610 SUPERHEROES
Superheroes dated and married (Spider-Man and his various girlfriends, the Flash
and Iris Allen, and Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl). Stan Lee’s “ he ro - w i th -
a- problem” melodrama added depth to the characterization of the alter egos.
Continuity expanded with DC’s multiple Earths, the Marvel universe, crossovers,
and extended storylines. The supervillain was complicated by turning some noble
ones into superheroes (Sub-Mariner, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch). While
the tales still featured contests between good and evil, these concepts are compli-
cated slightly with virtuous villains and reluctant, selfish, or bickering heroes.
Th e Silver Age began with a whole-hearted acceptance of the status quo and con-
structed authority and ended with superheroes doubting the status quo and resisting
authority. Th e melodrama that marked the beginning of the age at Marvel evolved
into a confrontation of social issues, such as drug use and campus unrest in series like
Spider-Man and the Te e n T i t a n s. Th e Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams stories of
Green Lantern and Green Arrow traveling the country and discovering social prob-
lems like over population, racism, pollution, and corporate greed exemplify these shifts
(Green Lantern #76–89, April 1970–April/May 1972).
While there is no clear break between the end of the Silver Age and the start of the
Bronze Age, several changes in superhero comics between 1968 and 1973 are gener-
ally recognized as marking a shift in the tone and nexus of concerns of the genre, with
1970 being the most commonly designated year for the changeover of ages. Some extra-
textual events of 1970 that mark the end of the Silver Age include Jack Kirby’s sh i f t
from Marvel to DC; the purge of veteran writers at DC that was nearly complete in that
year; the fading of MLJ and Charlton as superhero publishers; the publication of Th e
Comic Book Price Guide by Robert Overstreet, which provided a nearly complete index
of comics published since 1933 and standards for grading and pricing comics, making
public knowledge that had been the private preserve of specialists and institutionalizing
the monetary value of old comic books; and the publication of All in Color for a Dime,
edited by Don Th ompson and Dick Lupoff , and Jim Steranko’s Th e Steranko History
of Comics, both of which looked back with nostalgic fondness on the Golden Age of
superheroes.
Within the comics themselves the deaths of Gwen Stacey and the Green Goblin
(Amazing Spider-Man #122–123, July–August 1973); Captain America’s disillusion-
ment at discovering the President of the United States to be the head of the Secret
Empire, a fi ctionalized depiction of Watergate, and his subsequent adoption of the
Nomad identity (#175–76, July–August 1974); the end of the Teen Titans’ experiment
in social activism, and the series return to formula (Te e n T i t a n s #31–32, January–April
1971). Th ese issues can be seen as the end of relevance for these characters.
Th e Bronze Age featured few innovations in the superhero genre, with the primary
movement being to refi ne the advances of the Silver Age. Few new characters were
created at either Marvel or DC during the 1970s—Nova and Firestorm seem to be
new versions of Peter Parker, but neither was groundbreaking, as the troubled teen
superhero soap-operatic saga had already been around for over a decade. Peter Parker
