DC vs MARVEL

[ZariusTwo]

Morrison's run on X-Men was the last time I gave two thirds of a s*it about that franchise. Noone's touched the quality of writing in that. You're in a for a real treat.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Cipher

So, I'm getting my first-ever Marvel superhero book (and Marvel anything since I read their (excellent for what it was) Transformers series as a kid) later this week. It's been a stressful few days, work and moving wise, and I decided on a whim to start re-watching X-Men: Evolution on Netflix. Two things occurred to me:

1) Damn, that show really holds up for all ages.

2) I was really in the mood for another kind of quirky, young/character-driven take on these characters. So, despite the fact that I'm about as much a DC-over-Marvel guy as can be (not that I take that seriously), and despite the fact that I'm not a huge Grant Morrison fan, I went ahead and ordered the omnibus of his run on the franchise. I just felt like he and Quietly would be a better match for these characters than a lot of his DC work.

I ... have no idea what I'm in for. It was basically a $70 gamble, but I'm hugely looking forward to it. I guess I'll report back after giving it a read.

It's going to basically take up a whole shelf with next to the 52 omnibus and all the Turtles Ultimate Collections though. One really embarrassing shelf.

Glad you like X-men Evolution. I feel its the best X-men cartoon so far.

A lot of the fanboys of the 90's X-men never gave Evolution a chance, despite Evolution being better in terms of characterisation and animation. Also I never understood people's problems with the X-men being teens, when that's how they're usually portrayed at the beginning in the first place. Storm, Wolverine and Beast were kept as adults, and Cyclops/Jean were older than the others (they were 18 ), so I don't see the problem.

It also had a healthy run of 52 episodes, which is pretty good for a Marvel show. I just wish the show went on for one more season as they would have done the Jean/Phoenix story.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Morrison's run on X-Men was the last time I gave two thirds of a s*it about that franchise. Noone's touched the quality of writing in that. You're in a for a real treat.

Six or seven issues in, and really enjoying it.

It actually reminds me a lot of 52, tonally, but with the addition of being a cool new direction that really fits X-Men as a mythos. I don't know why I find Morrison's Batman run so insufferable but enjoy him on these two other books. I think it's just the smaller the goals, the better his stuff comes across; he's great with characters and humor when he actually slows down to focus on them.

But, yeah, reaction favorable. I'm also still enjoying these characters/concepts and am thinking about following it up with Whedon's Astonishing run.

[Leo656]

I really dug Morrison's Black Glove/R.I.P. stuff. I do think he writes over everyone's heads a lot, but there's a lot of stuff that shows up and makes more sense only after you read certain stories repeatedly.

I didn't like his Batman run when I was reading it monthly back in 2008, but then when it was over and I re-read it two or three times in a row, I thought it was brilliant.

[Ulisa]

This topic is actually pretty difficult. I have always been a DC girl....my husband is a Marvel fan but over the years, we have selected different runs from one another's preferred universe. For myself...

I prefer DC slightly because I think their heroes are more interesting. I love Batman, Wonder Woman (or more precisely the role her younger sister, Wonder Girl took on) Nightwing (and his development from Robin) and my favorites are Flash (Barry Allen/Wally West) and Kid Flash and like Robin, the development of their sidekick into a hero in their own right. Needless to say, I HATE the New 52. I much prefer the old school DC.

That said, I do enjoy the teams of Marvel as well, especially the Avengers and the X Men. In my opinion, I think Marvel can create very cool team ups and DC focuses more on making their heroes so they don't NEED a team up. I like both, but like I said, I prefer DC because they have a lot of characters I really love and I am just starting to find Marvel characters I like (Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, etc.)

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Always been DC. I've liked a few "runs" of Marvel books over the years - I was sort of heavy into Spider-Man from the late 1980s up until right before the Clone Saga started - but never was able to get into them consistently. To me, it was always like this: Marvel books have great art and mediocre stories, while DC books have had better stories but mediocre art. Now obviously that's a general statement, because there have been great Marvel stories with great art to match, great DC stories with equally great artwork, and plenty of crap all around from both sides. But that's generally how they each came across to me: DC was for readers who cared more about the stories, Marvel was more for those who enjoyed the visuals.

