History Main / GenreTurningPoint

** Finally, it, together with the [[Creator/ToeiAnimation Toei]]'s other big hit ''Anime/SailorMoon'', and the then-fairly new ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon]]'' anime, was pivotal in the explosion of anime and manga in the West. When these series reached the shores of the US, Canada, and Latin America in the later part of the 90s, they caught fire among kids who had never seen anything like them before, having until then grown up with either {{Zany Cartoon}}s, {{Edutainment Show}}s, low-budget MerchandiseDriven cartoons with LimitedAnimation, and Creator/{{Disney}}. For [[AnimationAgeGhetto various reasons]], prior anime imports were either preschool-aged series that didn't look much different from some of the cartoons at the time or had been notorious for {{Bowdleris|e}}ation and {{Macekre}}s. but while these three shows didn't fully dodge these pitfalls, they still remained faithful enough to the source material to be successful without wholly offending adult fans. What followed these GatewaySeries was a flood of Japanese animated series and comics in the late '90s and '00s, many of them initially aimed at a kid-friendly {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} market but eventually including more mature stories as the audience that grew up with them became adults themselves, while Hollywood filmmakers increasingly drew influence from anime for action scenes and storytelling. Gene Park, [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/03/08/akira-toriyama-dragon-ball-appreciation/ writing]] for ''The Washington Post'' upon the death of ''Dragon Ball'' creator Creator/AkiraToriyama, stated that "[t]here is hardly a space in pop culture today that hasn't been touched by Akira Toriyama's art."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDoverBoys'' (1942) is a double turning point for American animation. It marks the point were Creator/{{Warner|Bros}}'s animators stopped aping Creator/{{Disney}} and started experimenting with much more stylized action. It also marks the point when Creator/ChuckJones went from the junior director who did the ''Sniffles the Mouse'' cartoons to a major innovator.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (1992-1995, 1997-1999) allowed comic book superhero animated series to move past the AnimationAgeGhetto of the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'', with heroes and villains that have complex motivations and (often) tragic backstories, and spawned a very well-remembered [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse franchise]]. It also proved that an animated show could be darker and deeper and have epic story lines while still appealing to children, and without alienating adults, which remains a major aspect in action/adventure shows to this day. Finally, it was the first TV cartoon to feature realistic handguns instead of ''Franchise/StarWars''-inspired laser blasters.

** Finally, it, together with the [[ToeiAnimation Toei]]'s other big hit ''Anime/SailorMoon'', and the then-fairly new ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon]]'' anime, was pivotal in the explosion of anime and manga in the West. When these series reached the shores of the US, Canada, and Latin America in the later part of the 90s, they caught fire among kids who had never seen anything like them before, having until then grown up with either {{Zany Cartoon}}s, {{Edutainment Show}}s, low-budget MerchandiseDriven cartoons with LimitedAnimation, and Creator/{{Disney}}. For [[AnimationAgeGhetto various reasons]], prior anime imports were either preschool-aged series that didn't look much different from some of the cartoons at the time or had been notorious for {{Bowdleris|e}}ation and {{Macekre}}s. but while these three shows didn't fully dodge these pitfalls, they still remained faithful enough to the source material to be successful without wholly offending adult fans. What followed these GatewaySeries was a flood of Japanese animated series and comics in the late '90s and '00s, many of them initially aimed at a kid-friendly {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} market but eventually including more mature stories as the audience that grew up with them became adults themselves, while Hollywood filmmakers increasingly drew influence from anime for action scenes and storytelling. Gene Park, [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/03/08/akira-toriyama-dragon-ball-appreciation/ writing]] for ''The Washington Post'' upon the death of ''Dragon Ball'' creator Creator/AkiraToriyama, stated that "[t]here is hardly a space in pop culture today that hasn't been touched by Akira Toriyama's art."

** Finally, it, together with the ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime, was pivotal in the explosion of anime and manga in the West. When the ''Dragon Ball Z'' and ''Sailor Moon'' animes reached the shores of the US, Canada, and Latin America in the mid-'90s, they caught fire among kids who had never seen anything like them before, having until then grown up with either {{Edutainment Show}}s, low-budget MerchandiseDriven cartoons with LimitedAnimation, and Creator/{{Disney}}. For [[AnimationAgeGhetto various reasons]], prior anime imports had been notorious for {{Bowdleris|e}}ation and {{Macekre}}s, but while ''Dragon Ball Z'' and ''Sailor Moon'' didn't fully dodge these pitfalls, they still remained faithful enough to the source material to be successful without wholly offending adult fans. What followed these GatewaySeries was a flood of Japanese animated series and comics in the late '90s and '00s, many of them initially aimed at a kid-friendly {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} market but eventually including more mature stories as the audience that grew up with them became adults themselves, while Hollywood filmmakers increasingly drew influence from anime for action scenes and storytelling. Gene Park, [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/03/08/akira-toriyama-dragon-ball-appreciation/ writing]] for ''The Washington Post'' upon the death of ''Dragon Ball'' creator Creator/AkiraToriyama, stated that "[t]here is hardly a space in pop culture today that hasn't been touched by Akira Toriyama's art."

* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' were back-to-back smash successes showed that animated features made outside of Disney could become huge successes, resulting in other studios getting in the game and making films of their own. .

* In the American comic industry, the creation of the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica in 1940 began a pivot for the medium that nobody would've anticipated. While simply made to be a place to put characters who didn't sell that well, this was the first time that original works were in the same book together in the medium. This began building up the idea for creating a SharedUniverse for their characters, and the beginning of the {{Crossover}} in the medium, ideas that would lock the two big main comic companies into place in the far future for the worlds they would create.

