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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8704102" data-attributes="member: 6796468">So I talked to my husband about this 'cause it stuck in my brain meats and he pointed out something really important that just grinds up my entire last post: Golden Ages aren't -good-. They're just popular.The Golden Age of Cinema was the 1940s. You had talkies. You had the first real "Movie Stars" living the movie star life. You had AC in the theaters that made them a popular place to hang out. War News Reels playing before and between movies to keep people updated. The quality of the movies themselves wasn't -actually- important to it being the Golden Age.Same thing for Comic Books. Golden Age comic books are often -terrible- compared to modern comics. Execution, writing, costumes, conceits for individual stories. Remember that classic Golden Age comic where Superman has the power to shoot miniature Supermen out of the palm of his hand? How about those CLASSIC Golden Age "Let's be Jerks to Jimmy Olsen!" line of comics?The material itself is often patently terrible by modern standards, but it's the golden age because that's when it became popular. When it took it's "True Form". When it spawned the properties and identities that carry it forward through the modern day.Superman and Batman aren't the most popular superheroes because they've had good consistent narrative identities and strong storylines over the years. They're the most popular because they've had the most written about them. Often to the exclusion of other, better, characters. Who was the latest DC "New Character" to actually stick? To be popular beyond a limited edition run or somesuch?And pretty much every character who -does- stick is a legacy. Someone "Taking up the Mantle" of a previous hero. Whether that's John Stewart or Kamala Khan.In -that- regard. In the regard not of quality but of popularity buildup cascading forward, AD&D and AD&D 2e were without question the Golden Age of D&D in general. Not "Lore Based" golden age, but -just- golden age.2e saw major growth in the public eye, for good or ill. It produced the most powerful legacy material that carried through to the modern era where only the occasional new material has stuck it out (Eberron). It released novel lines that sold vastly more copies than any of it's rule or lore books ensuring a consistent connection to the material across generations. And it saw the birth of the D&D Cartoon and mainstream media connections.But. Just like the Golden Age of Comics it's got nothing to do with the quality of work or even the quantity of work. Just the notoriety of the product.</blockquote>

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