Marvel versus DC

[rabkala]

Since I haven't read any comics since I was about 10, what is the whole marvel versus DC thing? Is that question even valid anymore?

Do all comic book guys dream of being an artist? I never really progressed past stick figures. I did make a comic strip for years. It was kind of like the 'order of the stick' way before it's time. All the game shop regulars loved it.

[PhishStyx]

Since I haven't read any comics since I was about 10, what is the whole marvel versus DC thing? Is that question even valid anymore?

The problem with both now is that in the mid 90's the bottom dropped out of the highly inflated comic collecting business, so sales dropped so hard and so fast that Marvel nearly went bankrupt (not sure about DC).

Right now, Marvel is reeling from the crapfest that Civil War became - bad plot, horrible continuity, and a complete screwup on the part of Mark Millar.

DC just went through their latest Crisis of Infinite Sales; wherein, they determined that if they could create a billion duplicates of each DC character, they could increase sales to such a degree as to strain the fabric of believability. But then it all fell in upon itself.

I read a few books, but I tend to stay away from the mainstream continuity books these days, except my old standby favorites (Spider-Man and X-Men and Batman). And I'm starting to get annoyed with them.

Do all comic book guys dream of being an artist? I never really progressed past stick figures. I did make a comic strip for years. It was kind of like the 'order of the stick' way before it's time. All the game shop regulars loved it.

I thought briefly about writing comic books, but I can't draw worth anything.

[Grimwell]

Writers never draw - that's why they get paired with artists.

I used to think Marvel > DC.

Now I think they are both cheese. Lots of great ideas, but the usage is goofy in light of the modern world. You have to leave the mainstream to find the comics that stick these days. (not always, but often)

[fmitchell]

Writers never draw - that's why they get paired with artists.

Unless they're writer-artists, who are the vast majority of indie comics authors. Although, from what I've heard, a writer/artist duo can't live off one indie comic book. (At a guess, I'd say the art takes up way more time than writing. Unless the writer half also does the business and promotion end, it's just not an efficient division of labor.)

BTW, I always preferred DC, mostly for Batman, but I've never been a superhero fan. Now that Strangers in Paradise has ended, and I'm not really reading manga either, I'm only following Girl Genius and Goblins. I like the medium, but nothing in print has grabbed my attention. (And I like the price.)

[Skunkape]

I used to really be into X-Men and a few of the other Marvel comics, I sometimes looked at a few DC titles too, but I can't stand the direction that both of them have gone lately. It was really nice when both of the comic companies had cohesive universal continuity, but then they started their civil wars and other major universe changing events and it just ruined it for me.

I think what I liked most about Marvel was the occasional cameos they had in their books. I was hoping they could do something similar with the movies, but alas, since they sold the properties to different studios, that won't ever happen.

[Digital Arcanist]

I guess I will play Devil's Fanboi.....I love DC comics and have a budding love for Marvel.

I've been reading/collecting non-stop since around '87. The 90's were a tough time for comics and not much of any worth happened.

I enjoyed Infinite Crisis and the books spawned from it like Checkmate and Shadowpact. I'm saddened by the new Justice League but excited for the new Outsiders and the future of DC magic.

I still think Civil War was great with the exception of the last few pages were Captain America just gives up. I think they just phoned that one in. I'm loving World War Hulk and I look forward to see how it will all end and how they plan to tie everything together.

Long Live the Sinestro Corps!!!!

[Zig]

I've always liked Marvel better than DC. DC was always for kids especially when their characters had names like bicycle boy and matter eating lad and the plots just seemed overly cheesy (superman saves the day again... ugg) where as Marvel had characters like bullseye, deathloc, and punnisher. Marvel also seemed to make their characters more flawed and their lives more realistic. all in all just a more mature and entertaining expirence. But regardless I stopped collecting anything when the price got over $1.25 per issue, now when I get the hankering for comic bliss I head over to the local boarders books, get some coffie and read something from their graphic novel isle. much less expensive than buying the books themselves.

[Mindbomb]

...DC was always for kids especially when their characters had names like bicycle boy and matter eating lad and the plots just seemed overly cheesy (superman saves the day again... ugg) ...

Apparently you've never read Hawkman

[Webhead]

When I was younger, I was on the "Marvel is better than DC" train. Interesting, the older I get, the more I tend to swing the other direction. Yes, I have my Marvel faves who are still as cool as ever in my ageless mind (namely Spider-Man and one or two choice others), but on the whole, Marvel has lost some of its luster for me.

It's also worth noting though, that I've stopped reading most mainstream comic lines. When I do read comics nowadays, it tends to be the more off-beat, obscure series. Some of my recent and not-so-recent faves (interestingly mostly published by DC) are:

Watchmen: probably my favorite graphic novel ever, every adult interested in fantasy writing of any kind should read this

H-E-R-O: excellent series by DC which is a sort of follow up to the old series Dial "H" for Hero

The Demon- Driven Out: good Etrigan mini-series

Powers: I haven't kept up with this series past the 7th trade paperback but it was one of the most excellent comics I've read up to that point. Virtually on par with Watchmen and nearly as emotionally impactful

Astro City: another series that I have let fall by the wayside in terms of reading. A refreshing take on what would otherwise look like a very traditional "Silver Age-y" universe

[DragonDM]

For the most part, I used to like both.

