In 1956, the heroes of the past have faded into oblivion with the passage of time. Although The Flash had already made a name for himself during his golden age, he had lost his comic book series by this time, and his last appearance in the JSA was a few years ago. At a time when the veterans are withering, DC has decided to keep the Flash's name alive among a new generation of readers. Editor Julius Schwartz agreed to take on the task on the condition that he create a completely new character.

At the time, DC had a comic book journal called "Showcase", and each issue told the story of a different character. It was used as a testing bed for new comics, so that readers could see how readers reacted before launching a new series of comics. The new Flash debuted in Showcase Issue 4, the first successful character in Showcase Showcase.

The new Flash, named Barry Allen, is a forensic science expert with the Police Department's forensic team. He was a slow man, but one day, a lightning bolt struck the medicine cabinet in his lab, dousing him with a strange mixture of chemicals, and Barry found that in his eyes, the world became like a movie in slow motion, and he himself could move through it at a very high speed. Barry is reminded of his former idol: the old Flash from the comics. So, he put on a fiery red dress, and a yellow lightning bolt on his chest was particularly eye-catching—the Flash was reborn.

Over the next few years, the new generation of Flashes continued to appear in Showcase 3 times before winning back their own comic series in 1959. The new Flash borrows a lot of cinematic techniques, such as freeze frame, slow motion, replay, etc., to show the high-speed action of the protagonist, giving readers a refreshing feeling and achieving great success. The silver age of American comics officially began.

Soon, a new generation of Green Lantern was also on display in Showcase. His name was Hal Jordan, and he was a young and handsome test pilot, strong-willed and fearless. A crashed spaceship changes his life forever: the alien visitor inside is a member of the Green Lantern Force to maintain the security of the galaxy, and he passed the Ring of Energy to Hal before he died, and entrusted him with the mission and responsibility of the Green Light. Hal quickly learned to use the ring with ease, stood out from the Green Lantern Force, and resolved the crises of the Earth, Galaxy, and Green Lantern Force many times, becoming recognized as the "Greatest Green Lantern".

After that, characters such as Hawkman and Atomman were also reborn. These characters have a very different origin, background, and appearance from the Golden Age, and their abilities have improved. They run faster, fly higher, have more power, and more importantly, they are more contemporary. Many new characters, such as Elongated Man and Blue Beatle, have also appeared. The time for new heroes has finally arrived.

After the return of The Flash and Green Lantern, DC followed the Showcase approach to another comic, Valorant and the Fearless, experimenting with new comic book ideas. In its 28th issue, a "new version" of JSA was introduced, a powerful team: the Justice League of America / JLA. A few months later, the Justice League began an independent serialization.

The original seven founding members of the Justice League were: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman. Soon Green Arrow joined in. Over the years, the members have fluctuated greatly, with all sorts of newcomers joining, the original founders having dropped out for a while, and even the two stars, Superman and Batman, have left and returned to the team. During this period, the members interacted with each other relatively little, but it was already fully displayed as a team of heroes.

At the time when JLA was gaining popularity, readers were calling for its key members' assistants to form their own teams. So DC decided to give it a try: in 1964, in the 54th issue of "Valorant and Dauntless", three teenagers appeared in a team, they were Batman's partner Robin, Aqualad's assistant Aqualad, and the Flash's assistant Kid Flash. Soon Wonder Woman's sister Wonder Girl and Green Arrow's assistant Speedy joined, and they had their own team name - Teen Titans.

Teen Titans have gone through many historical periods, with many new members joining one after another, such as Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Red Star, etc., and the team names have changed repeatedly, New Teen Titans, New Titans, or simply Titans. But its essence has not changed: breaking away from the shadow of the elders and embarking on its own journey, there are not only the joys and dreams of youth, but also the troubles and sorrows of growth. Although the founding five have now gone their separate ways, some continue on their chosen paths in life, and some have gone to rest, the glittering statues of the five in front of the T-shaped building of the Titans headquarters will forever inspire their successors, the new young heroes.

After hibernation and fumbling, the comic industry has come out of the woods, but at the time, it was still just a children's book. Although the 1966 live-action Batman TV series became a national craze, attracting children and adults alike, its plot was too light (the comic-like adverbs "POW!" and "BANG!" appeared when hitting people), but instead gave the world the impression that comics were such hilarious and absurd. Although the series was a huge success and attracted some new readers to the comics, sales plummeted as the episodes ended and the bat fever subsided.

The content of mainstream comics is greatly restricted by regulations, and they have to make up story after story in the midst of whimsical but innocuous whims. Heroes are constantly battling aliens, monsters, being made bigger and smaller by mad scientists, or traveling through time and space - it's time to face reality. While mainstream comics don't focus on social movements as much as underground comics, the wave of freedom has influenced it as well. Many cartoonists are also at the same age as the "rebellious generation" and resonate with their ideas.

When DC screenwriter Danny O'Neal took over Green Lantern, the Green Lantern comics were facing the fate of being canceled. In order to attract readers, O'Neill decided to try something "experimental". One of the changes is to let Green Arrow and Green Lantern travel together, and Green Lantern will no longer follow the Green Lantern Force to fight on one planet after another in outer space, but will be based on social reality and become the spokesperson for the people at the bottom.