* While companion style {{dolls}} have existed as long as dolls have, ''Toys/AmericanGirl'' helped popularize its particular size and style of dolls as opposed to the more common cloth rag dolls -- 18 inches tall, often with cloth torsos and vinyl limbs -- in the 1980s and 1990s. Their popularity and interest [[FollowTheLeader led to other companies releasing dolls in their style]], including adding companion stories and collections for characters.

* The publication of ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumber1'' in the summer of 1938 heralded the birth of the {{superhero}} genre when it introduced the American public to ComicBook/{{Superman}}, the ultimate escapist hero for a beleaguered country struggling through the TheGreatDepression and the dark days preceding UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. While [[OnceOriginalNowCommon it might be difficult to appreciate this today]], the character was truly like ''nothing'' anyone had ever seen before: he was a herculean strongman from the Heavens who effortlessly invoked the awe and wonder of a mythic hero from the Ancient World, yet his adventures took place in an unmistakably modern cityscape bedeviled by contemporary social ills like poverty and crime, and his backstory -- as [[AnImmigrantsTale an immigrant from a distant world]] raised by a pair of honest farmers from the Heartland -- unmistakably marked him as a uniquely American bastion of virtue. Almost overnight, UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks began in earnest, and superhero stories became a major cultural phenomenon. American pop culture has never been the same since.

* An example that isn't actually a "work": the outrage caused by Fredric Wertham's 1954 book ''Seduction of the Innocent'' led to the creation of UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode. This killed horror and crime comics, then among the biggest hits for the industry, while saving the superhero genre, which was sinking at the time. This also led Creator/MarvelComics to give Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby the green light to experiment, as they were hurting in the wake of this turn in the medium. (Which in turn led to the Marvel Age.) All of this led to the terms "comic book character" and "superhero" being almost interchangeable in the North American market.
* UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks in the late '50s and '60s was when the modern superhero comic took form. It introduced more flawed and relatable characters, more sophisticated themes, and more complicated plots, leading to an eventual shift in the target audience for comics from children to late teens/young adults.

* For better or for worse, UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks in the '70s rewrote the rules of the superhero genre, with a new generation of creators proudly [[DarkerAndEdgier pushing the boundaries of acceptable content]] after finally breaking free of the UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode's heavy censorship.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (both published in 1986) are credited with kicking off UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* Starting in 1988, Creator/ToddMcFarlane gained much acclaim for his artwork on ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', especially because he drew with exaggerated details and body contortions and extremely dynamic action scenes. This style later paved the way for Creator/RobLiefeld as writer and artist of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', where he created ComicBook/{{Cable}}. His work on ''Cable'' and ''ComicBook/XForce'' kicked off the art style of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (both published in 1986) are credited with kicking off UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks. ''The Dark Knight Returns'' was a grim classical tragedy that presented a hypothetical look at Bruce Wayne's final days as Franchise/{{Batman}}, portraying the character as a violent and antisocial loner driven to bitter self-destruction in his twilight years; ''Watchmen'', meanwhile, was a sprawling [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]] epic set in a painstakingly detailed alternate version of the late 20th century where superheroes really existed, and it featured a cast of broken and self-doubting antiheroes who subtly satirized common character archetypes in the superhero genre. While fundamentally different in many ways, both stories explicitly set out to [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruct]] the superhero genre by introducing political subtext and psychological depth to a popular juvenile escapist fantasy, showing that it was possible to write superhero stories for adults.\\
\\
Of course, both books ''also'' included levels of sex and violence that were unheard-of in mainstream superhero comics at the time, which somewhat overshadowed everything else that made them notable. And when later creators tried to copy the most superficial aspects of Miller and Moore's work without bothering to copy their writing quality or their thematic richness (possibly encouraged by editors and executives who [[FollowTheLeader wanted to replicate their success]]), it fueled persistent criticisms about mainstream comic book publishers [[PanderingToTheBase aggressively pandering to adult fans]] with excessively racy content--which arguably played a major role in codifying the modern "fanboy" stereotype, and likely contributed to the decline of the comic book industry in the 1990s.

* [[ChildrensComics Children's and YA comics and graphic novels]] had existed long before Creator/RainaTelgemeier, but they [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/03/raina-telgemeier-cartoonist-smile-guts-books/677180/ flourished in popularity]] after her work on ''ComicBook/TheBabySittersClub'' from 2006-08 and her 2010 graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Smile|RainaTelgemeier}}'', using the medium to tell SliceOfLife {{Coming of Age Stor|y}}ies based on her own childhood in a manner akin to Creator/JudyBlume in literature. Her success showed publishers that there was a vast, untapped market of kids and teenagers interested in comics that weren't about superheroes, such that Creator/GeneLuenYang, creator of ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'', credited her with creating an entire new category of comic books, the middle-grade graphic novel.

* The 2013 documentary ''Film/{{Blackfish}}'', an exposé of [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals animal abuse]] and [[NoOSHACompliance unsafe working conditions]] (including spotlighting the 2010 death of trainer Dawn Brancheau) at theme parks like Ride/SeaWorld that boasted marine animals like orcas and dolphins as major attractions, kicked off a backlash against such parks that forced them to heavily change their practices. [=SeaWorld=] announced the retirement of its famous Shamu orca show, many other marine parks and zoos introduced new animal welfare guidelines and shifted the focus of their shows from having animals perform stunts and tricks to letting people observe them in simulacra of their natural environments, and parks that didn't adapt to this shift (such as the Miami Seaquarium) came under [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/11/miami-seaquarium-orca-dolphin-animal-rights growing pressure]] from regulators and activists.

