I went with the Silver Age. Yes, X-Men and Daredevil were much better in the 80s, but just about every other Silver Age run was better than the same book's 80s run.

Old School.

Bronze age, that's when I started collecting. The Silver Age stuff I sampled in reprints and whatnot always seemed hokey.

The guys in your second choice would probably choose the first too.

Silver was more consistently good in my eyes.

Hanzo, that pic of your really made me smile!

(I picked the Silver Age.)

Undoubtedly the Silver Age. The reason 80s Marvel was so good was because so many of those creators brought a Silver Age sensibility and style to their books.

They did?

Sure. It's especially notable in Byrne's FF, Simonson's Thor, and Stern's Spider-Man and Avengers work. There were some new directions and styles, of course, such as Miller's Daredevil, but many of the 80s creators mentioned above pointed back to the 60s books as their main inspiration.

Ah, okay. For some reason the first books I thought of were Claremont's X-Men and Miller's DD. I get what you're saying, now.

The Byrne/Simonson/Miller/Stern era was my major jumping on point so it's the one I chose. The others I've read in reprint form, but my first mainstream exposure was the Bronze Age.

Bronze Age for me.

But I'm sure I will lose.

Yep. Same here.

This was a hard call for me, for in many ways the Bronze Age was better. And yet... and yet....

I know it's been said before somewhere but there's just a sense of wonder in those old Marvels. The writers and artists are having fun and surprising themselves and you can tell.

Thing / Human Torch stories, Tales of the Watcher, Tales to ASTONISH ! Ditko & Lee's "Hats off to teenagers" issue of Spider Man (y'know, the one where he fights the silly robot that zooms around on ball bearings)... Ah, there's no comics like those anymore... Probably impossible to make 'em.

Honestly, I have read many of the Stan Lee stories (in Masterworks and Omnibuses), and at least for the first 20 issues of most series, he was still getting his muse. Concepts, good. Dialogue, not so good. Art not bad at all.

On the other hand, by the 1970s, the characters were well established, and with quality writers and artists, the stuff was very easy to read. And I still remember when Spider-Man was cleared of all charges. He finally stopped being the daily whiner.

Had to go with the one I grew up with.

I like 'em both equally.

By which you mean you don't, DCBoy?

The ones from the 40's, you mean?

Not at all. That period of the '80s was when I was actually enjoying Marvel's output. And you can't go wrong with the classic Silver Age stuff.