Parent's Rule of Thumb on Comics: Use Comics Before 1980

I was surfing Amazon reviews and found some sage wisdom in regards to a reviewer who was disappointed that Superman in the Eighties left a bad impression of the Man of Steel with his kids. Advises the responder:

With few exceptions, the best mainstream comics were done in the 40 year span between 1940 and 1980. Just as history will show that the worst mainstream comics were done in the 40 year span between 1980 and 2020.

Therefore the most solid advice I could give is to keep all kids away from anything done after 1980. I've always followed that principle and it has served me very well.

Whether things will get better after 2020, I don't know, but the suggestion is worth some thought. Often, there are parents who would like to introduce their kids to superheroes but would rather not get into all the darkness as well as all of the other content issues of today. 1980 could be a good "line in the sand" point for that purpose.

As the poster indicated, there are exceptions and there have been some decent comics in modern times and also there have been some weird stuff happen in the 1970s, but for a quick and dirty rule, the pre-1980 one makes sense.