* The Racer at Kings Island in UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} revolutionized roller coasters upon its opening in 1972, giving them a second wind in TheSeventies after decades of decline while demonstrating that wooden coasters, seen as increasingly obsolete in the face of faster, looping steel coasters, still had plenty of life left in them.
* The opening of Ride/TheWizardingWorldOfHarryPotter at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]] in 2010 decisively pulled the Universal UsefulNotes/{{Orlando}} Resort out from the shadow of nearby Walt Disney World and made it into an attraction in its own right, demonstrating that parks not named Disney could compete with it on its bread-and-butter of production values and licensed properties.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (both published in 1986) are credited with kicking off MediaNotes/{{the Dark Age of Comic Books}}. ''The Dark Knight Returns'' was a grim classical tragedy that presented a hypothetical look at Bruce Wayne's final days as Franchise/{{Batman}}, portraying the character as a violent and antisocial loner driven to bitter self-destruction in his twilight years; ''Watchmen'', meanwhile, was a sprawling [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]] epic set in a painstakingly detailed alternate version of the late 20th century where superheroes really existed, and it featured a cast of broken and self-doubting antiheroes who subtly satirized common character archetypes in the superhero genre. While fundamentally different in many ways, both stories explicitly set out to [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruct]] the superhero genre by introducing political subtext and psychological depth to a popular juvenile escapist fantasy, showing that it was possible to write superhero stories for adults.\\

