Marvel or DC?

[Kire]

Poll question: Marvel or DC?

What's your favorite universe?

[wyldwolf]

1. Something a bit more grand and majestic about DC heroes

[Mojambo]

2. Marvel's heroes were always more character driven

Which led them to feel more human than their DC counterparts.

DC's heroes might have been more grand, but you could relate to Marvel characters better.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. DC over Marvel.

But my preference is for Vertigo (look at my username...heh).

I've never cared for Marvel that much, really. Always seemed to be more...I dunno...depth, I guess...to the DC heroes.

And DC definitely beats Marvel when it comes to quality. DC/Vertigo/Wildstorm/America's Best titles: Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, 100 Bullets, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and so on....Marvel can't really compete when it comes to more "serious" comics. Think of the greatest comic titles or graphic novels from the past 20 years, and most of them are going to be from DC...

[Ravenseye]

4. Marvel over DC

But I totally hear you with the quality comment.

I actually started more DC based. I liked the Legion of Super Heros and Superman and Aquaman and Hawkman....all the man's. When I got into my teens though I really pulled over into Marvel and the X-Men in particular. Eventually I knew so much about the backstory of the Marvel universe which is freaking huge, that I just didn't want to deal with two universes.

I like some stuff from DC (or their more indy lines) like Planetary which are sort of independent from the main DC universe. I just don't have the stomach for a Superman vs. Lobo battle.

Recently however DC seems more into quality and Marvel seems more into putting out thirty million books nobody wants. There have been some really good books amoungst them but they get buried. Marvel is all about movie liscensing now so they want to put every character they have in their catalog into a 6 issue miniseries.

Some of the best Marvel series of late have been canceled, lost amid the pile of muck they've been releasing lately.

[NuttyFluffers]

5. ooh this is hard. they've changed so much over the years.

i hated early dc. outside of really old batman comics (to pass the time) i couldn't stand dc. the 50s to 80s period i didn't dig of dc. i don't know if marvel was really in force until late 70s/80s. but whatever it was marvel owned the 80s. really the golden age for them.

early 90s was really bad for comics because they threw in their lot with the collectible card speculation that was going on. i don't think marvel ever really recovered after that bubble bursting. too much speculation went on, more than that small market could handle.

then the vertigos and dark horses and images came about. brought some much needed diversity. in fact i thought towards the late 90s a comic book renaissance of sorts was kicking in. some gorgeous stuff was being made. dc right now is doing very well, some solid stories are coming out from them. unfortunately i still hold great antipathy for most of the characters. it just seems like a rewrite of the early cardboard cutouts i grew to hate. i'm sure somewhere deep inside there's a complex superman -- i just can't bring myself to care let alone try to read any of the new stuff. when superman died i was happy, finally we can put him to rest. but no, he spawns 4 wannabes. and then i'm sure superman is back now in some form or another. ugh. but not as bad as marvel's trip killing off and resurrecting just about everything that moves.

i dunno. i guess i'd have to say none of the above. considering their histories (and dc has an ancient one at that) i'd almost call it a wash. but that really doesn't do it justice... right now i'd have to say dc is doing quite well over marvel, but that's just now, not totality. dunno, hard question.

[semillama]

6. Marvel over DC

but I'm talking strictly about the main comics, not the side lines like wildstorm and vertigo. Since Marvel doesn't have comparative title lines to those, I feel it's an unfair comparison.

I do like some of the DC titles, like Millar's Batman work, and I liked some of the more imaginative reworkings, like Kingdom Come and the superman-as-communist book. But overall, I just never could connect with their characters as well as I could with Marvel. I also feel that marvel tends to do a better job with allegory.

That said, I really like the wildstorm/vertigo stuff a lot.

I used to really like Dark Horse, but I haven't been too turned on by much they've done lately. Slave labor puts out some good titles.

I also like independents a lot. I love KODT and the relaunched TMNT, as well as Usagi Yojimbo (you'll hear me sing the praises of that book a lot!).

[ZoCrowes]

8. But it is a fair comparison

Marvel definitely has the marketshare and the capital to start similar lines they have just chosen not to.

[semillama]

9. I disagree

I don't think you can compare them on what they could do. If you are going to say which one is "better" then compare them as is. To compare Marvel with DC's "independent" flavored comics and say you are comparing marvel to DC isn't quite valid in my book. I think you have to look at the core companies, which would be Marvel Universe vs DC universe. The wildstorm and Vertigo lines are separate continuities from the DC universe with little to no overlap. If you were to compare Marvel with Wildstorm directly, then I would have to say Wildstorm. But in a comparisons of the two major comic pantheons, I think that Marvel characters are more connectable and diverse than DC's. I think this is partially reflected when you look at movies based on comic books and see how many are based on Marvel creations and how many are based on DC characters. For DC, you have Superman, Batman and Catwoman (with apparently Wonder Woman on the way). For Marvel, you've got Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, X-men, Daredevil, Blade, Fantastic Four, The Punisher, Elektra, and more to come. So, there's got to be a reason in addition to aggresive marketing by Marvel for this, and I think that it has to do with the characters. I just don't think that there are as many compelling characters in the DC universe as there are in the Marvel.