I can't speak for either right now, thought; I haven't picked up a Marvel book in years, and nothing I've read of the New 52 justifies its existence. DC HAD a much more rich mythology than Marvel, but that no longer counts for much. But DC still has Superman and Batman, and you can't honestly present any other character from any other company as "equal" or "greater" than them unless you're completely delusional. Spider-Man could be as iconic, possibly, except that he's a chronic f*ck-up who almost entirely sucks at his own life and pretty much killed his own girlfriend, just to emphasize how bad he is at damn near everything. And he's pretty much the best Marvel's got, except Wolverine, and that's an entirely different type of character altogether.

Marvel and DC tend to have two very different ways of writing comics.

DC's approach was to plan the whole comic out first then write it all out.

Marvel's approach was to write it as they go along.

This i think makes DC better when it comes to comics.

In fact, i like DC more than Marvel

[Discogod]

Originally Posted by Redeemer

Im going with DC, Marvel doesn't have many original/ Unique characters. Marvel got sued by DC over Captain Marvel. (Marvel copied Super-man and called hime Captain Marvel)
Ironman is basically Batman.
Deadpool is basically Deadshot and slade wilson.

DC is simply more original, and I am also bias bc of batman and batman beyond.

Uh, no. Fawcett Comics created Captain Marvel (aka Shazam), and was later sued by DC. Marvel's Captain Marvel was created to take advantage of the fact that no one at that time owned the copyright to the name "Captain Marvel".

Other than Batman & Iron Man both being billionaires, there're very few similarities. Green Arrow's more of a rip-off of Batman than Iron Man. You could even make the case that DC have ripped off Marvel's characters in recent years - look at the similarities between Spider-Man and Blue Beetle, for instance.

Anywhoo, I've always been a Marvel zombie - growing up over here, DC comics weren't really available whereas Marvel stuff was everywhere. I didn't really discover DC until the late 80s. That said, my favourite heroes are DC characters - Green Arrow & The Question.

[Leo656]

DC didn't create Blue Beetle, either; they purchased the character and a few others from Charlton comics in 1983, along with Captain Atom and The Question.

They were all supposed to be the main cast of "Watchmen", but the editors wisely realized they couldn't make money on them if they killed them all off right away, thus the lookalikes of Nite-Owl, Rorschach, etc.

And actually, Blue Beetle was created in 1939. So if anyone ripped anyone off, well...


Looks like ol' Stan has some explaining to do... (although in all seriousness, most reputable sources say Steve Ditko, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby all really created Spider-Man, anyway, so maybe we're blaming the wrong guy)

[Cipher]

1) The recent Batwoman news and all the editorial comments that have followed is terrible and has really soured me on current DC, despite still loving their IPs.

2) Unrelated, I just won this auction for damn near all of the existing Essential X-Men, X-Factor and Wolverine books. Total steal, but it's going to take me thirty years to get through this material. Longtime Marvel fans, are there highlights I can jump around to? What's the way to get the most out of these the fastest (and later I can come back and fill in holes/read them chronologically)?

Also, how do I store these things without having the most embarrassing two-and-a-half book shelves ever?

Halp.

[Discogod]

Originally Posted by Leo656

DC didn't create Blue Beetle, either; they purchased the character and a few others from Charlton comics in 1983, along with Captain Atom and The Question.

Yeah, I should have been clearer - I meant the new Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes), not Dan Garret or Ted Kord.

Cipher, why would you be embarrased to have TPBs on your bookshelf?

[Leo656]

Gotcha. Carry on.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Cipher

Also, how do I store these things without having the most embarrassing two-and-a-half book shelves ever?

Halp.

Didn't you say you already have a fiance? If your girlfriend is already cool with you liking cartoons/comics, you don't have anything to worry about.

[SavageSloth]

Batman is one of my alltime favourite heroes, but Marvel has so many amazing characters, and their movies are always good. So I would have to go with Marvel.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by SavageSloth

their movies are always good..

Half of them don't age well at all.

[ObiWanFan4life]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Half of them don't age well at all.

Yes, but Like the first Superman movie, they're are still solid well scripted, well made movies.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by Discogod

Cipher, why would you be embarrased to have TPBs on your bookshelf?

Nah, man. I already have my TPB bookcase right in my apartment living room. It's just the thought of having 24 enormous X-books in a row. It's going to look way crazier than it should.

Girlfriend or no girlfriend.