* Starting in 1988, Creator/ToddMcFarlane gained much acclaim for his artwork on ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', especially because he drew with exaggerated details and body contortions and extremely dynamic action scenes. This style later paved the way for Creator/RobLiefeld as writer and artist of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', where he created ComicBook/{{Cable}}. His work on ''Cable'' and ''ComicBook/XForce'' kicked off the art style of MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* The publication of ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumber1'' in the Summer of 1938 heralded the birth of the {{superhero}} genre when it introduced the American public to ComicBook/{{Superman}}--the ultimate escapist hero for a beleaguered country struggling through the {{the Great Depression}} and the dark days preceding UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. While [[OnceOriginalNowCommon it might be difficult to appreciate this today]], the character was truly like ''nothing'' anyone had ever seen before: he was a herculean strongman from the Heavens who effortlessly invoked the awe and wonder of a mythic hero from the Ancient World, yet his adventures took place in an unmistakably modern cityscape bedeviled by contemporary social ills like poverty and crime, and his backstory--as [[AnImmigrantsTale an immigrant from a distant world]] raised by a pair of honest farmers from the Heartland--unmistakably marked him as a uniquely American bastion of virtue. Almost overnight, MediaNotes/{{the Golden Age Of Comic Books}} began in earnest, and superhero stories became a major cultural phenomenon. American pop culture has never been the same since.
* In the American comic industry, the creation of The ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica began a pivot for the medium that nobody would've anticipated. While simply made to be a place to put characters who didn't sell that well, this was the first time that original works were in the same book together in the medium. This began building up the idea for creating a SharedUniverse for their characters, and the beginning of the {{Crossover}} in the medium. Ideas that would lock the two big main comic companies into place in the far future for the worlds they would create.
* An example that isn't actually a "work": the outrage caused by the book ''Seduction of the Innocent'' led to the creation of MediaNotes/TheComicsCode. This killed horror and crime comics, then among the biggest hits for the industry, while saving the superhero genre, which was sinking at the time. This also led Creator/MarvelComics to give Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby the green light to experiment, as they were hurting in the wake of this turn in the medium. (Which in turn led to the Marvel Age.) All of this led to the terms "comic book character" and "superhero" being almost interchangeable in the North American market.
* MediaNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} changed superhero comics forever. It introduced more flawed and relatable characters, more sophisticated themes, and more complicated plots. This led to an eventual shift in the target audience for comics from children to late teens/young adults.
** It is generally accepted that [[Franchise/TheFlash Barry Allen, the second Flash]], was the character that kicked off the Silver Age, complete with sleek, form-fitting, cape-less costume, more [[ScienceMarchesOn scientific...ish]]...origin, and a RoguesGallery of gimmick villains.
** ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' introduced a family team whose members clashed and bickered from time to time, and it showed that superhero stories could firmly anchor themselves in the real world without sacrificing any of their inherent fun. The Four lived in the real world of 1960s New York rather than a fictional CityOfAdventure like [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Metropolis]] or [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham]], they didn't bother with [[SecretIdentity Secret Identities]], they were world-famous scientists and philanthropists in addition to being superheroes, their nemesis was the truly dangerous dictator of an Eastern European nation rather than a simple criminal, and their famous blue jumpsuits were a more realistic alternative to the flamboyant costumes that other superheroes wore. On top of that, The Thing pioneered the idea of a superhero who [[CursedWithAwesome viewed his powers as a curse]].
** ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Hulk got a lot of attention as an ambiguous hero who was neither entirely a superhero nor entirely a monster, and his series pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code Authority by depicting the United States military as antagonists (the Code stipulated that comic books couldn't portray respected organizations in a negative light). With his anger, his inherently flawed nature, and his troubled relationship with authority figures, he also went on to become a counterculture icon, showing the potential for superheroes to act as a voice for the youth.
** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': The series broke the mold with a teen superhero who was not a sidekick and had no mentor or guide, was [[HeroWithBadPublicity hated by most of the public]], and initially [[MoneyDearBoy tried to use his powers to make money]].[[note]] Okay, so ComicBook/PlasticMan started out as a thief, but Spider-Man still had a huge impact on the genre.[[/note]] ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'', where he resolves to protect the innocent [[TheAtoner to atone for]] [[MyGreatestFailure selfishly refusing to stop the burglar that went on to kill his beloved uncle]], definitively established him as a flawed young man [[ComingOfAgeStory with a lot of growing up to do]], rather than a moralistic crusader out to punish evildoers.
** In general, Creator/MarvelComics helped breathe new life into the {{superhero}} genre with stories that were ([[UnintentionalPeriodPiece for their day]]) unabashedly contemporary, reflecting the changing ''status quo'' of the 1960s. The Fantastic Four's origin story was explicitly tied to UsefulNotes/{{the Space Race}}, Spider-Man and the Hulk's origins were explicitly tied to the onset of the atomic age, ComicBook/IronMan's origin was explicitly tied to the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, the X-Men started out as a thinly-veiled allegory for {{the Generation Gap}} (and later reflected the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement with stories about [[FantasticRacism prejudice and bigotry]]), and ComicBook/DoctorDoom was effectively the living embodiment of everything that American readers found scary about the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. While most of that stuff inevitably became dated with time, it played a major role in the superhero genre moving beyond its [[TheGreatDepression Depression]]-era roots and becoming a true intergenerational tradition.
* For better or for worse, MediaNotes/{{the Bronze Age of Comic Books}} rewrote the rules of the superhero genre forever, with a new generation of creators proudly [[DarkerAndEdgier pushing the boundaries of acceptable content]] after finally breaking free of the MediaNotes/{{the Comics Code}}'s heavy censorship.
** Creator/JackKirby's move to Creator/DCComics resulted in the creation of ''ComicBook/NewGods'', often cited as the beginning of the Bronze Age. In its day, it was one of the most unabashedly experimental superhero comics ever published, freely mixing SpaceOpera and NewAge spiritualism with a vividly imagined original mythological system. While [[VindicatedByHistory not a big hit in its day]], it inspired many future creators to push the classic tropes and iconography of the superhero genre in bold new directions, often in ways that challenged the fundamental underpinnings of the genre.
** Creator/GerryConway's classic ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' story "ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied" was one of the first mainstream superhero stories that unambiguously featured [[KilledOffForReal the death of a regular character]]. Not only was Gwen Stacy's murder treated with utmost gravity and seriousness, it completely changed the course of the series, and it was made abundantly clear that her death would come with [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore permanent consequences]]. While arguably the start of [[StuffedInTheFridge a very controversial trend]] in comics, this helped demonstrate that superhero stories could be more than just joyful escapism, and they were capable of examining mature themes like grief and death. ComicBook/JeanGrey's tragic death in "ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga" (published around seven years later) just cemented that fact.
** Dennis O'Neil's ''ComicBook/GreenLantern[=/=]ComicBook/GreenArrow'' fizzled out pretty quickly in its day, but it's now considered an important part of comic book history for being one of the first explicitly political superhero comics. After reimagining Oliver Queen as a street-smart modern revolutionary who actually ''did'' [[JustLikeRobinHood rob from the rich and give to the poor]], he built an entire series around the character confronting contemporary social issues alongside his more conservative lawman {{foil}} Hal Jordan, with plenty of BothSidesHaveAPoint moments. Many of its more dramatic moments--like Hal being [[WhatTheHellHero called out]] for failing to fight for African-American rights, and Oliver [[VerySpecialEpisode discovering that his sidekick Speedy has become addicted to heroin]]--are still frequently cited as major milestones in the comic book industry's move toward social consciousness.
** When Creator/ChrisClaremont took over ''ComicBook/XMen'' in the 1970s, he got major critical attention for writing superhero stories where drama and characterization--not action and spectacle--were the primary draws. Most Creator/MarvelComics series had already been soap operas before that point, but Claremont's writing made the soap truly operatic in scope. His focus on drama also came with a degree of [[BlackAndGreyMorality moral ambiguity]] that was previously unheard-of in superhero comics. Most famously: he drastically {{retool}}ed the X-Men's nemesis ComicBook/{{Magneto}} by giving him a backstory, revealing that he was actually a tormented [[WellIntentionedExtremist political extremist]] trying to fight humanity's oppression of Mutants, and that he grew to hate humanity because he was [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust sent to Auschwitz]] as a child. Most mainstream modern superhero comics, including the deconstructions of Creator/AlanMoore and others, were changed forever by the popularity of Claremont's writing style. [[note]] Creator/JohnByrne's art had something to do with it too, but Claremont stayed on the title a lot longer and had a lot more influence.[[/note]]

