Fun Stuff > MAKE

Cliché for the Day: Marvel vs. DC

<< < (2/8) > >>

Weaselon:
Marvel girl here, though I'm hardly exclusive - I've bought my share of DC comics, I used to follow Supergirl and I do love the Batman. I've read a lot of Dark Horse as well. With Marvel the attraction is mostly about Spidy, but I had a subscription to SpiderGirl at one point and I've always enjoyed the mutant vs normal humans political aspects.

RobbieOC:
I've always been a Marvel fan. I find Batman and Superman to be pretty boring, and the most interesting characters DC has never get used. If they had a good team on Wonder Woman, I'd be real interested in it, but they never do.

As 0bsessions said, Marvel's output (recently, not always, guys) is just a lot better across the board. And, it's obvious they aren't as afraid to challenge the way readers think about their main heroes. They made Iron Man a villian (essentially), killed Captain America, finally started telling Wolverine's real history and demasked Spider-Man! Those are the biggest heroes Marvel has! Those are all pretty ballsy movies. DC occasionally does interesting things (52 was a cool idea, but was just too much of an investment for me to care much about), but they never seem to stick. You can't have DC without Superman or Batman. It just doesn't work. There's nothing really wrong with that, I just don't like it much.

I grew up with the Avengers, because of my uncle, and I just love the characters involved. When they did that JLA/Avengers crossover a few years ago, it really did make me think about the two different worlds, and why I liked Marvel's so much more, and they hit it perfectly for me. The DC heroes are larger than life and there really isn't anyone holding them accountable. Marvel heroes have to earn their hero priveleges, and aren't trusted just because they wear a cape. There's two perfectly acceptable sides to a coin, and I chose tails, I guess.

Recently, I've been kind of getting into Dark Horse, though. Am I a cheater for saying that?

Gridgm:
at the moment i'm reading astonishing x-men(why i don't know...insert somethign about a dead horse here), 100 bullets, fables, jack of fables, mice templar, powers, serenity: better days, the exterminators and transhuman

this adds up to
0 DC + 4 vertigo
1 Marvel + 1 icon
2 Image
1 Dark Horse

...can i be an independant fan instead...honestly i can't seem to stand the stuff set in the mainstream universes

0bsessions:

--- Quote from: RobbieOC on 08 May 2008, 01:18 ---I've always been a Marvel fan. I find Batman and Superman to be pretty boring, and the most interesting characters DC has never get used. If they had a good team on Wonder Woman, I'd be real interested in it, but they never do.
--- End quote ---

I haven't checked it out, as I have no interest in the character, but Gail Simone recently took over Wonder Woman. Simone is a fantastic writer and is probably worth checking out.


--- Quote ---As 0bsessions said, Marvel's output (recently, not always, guys)
--- End quote ---

That's an important distinction I failed to make, it seems. The pendulum swings both ways, sometimes. Honestly, just a few years ago, I was heavily leaning DC while not really caring for much of any of Marvel's output. Back when Identity Crisis was going on, DC was knocking it out of the park (Meanwhile, I think the Ultimate line, Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man were my only Marvel reading). Since then, they've pretty much shoved everything they did there under the rug because too many old school fans whined. As much as I disagree with some Marvel decisions, at least they show more stones than DC at present.



--- Quote ---And, it's obvious they aren't as afraid to challenge the way readers think about their main heroes. They made Iron Man a villian (essentially), killed Captain America, finally started telling Wolverine's real history and demasked Spider-Man! Those are the biggest heroes Marvel has! Those are all pretty ballsy movies.
--- End quote ---

I think that's a skewed perception on Iron Man and one I've got to say is what really makes them admirable: there characters tend to play on real human emotion. DC doesn't really have any anti-heroes or understandable villains. Just about every villain in the DC universe (With the exceptions of a couple Batman villains) is a hand wringing, mustache twirling, muahahaing villain. Meanwhile, all their heroes (With a handful of exceptions who've been swept under the rug lately, such as Kyle Rayner) are unstoppable paragons of truth and justice. They don't have character flaws. Iron Man is a perfect example of why I prefer Marvel overall. He's realistic. Calling him a villain is entirely unfair to the character and completely misunderstanding what they're doing with him. Yes, he's made some poor choices that seem cruel, but it's all been for what would be called the greater good. Conversely, the only difference between him and, say, Magneto, is that his side won. History sides with the victor. I actually think Tony Stark is currently one of Marvel's best characters.

Of note, though, they HAVE reversed the Spider-Man unmasking. They did that when they broke up his marriage. It stung a bit, but in the long run, it's been a smart move.


--- Quote ---DC occasionally does interesting things (52 was a cool idea, but was just too much of an investment for me to care much about), but they never seem to stick. You can't have DC without Superman or Batman. It just doesn't work. There's nothing really wrong with that, I just don't like it much.

--- End quote ---

52 was great and I'd recommend looking into the trades. In terms of the big characters, it's true. They've tried to replace some of them (Bruce Wayne was supposed to die at the end of Kinghtsquest and Dick Grayson was supposed to take over), and have succeeded in many cases, but it never sticks forever. They replaced Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, for a long time. Something like twelve years. People were pissed initially, but that was actually DC pulling kind of a Marvel. Jordan's descent into madness and turn to a "the ends justify the means" mentality was a great ride, and I always loved his replacement, Kyle Rayner. Of course, now that DC's got a "Silver age was great, let's go back to that" mentality, Hal Jordan has returned and his villainy has been retconned as "mind control." They also replaced Barry Allen with Wally West and that's still working out (Though Barry Allen did finally return a couple weeks ago) and they tried replacing Wally with another Flash, but it didn't take.

--- Quote ---I grew up with the Avengers, because of my uncle, and I just love the characters involved. When they did that JLA/Avengers crossover a few years ago, it really did make me think about the two different worlds, and why I liked Marvel's so much more, and they hit it perfectly for me. The DC heroes are larger than life and there really isn't anyone holding them accountable. Marvel heroes have to earn their hero priveleges, and aren't trusted just because they wear a cape. There's two perfectly acceptable sides to a coin, and I chose tails, I guess.
--- End quote ---

That's the intrinsic difference between the two companies. DC has, and always will be, the company for people who want an escape into a more Utopian and black and white world. The heroes are heroes, the villains are villains and there's few gray areas (Outside of the Batman line) and the good guys always triumph over evil. The Marvel Universe, however, has always been one big gray area. Heroes can fuck up and sometimes the villains are right (And sometimes they win).


--- Quote ---Recently, I've been kind of getting into Dark Horse, though. Am I a cheater for saying that?

--- End quote ---

I wouldn't say so. Two of my favorite comics right now are published by Image (Invincible and the Walking Dead).

Lines:
Though Batman is my favorite superhero, I prefer a lot more of the Marvel heroes. But not many of the comics I've been reading lately deal with either superheroes or are DC/Marvel comics. I think most of them are Dark Horse.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page