No Right Answer: Best Comic Book Universe Ever

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Well, DC have Batman, and Batman has the best villains IMO. I also like Gotham City and how gritty it is. DC also have watchmen.

Marvel has the X-men and Spiderman, which I really liked to watch when I was younger. Haven't read that much of the comics. I never really cared much for the avengers, or iron man, or those. I watched the movies and they were fun, but I wouldn't say that the main characters were particularly interesting. While Nolan made three batman movies that I love, and watchmen was also great imo. I keep associating superman with Smallville, and it's always made it hard to take him seriously, because I think that series is awful. Maybe the new movie will change it.

I'd go with DC out of those two anyway.

Darkhorse and Image comics have some interesting stuff too.

 

[Right Hook]

Marvel is superior to DC in almost every way. At least for me. I'm not sure I feel like going into specifics but a lot of people wouldn't care about DC at all if Batman wasn't a thing. With Marvel, you got Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and a few others that are of pretty high, nearly equal caliber.

 

[Gizmo1990]

I have always liked both equally. I love Green Lanturn, the Fash and Batman the most DC wise but I also love Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange.

That being said the DC univierse now includes John Constintine so now DC wins.

 

[Vausch]

It's hard for me to call. I like more of DC's characters but I like the Marvel characters a bit more. Then again, it depends on the universe. Ones I like in one are dicks in another rather often (See ultimate vs 616 vs. MCU Captain America).

And when it comes to the continuity effect, that's also hard to call. Marvel sticks to their continuity and doesn't stray from it. If they want something taken out, they retcon it somehow.

DC on the other hand just reboots everything. While I do like some of the stories, New 52 has been pretty bad to me. Batman? Great. Red Hood? Getting better from garbage. Green Lantern? Loving 3/4 of the books. Flash has been fun, though I miss Wally. Otherwise I really can't find reason to care about the others.

I guess if I had to pick I'd go with DC. Their civilians aren't assholes.

 

[Tono Makt]

Marvel, all the way. I've always been more able to emotionally connect with Marvel comics than with DC comics. As an example, the DC comics I've enjoyed the most were when Kyle Raynor became Green Lantern. It was a regular dude who was a graphic artist who suddenly had this power to make his imagination come to life, and that was far more relateable to me than the main DC heroes. I tried to get into Superman and Batman as a place to start with DC, but I found both of them to be uninspiring characters. (particularly Superman) With Marvel it's the opposite - there are some that I just don't care about in the comics (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor), but the X-Men (and related characters), Spiderman and Ultimate Fantastic Four I love. (main Fantastic Four... eh, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Ben Grimm is one of my favourite characters, as is Sue Storm. I like the Ultimate Reed and Johnny better than main Reed and Johnny.) I fell down the rabbit hole with the X-Men back in the day - probably have every X-Men comic produce from 1990 to 1999/2000ish, including limited series, one-off's, crossovers with non X-Men comics, variant covers... oi. (I wish I had all that money back right now, come to think of it. Argh, childhood is the time to waste disposable income, I suppose.)

There are exceptions to this; Batman: the Animated Series is probably the best comic-based cartoon I've ever watched, and Teen Titans is one of my proud guilty pleasures. Both are (IMO) vastly superior to any of the X-Men, Avengers or Spiderman cartoons that have come out.


Lastly, no dissin' Jubilee! She's the source of my lifelong fetish for asi... erm... oh fuckberries. (hey, I was 14 when I started collecting X-Men comics!)

 

[Thistlehart]

Snippity-doo-dah

-snip-

Check out their webpage. Elfquest.com. All the issues are there, free to read, legally

Also, thanks for recommending planet hulk, now I have something to read

You're quite welcome. It's a great story. Made me love Hulk. I liked him before, but now I love the big angry dude. I want to get my hands on all the World War Hulk comics (as that directly follows Planet Hulk).

And thank you for the linkage.

 

[Tono Makt]

If you look at it... DC only has 2 archetypes; Superman & Batman.
Where as Marvel has 4; Thor, Captain America, Iron man & HULK.

Going to have to disagree somewhat - Spiderman needs to be the 5th archetype for Marvel, and Green Lantern needs to be a 3rd for DC. Spiderman is the kid who suddenly has superpowers, new responsibilities and has to deal with the world of adults (fighting crime) while also being a kid. (This somewhat applies to the X-Men as well; many of the X-Men started off as teenagers as their entire backstory revolves around a private school.) Green Lantern is human being who is given extreme power to wield for justice, which may apply to other DC characters. (Captain Marvel?)