* Creator/ToddMcFarlane gained much acclaim for his artwork on ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', especially because he drew with exaggerated details and body contortions. This style later paved the way for Creator/RobLiefeld as writer and artist of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', where he created ComicBook/{{Cable}}. His work on ''Cable'' and ''ComicBook/XForce'' kicked off the art style of MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' changed NewspaperComics permanently. It gave strips the license to address deep and (sometimes) dark issues and not just be simple gag-a-day escapism. However, Charles Schulz's signature simple artwork gave newspapers the idea to reduce the size of the comic panels and force all the future artists to simplify their artwork to the point where all the art look like rushed cut-and-paste jobs. Again with ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', which carried the intelligent and philosophical underpinnings of Peanuts forward while marking the beginning of the pushback against the "Schulzian" artistic simplification.
* Harvey Pekar's ''ComicBook/AmericanSplendor'' showed that comics could depict adult life without idealizing it.
* ''ComicBook/LutherArkwright'' was an independent New Wave style ScienceFiction comic made by Creator/BryanTalbot in the 1970s. The techniques and storytelling he used have had large impact on many other writers and artists. Creator/WarrenEllis has said "LUTHER ARKWRIGHT invented the tools. ARKWRIGHT informs Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Creator/NeilGaiman, Creator/GarthEnnis, me, and all the rest of us. It's probably Anglophone comics' single most important experimental work."
%%* ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' started in 1977 and has been the most popular British comic of the past few decades, granted it's faded a bit but it was the starting place for influential creators like Creator/AlanMoore and Creator/GrantMorrison.
%%** More than just them, too. Chances are if there's a significant British creator from the last 30 years, he's almost certainly done something for 2000AD, even if it was just a one-shot Future Shock.
* Creator/AlanMoore starts writing ComicBook/SwampThing. From one writer no one in America had heard of on a dying third-string title at DC we eventually got the whole of Creator/VertigoComics, Marvel's Max Imprint and not a few smaller publishing houses (Avatar, for example).
* Creator/ImageComics did a lot to change what was possible for both creators and the comic book medium.
** Before they were formed by seven former Creator/MarvelComics creators, the only mainstream options were Marvel and Creator/DCComics when it came to reaching a wide audiences that wasn't Creator/ArchieComics. Neither company allowed the creator to own what they made, and only gave them modest pay despite playing a part in the creation of {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s. This in turn lead to the seven creators to form Image, under the idea that the creator will ''always'' own what they make. It was an instant success, even beating out ''DC'' at the time. Furthermore, it pushed the boundaries of what was possible for a comic book to reach for an audience. With the only option before being superhero comics, the only way to make comics more mature, often non-superhero fare was through small indie companies. Image, having become a place where creators can make their own original IP and succeed, meant there was much greater diversity on the market. This was especially true after the below example.
** ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', published by Image, was the catalyst for changing the landscape of comic book industry. Before, Image was largely superhero-oriented and attempted to be a part of a SharedUniverse. ''The Walking Dead'', being part of its own independent continuity with a non-superhero storyline and mature themes, was an instant success that few could've predicted would happen. This was the point where Image would [[GrowingTheBeard greatly diversify their lineup]], and comics that wouldn't have been possible to be successes before were becoming sellers, especially since neither Marvel or DC would want anything to do with them. Comics like ''ComicBook/{{Phonogram}}'', ''ComicBook/MorningGlories'', ''ComicBook/EastOfWest'', and ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'' were made possible by the success of ''The Walking Dead''.
* Despite of Marvel's changes to the genre in the 1960s, by the turn of the millennium the superhero genre was a large FantasyKitchenSink. The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel reimaginations took the characters back to their basic premises, and made them work in a strictly grounded context, with a cinematic narrative style. Most fantastic stuff was either removed or introduced by DoingInTheWizard, rather than just played straight. And rather to be HoldingOutForAHero, the civilian world has SHIELD, the GovernmentAgencyOfFiction that keeps all potential threats under watch and control. The most successful titles were ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', which introduced [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]], a black Spider-Man; and ComicBook/TheUltimates, a super hero team reimagined as a US military task force. The style was soon adopted by the mainstream Marvel titles, and also by DC Comics.
* The cult success of ''ComicBook/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDF'' with its deadly serious and sophisticated political MilitaryScienceFiction story featuring FunnyAnimal characters marked the true beginning of the MatureAnimalStory genre and a kickstarter to UsefulNotes/FurryFandom as something for adult fans.

* The publication of ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumber1'' in the Summer of 1938 heralded the birth of the {{superhero}} genre when it introduced the American public to ComicBook/{{Superman}}--the ultimate escapist hero for a beleaguered country struggling through the {{the Great Depression}} and the dark days preceding UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. While [[OnceOriginalNowCommon it might be difficult to appreciate this today]], the character was truly like ''nothing'' anyone had ever seen before: he was a herculean strongman from the Heavens who effortlessly invoked the awe and wonder of a mythic hero from the Ancient World, yet his adventures took place in an unmistakably modern cityscape bedeviled by contemporary social ills like poverty and crime, and his backstory--as [[AnImmigrantsTale an immigrant from a distant world]] raised by a pair of honest farmers from the Heartland--unmistakably marked him as a uniquely American bastion of virtue. Almost overnight, UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age Of Comic Books}} began in earnest, and superhero stories became a major cultural phenomenon. American pop culture has never been the same since.

* An example that isn't actually a "work": the outrage caused by the book ''Seduction of the Innocent'' led to the creation of UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode. This killed horror and crime comics, then among the biggest hits for the industry, while saving the superhero genre, which was sinking at the time. This also led Creator/MarvelComics to give Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby the green light to experiment, as they were hurting in the wake of this turn in the medium. (Which in turn led to the Marvel Age.) All of this led to the terms "comic book character" and "superhero" being almost interchangeable in the North American market.
* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} changed superhero comics forever. It introduced more flawed and relatable characters, more sophisticated themes, and more complicated plots. This led to an eventual shift in the target audience for comics from children to late teens/young adults.

