Home > Comics > Superman Family of Comics > Bronze-Age Superman Comics: 1971-1986

This is a selection of Superman Comics from the Bronze Age (with GEMs highlighted).  The list includes links for the following: (a) Wiki page (from the Grand Comics Database, or GCD), (b) e-book (available upon request), and (c) More info on each comic (via optional posts by various contributors).

Please note that the list is sortable by each column. (Multiple levels of sorting are possible by sorting more than one column in succession, from lowest to highest.)  You can also do an instant filtering of the table by entering a character string in the ‘Search’ field.

The end of the Silver Age came in 1970, when Mort Weisinger, the man who had presided over more of Superman’s adventures than anyone before or since, retired.  Control over the Superman family of comics was initially divided among a group of editors, but it was soon consolidated under Julius Schwartz, a comic-book icon responsible for the revamping of many DC super-heroes like the Flash and Green Lantern in the 1950s and Batman in the 1960s.

The Bronze Age began with a ‘New Superman’ introduced at the beginning of 1971.  This included an attempt to scale back Superman’s powers while removing kryptonite as an overused plot device.  To put it bluntly, the ‘New Superman’ was a flop with the readers, and by the end of 1971 Superman went back mostly to the way he was before.  However, there were some changes which stuck, such as the transition of Clark Kent from a newspaper reporter to a TV newscaster.  Some major milestones which took place during the Bronze Age were the introduction of Darkseid, the enlargement of Kandor, the modernization of Luthor (with a new uniform), a 3-part series called The Krypton Chronicles, and several special issues with other famous characters or real-life people as guest stars (Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and Muhammad Ali).

The Bronze Age came to a close in 1986, with the retirement of Julius Schwartz as well as the revamp of the entire universe of DC Comics superheroes with the 1985-1986 crossover series Crisis on Infinite Earths.  The end of the Bronze Age was marked by the landmark two-issue storyline written by Alan Moore: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?  For more details on the Bronze Age of Superman Comics, please see this link.

Please share any comments or suggestions on this list by filling out this form.  You can use the same form to express interest in becoming a contributor to the site and also request downloadable e-files for the comics books listed below.