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Ah, good. So in essence we agree.
Of course the Silver Age books that Stan, Jack & Steve concocted were much better than the average Golden or Atomic Age books. Stan was consciously writing for an older audience that had been weened on the 1950's DC books.

Just as today's stories are more complex because they're being written for basically an adult audience. (Not necessarily better stories, but certainly more complex stories.)

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However, the basic question that initiated this thread was, why did the Atlas hero revival fail? The answer is, quite clearly, that the quality was not there to sustain interest.
I'm going to agree with droid here. The question is not quality, it's Martin Goodman's itchy trigger finger.

I certainly think that the Torch & Cap stories were no better or worse than say the Green Arrow stories and Wonder Woman stuff coming out at the same time.

I think Everett's Sub-Mariner strip was better than anything DC was producing at the time (in the super-hero genre). But Goodman always thought there was a greener pasture and so yanked the plug on these books before they really had a chance to find an audience. My understanding was they made money - Martin just thought he could make more money by jumping on other trends.

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Again, the Silver Age Marvels from 1965 until about 1968 do, indeed, hold up to cover-to-cover reading, notwithstanding their original publishing schedule.
We'll agree to disagree on this. Almost all comics writing in the super hero genre is formula writing.

Even Lee had his pet plots (how many heroes loved women they were afraid to get involved with?). He also had a writing style that always dealt in superlatives. Like "I've never seen Reed/Cap/Shellhead/Daredevil look so intense!" Everything was always the "greatest" struggle or the "ultimate" challenge.

I really find my enjoyment is heightened by reading no more than one issue at a sitting. Of course, your mileage may vary.


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I also enjoy Everett's Silver Age and Bronze Age work, and I wouldn't mind the opportunity to see some of Everett's horror work again.
And here we are in total agreement again.