* For better or for worse, UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age of Comic Books}} rewrote the rules of the superhero genre forever, with a new generation of creators proudly [[DarkerAndEdgier pushing the boundaries of acceptable content]] after finally breaking free of the UsefulNotes/{{the Comics Code}}'s heavy censorship.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (both published in 1986) are credited with kicking off UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age of Comic Books}}. ''The Dark Knight Returns'' was a grim classical tragedy that presented a hypothetical look at Bruce Wayne's final days as Franchise/{{Batman}}, portraying the character as a violent and antisocial loner driven to bitter self-destruction in his twilight years; ''Watchmen'', meanwhile, was a sprawling [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]] epic set in a painstakingly detailed alternate version of the late 20th century where superheroes really existed, and it featured a cast of broken and self-doubting antiheroes who subtly satirized common character archetypes in the superhero genre. While fundamentally different in many ways, both stories explicitly set out to [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruct]] the superhero genre by introducing political subtext and psychological depth to a popular juvenile escapist fantasy, showing that it was possible to write superhero stories for adults.\\

* Creator/ToddMcFarlane gained much acclaim for his artwork on ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', especially because he drew with exaggerated details and body contortions. This style later paved the way for Creator/RobLiefeld as writer and artist of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', where he created ComicBook/{{Cable}}. His work on ''Cable'' and ''ComicBook/XForce'' kicked off the art style of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' was a surprise sensation in 1989, revitalizing interest in animated features (and helping to kick off UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation in the process) and originating many of the tropes of the Creator/{{Disney}} Renaissance. For years afterward, its musical fantasy structure was the default setting for Western animated features, until it was eventually overtaken by the Creator/{{Pixar}} CGI boom.

* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber revolutionized the high-end [[UsefulNotes/BroadwayAndTheWestEnd Broadway and West End theater]] by popularizing the "megamusical", the musical theater equivalent of the SummerBlockbuster in its emphasis on {{spectacle}}, {{melodrama}}, theatricality, lavish production values, and a mostly [[SungThroughMusical sung-through script]]. His 1981 show ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' is often specifically pointed to as marking the birth of the megamusical, though his earlier shows ''Theatre/JesusChristSuperstar'' (1971) and ''Theatre/{{Evita}}'' (1978) also contained elements of it.

* Starting with ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' in 1985, the many animated television series made by Creator/{{Disney}}, with their higher budgets, better animation, and better writing and storytelling, played a huge role in the birth of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation, showing how television animation could be as capable of genuinely ''good'' works of fiction as animated films could be and breaking the taboo that television animation was all cheap, badly-made MerchandiseDriven schlock.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Doukyusei}}'' revolutionized the entire DatingSim genre upon its release in 1992 by taking full advantage of the fresh, new generation of computer hardware it arrived on, delivering a multi-hour experience with several different routes and made extensive use of a In-Universe Game Clock for timed story events, and as such it ended up being both the Trope Codifier and Trope Maker for many of the tropes that would come to define the whole genre from there on out. In fact, it is probably what can mainly be credited for Dating Sim having a personality outside "living love doll".
* What can be argued to be next big leap in DatingSim genre's evolution after ''Dōkyūsei'', came with the release of ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' in 1994, which can be credited with successfully pulling a TamerAndChaster on the entire genre. By exorcising the pornographic content that the genre was otherwise known for, and instead focusing on lighter, more innocent romances and learning more towards more family friendly comedy, ''Tokimeki Memorial'' became a mainstream smash hit and proved that SexSells didn't necessarily hold true for DatingSim or even VisualNovels in general.

* The publication of ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumber1'' in the Summer of 1938 heralded the birth of the {{superhero}} genre when it introduced the American public to ComicBook/{{Superman}}--the ultimate escapist hero for a beleaguered country struggling through the {{the Great Depression}} and the dark days preceding UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. While [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny it might be difficult to appreciate this today]], the character was truly like ''nothing'' anyone had ever seen before: he was a herculean strongman from the Heavens who effortlessly invoked the awe and wonder of a mythic hero from the Ancient World, yet his adventures took place in an unmistakably modern cityscape bedeviled by contemporary social ills like poverty and crime, and his backstory--as [[AnImmigrantsTale an immigrant from a distant world]] raised by a pair of honest farmers from the Heartland--unmistakably marked him as a uniquely American bastion of virtue. Almost overnight, UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age Of Comic Books}} began in earnest, and superhero stories became a major cultural phenomenon. American pop culture has never been the same since.

** In general, Creator/MarvelComics helped breathe new life into the {{superhero}} genre with stories that were ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny for their day]]) unabashedly contemporary, reflecting the changing ''status quo'' of the 1960s. The Fantastic Four's origin story was explicitly tied to UsefulNotes/{{the Space Race}}, Spider-Man and the Hulk's origins were explicitly tied to the onset of the atomic age, ComicBook/IronMan's origin was explicitly tied to the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, the X-Men started out as a thinly-veiled allegory for {{the Generation Gap}} (and later reflected the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement with stories about [[FantasticRacism prejudice and bigotry]]), and ComicBook/DoctorDoom was effectively the living embodiment of everything that American readers found scary about the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. While most of that stuff inevitably became dated with time, it played a major role in the superhero genre moving beyond its [[TheGreatDepression Depression]]-era roots and becoming a true intergenerational tradition.

** ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' was TSR's first attempt to go beyond a simple DungeonCrawl and create a plotline reminiscent of epic fantasy novels, with the fate of the world at stake. And speaking of novels, it was the also the first instance of tie-in novels for a game setting.

