This week our summer-long feature, I ♥ Comics, returns to Blog@Newsarama. Each Wednesday comics bloggers and creators will discuss the things they love about the medium.

This week we’re joined by Eisner nominee Matt Silady, creator of The Homeless Channel and a teacher at the California College of the Arts … the picture to the right is of his graphic novel class at WonderCon earlier this year.

by Matt Silady

“You really couldn’t have shown up at a better time. You are making comics in the New Golden Age.”

As I looked around the classroom, I was a little surprised how easily the words slipped out of my mouth. The New Golden Age? Seriously?

I’d certainly heard the idea batted around a bit. Comic book critics like Douglas Wolk seem pretty convinced. Heck, a quick survey of The New York Times Arts section would make you think that comics could bring about world peace. But this was the first time I heard this sort of thing coming from me.

When the California College of the Arts asked me to teach their inaugural graphic novel workshop this past semester, it was a dream realized. In my tenth year of teaching, I finally saw the convergence of my two passions: comics and education. I certainly wasn’t going to take the opportunity for granted. There were sixteen incredibly talented students in my classroom. They were writers and artists and photographers and even one furniture maker to boot. They showed up ready to work hard and make some comics. And the one thing I promised myself before I walked through the door was that I wouldn’t try to sell them on anything that I didn’t buy into myself.

So, after the words so casually crossed my lips, I paused for a moment. The New Golden Age of Comics. Did I believe it? Really believe it?

You bet I did.

The first Golden Age brought us the comic as we know it today. It forged our basic artistic vocabulary and defined our creative conventions. The Silver Age exploded onto the page with wild explorations of childhood imagination and evolved into an adolescent questioning of our humanity. The Underground soon emerged as a subversive force, twisting and pulling the medium to its personal and psychological extremes. The Modern era saw a synthesis of humanity’s darkest shadows with the cold reality of the post-modern world. The results were mixed, but necessary. Grim and gritty knock-offs, a shift in priority from story to art, and the speculator boom and bust left the industry broken and exhausted. Some creators turned to nostalgia. Some to other media. Some, like the Hernandez brothers, simply kept doing what they’d been doing which had been brilliant all along. But as the dust began to settle, something new started to emerge.

While the New Golden Age may share an optimism similar to the original Golden Age, it truly stands on its own. It’s not simply a new style of writing or a trendy art movement. The New Golden Age is a completely new playing field with a new set of rules that are being written and rewritten as we speak. It’s dominated not by a select chosen few. It’s dominated by you and me.

The New Golden Age is marked by public acceptance. The media no longer treats comics as a curiosity. If anything, comics are covered with an embarrassing amount of reverence. It’s as if the mainstream media is attempting to expunge a guilty conscience brought on by years of neglecting the medium. It seems that lately even we are becoming a bit bored with our own success. It’s not uncommon to find linkblogging news sites reporting “The Marjane Satrapi Interview of the Day” with a sense of unbearable ennui. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means it’s time to take hold of the situation and shake things up a bit. Create something new. Comics currently surpass fiction, poetry, film, and fine art as the most relevant place for new writers and artists to make their name. If you want to stay on that bleeding edge of culture, you’re in the right place.

The New Golden Age is marked by institutional integration. Comics are part of the classroom at every level of education. Once contraband, they are now universally accepted as a multifaceted teaching tool. Whether it’s the Holocaust being taught via graphic novel in German elementary schools or postdoctoral research on comics and learning disabilities, there’s no shortage of interest in the medium. Beyond that, every weekend, fine art galleries from coast to coast are throwing open their doors to comic artists and visual storytelling. We used spend our time and energy arguing on behalf of the artistic and educational merit of comic books. That debate is long over. We are no longer trying to become part of critical and academic conversations. We are the conversation.

The New Golden Age is marked by the shift from the longbox to the bookshelf. Kids love the manga. Marvel is translating French graphic novels. I can’t wait to see what First Second imports next. Contemporary creators and fans have newfound access to comics from around the world and it’s changing the look and feel of the American comics page. There also hasn’t been a better time to get your hands on the past and learn from comics’ rich history. Treasury editions, phone books, and omnibuses crowd retailer and library shelves. Publishers across the board continue to treat the market to more graphic novels and trade paperbacks than most of us could read in a lifetime. With such access to so many international, historic, and artistically compelling works, there’s never been a better time to be a creator or a fan.

The New Golden Age is marked by unprecedented publishing opportunities. For many brand new independent creators, making comics available for publication is no longer cost prohibitive. Print-on-demand and the explosion of independent comic book shows across the country allow creators to put their work in readers’ hands with a minimal financial investment. From Stumptown to APE to STAPLE! and SPX, there’s no lack of an audience for their work. Beyond the shows, Rory Root and other forward thinking individuals helped shape a generation of retailers who are willing to support independent creators. At the same time, it’s important to note that these creators have grown up in a post-work-for-hire world. A world where publishing, marketing, and digital distribution via the web can be done for the cost of internet access alone. And publishers are taking note. Dark Horse scooping up web comics like The Perry Bible Fellowship and Achewood is just the beginning. Expect to see an avalanche of compelling web-to-print publications over the next several years.

The New Golden Age is marked by great comics. The last two years alone, we’ve been inundated with amazing book after amazing book. Just take someone who is new to comics to a well-stocked local retailer. Make a sweet stack of books from the last couple years that includes: Notes for a War Story, DMZ, Scott Pilgrim, Superspy, the Black Hole tpb, Acme Comics Novelty Library, Y: The Last Man, The Complete Persepolis, Casanova, Owly, American Born Chinese, All-Star Superman, Astonishing X-Men, Fruits Basket and Sundays with Walt and Skeezix. I’d be absolutely floored if there wasn’t something in there that they’d spend their hard-earned dollar on. And those are just books that arrived at comic shops in one form or another in the last TWO YEARS.

It wasn’t that long ago that when we were trying to convert someone, we’d reach for Watchmen, Maus and maybe an issue of Sandman or two. Then we’d cross our fingers and hope they’d want to read more.

But now there’s a hungry audience standing at the door. It grows every single day. It might be time to move past the idea of gateway comics. There are just great comics now. Lots and lots of great comics for everyone and there’s more on the way.

The New Golden Age is all around you.

This didn’t happen overnight. It’s been part of a steady march. Over the years we’ve increased in numbers and we’ve learned from those who’ve come before.

So, what’s next for us? Well, there are some serious challenges ahead. We need to find a systematic way to provide health care and support for the professionals who built this industry into what it is today. The Hero Initiative is doing great work and I look forward to seeing how we can help it evolve. We also need to continue to nurture avenues that encourage a more diverse creator and audience base. We’re in a better position to tackle these kinds of problems than ever before. After decades of scratching and clawing our way to respectability, we’re finally here.

I know it can be tricky to take a step back in order to get a view of the big picture when you’re right smack dab in the middle of it. A little historic hindsight goes a long way, right? But I’m calling it now:

This ain’t no fad. It’s the New Golden Age.

And the coolest thing is that you are here right now and get to make it whatever you want it to be.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm and is filed under I ♥ Comics, Version 1.0 Blog@. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.