Literature

The Silver Age is a period of time generally beginning in around 1956 and lasting until around the 1970’s. The Silver Age followed the Golden Age, which itself began in the 1930’s and is where the comic book began to take shape and the archetype of the super hero was introduced. The super hero archetype was astoundingly successful, and drove comics in the Golden Age with their success peaking around World War II, but in the 1950’s interest in light hearted and propaganda filled stories began to give way to darker themes such as horror and crime began to gain momentum.

This change in tone did not go unnoticed by individuals skeptical of comic books. Even though comic books, even in their infancy, avidly encouraged literacy by promoting local libraries and writing programs, they’ve always carried the stigma of fostering illiteracy and simple mindedness. Dissenters had a new angle to exploit as comic themes shifted into darker territory in the mid 1950’s. Frederic Wertham made perhaps the most devastating strike to the industry with his book Seduction of the Innocent in 1954, which claimed that comic books were promoting illiteracy and delinquency in the juvenile population with evidence that has now been revealed to be completely fabricated. Seduction of the Innocent quickly became a best seller and galvanized a great censorship movement, culminating with book burnings and Senate hearings to evaluate if federal censorship was necessary. In order to get ahead of the game, the comic industry formed the Comics Code Authority in 1954, which established a self censorship of the industry. This was not a regulated body with any power, but if comics passed a screening process they would receive a Comics Code Authority seal. The Comics Code Authority remained in use as late as the early 2010’s, though publishers began to move away from it by the early 2000’s.

Silver Age comics relied heavily on the super hero archetype. Following the CCA guidelines, their stories refrained from including excessive violence, sexual themes, kidnapping, concealed weapons, and horror staples like zombies, werewolves, and ghosts. This period of time introduced many well known comic book icons such as Spider-Man, The Flash (the version commonly known today, that is), The Fantastic Four, The X-Men (Wolverine would not be introduced until the Bronze Age, as “Anti-Heroes” were not welcome during the Silver Age), Thor, The Justice League of America, The Avengers, Supergirl and the Teen Titans.

The Silver Age lasted until around 1970’s Bronze Age, when the outcry for censorship began to die down and the industry became relaxed enough to introduce some darker elements, such as the archetype of the Anti-Hero, back into comic books.

First Appearances for 1966

Character	Title	Issue
Black Panther	Fanatastic 4	52
Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)	Captain Atom Volume 2	83
Dial H for Hero	House of Mystery	156
Galactus	Fantastic 4	48
Karate Kid	Adventure Comics	346
Mary Jane Watson	The Amazing Spider-Man	42
Peggy Carter	Tales of Suspense	77
Peppermint Patty	Peanuts	—
Poison Ivy	Batman	181
Sharon Carter	Tales of Suspense	75
Silver Surfer	Fantastic 4	48
Smurfette	Spirou Magazine	—
Unknown Soldier	Our Army at War	168

Special Events
Barry Allen marries Iris West in Flash 156. Iris was unaware of Barry’s role as the second Flash, but discovered his secret as he spoke in his sleep on their wedding night.

Spider-Man Discovers the Identity of the Green Goblin when Norman Osborn unmasks himself after unmasking Spider-Man. Luckily for Spider-Man, Osborn soon loses his memory and forgets his revelation.

Vibranium, the metal used with the Marvel universe for legendary objects like Captain America’s shield, was also introduced this year in Daredevil #13.