Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Mark Waid walks through the entire history of American superhero comics, from their explosion in the 1940s through the TV-driven decline of the 1950s, the Silver Age revival, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Marvel revolution, the 1966 Batman fad, and the watershed year of 1986 when Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns proved comics could be adult literature. He explains how that shift toward mature readers created an arms race of darker, more violent superheroes through the late 80s and early 90s, culminating in the Image Comics breakaway. Waid describes how he and Alex Ross, independently and without knowing each other, both looked at what was happening and felt the same thing: that's not Superman. That's not Batman. Something is off. That shared conviction became Kingdom Come.
This clip is from the Kingdom Come documentary, a documentary by RA Imaging and Comic Book Pros.
Chapters
0:00 - Superheroes in the Golden Age
0:14 - The 1950s decline and television's rise
0:50 - The Silver Age revival
1:19 - Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and the Marvel Age
1:47 - The 1966 Batman explosion
2:19 - The fad dies and comics crater
2:39 - Marvel's personal touch vs DC's iconography
3:17 - DC struggles while Marvel connects
3:52 - 1986: Watchmen, Dark Knight, and Maus change everything
4:29 - The swing toward older readers
5:20 - The demand for darker, more violent superheroes
5:52 - Alex and Mark independently reject the dark trend
6:24 - The arms race of extreme comics
6:47 - Image Comics rises
7:22 - That's not Superman. Something's off.
7:40 - How Kingdom Come was born
#KingdomCome #ComicBookArt #DCComics #ComicBooks #ComicBookPros #MarkWaid #Superman #Batman #WonderWoman #ImageComics #StanLee #JackKirby #Watchmen #DarkKnightReturns
Mark Waid walks through the entire history of American superhero comics, from their explosion in the 1940s through the TV-driven decline of the 1950s, the Silver Age revival, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Marvel revolution, the 1966 Batman fad, and the watershed year of 1986 when Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns proved comics could be adult literature. He explains how that shift toward mature readers created an arms race of darker, more violent superheroes through the late 80s and early 90s, culminating in the Image Comics breakaway. Waid describes how he and Alex Ross, independently and without knowing each other, both looked at what was happening and felt the same thing: that's not Superman. That's not Batman. Something is off. That shared conviction became Kingdom Come.
This clip is from the Kingdom Come documentary, a documentary by RA Imaging and Comic Book Pros.
Chapters
0:00 - Superheroes in the Golden Age
0:14 - The 1950s decline and television's rise
0:50 - The Silver Age revival
1:19 - Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and the Marvel Age
1:47 - The 1966 Batman explosion
2:19 - The fad dies and comics crater
2:39 - Marvel's personal touch vs DC's iconography
3:17 - DC struggles while Marvel connects
3:52 - 1986: Watchmen, Dark Knight, and Maus change everything
4:29 - The swing toward older readers
5:20 - The demand for darker, more violent superheroes
5:52 - Alex and Mark independently reject the dark trend
6:24 - The arms race of extreme comics
6:47 - Image Comics rises
7:22 - That's not Superman. Something's off.
7:40 - How Kingdom Come was born
#KingdomCome #ComicBookArt #DCComics #ComicBooks #ComicBookPros #MarkWaid #Superman #Batman #WonderWoman #ImageComics #StanLee #JackKirby #Watchmen #DarkKnightReturns
