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

[Jczernich]

My first 13th Dimension article of 2026! Enjoy!

https://13thdimension.com/1986-comics-w ... ars-later/

[AndyFish]

1986 might have been the year comics really grew up-- Dark Knight Returns, as much as it's derided here for it's black humor and seeming devolve of Batman into a violent psychopath was a landmark. By '86 I'd given up on comics, the last really "great" comic I'd read was RONIN by Frank Miller in 1983/84 and my interests had turned elsewhere. DKR served to me as a story that perfectly fit Adam West's take on Batman, and he often expressed how much he would have loved to have played that version of the character. In the story 50 year old Bruce Wayne had retired after a tragic encounter with the Joker cost him Robin, and after ten or so years of alcoholic playboying the call to put the suit back on is too strong and things in Gotham have gotten so bad he's got no choice. 58 year old Adam would have been perfect casting.

For those that think this is ludicrous, there are plenty of examples of West style delivery in the story, as when a battle damaged Batman wearily gets up off the ground to chase down the Joker for the last time and he admonishes a young boy to "watch your language". The story is not bleak, it doesn't dehumanize Batman, and he's nowhere near the lonely dark psychotic mess DC would develop based on incorrect assumptions about Miller's take-- he's a Batman who exists deep down inside an aging millionaire who is wasting his life, and he has to claw his way back. The story is about redemption, hope, the idea that at 50 you are not such a fossil that your days of usefulness are over. It's a brilliant operatic take on the character and a perfect balance to the '66 Batman's story arc.

Batman Year One may be even better and the idea that it came out at the same time threw me, I remember the storyline running in the regular Batman Comic which I had given up on but gave it a shot and it's a worthy opening to the Batman Mythos.

Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow is a brilliant Alan Moore story telling the last Superman Story. As for the rest of the list, I didn't like CRISIS, I felt it was derivative and more a cash grab (not as bad as Marvel's Secret Wars was) rather than some grand story that needed to be told. The multiple DC Universes were already confusing and this was a failed attempt to put them back together and eliminate 50 years of continuity while doing so.

I never liked WATCHMEN, acclaimed as it is, I didn't like the art and I found the story to be bleak and depressing with characters I just couldn't care about.

John Byrne's SUPERMAN reboot was solid, I never read his work on X-Men (I never read X-Men) but my best friends did so it came in highly recommended. It was good,and it lead to ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #1 which features a great vampire story guest starring Batman with art by Art Adams which was outstanding.

MAUS is brilliant and a true masterpiece, never got into Wonder Woman other than the original Golden Age stories by HG Peters and DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN by the same team that did BATMAN YEAR ONE might be the greatest superhero story of all time.

Amazing how powerful 1986 was, I was there and I didn't realize it.

[BiffPow]

By '86 I'd given up on comics

I had given up before that, so I don’t know anything about any of it. Never read any of the books mentioned. Don’t know a thing about CRISIS or The Dark Knight (much less his return).

Have seen samples of Miller’s artwork, but hated what I saw and could not understand why anyone would want such a mess. I remember when Frank Robbins took over Captain America and I disliked the result so much that I still remember his name for that reason, so Frank Miller’s work would be an abomination to me.

That’s just me.

[Jczernich]

1986 might have been the year comics really grew up-- Dark Knight Returns, as much as it's derided here for it's black humor and seeming devolve of Batman into a violent psychopath was a landmark. By '86 I'd given up on comics, the last really "great" comic I'd read was RONIN by Frank Miller in 1983/84 and my interests had turned elsewhere. DKR served to me as a story that perfectly fit Adam West's take on Batman, and he often expressed how much he would have loved to have played that version of the character. In the story 50 year old Bruce Wayne had retired after a tragic encounter with the Joker cost him Robin, and after ten or so years of alcoholic playboying the call to put the suit back on is too strong and things in Gotham have gotten so bad he's got no choice. 58 year old Adam would have been perfect casting.

For those that think this is ludicrous, there are plenty of examples of West style delivery in the story, as when a battle damaged Batman wearily gets up off the ground to chase down the Joker for the last time and he admonishes a young boy to "watch your language". The story is not bleak, it doesn't dehumanize Batman, and he's nowhere near the lonely dark psychotic mess DC would develop based on incorrect assumptions about Miller's take-- he's a Batman who exists deep down inside an aging millionaire who is wasting his life, and he has to claw his way back. The story is about redemption, hope, the idea that at 50 you are not such a fossil that your days of usefulness are over. It's a brilliant operatic take on the character and a perfect balance to the '66 Batman's story arc.

Batman Year One may be even better and the idea that it came out at the same time threw me, I remember the storyline running in the regular Batman Comic which I had given up on but gave it a shot and it's a worthy opening to the Batman Mythos.

Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow is a brilliant Alan Moore story telling the last Superman Story. As for the rest of the list, I didn't like CRISIS, I felt it was derivative and more a cash grab (not as bad as Marvel's Secret Wars was) rather than some grand story that needed to be told. The multiple DC Universes were already confusing and this was a failed attempt to put them back together and eliminate 50 years of continuity while doing so.

I never liked WATCHMEN, acclaimed as it is, I didn't like the art and I found the story to be bleak and depressing with characters I just couldn't care about.

