What separates the "Ages" of comic books and where does DC make the transition from Earth-Two to Earth-One? *Comic aficionados needed*

Well... I'll try and simplify it.  Basically, these are referring to (if I understand correctly) when different "eras" of comics began.  Different styles in storytelling, entire rewrites of characters (DC), and different art styles.  The way I see it, the bridge between the golden and silver ages is the easiest: by the end of the Golden Age, thanks to many critics ("the seduction of the innocent"), comics were toned down and frowned upon.  Something caused a great revival, thus the Silver Age.  As for the modern age, the DC Crisis began that - it rewrote their entire universe.

I hope I've helped, and am not full of misinformation.

DC comics continuity confuses me to no end.

First they killed off supergirl.  Then brought her back to life and pretend somehow it never happened.

Kind of as bad as in marvel spider man and mary jane forget they were ever married and is erased from continuity.

Does Batman having a daughter with Catwoman fall into the earth2 continuity?

I'm looking foward to finding out more about this myself, so I'm going to keep watching this thread.  I know probably about as much as has been said right now, and I'd like to find out more.  I expect someone like Darth Chaltab will be able to explain it more clearly than anyone else.

In the meantime, though, I have to ask:  What exactly are you worried about?  If you actually have specific dates as to when certain ages begin and end, why worry you'll miss the transition?  Just keep an eye on the dates of the comics you happen to be reading and then you'll most likely know when to start your clean slate or at least be aware that things might be different.

I love the very early Superman and how the art is very clearly inspired by Alex Raymond's work on Flash Gordon.

The line art and the inking etc. Very much recall the newspaper comics By Harold Foster Like Prince Valiant and Tarzan, and the early Raymond work.

Siegel and Shuster.

Created an Icon. But The Fleischer studios took him one step further. And then many decades Later The immortal vision of the screenwriter of the godfather Mario Puzo with Richard Donner directing Christopher Reeve set in stone the look to come and changed the continuity forever.

Until they decided to retcon the comics and pretend that movie never happened and made a teen show called smallville, LOL. That had no ties to either continuity, until they started to pander to fans to get their ratings out of the toilet.

D.C. comics lost the rights to Superman except in international territories when a Judge decided the rights reverted back to the estates of the original creators. They will appeal. But because of this the people who now have the rights can shop the character to any studio, unless DC keeps the film rights exclusively which may be what happened. Still they get millions of dollars in royalties coming their way if the man of steel hits the silver screen. 

There is a possibility someday DC's publishing of superman ceases and the creators estates sell the rights to another comics publisher, there is also a cloud of doubt whether the new superman film will even come out in 2010 now that DC and warners no longer own the character.

I'm not exactly a comic book history buff, but I can give you a basic overview.

The Golden Age is what they call the years between 1938 (when Superman first appeared) and the late 1940s or early 50s. Stories in that era carry a lot of morally questionable content (Superman smashes up slums to get the land lord to build better homes; Batman shoots people dead with guns) and wartime propaganda. (This is where we get classics like "Superman Says You Can Slap a Jap!") Other than Superman, most heroes were powered by magic.

The Silver Age is from the mid 1950s to the 1970s; it's characterized by science fiction stories and bright optimism. Even Batman was out doing crazy things all the time. It relaunched the Green Lantern and Flash into the form we know them as today, and also saw the birth of Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the frozen-in-ice rebirth of Captain America. Marvel first started making superheroes unique and reasonably realistic people in the middle of the silver age, an approach that DC quickly emulated. Unfortunately it was also the era of the Comics Code Authority, which had a ridiculous amount of regulations to comic content. Jack Thompson would salivate at the prospect of putting something similar on video game content.

The Bronze Age began in the 1970s and is sort of a neo-golden age with better art. A lot of the innovations of the Silver Age remain, but the stories got a lot more serious, especially Batman. He stopped going in to space and Robin showed up a lot less. Batman: The Animated Series is a great example of Bronze-Age storytelling. The art was also more realistic then, because guys like Jim Aparo and George Perez were at the height of their careers.

The "Modern Age" began in 1985 when DC rebooted its continuity with 'Crisis On Infinte Earths', which was basically a cosmic retcon that let them start over. In the new world, Superman no longer had powers as a kid, Lex Luthor was a business man, etc. Marvel and DC also got a lot darker, and the Comics Code Authority became basically irrelevant. Also, 1986, DC published what are largely considered two of the masterworks of the medium, Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. Modern Age stories also have much cleaner and more realistic coloring thanks to computer image manipulation.

And that's everything, but that's just the gist of it.

m not exactly a comic book history buff, but I can give you a basic overview.

The Golden Age is what they call the years between 1938 (when Superman first appeared) and the late 1940s or early 50s. Stories in that era carry a lot of morally questionable content (Superman smashes up slums to get the land lord to build better homes; Batman shoots people dead with guns) and wartime propaganda. (This is where we get classics like "Superman Says You Can Slap a Jap!") Other than Superman, most heroes were powered by magic.

The Silver Age is from the mid 1950s to the 1970s; it's characterized by science fiction stories and bright optimism. Even Batman was out doing crazy things all the time. It relaunched the Green Lantern and Flash into the form we know them as today, and also saw the birth of Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the frozen-in-ice rebirth of Captain America. Marvel first started making superheroes unique and reasonably realistic people in the middle of the silver age, an approach that DC quickly emulated. Unfortunately it was also the era of the Comics Code Authority, which had a ridiculous amount of regulations to comic content. Jack Thompson would salivate at the prospect of putting something similar on video game content.

The Bronze Age began in the 1970s and is sort of a neo-golden age with better art. A lot of the innovations of the Silver Age remain, but the stories got a lot more serious, especially Batman. He stopped going in to space and Robin showed up a lot less. Batman: The Animated Series is a great example of Bronze-Age storytelling. The art was also more realistic then, because guys like Jim Aparo and George Perez were at the height of their careers.

The "Modern Age" began in 1985 when DC rebooted its continuity with 'Crisis On Infinte Earths', which was basically a cosmic retcon that let them start over. In the new world, Superman no longer had powers as a kid, Lex Luthor was a business man, etc. Marvel and DC also got a lot darker, and the Comics Code Authority became basically irrelevant. Also, 1986, DC published what are largely considered two of the masterworks of the medium, Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. Modern Age stories also have much cleaner and more realistic coloring thanks to computer image manipulation.

And that's everything, but that's just the gist of it.

As for Earth-1 and Earth-2, Everything before 1955 is set on Earth 2, everything between 1955 and 1985 is set on Earth-1.