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The Second Golden Age Of Comics – Paul Levitz's Keynote Closing Speech To #C2Ccon2017

Published Sun, 05 Mar 2017 11:00:02 -0600

Paul Levitz, ex-Publisher and President of DC Comics, gave the Keynote closing speech at Coast-To-Coast Comic-Con, last night telling crowds in comic stores across the world (although at that time everyone in Europe were in bed) "I have absolutely nothing to sell you."

He began saying "I think we're in the second Golden Age of comics" and emphasised that this was from a man who knew many of the creators of the first one.

He stated that the first Golden Age worked out what the medium actually was, and how to get people to keep coming back while the Silver Age was about discovering the potential of the medium, talking to kids and maybe college students.

But he compared this to the Japanese comic book experience covering every possible topic. In this respect, the American experience has lagged behind.

The last couple of decades has seen moving into new forms of comics, expanding the borders of what comics can be in a very different world. As the world has changed its digital experience, comics are part of that change. The visual imagination of comics can now be found in movies, so comics must take up the challenge, which means seeing a wider range of people working on comics than ever before.

Levitz stated that he and others used to sit around offices at DC in the eighties, as the direct market was growing, talking about the potential of the form. That they need storytellers who want to tell those different, wider reaching stories and then connect them to an audience.

Levitz put the responsibility of this back on the audience. To read widely, outside the established brand names, and look for the things that you haven't heard about, the storeis that haven't been heard before.

He's like to see American comics as fully diverse as manga and to become more a significant percentage of publishing. He states thatAmerican comics would have disappeared completely if they'd stayed on the newsstand, and that the comic shop was the experimental home of what comics could be. And a place for people to discover what comes next.

"You have no idea what you might find with such a random journey."

Catch up with Bleeding Cool's other Coast To Coast Comic Con coverage right here.

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