John Byrne's SUPERMAN reboot was solid, I never read his work on X-Men (I never read X-Men) but my best friends did so it came in highly recommended. It was good,and it lead to ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #1 which features a great vampire story guest starring Batman with art by Art Adams which was outstanding.

MAUS is brilliant and a true masterpiece, never got into Wonder Woman other than the original Golden Age stories by HG Peters and DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN by the same team that did BATMAN YEAR ONE might be the greatest superhero story of all time.

Amazing how powerful 1986 was, I was there and I didn't realize it.

I realized the power of 1986 long before articles were being published about it. It really changed things, for better or worse. The new aspect of 1986 that I am realizing since the article was published early this morning, was how divisive that big year was! Newer fans were more likely to embrace it while long time readers appear to be alienated by it. I guess I can understand better from being a longtime reader by the time DC's New 52 era started in 2011. I finally got how detractors of Byrne's Superman (of which I AM a fan of) felt in 1986 when the prior version of the character was retired.

[AndyFish]

You're certainly not the only former comics reader who felt this way about both Miller and Robbins artwork. As a kid I hated Robbins, after art school and believe it or not many discussions about art and design with Jim Steranko and an exposure to European Comics (which are a different level than American Comics) I gained a real appreciation of line strokes. Miller's work was eschewing the graphic novels of Europe at the time. Now when he did a sequel many years later, THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN, THAT was too abstract for me.

[Jczernich]

You're certainly not the only former comics reader who felt this way about both Miller and Robbins artwork. As a kid I hated Robbins, after art school and believe it or not many discussions about art and design with Jim Steranko and an exposure to European Comics (which are a different level than American Comics) I gained a real appreciation of line strokes. Miller's work was eschewing the graphic novels of Europe at the time. Now when he did a sequel many years later, THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN, THAT was too abstract for me.

I first encountered Robbins pencils in late 1988's Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. I didn't hate it but have grown to love his pencils in the years since.

It look me even longer to come around to Gene Colan. I have grown to appreciate him, especially when inked or finished by Alfredo Acala or Klaus Janson. His main inker for his 80's Batman book run, who I will not name here, was a fantastic inker but when it came to Colan, could do nothing for his pencils. I truly believe that pairing is what turned me off to his pencils for the longest time. This person was a wonderful inker but Colan's penciling style was notoriously difficult to ink over.

[Mike Mulitsch]

“ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #1 which features a great vampire story guest starring Batman with art by Art Adams which was outstanding.” Great story , and the last page was fantastic, with Batman just holding wooden stakes and a mallet

[Jczernich]

“ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #1 which features a great vampire story guest starring Batman with art by Art Adams which was outstanding.” Great story , and the last page was fantastic, with Batman just holding wooden stakes and a mallet

I didn't even know that story existed until a character mentioned it in one of the post-Death of Superman issues. I believe it was the second, full post-Crisis Batman-Superman team up.

[BiffPow]

My take: Robbins tried to be Milton Caniff, but lacked the control, composition, contrast and mood.

I have a sentimental spot for Gene Colan’s style. I enjoyed Daredevil as a kid, including the early Wally Wood, but really did not pay attention to Colan’s unique style until I picked up the first Jester story in Daredevil #42. Something about that particular issue stayed with me.

To this day, I remember buying that comic as a back-issue at Lynam’s Grocery (a little mom and pop owned store) for $.10, taking it home and reading it several times, noting the distinct “urgency” to the action and, this time, paying attention to the name of the artist.

[Jczernich]

My take: Robbins tried to be Milton Caniff, but lacked the control, composition, contrast and mood.

I have a sentimental spot for Gene Colan’s style. I enjoyed Daredevil as a kid, including the early Wally Wood, but really did not pay attention to Colan’s unique style until I picked up the first Jester story in Daredevil #42. Something about that particular issue stayed with me.

To this day, I remember buying that comic as a back-issue at Lynam’s Grocery (a little mom and pop owned store) for $.10, taking it home and reading it several times, noting the distinct “urgency” to the action and, this time, paying attention to the name of the artist.

I just flipped through that issue on Marvel Unlimited and it pointed out a thing about his pencils I often forget, they were generally much better before the mid-seventies. By the time he was finishing his run on Detective Comics in mid-1986, he really needed an inker/finisher to help his pencils.

[BiffPow]

I’m not familiar with his later work. I don’t know if I saw anything he did in the 1980s. Nothing I can think of, anyway.

[Jczernich]

I’m not familiar with his later work. I don’t know if I saw anything he did in the 1980s. Nothing I can think of, anyway.

From 1981 to 1986 he worked on the Batman books and side projects at DC Comics. He left a pension plan at Marvel in the late 70's, citing being micromanaged by new EIC Jim Shooter:

https://www.tcj.com/the-gene-colan-interview/4/

[BiffPow]

Interesting interview! I had no idea he went through that at Marvel.

That page of his artwork for “Jemm, Son of Saturn” was similar to his artwork for “Doctor Strange.”

[Jczernich]

Interesting interview! I had no idea he went through that at Marvel.

That page of his artwork for “Jemm, Son of Saturn” was similar to his artwork for “Doctor Strange.”

Yep! He got to do cool side projects at DC back then such as Jemm, Night Force, Nathaniel Dusk, fill-in issues of World's Finest and even a brief run on Wonder Woman in 1982:

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Wonder_Woman_Vol_1_288