Late 80's and ongoing. Comics have slumped into a very dark, cynical and pretentious age, and have never come out of it. Where for my money, there's a lot less worth reading.
The Dark Age ended with Morrison's JLA. There are still people who write comics like that, but they're outdated leftovers, much like the people who still drew like Curt Swan and Carmine Infantino in the early 80's (like, you know, Swan and Infantino themselves). Lazy writers used to refuge themselves in corny plot devices, then it was sex and violence in the 90's, and now it's gore and cussing. The problem is the same and it has always existed.
The trend for the past decade, I think, has been producing high-concept comics that are actually focused on a central idea instead of drifting aimlessly. I'll take six issues of an Ultimates arc over six pointless Avengers comics from the 70's any day, but that's me. This is not to say that the great majority of comics doesn't suck. Hasn't it always been that way? I think, historically, only 10 to 14 year old kids have been able to read every comic that's published every month and not want to puke.
Now, potty mouths and the occasional dismemberment may seem "dark" to you, but to the current generation of readers they are relatively tame stuff. What appalls you makes most people laugh, and I guess that's only natural since, well, you're old. It's not like these things are central to the stories, either. Preacher, from what I've read, is actually a touching love story. If you want to focus on the guy cutting his dick off and shoving it up his arse, that's your loss.
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I'be been clear in my many posts citing CEREBUS that I like the series up through JAKA's STORY(vol 5) and that after that I think Sim lost it. Sim lost half his readership, including me, when he went on his misogynist kick. Please don't slander me by misrepresenting the facts otherwise.
Oh, so you DO have reservations about Cerebus. I don't know how I got the impression that you didn't.
