One of the more annoying cliches about the Silver Age is that it was too utterly silly and lighthearted for the modern, sophisticated adults of today to take seriously, without a condescending smile.
Villains revealing their big and evil plan to the seemingly helpless hero before finishing him off. Supervillains who can’t think of anything to do with their amazing powers but knock over banks — and Flash’s villains were such lovable goofballs, they didn’t even try to kill him! When a time-tossed Hal Jordan met Kalibak (Green Lantern #102), he was stunned: you didn’t run into monsters like that in the good old days!
Statements and stories like this fall somewhere between “wildly exaggerated” and “complete balderdash.”
Don’t get me wrong, the Silver Age had plenty of dumb, silly stuff in it — but making comics grim and gritty hasn’t changed that. Instead of a laughing, colorful crook, the Joker is now a homicidal maniac with a body count in the hundreds— yet as we’ve observed multiple times on this blog, no cop has ever put him in the ground (“He slipped his handcuffs and attacked us. It was the Joker. We didn’t have a choice.”). The Three Jokers is, I think, as silly a piece of storytelling as I’ve ever seen and without half the storytelling craft of a good Silver Age yarn.
Instead of villains giving big expository speeches, they now give big philosophical speeches on why their understanding of the universe is right. This is not an improvement, partly because very few comic-book writers can turn out a good philosophical speech. Scott Snyder’s Joker monologues about how he truly understands Batman better than anyone else are unreadable (I’ve tried). Frankly, I don’t find “now that you are in a trap, I’ll reveal my plan” all that implausible: if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that people love to talk about how awesome they are and how clever their ideas are, particularly with a captive audience (this also applies to the philosophical speeches, even if I don’t care for them).
To paraphrase something I read a few years ago, the Silver Age stereotype (expressed in that Green Lantern scene mentioned above) is that the heroes never faced anyone more dangerous than a Batman TV villain. That’s just not so — and of course, even those TV villains tried to murder the Dynamic Duo at least once a week. The idea Flash’s villains never attempted to kill him is downright wrong. They tried time after time to off their adversary. 
Even Captain Boomerang, who ties with the Top for the person least likely to pose a threat to the Fastest Man Alive, attempted it over and over again.
As for Kalibak being beyond anything Hal had ever seen before … no. Consider for example, the Shark. A tiger shark evolved by nuclear radiation into a super-advanced, psionic humanoid, still full of bloodlust — but like so many human beings, he wants sport, not just slaughter. Given that most human beings faint at the slightest touch of his mind, the only foe worth his steel is the man born without fear — Green Lantern. After GL’s dead, the rest of us are chum in the water.
That is a damn terrifying concept. Sure, it wasn’t played for horror, but when I stop and think about it, it’s horrifying as hell. Just look at the Gil Kane-drawn scene below.
Or consider Captain Cold. In Flash #114 he decides he’s in love with Iris West and he won’t stop until she belongs to him. As if being stalked by a super-villain wasn’t bad enough, he ensures nobody can interfere by instantly freezing the entire city. Stalkers who can do that are scary, no?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not arguing Central City and Coast City in the Silver Age were dystopias where everyone walked around traumatized because of the constant super-villain attacks and alien invasions. Kurt Busiek’s portrayal in Marvels, where New Yorkers feel clashes of titans are the greatest show on Earth — and they have a ringside seat! — is probably closer to the spirit of the age.
But then again, “shit got terrifying” wouldn’t be out of line as a description of the era. If we can take Professor X — a wise, kindly father figure in the Silver Age — and reinterpret him as “ruthless bastard who pushed teenage kids into fighting as frontline counter-terrorist forces” — I don’t think my interpretation is unreasonable.
#SFWApro. Covers by Paul Pelletier, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane and Infantino again
I just find that Silver Age stories do tend to be simplistic and written for kids. With lines like an (adult) character saying ‘with this disguise I can pretend to be…’
On the other hand, I love the charm and the imagination and the fantasy – and the squeamishness (for want of a better word). I don’t read comics to wallow in somebody’s idea of grittiness. And when I want to watch / read horror, I’ll watch / read horror.
“Consider for example, the Shark. A tiger shark evolved…”
Shouldn’t he be off fighting Namor instead?
“the man born without fear — Green Lantern.”
It occurred to me in the last week or so that Amalgam Comics should’ve had their Green Lantern be Matt Murdock – the Man Without Fear.
It would be interesting to see him facing his greatest weakness; yellow. “I can’t tell which things are yellow! I’m blind!”
I like that, though Kurt Busiek’s Iron Lantern was terrific.