What would DC be like if it started in the Early 80's?

[Flamma 1]

As a connoisseur of various fiction series, I notice that decade trends tend to be very apparent when it comes to two different works. (For example, compare all the animated versions of the TMNT, you'll see what I mean.)

 

So this brings me to the question. What if the DC manga and anime started in the Early 1980's instead of the 1990's?

 

My own speculation would be that judging by the trends of 80's shows compared to 90's shows, is that shows from the 1980's tend to be a lot brighter and lighthearted. I suppose that it would be the same for DC.
 

The last thing I'd add is the elephant in the room. In the 80's, the Soviet Union was still alive and kicking, and with the inclusion of the FBI in DC, I would put a safe bet that the KGB would also make an appearance of some sort, considering that the 1980's was the absolute zenith of the Japanese Communist Party. Perhaps the BO has something to do with it? We've seen them take out high profile targets plenty of times.

What are yall's thoughts on an 80's DC?

[AnimeOtakuDrew 18]

The tone of the series, I believe, has more to do with Aoyama-sensei And what he wanted to do with it than it does with the decade in which it was released. One might argue that, had Aoyama-sensei started Conan ten years earlier, he may very well have chosen a different direction and tone for it, but that comes down to the mindset Aoyama-sensei was in during that time, which nobody but he could accurately attest to that.

 

As Conan has evolved with the times with regards to technology, I don't think that part of the series would be any different today than what it is now. As for early on, the only technology we really saw was the gadgetry invented by Agasa-hakasefor Conan to use. I really don't think that would have been very different. Gadgets similar to Conan's have been appearing in the James Bond films since the 60s, so in a 1980s Conan, I still see Agasa as the eccentric Q-like inventor that provides Conan with amazing gadgets of the same caliber.

 

I don't know how much, if at all, the existence of the Soviet Union affected Japan, so for the average episode of of the series, I doubt there would have been much difference but I could be completely wrong. I do agree that the KGB would have featured in an 80s Conan. In what way they would have been included, I don't have the information to really say. If the Japanese were largely sympathetic to the Soviet Union, then the KGB would have featured in a heroic role, similar to the FBI. If Japan experienced anything like the "Red Fear" we experienced during the Cold War, then it would be entirely possible that the Black Organization would have had ties to the KGB and/or received funding or intel from them.

 

Finally, there is the amount of time covered by the series. As It stands now, the amount of time from the first chapter to the most recent is a subject of much debate (one of the more recent chapters had Ran making the observation that it had been less than a year, but if you accept the theory that much of the series is presented out of order, that observation could happen earlier than commonly thought and the overall timeline could be longer), but even the longest estimates have it at no more than a year and a half (as far as I have seen, at least). If the series had an additional decade of run time, Aoyama-sensei would pretty much have been forced to acknowledge the passing of time by now, and I believe the series timeline would incorporate a minimum of two and a half to three years.

 

These are my observations on how the series would differ had Aoyama-sensei started it in the 80s rather than the 90s. Now, had it started in the 60s or 70s (the time of classics such as Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy, Mach Go Go Go/Speed Racer, and Beast King GoLion/Voltron) I believe it would have been a very different series, but I don't think the Conan of the 80s would have such drastic differences. Just my opinion, though.

[detectiveRJB 15]

Good chance is end now!