After sporadic attempts at distribution, American comics were officially imported into Britain from November 1959. The drought was now over and what followed was a flood. The 1960s and 1970s - the new era of the super-hero - gave way to more serious comics that explored social and political issues. British writer Alan Moore's Watchmen set new standards for multi-layered story-telling. His partnership with artist Bill Sienkiewicz produced Brought to Light that sought to clarify the 30- year covert war in Cuba by American intelligence services. The publication of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986 was a seminal event, giving a new interpretation of a traditional comic book hero - Batman - and introducing this to readers via the world of mainstream book publishing. The popularity of this 'graphic novel', which remained on the New York Times best-sellers list for 38 weeks, established new standards in comic books and many in the industry reckoned that a new 'golden age' of publishing would begin.
The early and mid Nineties saw something of a slump in comic book sales allied to world economic factors but the continuing appeal of comics was strengthened by the cycle of Batman films supported by little gems like The Phantom and the huge (and surprise) success of The X-Men. The Spiderman movie has just broken all box office records and is the first film to top $100m for its opening weekend.
With the promise of two more X-Men films, Daredevil, The Hulk, Batman 5 and Superman 5, perhaps a new 'silver age' is about to begin….