[DaVinci]

I prefer DC, since I'm a mythology buff. Though I obviously have a soft spot for Thor.

I'm surprised that in amongst all the praise for DC animated shows, nobody mentioned Green Lantern: TAS. That show was awesome. So sad it got canned because the movie couldn't move toys.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

As my screen name suggests, I am a Marvel girl through and through. I honestly could never get into DC. Their heroes always felt too one-sided to me, their "real" lives always taking a back seat to their alter-egos. The only ones I ever really liked were Superman and Swamp Thing. I actually like some of the villains better than the heroes, especially some of Batman's, like Joker, Riddler, and Cat Woman. For some reason, I feel like the villains are actually more interesting than the heroes themselves, and it always felt like without them, the heroes couldn't even carry their own books. I will admit that I loved the cartoons like Batman TAS back in the day, and Batman Beyond, and even Static Shock, but their other cartoons aside from Teen Titans just never really hooked me.

On the other hand, Marvel heroes always felt more "real" to me- their normal lives actually are just as important as their hero lives, and they have enough flaws to give them depth. I enjoy them as much for their backgrounds and interactions as for the powers and fights, and to me that says a lot about how different the two houses really are. They also seem to have it all over DC in movies, and up until recently, I enjoyed their cartoons as well. Ultimates 1&2 were really great animated movies (and the "outtakes" were hilarious!) and the cartoons from the 90's and early 2000's (X-Men Evolution being the most recent one I liked) were really good.

I guess I should give some background on WHY I actually prefer Marvel. I didn't REALLY start reading comics until after I graduated high school and got married. I liked the old 90's Marvel toons and Batman TAS/Beyond/Static Shock, but had only ever read a few old comics I inherited from my mom, as well as a couple of omnibus collections of X-Men my English teacher had in her classroom. But then 2001 came along, and the comic and game store I frequented for Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, and D&D gaming got the TPB of Amazing Spider-Man with the 9-11 tribute issue in it- this was part of JMS's run on the book, and his writing is probably one of the biggest reasons I fell in love with comics. I was bored waiting for my turn to come around during a weekly D&D game one night and picked it up. It brought tears to my eyes- and not just that one story, either. It also contained the story arc where Peter's Aunt May finally discovered his secret and confronted him. I had never before realized a comic book could move me to tears! I was hooked then and there, and have been until this day- at least as far as being a Marvelite goes.

There are a few decisions in recent years that really irked me (*cough* OMD/BND, OMIT, Superior, and Dark Reign *cough*) but it's the characters themselves that draw me, and how they all interact even when NOT out saving the world. DC has NEVER done that for me. I've also never read a DC book that moved me to tears- for another great Spidey example that was overlooked as very emotional, Spider-Man: Blue deals with him reminiscing over Gwen's death years later, and it really brought home just how deeply it affected both him and the people around him. It's one more reason why I care more about Marvel characters than those in DC. (And for those who want to cite examples like Joker beating Robin to death- don't. I never really cared much about him anyway- I dislike DC's tendency to have sidekicks everywhere. Why do superheroes even NEED them?!) And the fact that I love the writing style of several of Marvel's major writers doesn't hurt. Peter David is probably my absolute fave comic writer, for his quirky, witty, and often tongue-in-cheek style. He manages to add subtle (and not-so-subtle) humor even in the midst of a serious tale, and I love his work on X-Factor. I've YET to find a DC writer who has hooked me like JMS, Peter David or Bendis. I guess it boils down to how the character affect me- Marvel ones make me care about their lives, DC ones just don't.

[CyberCubed]

To be honest I like spiderman and the x-men but other than that Marvel's heroes bore me.

I can enjoy the Avengers together as a team, but as individual characters they aren't interesting. I don't think I will ever be compelled to pick up an Iron Man comic in my entire life.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Really? Maybe you've just never read the "right" Avengers books. Actually, the Avengers I like best are those outside "the Big Three" of Thor, Cap, and Tony. Iron Man is cool in some stories, but I've never liked his personality until the movies. Cap always struck me as too "Boy Scout-ish", until HIS movie appearances. And I was never into Thor, or even Hulk, for that matter. (And Banner hasn't been an Avenger for a LOONG time.) I actually prefer Ms. Marvel (hence my username) and recently, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, Wasp, She-Hulk, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and others. The "New Avengers" has been my favorite line-up of the team so far.