The End of the Silver Age.

The 1960s was a flourishing decade for comic books in the United States, its so-called silver age. Begun by DC Comics in the late 1950s, the silver age of comics was spurred by the impressive successes in the 1960s of Marvel Comics, which revolutionized the medium by introducing characters with realistic personal problems in story lines that continued from issue to issue. But by the end of the decade interest in superheroes, which had driven the silver age, was declining, and it was not obvious what would take its place in the market. For comic books the early 1970s represented the end of one era, and the late 1970s ushered in a comic-book renaissance that continued into the 1980s.

A New Direction.

Besides the fact...