Bringing Back the Golden Age

The Golden Age of Comics -- generally regarded as beginning in the thirties and continuing through the fifties -- birthed the modern superhero as we know it. Many of the "Golden Greats" are still prevalent in comicdom today. DC's main stable of heroes, including Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; along with heroes from publishers that were later absorbed by DC, like All-American's Wonder Woman and Fawcett's Captain Marvel, are icons that debuted during this comic book boom. Marvel revived some of its Golden Age heroes too, like Captain America and the Sub-Mariner, published originally in the 40's under Marvel's former identity as Timely Comics.

But this is still just a fraction of the Golden Age's legacy of adventure and imagination. Rocketing out of the pulp traditions of mystery, romance, and science fiction, the comics of the day reflected a variety of genres and characters, from the mystical buddhist power of the Green Lama to the shadowy investigations of Witness. Many of these characters were reincorporated into modern continuity, particularly at DC, where an entire universe of Golden Age characters has been the focus of the Justice Society of America for some time (including an excellent current run written by Geoff Johns).

Even more recently, three projects have garnered critical praise for bringing back long-forgotten company-owned and public domain superheroes from decades past. Dynamite Entertainment is publishing Alex Ross and Jim Krueger's Project Superpowers, a limited series that tells of the revival of a number of Golden Age heroes, including Black Terror and Fighting Yank. The initial storyline is currently available in hardcover and will ship in paperback ($19.95) at the end of this month. Come for the Ross covers and new character designs; stay for the engaging plot developments. The team behind Kingdom Come and Justice can do more than just paint a pretty picture.

Over at Marvel, long-time Spider-Man writer and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski leads a revival of obscure (some appeared in but a handful of comics in the 1940s) Timely heroes in The Twelve. The premise here is that the heroes were captured and cryogenically frozen by the Nazis during the war... and have been thawed out in the 21st century. Hijinks! JMS takes what would otherwise be ridiculously-campy War-era castoffs (like Laughing Mask and Rockman) and drives them through an entertaining modern rendition of the classic pulp serials -- twelve chapters featuring twelve characters, all woven together in this "Thrilling Novel of Tomorrow." The first six issues have been collected in a hardcover edition ($24.99) with a paperback due in March.

Maybe the most exciting Golden Age revival (and the point of this blog in the first place), is Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk's outstanding Agents of Atlas, finally available (as of last week) in trade paperback ($24.99). The 2006 series brings a number of Atlas Comics characters (Marvel's identity in the 1950s) together for the first time since a brief appearance in a 1978 issue of What If? Badass Jimmy Woo's team takes on the fiendish Yellow Claw in a sci-fi-tinged capes-n-tights mystery staunchly rooted in modern mainstream Marvel U. In fact, later this month, Agents of Atlas launches as a regular series: what better way to combat the Dark Reign than with a killer robot, talking gorilla, and orphaned Uranian? Grab the trade and get up to speed.

One of the best things about the collected edition is the inclusion of gorgeous Golden Age reprints, including stories from such atomically-charged whizbangs as Menace, Men's Adventures, and Marvel Mystery Comics. Pulp-tastic!

Comics have come a long way since their inception, and there's no discounting the modern quality of writing, art, and innovation. But when modern creators can successfully tell an entertaining story while simultaneously paying homage to their Golden ancestry -- especially by mining unfamiliar ground -- the result is something truly special. You don't have to be a comic book aficionado to appreciate the revival, any more than you need to be abreast of cinematic history to appreciate what Steven Spielberg was trying to do in each of the Indiana Jones films. Admit it. You liked Temple of Doom.