to go. So, Alexander Luthor, a Lex Luthor from an alternate dimension, took all the worlds into himself, and merged all the timelines into one. Thus, Helena Wayne, the Huntress, and several others, like the Golden Age Superman and Superboy had no worlds to go back to.

At the end of The Crisis, none of the people had memories that there WERE alternate universes, or that the Crisis had happened. All except Psycho Pirate, who to this day, sits in his cell muttering about it. No one believes him.

Major things that came out of the Crisis:

Wally West became The Flash.
The Huntress (Helena Wayne) never existed.
umm...some other stuff.

[peterparker05]

What about the Bronze Age that was referred to in Wizard Comics?

[Zoddman]

Originally posted by peterparker05
What about the Bronze Age that was referred to in Wizard Comics? the bronze age isn't set in stone yet like the golden or silver age, but after 2000, some people started reffering to the late seventies to mid or late 90's as the Bronze age.

[Russkafin]

I have never read Crisis... if none of the characters remember it, does that mean they don't remember how Barry Allen died?