By the mid-1980s, comics had grown darker.
As optimism faded and moral certainty collapsed, stories turned inward. Heroes were questioned, authority was distrusted, and the old myths that once defined comics began to crack.
The Dark Age was not just about violence or despair. It was about rupture. Boundaries were pushed, rules were broken, and creators tested how far the medium could go when reassurance was no longer enough.
Comics stopped asking how the world could be saved.
They began asking whether it deserved to be.
Old certainties were gone — and nothing that followed would feel the same.
This is Part 4 of a five-part documentary series examining how comics evolved — and why those changes mattered.
New episodes release weekly.
Anthony Andujar Jr.