Editing Silver Age of Comic Books (section)

===End and aftermath===
[[File:NealAdams11.15.08ByLuigiNovi1.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artist [[Neal Adams]], whose work with writer [[Denny O'Neil]] on ''[[Hal Jordan#"Relevant comics"|Green Lantern/Green Arrow]]'' marks one possibility for the end of the Silver Age]]
The Silver Age of comic books was followed by the Bronze Age.<ref name=Blumberg/> The demarcation is not clearly defined, but there are a number of possibilities.

Historian Will Jacobs suggests the Silver Age ended in April 1970 when the man who had started it, Julius Schwartz, handed over ''Green Lantern''—starring one of the first revived heroes of the era—to the new-guard team of [[Denny O'Neil]] and [[Neal Adams]] in response to reduced sales.<ref name="Jacobs154">Jacobs, p. 154</ref> John Strausbaugh also connects the end of the Silver Age to Green Lantern. He observes that in 1960, the character embodied the can-do optimism of the era.<ref name=Strausbaugh/> However, by 1972 Green Lantern had become world-weary, with the character saying in one story, "Those days are gone—gone forever—the days I was confident, certain ... I was so young ... so sure I couldn't make a mistake! Young and cocky, that was Green Lantern. Well, I've changed. I'm older now ... maybe wiser, too ... and a lot less happy."<ref name=Strausbaugh/> Strausbaugh writes that the Silver Age "went out with that whimper".<ref name=Strausbaugh/>

Comics scholar Arnold T. Blumberg places the end of the Silver Age in June 1973, when [[Gwen Stacy]], girlfriend of [[Peter Parker]] (Spider-Man), was killed in a story arc later dubbed "[[The Night Gwen Stacy Died]]", saying the era of "innocence" was ended by "the 'snap' heard round the comic book world—the startling, sickening snap of bone that heralded the death of Gwen Stacy."<ref name=Blumberg>{{cite journal |url=http://reconstruction.eserver.org/034/blumberg.htm |title='The Night Gwen Stacy Died': The End of Innocence and the Birth of the Bronze Age |last=Blumberg |first=Arnold T. |date=Fall 2003 |journal=Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture |access-date=2009-02-20 |issn=1547-4348 |archive-date=January 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116034408/http://reconstruction.eserver.org/034/blumberg.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Silver Age historian Craig Shutt disputes this, saying, "Gwen Stacy's death shocked Spider-Man readers. Such a tragedy makes a strong symbolic ending. This theory gained adherents when [[Kurt Busiek]] and [[Alex Ross]]'s ''[[Marvels]]'' miniseries in 1994 ended with Gwen's death, but I'm not buying it. It's too late. Too many new directions—especially [the [[sword-and-sorcery]] trend begun by the character] [[Conan the Barbarian (comics)|Conan]] and monsters [in the wake of the [[Comics Code]] allowing vampires, werewolves and the like]—were on firm ground by this time."<ref name=Shuttp201>Shutt, p. 201</ref> He also dismisses the end of the 12-cent comic book, which went to 15 cents as the industry standard in early 1969, noting that the 1962 hike from 10 cents to 12 cents had no bearing in this regard.<ref name=Shuttp201/> Shutt's line comes with ''[[Fantastic Four (comic book)|Fantastic Four]]'' #102 (September 1970), [[Jack Kirby]]'s last regular-run issue before the artist left to join [[DC Comics]]; this combines with DC's ''[[Superman (comic book)|Superman]]'' #229 (August 1970), editor [[Mort Weisinger]]'s last before retiring.<ref name=Shuttp200>Shutt, p. 200</ref>

[[File:Alan Moore (2).jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Alan Moore]], who began the "neo-silver movement" with a 1986 Superman story]]
According to historian Peter Sanderson, the "neo-silver movement" that began in 1986 with ''[[Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]'' by [[Alan Moore]] and [[Curt Swan]], was a backlash against the Bronze Age with a return to Silver Age principles.<ref name="Context"/> In Sanderson's opinion, each comics generation rebels against the previous, and the movement was a response to ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'', which itself was an attack on the Silver Age.<ref name="Context"/> Neo-silver comics creators made comics that recognized and assimilated the more sophisticated aspects of the Silver Age.<ref name="Context">{{cite web |url=http://comics.ign.com/articles/595/595589p6.html |title=Comics in Context #33: A Boatload of Monsters and Miracles |access-date=2008-07-15 |last=Sanderson |first=Peter |year=2004 |website=IGN|archive-date=June 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615073957/http://comics.ign.com/articles/595/595589p6.html|url-status=live}}</ref>