DC - They had some of the most developed Characters out there.
Heroes and Villains alike had strong (usually personal) reasons for what they were doing, and why. The artwork was always interesting as well. Changing gradually over time.

M.U. - They had the most 'realistic' Characters, as well as the reactions of those people that were not super-powered to their existance.
Heroes and Villains both had redeeming quirks and personality flaws.
Their artwork had radical jumps between eras, but usually the mainstream Characters also got a new look to go with it.

-----
And then came along M.U. Vs DC. Some of these things were very interesting. Others were disappointing.
Although I did not mind the inclusion of the Voting of the Fans, it should have only been used to make the fight endings more 'believable'. Not all the Fans could get online to Vote, sadly. I was one of these at the time.
---
Disappointing:
Namor Vs Aquaman - Aquaman summoning a Blue Whale to 'crush' Namor should not have worked, Namor is almost as strong as the Hulk when near the ocean, and was the lamest victory, ever. I really don't know why Aquaman won the Voting process on this one, and I blame the Fans this happening.

Superman Vs (Banner) Hulk - Superman has to cheat and get Banner mad enough to not realize that he still needs to breath, and flies into near space.
Hulk passes out, and Superman wins by default.
---
Interesting:
Wonder Woman being able to pick up Thor's Hammer.

In the end (after Amalgam) Captain America and Batman save all of reality, for both sides.

-----
Amalgam Comics - this was actually very interesting, but not very long lived. Although I have not been able to read all of the Characters - I liked the concept of Dark Claw (Wolverine/Batman), Amazon (Storm/Wonder Woman), Nightcreeper (Nightcrawler/Creeper - some of this was just too weird, though), Omega Beast (Omega Red/KGBeast), and Two-Faced Goblin (Green Goblin/Two Face).
__________________________________________________ ____________
I stopped collecting comics because the price went too high.
And then I stopped reading them entirely - as well as watching movies and cartoons, due to too many Remakes that were not really needed.

Batman, and Superman - some of them are ok, but others are lame rehashed old episodes, with nothing new really added. This is especially true of the Cartoons.

X-Men (although I have not gotten the latest series).

A lot of new Characters, with new powers or differently used old powers, have fallen into the Character Junkyard.

Superman has been given more and more defining limits to his powers, all the more to make him more "Human", as well as believable.

Hulk has just gotten more and more Unbeatable and Unstoppable.
World War Hulk was interesting to a point, but just became the Comic Indistries' means of killing off unwanted Characters.

It seems that the Fans would rather constantly reinvent the wheel, then to try and figure out how to make anitgravity drives a reality.

[LAST CRUSADER]

my favorite comic book heroes have always been, spider-man, captain america, and superman. I also enjoyed reading the invaders, the x-men, the blue beetle, booster gold, the teen titans, conan and the late 80s justice league. As well as house of mystery, house of secrets and eerie. And though i read a good bit of batman, i was only really excited by the dark knight returns and year one. Really i would read almost any comic i could get my hands on but those were the only ones i liked enough to acknowledge as inspirations. I've read a lot of comic books both good ones and bad ones and, more often than not, i read good books till long after they became bad. I stopped reading comics altogether back in the early 90s when the writing got so incredibly bad that no matter how hard i tried i couldn't maintain an interest. It was sad really because i still loved the characters and the whole genre. I just hated what the editors were doing with them.

[nijineko]

they both struggle for identity in the aftermath of crisis with a lot of baggage from the past.... gee, that sounds like a comic book plot! ^^

[Guardian]

Right now, Marvel is reeling from the crapfest that Civil War became - bad plot, horrible continuity, and a complete screwup on the part of Mark Millar.

DC just went through their latest Crisis of Infinite Sales; wherein, they determined that if they could create a billion duplicates of each DC character, they could increase sales to such a degree as to strain the fabric of believability. But then it all fell in upon itself.

I read a few books, but I tend to stay away from the mainstream continuity books these days, except my old standby favorites (Spider-Man and X-Men and Batman). And I'm starting to get annoyed with them.

This statement basically sums it up for me. Civil War was a good idea, but unfortunately they could have done it a lot better and a lot differently than they did. 52 wasn't any better; granted, it got rid of some characters that weren't as popular, which is what DC usually uses the Infinite Crisis for.

Maybe in a few years, they'll pull another "reality shift" and set thing right again.

[Silverthorne]

Thor's hammer states very directly no 'man' may pick it up save the man chosen. Wonder woman is definitely not a man.

[LAST CRUSADER]

Beta ray bill