If we're to define what 'age' comics are in now, I guess we need to look at how long previous 'Ages' have lasted.   
 
The 'Golden Age' was when big, bold, colourful & all-powerful heroes like Superman first arrived.  It started around the late 1930's...  If we're to believe Wikipedia, the 'Silver Age' which followed didn't start until 1956.  So the Age of the golden oldies lasted for just over a decade. 
 
The 'Silver Age' ushered in a new brand of story-telling by the likes of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko (to name just a few).  It was the notable rise to fame for all of Marvel's established teams.  It was an era that apparently ended in the early 70's.  So again, this 'age' lasted for approximately 10-15 years. 
 
Then came the lesser known 'Bronze Age'.  A time when change was introduced into comics.  The rise of Chris Claremont & the X-Men.  The Dark Phoenix saga, adventures in space, and gritty characters like Wolverine became popular.  It was much shorter lived than any previous age, and tends to be over-looked... or even consolidated into the following era. 
 
The 'Modern Age' started in the early-to-mid 80's.  It has seen the rise of big guns & bigger muscles.  Women were stereotyped for their mighty endowed T&A, while men were endoward with their mighty steroids.   It has been over 25 years since the start of the 'Modern Age'.  Over 30 if you discount the short-lived 'Bronze Age'.  It really IS time for a new Age of comics. 
 
 While bodily proportions have settled down a little, the stories are still as dark & violent for the majority of the time.  Things are very dark most of the time.  While tidying up my old X-Men related mini series I stumbled across the WoldCATS/X-Men cross-overs from over 10 years ago.  It was a series of 4 one-shots named after the Ages, with 3 set in the past & 1 set in the future...  Golden, Silver, Modern & Dark.  The Dark Age was set in a broken down future, not far-fetched from the Days of Future Past. 
 
I think they were on to something.  Stories are much darker.  We have titles aimed at mature audiences from both DC (Vertigo) and Marvel (MAX).  Since the likes of Grant Morrison have written mainstream titles like New X-Men & JLA, the dark & gritty story lines have become increasingly popular.  So yeah, I'd say that this is the 'Dark Age' of comics.

I debated with myself whether to post this, but given that it's all in the spirit of raising money for a good cause then I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a little more exposure.

The Hero Initiative has nothing to do with the Initiative that was introduced after Marvel's Civil War.  It is a charitable organisation that raises money for comic book creators, who have to work in a financially unstable market.  Their work provides a 'safety net for comic creators who may ened emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work'.

Marvel has kindly given the Hero Initiative 100 copies of Wolverine Weapon X #1 with a pure white cover.  Those comic-sized blank canvases were then passed to various comic book artists with one instruction: to produce a new & unique image of Wolverine.  They were allowed to draw what they want, in whatever medium they wanted, which has resulted in a few cameos including X-Force, the X-Men, Spider-Man and quite a lot of the Hulk too.  Those 100 comic books were then collected, and will be sold at auction for charity.  
 

To drum up interest in this project, the Hero Intiative & Marvel distributed an equal amount of different scanned covers to various comic book websites (why ComicVine wasn't on that list, I'll never know). So I felt reticent about showing off the covers that were given to those other websites. I just hope that in the interest of raising more awareness and interest for the Hero Initative's Wolverine Weapon X #1 project, that they wont object to them being shown in ComicVine's handy smaller tabular presentation format.

So can we, the fans, help?? 
 
The original drawn on comics will be sold on the Hero Initiative's shop on eBay at the end of this month. If your pockets aren't deep enough (or you've already maxed out your credit card), then don't worry! There is a more humble collection of those covers that will be on sale for a more wallet-friend price, and will of course help raise more funds for the Hero Intiative.

 
Here are just a couple of visual appetisers to wet your wallet's taste-buds.  You can find more in Wolverine's Gallery (or in each artists' galleries). 
 

Ever since I saw Terry Dodson's new cover for Uncanny X-Men #520 something has been bugging me.  I was so sure I'd seen it before.   
 
Turns out, I wasn't 100% wrong.  Think I'll refer to Dodson as 'Adam Hughes Lite' from now on. 
 

Is it possible to just pick one series for the rest of your life?  I mean, I refuse to get any band logos tattooed on me in case they start to downhill fast...   
 
For instance, I stuck with New Mutants all the way through to the end of X-Force.   I stuck with New Mutants even when it wasn't about the New Mutants!   I stuck with New X-Men through to the end of Young X-Men...  It all started with the New Mutants, so it should end with it.  I can't give it up now.   
 
But, I wouldn't want to give up X-Force either!  So I'll steal your copy!! 
 

I'd completely forgotten that X-Men: The Animated Series did a 'Phalanx Covenant' episode till I stumbled across this screencap.  Now I can't wait for the next two DVD sets to come out for more cheesy nostalgic fun!  Although I do remember being disappointed that the story wasn't closer to that of the actual Phalanx Covenant.
  
Poor Warlock!  He looks dreadful!  But at least he did have a proper episode to himself, unlike most of the New Mutants.

And soon he'll return to the New Mutants along with dear dead ol' Doug.  Bless his electronic socks.