Comic Book Timeline

1963 Marvel Comics starts its first series of mutants, the X-Men. Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Iceman are led by Professor X.
1964 DC introduces Teen Titans: Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin and Wonder Girl.
1974 Wolverine appears as a Canadian superhero fighting the Hulk. He later joints the X-Men.
1977 Dave Sim’s Cerebus is released. It’s notable for being a successful independent comic, and for being a self-cintained 300-issue story, it ends as planned in 2004.
1984 Cowabunga! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appear (in black-and-white).
1985 DC begins Crisis on Infinite Earths, a year-long crossover affecting all its superhero comics. It does the same again in 1994 (Zero Hour) and in 2005 (Infinite Crisis).
1986 Art Spiegelman publishes Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, a graphic novel based on his father’s Holocaust experiences. In 1991, Volume Two is published. The combined work wins a Pulitzer Prize.

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns presents a darker, more adult Batman.