* Creator/HowardStern and Rush Limbaugh, upon their respective national debuts in 1986 and '88, both revolutionized the American radio TalkShow. Stern's [[Radio/TheHowardSternShow eponymous show]] pushed the boundaries of VulgarHumor on the radio while [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity riding the ensuing controversy to ever-greater heights of success and infamy]], leading to a wave of ShockJock radio hosts in TheNineties each trying to outdo Stern and each other. Limbaugh, meanwhile, took the same confrontational style and applied it to politics rather than comedy, exploiting the repeal of the FCC's "Fairness Doctrine"[[note]]The Fairness Doctrine stated that radio and television stations that used public airwaves a) had to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest (often done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials), and b) had to present contrasting viewpoints on such.[[/note]] in 1987 to create a program that wore its right-wing partisanship on its sleeve, leading to a similar proliferation of conservative talk show hosts. Together, Stern and Limbaugh also demonstrated that there was still a lot of life left in non-music radio formats, which had been in decline for decades since the rise of television.

* Creator/HowardStern and Rush Limbaugh, upon their respective national debuts in 1986 and '88, both revolutionized the radio TalkShow. Stern's [[Radio/TheHowardSternShow eponymous show]] pushed the boundaries of VulgarHumor on the radio while [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity riding the ensuing controversy to ever-greater heights of success and infamy]], leading to a wave of ShockJock radio hosts in TheNineties each trying to outdo Stern and each other. Limbaugh, meanwhile, took the same confrontational style and applied it to politics rather than comedy, exploiting the repeal of the FCC's "Fairness Doctrine"[[note]]The Fairness Doctrine stated that radio and television stations that used public airwaves a) had to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest (often done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials), and b) had to present contrasting viewpoints on such.[[/note]] in 1987 to create a program that wore its right-wing partisanship on its sleeve, leading to a similar proliferation of conservative talk show hosts. Together, Stern and Limbaugh also demonstrated that there was still a lot of life left in non-music radio formats, which had been in decline for decades since the rise of television.
* The fallout from Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl XXXVIII halftime show in 2004, described in more detail on the Live-Action TV page, spread beyond just television. Not only did more sexualized and [[ClusterFBomb foul-mouthed]] musicians (including Janet herself) get pushed off of pop radio playlists, the affair also ended the heyday of the radio ShockJock, with many of them vanishing from the airwaves as crackdowns on indecent content gathered steam. This led to a long boom in satellite radio in the late '00s and '10s as edgier music and talk shows became its KillerApp compared to a sanitized terrestrial radio landscape, one that would only peter out in the late '10s with the rise of streaming and {{podcast}}ing. Howard Stern [[ChannelHop moving his show]] from terrestrial radio to Sirius satellite radio (now [=SiriusXM=]) in October 2004 after [[Creator/IHeartMedia Clear Channel]] pulled his show off their stations is perhaps the most visible symbol of how the incident marked the EndOfAnAge in radio and the start of a new one. And with that...

* [[Radio/TheHowardSternShow Howard Stern]] and Rush Limbaugh, upon their respective national debuts in 1986 and '88, both revolutionized the radio TalkShow. Stern's eponymous show pushed the boundaries of VulgarHumor on the radio while [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity riding the ensuing controversy to ever-greater heights of success and infamy]], leading to a wave of ShockJock radio hosts in TheNineties each trying to outdo Stern and each other. Limbaugh, meanwhile, took the same confrontational style and applied it to politics rather than comedy, exploiting the repeal of the FCC's "Fairness Doctrine"[[note]]The Fairness Doctrine stated that radio and television stations that used public airwaves a) had to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest (often done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials), and b) had to present contrasting viewpoints on such.[[/note]] in 1987 to create a program that wore its right-wing partisanship on its sleeve, leading to a similar proliferation of conservative talk show hosts. Together, Stern and Limbaugh also demonstrated that there was still a lot of life left in non-music radio formats, which had been in decline for decades since the rise of television.

** ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'' introduced a family team whose members clashed and bickered from time to time, and it showed that superhero stories could firmly anchor themselves in the real world without sacrificing any of their inherent fun. The Four lived in the real world of 1960s New York rather than a fictional CityOfAdventure like [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Metropolis]] or [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham]], they didn't bother with [[SecretIdentity Secret Identities]], they were world-famous scientists and philanthropists in addition to being superheroes, their nemesis was the truly dangerous dictator of an Eastern European nation rather than a simple criminal, and their famous blue jumpsuits were a more realistic alternative to the flamboyant costumes that other superheroes wore. On top of that, The Thing pioneered the idea of a superhero who [[CursedWithAwesome viewed his powers as a curse]].
** ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Hulk got a lot of attention as an ambiguous hero who was neither entirely a superhero nor entirely a monster, and his series pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code Authority by depicting the United States military as antagonists (the Code stipulated that comic books couldn't portray respected organizations in a negative light). With his anger, his inherently flawed nature, and his troubled relationship with authority figures, he also went on to become a counterculture icon, showing the potential for superheroes to act as a voice for the youth.

