The Flash. Yaaaaaaay.
- "Wheeeeeeeeeee."
- ―Contemporary writers
The Silver Age of comic books was a period from around the mid-50's to the late 60's. Wikipedia describes it as a "period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre" which is definitely smarter sounding than anything we could think of.
Basically, the Silver Age started when everybody realized how tedious the Golden Age was and they needed some new stuff. The Flash got a cooler costume. Green Lantern did as well. All of the heroes were members of the Justice Society of America Justice League of America. Julius Schwartz knew what he was doing.
Marvel Comics really got its start here. Spider-Man. The Fantastic Four. The Avengers. You name it. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko all made names for themselves, except for Steve Ditko.
Later, problems with the unexpected changes of the Silver Age would be solved by the creation of a Multiverse for times of Crisis. Earth-One, Earth-Two, blablabla.
Some parts of the Silver Age were really cool. The plotlines pulled no punches, they weren't afraid to have heroes go places that made no sense, and scientific principles got made up all the time. It was a fun place. But if you try reading too many Silver Age comics in one sitting, trust us, your head will start to hurt.