The drawing styles during the golden age of comics were flat, stylized and often badly inked. Dell comics emerged as a leader in this era, capitalizing upon Warner Brothers screen characters, such as Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Human characters were frequently caricatures, and the stories were drawn in broad strokes -- frequently depending upon trickster tales or a twisting of the natural order in the real world.
The war years saw the emergence of the superhero. The characters were still drawn largely as outlines, and the inking was flat, but the drawings began to be more realistic. Superman, Batman and Robin and Captain Marvel made their debuts. Comic books could be purchased for pennies, and many youngsters saved their lunch money or allowance to purchase them clandestinely. As their popularity increased, so did the quality of the drawings.
The Silver Age of Comics stretches from the late 1950s to early 1970s. In the 1960s, Marvel Magazines began to be a major player in the comic book market. Stories by Stan Lee and artwork by Jack Kirby drove an increase in the quality of both subject matter and artwork. The characters became more complex, more human; the drawings became more lifelike -- even those of grotesque super-villains. The inking was better, the colors more likely to land in the right places, and much more complex than earlier works. The mid-'60s to late '70s saw more changes as paper prices became higher and modern technology brought more flexibility to color illustrations.
In the '80s, comic books developed a slick look, almost like a glossy magazine. The stories turned darker, more suited to an aging audience, and the artwork became more surreal. The mid-'80s ushered in a heyday for graphic novels, longer works in cartoon format with complex plots and more fully developed characters. Japanese anime styles, especially Manga, heavily influenced artwork, producing characters with large, cutesy eyes, stylized garments and a save-the-world-against-overwhelming-odds attitude. Simultaneously, TSR's AD&D illustrations also crept into the graphic novel arena.