Comics for Film, Games, and Animation

CHAPTER 14

Adaptation in the Silver Age, 1956–1961

In the mid-1960s, with the threat of nuclear annihilation, Civil Rights, the impending all-out quagmire of the Vietnam War, and multiple assassinations making the time a less-than-utopian one, audiences again turned towards media as an escape (while others, as we’ll soon see, turned to media to expose the ills of the world and society-at-large). The Marvel Age was in full swing, with a hip and fun character-driven creative renaissance thrilling readers (though losing out to DC by a margin of nearly seven to one¹), and DC Comics were filled with absolutely insane plots featuring their largely interchangeable archetypes.

It was found that for some, laughter was the best medicine. Irreverence ...