Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
Frequently Asked Questions (... and frequently questioned answers)
1.) "What in God's name is this place, anyway...?":
THE CHEEKS THE TOY WONDER HOME PAGE ("Kitties Ask For It By Name!") is my own, privately owned; operated; and obsessive shrine to the glory years of the mainstream American comic book: the Silver Age.
2.) "Ooooooookaaaaaaaay... and just what, pray tell, constituted this so-called 'Silver Age' of comics, anyway...?"
That... is a darned good question, actually. 
Whereas there's a general consensus amongst the comics-collecting cognoscenti as to when "the Silver Age of comics" began -- either SHOWCASE #4 (the first appearance of the Silver Age FLASH; 9/56), or else DETECTIVE COMICS #225 (the debut of the J'ONN J'ONZZ: MARTIAN MANHUNTER feature; 11/55) -- there's considerably less unanimity of opinion regarding when, precisely, said era ended.
The following half-dozen (!!) or so theories seem to have the greatest number of die-hard adherents, amongst them, in descending order of overall, industry-wide acceptance:
a.) Jack "King" Kirby leaves the company he helped create (i.e., Marvel Comics), and goes to DC Comics, Inc., where he creates the "Fourth World" line of titles (early 1971)
This is a perfectly acceptable and defensible stance to take, sofar as "when did it all end?" goes. Both of the two major mainstream American comics publishers (Marvel and DC) were irrevocably altered by the migration of the medium's spiritual (and creative) godfather from the one to the other; DC, for the better... and Marvel, for the worse.
b.) DC Comics, Inc. divorces itself from nearly fifty years of its own publishing history (and character canon) with the release of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS (early 1986)
This theory, however, has very nearly as many gung-ho supporters (among which, I must confess, I count mine own humble self) in its corner as does the first one.
Strongest bit of supporting evidence, IMHO: the death of the selfsame super-hero (i.e., the Flash) whose public debut is regarded by so many as being the harbinger of the whole shebang in the first place.
For the auctorial purposes of this site... I tend to ping-pong between theories
#1 and #2.
c.) Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams return DC's THE
BATMAN to his earliest, "Darknight Detective" roots (1969)
d.) Gerry Conway and Gil Kane kill off the "Gwen Stacy" character,
in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
#121 (6/73)
e.) DC publishes SWAMP THING #1;
character serves as precursor for what would later become DC 's "Vertigo" era
(10/72)
f.) Marvel publishes GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1; the age of "mutant comics overkill" begins (6/75)
None of these seem wholly convincing to me, personally, given that they are all pretty much: a.) character-specific, and: b.) simply not as all-encompassing, change-wise, as are the first two. However: this doesn't make me "right," and the various proponents of same "wrong." Ultimately... it's a judgement call: plain and simple.
3.) "Allow me to re-phrase the question, Mr. "Lost-In-Comics- Minutiae": what makes the Silver Age of comics worth remembering (and discussing) in the first place? What's the big, hairy deal, here, anyway?"
Wellllllll... that's going to require, quite possibly, an even longer answer.
4.) "Oh, gawd...!"
Sorry.
As succinctly as possible: the epoch between 1955 and [Insert Your Own Personal Choice Here] was an unparalleled era of creativity for the comics medium... during which time, the lion's share of the medium's true innovators as regards both writing (John Broome; Gardner Fox; Robert Kanigher; Stan Lee; Roy Thomas; etc.) and artwork (Jack Kirby; Steve Ditko; Gil Kane; Carmine Infantino; Murphy Anderson; Neal Adams; etc.) were re-defining the parameters of the form, and (by no means coincidentally) crafting some of the finest works ever to grace the insides of any mainstream American comic book... ever.
Said efforts on the respective parts of these men led, in turn, to a never-since equaled era of mass market sales for the American comic book. An average title would routinely move 500,000 units monthly; which -- compared to today, when the top-selling titles have stagflated to the the 70,000 plateau -- is no little achievement, obviously.
Too: for all of the chest-thumping, nowadays, re: "These Are the Very Best of Times For Comics, Creatively"... it is readily apparent to the objective observer that a concomitant groundswell of newly-created, post-Silver Age characters -- on a par, that is, with such SA notables as (say) Spider-Man; Green Lantern; the Fantastic Four; the Hulk; the Flash; and Aquaman -- has yet to occur.
