10 Comic Book Crazes You Totally Forgot Were A Thing

These days, comics fill all manner of niches within the literary format in that they are cartoonish, dramatic, action-packed, bloody as hell, violent, and sexual. There aren't many untapped taboos left in the medium, but back in the 1990s, things changed when publishers wanted to tell darker stories.

This particular craze wasn't a bad thing (like most on this list), but it did burn bright, and then die out into relative normalcy. For decades, the publishers stuck to the Comics Code of Authority, which limited what could be shown or talked about in comics.

Adhering to the Code meant drug use, sex, and other topics, which might not be suitable for children, were kept out of comics. Marvel opted to get around the Code while it was still around with its imprint MAX and DC chose to do the same with Vertigo. The stories told within those books weren't Code-approved, and the fans loved them.

This drove storytelling for a while to create darker and grittier-toned storylines and characters. By the mid-late '90s, just about every character had their story told in a more violent manner, and it was tantamount to having the gloves come off, as characters like the Punisher gave up all limitations, letting him truly punish his victims.