My first 13th Dimension article of 2026! 1986: Comics’ Watershed Year — 40 YEARS LATER

[AndyFish]

While Curt Swan's art wasn't flashy I didn't find it bland, and it was my absolute best friend Paul Ryan (RIP) who really got me to appreciate Swan. Ironically, Ryan's art had a Swan quality to it. Gibbons art is very bland to me and once again, Sprang, you nailed it for me-- it was too kid friendly for my tastes. It's a crazy nit pick for me but the way he drew chairs was a great example of how it didn't work for me, he drew them using strict perspective lines as if any chair in the world is completely 90 degree angles-- they'd be the most uncomfortable things in the world. As Will Eisner told me personally when I was in his class at SVA if you can't draw everyday items that people are very familiar with you're going to pull them out of the story quickly.

[BiffPow]

he drew them using strict perspective lines as if any chair in the world is completely 90 degree angles-- they'd be the most uncomfortable things in the world.

Reminds me of something I once read that Frank Lloyd Wright said when he was asked what his idea of Hell would be:

“Being forced to sit in one of my chairs.”

[AndyFish]

That's a perfect example!

[Jczernich]

Wow, TDKR, Year One and Daredevil: Born Again all in the same year. Miller was on fire in '86, but I guess it's true what they say about "the light that burns brightest."

For me, Colan only ever really "worked" when inked by Tom Palmer on Tomb of Dracula. There's an "unfinished" quality to his work that puts a lot of responsibility on the inker, and honestly I think his style was so different from what anyone else could or wanted to do that most collaborations ended badly. Somewhat counter-intuitively, I did kind of like his team up with Tony DeZuniga on the "Phantom Zone" mini-series; there was a horror angle to that story that would normally be 100% at odds with Superman's universe, but the jarring peculiarity of the art made it work.

Andy, it's interesting to hear you didn't care for the art in Watchmen. I've never known how to feel about it, since Gibbons has what I'd almost call a "kid-friendly," Silver Age style that seems totally wrong for a story that deals with such dark themes. Sometimes I felt it worked in the same way that Will Eisner's Spirit sometimes portrayed intense violence in a "cartoony" style, but in the main I found Gibbon's art was too "bland" even for a Curt Swan enthusiast like me. I preferred him as a writer really, on jobs like "Batman vs Predator" and "World's Finest."

The whole first half of the 80s was an exciting time for me, what with books like American Flagg, Swamp Thing, Simonson's Thor, Miller's Daredevil, etc. It felt like I was being rewarded for sticking with comics into my late teens and early 20s when most of my friends had moved on. "See? I always told you this medium had potential!" But it would only be a few years before that all went out the window with the speculation boom, gimmick covers, Image Comics, the "grim and gritty" craze, etc. By 1993 or so I was gone for good. In retrospect I never did "grow out of" comics; instead they got too "adult" for me. In that sense, "watershed" is the right word for 1986 because it may be the closest thing we have to a clear inflection point between "apex of comics evolution" and "beginning of the end."

Yeah, there was some good stuff in 1993 but not to the degree of quality of the late 80's.

[rsaffle]

I think I was the perfect age in 86 for the way comics had become. Being 21 the dark themes helped to hold my interest. With that said, I don't find myself going back to those books very often. I find my true love was the Golden age books. I just flat out love a good super hero story. The Avengers, Uncanny Xmen, Batman by Adams and Aparo, Amazing Spiderman and on and on. I love a good cover daring you to turn the page to see who kicked Batman out of a plane. Lately I found myself digging out the Sal Buscema Captain America and Falcon run. He's not many peoples favorite artist but I loved his broad backs and fists as big as heads. Give me the Comic code and a Cherry Slurpee and the time when comics were less dark.

[BiffPow]

Lately I found myself digging out the Sal Buscema Captain America and Falcon run. He's not many peoples favorite artist but I loved his broad backs and fists as big as heads. Give me the Comic code and a Cherry Slurpee and the time when comics were less dark.

Randy = me. The stories were better when the CCA was around - and artwork was all hand drawn and warmer.

I was/am a BIG fan of Captain America. Enjoyed all of the artists, Kirby, of course (ESPECIALLY his earlier Caps). But, my favorite of all of the Captain America comic books I read in my youth and early adult life: Buscema’s Captain America issues 153-156, featuring the 1950s Cap and Bucky! GREAT storytelling and art. It’s a movie worthy story.

[Jczernich]

The podcast I mentioned in the article, The Iron Age of Comics, also just covered 1986 in an episode that was released just yesterday:

Enjoy!

[SprangFan]

I don't know how much the CCA had to do with quality, but around the same time it was retired, the Big Two began the retreat from editor-dominated comics to scenarios where creators had more freedom to do their own thing. Which in some ways is an improvement, but in others not so much, because simultaneously there was an increased effort to tie multiple lines together in "shared universes." You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Either writers should be free to go their own way, in which case the editor takes a back seat, or you focus on building a "shared universe," In which case editorial oversight is a lot more important. What we've ended up with is the worst of both worlds: creators forced to shoe-horn "company wide events" into storylines where they don't belong, and "continuities" so contradictory and confused that "reboots" are required on an almost annual basis.

Definitely agree that the artwork was "warmer" when drawn on paper instead of a computer, and for sure the lettering was superior by miles. I'm also not a fan of most modern coloring "advances." But then I am a grumpy old codger.

[Jczernich]

Wow, TDKR, Year One and Daredevil: Born Again all in the same year. Miller was on fire in '86, but I guess it's true what they say about "the light that burns brightest."

For me, Colan only ever really "worked" when inked by Tom Palmer on Tomb of Dracula. There's an "unfinished" quality to his work that puts a lot of responsibility on the inker, and honestly I think his style was so different from what anyone else could or wanted to do that most collaborations ended badly. Somewhat counter-intuitively, I did kind of like his team up with Tony DeZuniga on the "Phantom Zone" mini-series; there was a horror angle to that story that would normally be 100% at odds with Superman's universe, but the jarring peculiarity of the art made it work.

Andy, it's interesting to hear you didn't care for the art in Watchmen. I've never known how to feel about it, since Gibbons has what I'd almost call a "kid-friendly," Silver Age style that seems totally wrong for a story that deals with such dark themes. Sometimes I felt it worked in the same way that Will Eisner's Spirit sometimes portrayed intense violence in a "cartoony" style, but in the main I found Gibbon's art was too "bland" even for a Curt Swan enthusiast like me. I preferred him as a writer really, on jobs like "Batman vs Predator" and "World's Finest."

The whole first half of the 80s was an exciting time for me, what with books like American Flagg, Swamp Thing, Simonson's Thor, Miller's Daredevil, etc. It felt like I was being rewarded for sticking with comics into my late teens and early 20s when most of my friends had moved on. "See? I always told you this medium had potential!" But it would only be a few years before that all went out the window with the speculation boom, gimmick covers, Image Comics, the "grim and gritty" craze, etc. By 1993 or so I was gone for good. In retrospect I never did "grow out of" comics; instead they got too "adult" for me. In that sense, "watershed" is the right word for 1986 because it may be the closest thing we have to a clear inflection point between "apex of comics evolution" and "beginning of the end."

Yeah, mainstream comics of the early to mid-nineties started to get too dark and gimmicky. The light at the end of that tunnel began for me in 1996 with Kingdom Come, which appeared to directly comment on the tone of the industry at the end of the time, and the beginning of the late 90's JLA renaissance.

[BiffPow]

I never went through the tunnel. I turned around and went back to the comics of my youth.