Today's creators are still (by and large) playing in thevery same inspirational "sandbox" as was bequeathed unto them, decades agone, by their more Promethean forebearers. No new, truly iconic characters have debuted, in the interim betwixt Then and Now.
Marvel Comics' top-selling franchise still remains THE X-MEN: a revamped '60's conceit.
DC's Number One title, sales-wise, is yet another JUSTICE
LEAGUE series, courtesy of the estimable Grant Morison (1960's comic, originally.)
Their most critically aclaimed series, as of this writing, would appear
to be either Peter David's SUPERGIRL (1950's, in genesis), or else Chuck
Dixon's NIGHTWING (the former "Robin, the Boy Wonder"... whose origins go even
further back. I'm just sayin', is all.)
Occasionally, a new face is squeezed into the same old spandex ("Wally West" becomes the new Flash; "Connor Hawke," the modern-era Green Arrow; etc.)... but: this is all bunting and window-dressing, ultimately. The ostensible selling points for these characters is that they're still -- push come to shove -- nothing more than variations on the creations of the storytelling titans of THE SILVER AGE.
Plus: the comics just plain ol' read better, back then. IMHO, I mean.
*Ahem.* Next question...?
5.) "Okay. Fine. Groovy. But why go to all of the trouble to create and maintain a site as extensive as all of... this, f'chrissakes --?"
Short Form Answer: because no one else was doing it.
A year or so ago, as of this writing... I ran a "search engine"-thingie for any and all Silver Age-oriented web sites out there in the vast, trackless regions of cyber-space.
What I Found: an ungodly plethora of home pages set up for the
modern-day likes of Gambit; Wolverine; GEN 13's Fairchild;
and a great many more SPAWN sites than might be considered strictly necessary
by anyone not firmly in the grip of Complete and Total Dementia.
Other than my good friend (and online co-conspirator) "Nick Fury"s admirable MARVEL COMICS SILVER AGE INDEX -- promise me you'll check out his site next, right after you're done with this one; there's a hyperlink "shortcut" that'll lead you there straightaway, on my Cool Links page -- what I found, after many, many hours of exhaustive cross-searching and cross-cross-searching, was precisely: zero.
That's as in: "nothing." "Nada." "Nyet." Zilch. The Big Goose Egg.
Quite frankly: I was appalled.
... and so, I asked myself: "What would Captain America do, in a situation such as this...?"
Seeing as how there was, at the time, a relative scarcity of Nazi soldiers to decently pimp-slap into a stupor... I did the next best thing I could think of, really.
Armed with nothing save: a.) a NETSCAPE COMPOSER FOR DUMMIES trade paperback, and: b.) more old comic books than any man ought, by rights, to have...
... I did this.
[Incidentally: no... your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, re: the CAPTAIN AMERICA panel sequence reproduced above. Stan Lee and Jack
Kirby really, truly did pull precisely that colossal a storytelling
"blunder," in the press of the ever-present "Deadline Doom." Don'tcha
just love it...?]
6.) "What's the reaction been to this site, overall...?"
Averaging one hundred hits per day (give or take). I get two or
three extremely flattering (not to mention wholly gratifying)
e-mails per day, and have (thus far) maintained my perfect batting average for
writing everyone back, in turn. (Albeit, sometimes after a week
or so...)
[Incidentally: [email protected]. Just in case you were
wondering.)
This site has received repeated praise from various comics industry pros,
as well... most notably, the gracious and wise Tony Isabella: he
of TONY'S ONLINE TIPS fame, and creator of the Black
Lightning character for DC Comics, Inc. He, too, has a cyber-"shortcut"
to his web site, on my links page. You should check him out, while
you're up way too late, in the bargain.
7.) "Okay. So... like... can I go, now, and take a look around this joint...?"
Go. Run. Gambol. Frolic your adorable little faces off.
... and: thanks for stopping by.
Come back anytime.
There's almost always something new to see, herabouts.
"MORE COMIC BOOKS," YOU SAY...?
The DC Comics Sub-Directory
The Marvel Comics Sub-Directory
The Miscellaneous Comics Sub-Directory
The "Gotta Find That DC Character" Menu
The "Gotta Find That Marvel/Miscellaneous
Character" Menu