After the above DC movies, what is left? I've heard about Green Lantern, which might be cool, but then who? Aquaman? Hawkman? Green Arrow?

[Ravenseye]

10. Justice League

I'm with you on Marvel, but I think DC could score big with a Justice League movie.

Imagine a movie that had Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Hawkman, and the Green Lantern in it. (No Wonder Twins)

I bet that'd be huge at the box office if they did it semi-right. Imagine a trailer for a Justice League movie with them fighting Darkseid or something and you get a 'money' shot with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

That'd be enought to draw most people in. I think that the general non-comic buying public knows and recognizes the base DC heros more than they do the Marvel ones. Most people have heard of Aquaman, most haven't heard of Sub-Mariner, etc.

[ZoCrowes]

11. I am not talking just universes

I am talking companies. Marvel can create new lines in seperate universes they just haven't. That is a point in DCs favor.

You're forgetting a few things about the Marvel movies: many of them have SUCKED! Of the movies you mentioned Spider-man was great, X-Men was good, first two Blades were good but the rest have been subpar. And who would have ever thought they would make a Blade movie? Wasn't he like a 3rd tier character? The Marvel movies have been better than their comics here lately. I came back to comics because of Marvel movies like Spider-man and Blade and damn was I dissapointed (except for Astonishing X-Men jumpin jesus christ that is good.) So I started picking up a few DC titles and have been off and running ever since.

Actually I would love to see a Green Arrow movie. He is probably one of the most nuanced characters I have come across. He is a rich rebellious liberal who sleeps with everything in sight. If done correctly it would be a very interesting film.

We can argue all day about this. I like both DC and Marvel and I think comparing the two can be pointless. I just personally prefer most of DCs characters.

[ZoCrowes]

7. I like some titles from both

However DC has what I consider to be the best superhero books on the market right now (Teen Titans, The Flash and Adventures of Superman.) I only recently started reading comics again and everything I have seen from Marvel has been pretty boring. I like The Ultimates and some a lot of what is going on in Amazing Spider-Man but that is about it.

[mac56]

12. DC without a doubt.

Growing up in northern MN in the mid 60s, there was no Marvel. DC got my nickels and dimes. Marvel was the cool cousin who came from the city and stayed for a week - DC was the friend you hung out with the rest of the summer.

[samsingh]

13. 1960s Marvel was the best and still unbeaten

for continuity, originality, and adventure.

[DanCa]

14. Am a genere person not a universe person

By genere meaning I like bright action high adventure type stories.
I do like the dark books like supreme power but thats the exeception and not the rule.

[Broken_Hero]

15. I can't vote on the above poll

But I'm a DC man first, than a marvel man. I am a fan of superman/batman/wolverine...DC has been my main source for comics. I do collect Spiderman/silver surfer/wolverine titles...other than that, marvel is a dead to me basically. I did enjoy a lot of the xmen comics, but a lot of them made no sense...going back into time fighting, two universes of bad guys, and using future kids of current xmen to defeat the bad guys...its like, you have to collect the whole set, and understand all the other heroes, just to have an inkling of what in the world is going on....in xmen at least, in my experience.

Superman, being my favorite, he was boring when i first started reading, but i'm a fan, i endure. After his death/return i admit the comics for him did get a bit darker, but then they cheesed out and made a blue/red superman for a couple years, and during that time, i didn't buy a damn comic from DC, I was very upset with that. But with the introduction of JIm Lee and a few other writers/artists in 99 or 2000, the superman titles have been doing awesome! And they rejuvenated the Justice League of America...no more blue beetle, or booster gold or any of those weak ass characters, they brought back the trifective of beat down, Superman/Batman/Flash/Wonderwoman/G. Lantern/Hawkman/martian manhunter...the cartoon, as well as the graphic novels, in my opinion have been GREAT!!...:)

I haven't collected Marvel for a couple of yearrs, i lost interest, except the Kitty Pride twists and turns, and the Phoenix Force always keeps me attuned to Marvel nowadays...but anyways, if the above poll would let me vote, DC all the way brother, Marvel second...dark horse III....

On Edit: I do collect Marvel, but they are graphic novels, i haven't boughten a real current marvel comic in at least two years. BTW, Frank Millers The Dark Knight Returns, is still hands down, my favorite Grahpic Novel...and the Infinity Gauntlet Grahpic, my second...

[Norrin Radd]

16. Both, equally, for what each individually offer.

DC for it's iconic imagery and whimsical imagination, Marvel for it's speculative realism. Kirby infused both.