this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
214 points (100.0% liked)

xkcd

11040 readers
160 users here now

A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Scholars are still debating whether the current period is post-postmodern or neo-contemporary.

https://explainxkcd.com/3089/

all 20 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Gets really weird when you start talking about comic book eras.

Golden Age - 1938 to 1956 (18 years)
Silver Age - 1956 to 1970 (14 years)
Bronze Age - 1970 to 1985 (15 years)

Here's where it gets fun:

Modern Age - 1985 to Present (40 years)

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Really the modern age should go from 1985 - 2011 for dc and marvel it would be 2018

Then the next agent would be new 52 for 15 years and fresh start for marvel.

Then rebirth for dc after that in 2016

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There needs to be one era for 1985 up to the 1990s speculation crash, then another for that era, and a 3rd post speculation era, but I'm not sure how to break it out.

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah you make a good point. the 90s could have a fun name like the too many pouches era.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] sawdustprophet@midwest.social 2 points 2 weeks ago

This is glory redefined.

[–] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Wasn't there a Dark Age after Bronze? The one where everyone was scowling the whole time and the stories were so tryhard edgy you could use a typical Youngblood issue as a letter opener?

(Basically the "pouches" era the sibling comments talk about. Rob Liefeld's contributions to fashion will never be forgotten.)

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

With square gun barrels. :)

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I like how contemporary is more modern than modern.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

I always feel like a total dweeb using "contemporary," but my desire for accuracy wins out every time.

[–] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Those aren’t the only two terms in contention, unfortunately, because academics love a pissing contest. Middle fingers to the term I personally hate, “cosmodernism.”

[–] StripedMonkey@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago

Are atanmodernism and cscmodernism a thing?

[–] Donkter@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Modern is defined as the current year of whatever writer coined the term. So after writing about the "modern" day for a century...

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] yesman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

This was supposed to be a synthases of modern and post-modern, but it seems to me they took the worst parts of modernism and the straw-person caricature of the postmodern and mixed them in a blender.

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Especially when the periods defined by these terms are often different time frames depending on the field.

[–] ksigley@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago

There really is an xkcd for everything.

[–] floo@retrolemmy.com 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The word “modern “means different things in different contexts. This comic is making a joke about mixing them.

For example, in the context of Art History, both of the terms Modern and Modernism are typically capitalized to make the distinction between the colloquial form.

[–] match@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

i propose we use skibidi here