** When Creator/ChrisClaremont took over ''Comicbook/XMen'' in the 1970s, he got major critical attention for writing superhero stories where drama and characterization--not action and spectacle--were the primary draws. Most Creator/MarvelComics series had already been soap operas before that point, but Claremont's writing made the soap truly operatic in scope. His focus on drama also came with a degree of [[BlackAndGreyMorality moral ambiguity]] that was previously unheard-of in superhero comics. Most famously: he drastically {{retool}}ed the X-Men's nemesis ComicBook/{{Magneto}} by giving him a backstory, revealing that he was actually a tormented [[WellIntentionedExtremist political extremist]] trying to fight humanity's oppression of Mutants, and that he grew to hate humanity because he was [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust sent to Auschwitz]] as a child. Most mainstream modern superhero comics, including the deconstructions of Creator/AlanMoore and others, were changed forever by the popularity of Claremont's writing style. [[note]] Creator/JohnByrne's art had something to do with it too, but Claremont stayed on the title a lot longer and had a lot more influence.[[/note]]
* Creator/FrankMiller's ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (both published in 1986) are credited with kicking off UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age of Comic Books}}. ''The Dark Knight Returns'' was a grim classical tragedy that presented a hypothetical look at Bruce Wayne's final days as Franchise/{{Batman}}, portraying the character as a violent and antisocial loner driven to bitter self-destruction in his twilight years; ''Watchmen'', meanwhile, was a sprawling [[{{Postmodernism}} postmodern]] epic set in a painstakingly detailed alternate version of the late 20th century where superheroes really existed, and it featured a cast of broken and self-doubting antiheroes who subtly satirized common character archetypes in the superhero genre. While fundamentally different in many ways, both stories explicitly set out to [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruct]] the superhero genre by introducing political subtext and psychological depth to a popular juvenile escapist fantasy, showing that it was possible to write superhero stories for adults.\\

* Creator/ToddMcFarlane gained much acclaim for his artwork on ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'', especially because he drew with exaggerated details and body contortions. This style later paved the way for Creator/RobLiefeld as writer and artist of ''Comicbook/NewMutants'', where he created Comicbook/{{Cable}}. His work on ''Cable'' and ''Comicbook/XForce'' kicked off the art style of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* Creator/AlanMoore starts writing Comicbook/SwampThing. From one writer no one in America had heard of on a dying third-string title at DC we eventually got the whole of Creator/VertigoComics, Marvel's Max Imprint and not a few smaller publishing houses (Avatar, for example).

* Despite of Marvel's changes to the genre in the 1960s, by the turn of the millennium the superhero genre was a large FantasyKitchenSink. The ComicBook/UltimateMarvel reimaginations took the characters back to their basic premises, and made them work in a strictly grounded context, with a cinematic narrative style. Most fantastic stuff was either removed or introduced by DoingInTheWizard, rather than just played straight. And rather to be HoldingOutForAHero, the civilian world has SHIELD, the GovernmentAgencyOfFiction that keeps all potential threats under watch and control. The most successful titles were ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', which introduced ComicBook/MilesMorales, a black Spider-Man; and ComicBook/TheUltimates, a super hero team reimagined as a US military task force. The style was soon adopted by the mainstream Marvel titles, and also by DC Comics.

** ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' broke the mold as a teen superhero who was not a sidekick and had no mentor or guide, was [[HeroWithBadPublicity hated by most of the public]], and initially [[MoneyDearBoy tried to use his powers to make money]].[[note]] Okay, so ComicBook/PlasticMan started out as a thief, but Spider-Man still had a huge impact on the genre.[[/note]] His first issue, where he resolves to protect the innocent [[TheAtoner to atone for]] [[MyGreatestFailure selfishly refusing to stop the burglar that went on to kill his beloved uncle]], definitively established him as a flawed young man [[ComingOfAgeStory with a lot of growing up to do]], rather than a moralistic crusader out to punish evildoers.

** His brand of humor also marked a shift in radio programs geared towards young men. While his show still kept one foot firmly planted in unapologetic {{fratbro}} culture, Rogan was simultaneously more laid-back and more intellectual than the {{Shock Jock}}s of the '90s and early '00s, with many episodes being long-form "shoot the shit" interviews with various public figures of interest to him, including athletes, authors, business leaders, comedians, politicians, and scientists. Many of the podcasts that followed in Rogan's wake embraced his more casual style.

** It also wasn't the first fighting series, but was the first one to become incredibly popular and is one of the former "manga of the records" thanks to its over 100 millions copies sold. One of the main reasons for its success, is that, unlike previous fighting mangas that simply showed a fighter punching the opponent in the same panel, Fist of the North Star's battle choreography had the directions of the attacks following the reading order, making it much easier to understand and much more appealing. Since then, every popular battle shonen followed the same rule, in particular Dragon Ball, whose editor studied Fist of the North Star to understand its success, that would end up perfectioning battle direction in comicbook form and take Fist of the North Star's popularity.

** Its influence in anime and animation as a whole can also be found in the main cast, while Rei Ayanami [[ReiAyanamiExpy became the most notorious example]] of the character archetypes that Evangelion brought, there were many others as well: the archetype of the socially-awkward, snarky protagonist whose bravery is mostly limited to the battlefield can be traced back to Shinji Ikari (although Shinji himself was heavily influenced by ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'''s Amuro Ray); the red-haired/themed, hotblooded and aggressive {{Tsundere}} girl with a dark past (and arguably, foreign accent) is traceable to Asuka Langley Soryu; and finally, the mysterious, white haired character with an ambiguous attraction to the main character is the product of Kaworu Nagisa.

* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' changed the podcast game in one episode in 2012 with "A Story About You", highlighting the flexibility of the narrative and taking full advantage of the medium of the podcast. Since it did not have to show anything, it could tell one story and immerse the listener in a way that had never been done before. With attention on this one episode, ''Night Vale'' gave new life to the podcast as a medium for storytelling outside of small critical circles and gave it credibility as a legitimate art form, helping to revive and modernize the RadioDrama for a new generation.