COMIC BOOK AGES
The hobby splits its history into ages, and collectors buy along those lines. Where one ends and the next begins is argued over; these are the common boundaries.
PLATINUM AGE
pre-1938
Before Superman. Newspaper-strip reprints and the first comic magazines.
12 series
GOLDEN AGE
1938–1955
Superman arrives and the superhero is invented.
512 series
SILVER AGE
1956–1969
The superhero revival, and the birth of the Marvel universe.
408 series
BRONZE AGE
1970–1983
Darker stories, real-world subjects, and the first direct market.
947 series
COPPER AGE
1984–1991
Independents, the speculator boom, and the start of the variant.
2,206 series
MODERN AGE
1992–present
From the crash to now: creator ownership, trades, and variants everywhere.
57,174 series