I’m a Marvel fan first and foremost, because I just like the characters more and that they are easier to identify with IMO. I guess I would have to blame Saturday morning cartoons because before I even started reading comics regularly, I knew who alot of the major characters were thanks to the cartoons lol.
Not to say I don’t like DC, but I didn’t get a crap about them until Batman:TAS. After that, I started reading comics that have attachments to the Bat Family. Now I’m a big Teen Titans/Nightwing/BOP fan, and I’ve actually started reading titles outside of them(like JSA and Green Arrow/Black Canary)
As far as events go, Marvel does it better IMO…but that’s because I understand the characters so it becomes more personal to me. I will give a shout out to Identity Crisis though, one of the best things I’ve ever read from DC.
Marvel for me just cause its probably easier to get into.
With DC there’s so many damn version of every character and there’s so many different Earth’s that its hard to try to get into a story just cause you don’t know which character you’re reading about.
I grew up on Marvel. I didn’t like DC at all. Then I started to like Smallville. So for the last few years, I’ve been backtracking, trying to learn more about DC and such. I’d say I prefer Marvel, but only because it’s all I’ve really known in comparison.
Or Marvel’s superior marketing scheme. They’ve had people convinced for almost 50 years now that the following scenarios are identifiable to the youth of America:
Getting superpowers from a spider and suddenly having your pick of various voluptuous beauty queens.
Standing in front of a blast of radiation and turning into a giant powerhouse instead of, you know, dying a horrible cancerous death.
Getting injected with a serum that turns you from wimp to physically perfect, then getting cryogenically preserved for a few decades.
Having indestructible metal grafted onto your fucking bones.
Yessir, Marvel’s characters are much easier to relate to than DC’s.
You sound sarcastic… G00dy I AM A DC dude HOWEVER I do applaude Marvel for having Marketing Advantage over DC since the day it was born (or at least became popluar… The Marvel age)
While it’s no secret that as despite Marvel’s dominance in characterization and character depth and continued storylines over Nattional in the 60’s, DC had always had a superior structural plot over marvel (plots that require you to think rather than simply be presented in “relatable” fashions like characterization and all of that stuff) although of course the dialogue was hokey but understandable because DC comics was written for a different market (being written for kids however does not mean it has less value than a comic being written for a rebellious teenager demographic which thinks they know more, nor does it mean they have more value… just equal IMO) so it’s kinda retarded to compare (much less in the “i’m cooler than you” logic)
But DC editors at that point fron the Gardner Fox’s to the Weisingers and the Schwartz really didn’t have that much competition, marvel built itself up from the bottom which gained a huge following (everyone cheers for underdogs) in which it was kind of laughable for DC to take notice of them very early since DC was much bigger than the Marvel Age’s infancy at that time (not the full bloom) they really felt like they were in a niche and had 100% of the Market share (and of course there were no video games at that time), not until it was in the late 60’s that they felt they were compelled to do something…
Marvel’s Formula for success was BRILLIANT…
all they had to do was used one simple Marketing principle…
“Create Dissatisfaction”
Once they painted their heroes as the “not your average Superjoe” at that time and playing it to no end, IN ESSENCE they MASTERFULLY branded all the DC heroes as “Obsolete”… which is a BRILLIANT move.
DC was dumb enough not to taker any appropriate action and when they did, the STIGMA was too deep rooted in the comic reading community of that era and when other generations sprang from them up till this day (with the posters of this forum probably a part of it somewhat), this STIGMA and bias over DC was passed over. Kinda sneaky but still smart…
This meant that Marvel had subconsciously plated something in the comic readers mind that whatever happends they were the best.
DC with all it’s rellevancy in the 70’s and Crisis retconning in the 80’s was not ablt to turn the table, because they DID NOT COUNTER the root…
they allowed their heroes to be branded obsolete and just stood there and did nothing but masturbating on the thought that they had the majority of the market share… wrong move.
NOW HERE’S what DC needs to do to rid itself of that Stigma… especially in a world as competitive as today (and it’s going to be hard and since this is just my opinion and i don’t work for either companies this is all speculation)
they need to create the same “Dissatisfaction”
for example “ever tired of your superheroes crying and b*tching and rather than just being superheroes for crying out loud??”
tired of “Superheroes who instead of showing how they can make a positive impact in the world thus showing how great they are, rather than just driving you to their world and forcing you to care for it”
“If being superheroes are 'YOUR JOB” and all the “Bickering in modern comics” is a spice to it… reiterate that it’s JUST THE SPICE and turn the volume way up, you’re a superhero if i was your boss JUST DO YOUR DAMN JOB i don’t want any whining (pun intended for the modern superhero storytelling not just marvel or DC)"
DC was dominant in the cartoons division but since they shifted to the Teen Titans, Legion style they have lost their luster…
Marvel is wayy too big in the movies now and DC still can’t get past just Superman and Batman.