In the acclaimed issue 76 of Green Lantern/Green Arrow, an old black man bluntly says to Green Lantern: "I know a lot about you. How do you work for blue-skinned people, how do you help orange-skinned people on a certain planet, you do so many things for purple-skinned people...... There's only one color of skin you've never cared about—blacks!"

This scene became one of the most classic images in the history of American comics. The suffering and vicissitudes of the old black man, the guilt and helplessness of the Green Lantern, are vividly portrayed in the highly realistic style of the painter Neil Adams. This is the first time that superheroes have questioned themselves because of social issues. In the following issue, Green Light explores issues of religion, feminism, environmental pollution, juvenile drug abuse, and Native American rights.

However, there is a potential danger in going the realistic route, and it makes people see the helplessness of heroes: to make a hero face a social problem is to make him admit defeat, because even if superheroes with divine powers do exist, such problems cannot be solved. Therefore, although such current affairs are deeply relevant and practical, they do not promote sales. Readers don't seem to want to have a comic come out every month to remind them how cruel reality is. More than a year later, the Green Lantern comics still haven't escaped the end of being retracted. But DC is still proud of these stories. It later published cartoons such as The Eagle and the Dove, which focused on current affairs and politics. "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" has also become a hero comic of this genre, and the ideology and artistry are excellent. The brief journey of Green Lantern and Green Arrow on the road in search of the true American spirit became one of the fondest memories that would later affect both characters.

Unwilling to be constrained, artists began to challenge the authority of the CCA step by step, and each small victory was a step towards freedom. This is how the limits are broken little by little. The Comics Act was amended to allow depictions of drug use as negative examples. At the same time, classic horror images such as vampires and werewolves were banned. As time passed, anti-heroes appeared, bad cops could be represented, and comics gradually moved away from absurd alternate stories. While readers appreciate more in-depth stories, they are increasingly not satisfied with mere heroes.

In the late '70s and early '80s, the U.S. comic market underwent a dramatic transformation. The readership of comics has changed more clearly: in addition to the average teenage readership, the comic book fan base is gradually becoming a force. They fanatically sought after ace cartoonists such as Neil Adams, collected their works, and became so-called "comic book collectors". They also hold comic conventions and publish fanzines. There are many manga writers and artists who started out with doujinshi. Since the age of readers has increased, the adult-oriented scenes in the manga have also increased correspondingly, from the technique, storyboard, to printing, and even the quality of the cover, there has been a huge improvement.

The "adult manga" in mainstream manga began to grow like never before. Adult comics here do not refer to eroticism, but to mature adult readers. They involve more political and social issues, and engage in moral reflection and discussion, although they no longer pretend to be blind to real sex and violence, and they are not strictly explicit. Still, publishers are no longer just about comics, but they still don't dare to go too far from the tried-and-true theme of superheroes, which they are built on.

DC rewrote Swamp Monsters. It has always been a medire seller as a thriller comic, but with a new British author, Alan Moore, taking over as screenwriter, the old character has been rejuvenated. In Moore's writing, the swamp monster is no longer a painful scientist, but a caregiver of nature's ecology. Moore not only adds psychological depth to the ugly-looking monster, but also skillfully integrates social realities into the story: women's rights, the drug controversy, gun control in the United States, and most importantly, the environmental movement. At a time when painters were generally valued over screenwriters, Moore's genius made people think of not many painters, but Alan Moore's name. It is no longer a simple thriller comic, but a serious reflection on human nature. It wasn't long before DC officially freed it from the rigid comic book rules and put another label on the cover — "for adult readers." After decades, mainstream comics have finally come of age.

Classic characters such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have also been rewritten, making heroes move from idealized altars to real lives full of hardships. The hallmark of this reform, Frank Miller's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns," has received critical reviews and praise from media outlets, including The New York Times, the Book Review and Rolling Stone. This is one of the great accrets of mainstream hero comics. The Batman comic book series thus set the tone for the next few decades – dark, cold, withdrawn, and unscrupulous.

In 1986 DC published Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, which was still ostensibly a "superhero" comic, but it was not so much a heroic story as a radical subversion of fifty years of heroic comics. Alan Moore inherited his predecessors Golding, Huxley, Orwell and other members of the "dystopian" thinking, completely stripped off the halo of heroes. Heroes are no longer saviors, but ruthless rulers. They have great power, but does absolute power necessarily lead to absolute corruption? They are the watchmen of the world - but who can watch over them?

At the same time, Moore also created another comic, Venddetta, which also created a cold world under totalitarian rule. This profound reflection on humanity and power has gone far beyond comics, and even beyond many literary works, yet its expression, especially Watchmen, cannot be made without comics. As a result, "Watchmen" has won classic status, and has become the only comic in history to win the international science fiction "Hugo Award". People have finally realized that there is more to it than hero comics. Comics is not just a battle for people in straits, but a form of communication comparable to literature, but for fifty years it has been ignored by many, including the cartoonists themselves. "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen" not only have a pivotal position in the history of American comics, but also a symbol of the beginning of a new era in American comics.