10 Major Milestones In Comic Book History

4. Moore And Miller Redefine The Medium

There are few creators out there that have influenced the medium to the degree that Frank Miller and Alan Moore have.

Granted, Miller's work is all kinds of blegh these days, but there was a time where he commanded the respect of audiences, critics and colleagues alike. The Dark Knight Returns - as seminal as it is - may not have redefined the Caped Crusader as much as some are led to believe, but it did leave a remarkable impact nonetheless.

Forgive us for breaking out the 'dark and gritty' cliché handbook here too, but it's true, Miller's work lent itself well to the dark and, well, gritty resurgence that the medium was experience as the eighties closed. Alan Moore, however, really took things up a notch, starting with a seminal run on Swamp Thing before creating a little old book called Watchmen, which - as most audiences will attest - is commonly regarded as being the finest comic book story of all time.

There are countless other names that really penetrated the industry during the eighties, but Moore and Miller certainly exemplified the shift in tone that it experienced during the period.