And here’;s the funny thing in video games…
It’s general consensus (pardon me if i didn’t spell that right) that Ultimate Alliance is better than the PS2 Justice League game
BUT HERE’S THE FUNNY THING=============================
ME: dude do you prefer Ultimate Alliance over Justioce league in the PS2
Zombie: Absolutely!! because Ultimate Alliance is “Marvel” and because of that it has better gameplay.
ME: but what if say, we SWAP the setting and the Ultimate Alliance Gameplay had DC characters and the Justice League Gameplay had the Marvel characters who do you prefer???
Zombie: OF COURSE I WOULD PREFER THE JUSTICE LEAGUE GAMEPLAY WITH THE MARVEL CHARACTERS BECAUSE THEY WOULD THEN HAVE AGOOD GAMEPLAY JUST BY BEING MARVEL CHARACTERS ALONE
a proof that DC has just bastardized itself in a corner.
of course with all due respect to the marvel fans of SRK I don’t expect them to “yes I think that’s what DC needs to do too, to better or be at the same par, or get rid of the stigma”
I would probably expect some of the marvel fans here to either flame me or say “BOOOOOOO no matter what happens Marvel is the best and none of your psycho babble posts can change that sticks out tongue or middle finger” but hey i did not create this post to start a war…
I just wanted to point how DC sucks in marketing (which many will agree) and what IMO it needs to be at par to marvel in terms of “subconscious dominance” into “Subconscious equality”(which many will not consider/hate thinking about)
Yes. When I think of Marvel, I think of Pauline Kael. In her essay, “Trash, Art, and the Movies,” she spoke out in defense of mainstream movies (“trash”) as an important part of culture, and derided so-called art films as pretentious and elitist. The essay made a huge impact and had far-reaching consequences. Much later, an aging Kael confided to one of her disciples that she hadn’t realized everything would become trash.
So it goes in comics with heroes and antiheroes. When the antihero was introduced as a new character type, it was a breath of fresh air in the middle of all the morally upright, socially responsible superheroes that were running around. Marvel took the antihero and made it the bread and butter of its comics. Marvel ran with the ball so much and for so long that the antihero went from alternative to standard, making pure heroes an endangered species in mainstream comics.
DC must make a case for pure heroes as the new alternative, as antiheroes once were. But in order to do that, DC must first purify its heroes, and (All Star Superman aside) the classic characters are probably sullied beyond repair by now.
IMO, if I’m looking at which company has my favorite must-reads, I’d say DC. Fables, Y the Last Man, and Ex Machina are my favorites and I’d choose them over any other comic any day of the week.
However if we’re looking at an overall average, I’d say Marvel is better then DC. On average, Marvel’s stories are a lot more focused. A lot of DC’s stories tend to be all over the board. I remember reading Jeph Loeb’s top selling run on Superman/Batman and I thought it was absolutely terrible. It was just too random. Marvel also takes good care of its b-lister characters as opposed to DC who simply kills them off for major events.
So yeah, in terms of the best comics, I’d say DC takes it. But in terms of the overall quality of all the company’s comics, I’d say Marvel takes it.
Not for nothing but a poll on this site won’t prove anything. SRK will always have a Marvel bias because of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. LOL there’s a post that says “Mahvel,” that expression didn’t come from the last issue of Secret Invasion you know. Marvel threads here always get more responses and views. You start this at another forum that will have equal fans of both and it won’t be as one sided.
Marvel does crush DC on a monthly basis in sales so there’s that. Better sales doesn’t always mean the product is better though, of course that is an area that falls to personal opinion. I’d still take any poll here with regards to Marvel and DC at SRK with a grain of salt. Check polls at other sites or start polls there and results will vary wildly. Around here DC doesn’t stand a chance…
But Sano, DC has the BESTSELLING COMIC BOOK OF ALL TIME. JERRY ORDWAY GETS A BONER JUST THINKING ABOUT IT, AND ROGER STERN IS ADDING ANOTHER STORY ONTO HIS HOUSE.
as a kid i loved the mythos Marvel brought. But I always felt DC, and more specifically Vertigo was better for richer storylines, better writing. Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, etc
Marvel threads here always get more responses and views. You start this at another forum that will have equal fans of both and it won’t be as one sided.