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

My Fav between Marvel and DC has always been DC... Not sure why just preference i guess...

That's kind of the whole thing right there, isn't it? And forgive me for quoting you just to make my own point, which is general and not specifically aimed at you.

There simply is no "best". It is what speaks to the individual on a personal level. Spider-man speaks to me and I relate to him. And I have for over 35 years. Does that make him the "best"? Not at all. Just the best for my money.

Someone else may feel Batman is best or Green Lantern (John Stewart, my personal fav of the Lanterns) or maybe even a lesser known character. This one is just too subjective to settle with any real debate. Because for most fans it's just too passionate a topic.

So my vote goes to "none". There is no best, just which character each person loves.

 

[Mr_Terrific]

There's a few reasons why DC is superior to Marvel but the mains reasons....

Marvel....pretty much copies DC at every opportunity, be it characters or events.

There's entirely too many clones over at Marvel. Hyperion, Capt Marvel, MS. Marvel, Dr. Strange, Thanos, Nova and the Green Lanter...oops, the Nova Corps, Deadpool, Hawkeye,Xmen, Mavel Now in general, etc. Now, that's just the clones. I didn't count the "inspired by" characters. Take Hawkeye, for example. Hawkeye is a blonde haired Archer that is also a womanizer and dated Mockingbird, who is a blonde female martial artist. Green Arrow is a blonde haired Archer that is also a womanizer and dated Black Canary, who is a blonde female martial artist. One came long before the other. Now some like to argue that Doom Patrol predates Xmen by less than 6 months. Given Stan Lee's history, I don't think it's a stretch that he created the xmen based on what was happening at DC. The similarities between the two are...Uncanny! There's also Thanos, who pretty much IS Darkseid. They are the same character except Darkseid is obsessed with the Anti Life Equation and Thanos wants the Infinity Guantlet. Deadpool? A mercenary named Wade Wilson that wields guns and pistols and wears damn near the same costume as Deathstroke, who's a mercenary named Slade Wilson that wields guns and pistols.

In fairness, DC has copied Marvel. Blackest Night is basically Marvel Zombies and Namor was around long before Aquaman. But Marvel takes it's copying to a whole new level.

My other reason is that Marvel milks the hell out of there franchises. There's Avengers, New Avengers, Young Avengers, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers, A+X, Avengers Assemble, Uncanny Avengers, and Avengers Arena. The Xmen are even worse. There's X-Men, All New X-men, Uncanny X-men, Astonishing Xmen, Wolverine and the Xmen, Xmen Legacy, X-treme Xmen, Ultimate Comics Xmen, Cable and the Xforce, Uncanny Xforce....WAIT... You read that right. TWO DIFFERENT XFORCE BOOKS And of course there's...Amazing Spiderman, Superior Spiderman, Avenging Spiderman, Scarlet Spider, Ultimate Comics Spiderman, Ultimate Spiderman.

In fairness, there's 4 current Justice Leagues, 5 Batman comics, 2 Superman, and 3 Green Lantern books. That's bad, but not nearly as bad as what Marvel does.

Lastly, the storylines in Marvel...are completely underwhelming. Take Age of Ultron, for example. If you've at least heard about the comic, you know where it's headed. I've only read a few issues and I already can guess there will be time travel involved or some alternate universe crap. A vs X started out EPIC, but the end result is a few mutants losing there powers, the Avengers realizing they are all assholes, Xavier retires..again, and Wokanda takes a pounding. Only one person died and there was some shit about dragons...

 

[Darth_Payn]

Ah, this episode had the BIG one, DC v. Marvel. Both universes have their strengths and weaknesses, and it's a matter of personal preference. I would prefer to have more money to spend on DC's magic-based New52 books, but I stick with Action Comics (because Grant Morrison was writing Superman's early days) and Batman stuff. One area of the reboot I think succeeded was raising the profile of diversity characters, like Batwing, Batman Inc.'s African operative, and Batwoman, the Jewish redhead lesbian inspired by (but not aligned with) Batman. As for Marvel, the one weakness I find with it (besides event overload and too many similar teams) is a lack of consistency between books for characters who appear in multiple titles. Exhibit A: when Bucky Barnes was Captain America, he sounded and acted different in Avengers (written by Brian Michael Bendis) than how he does in his own title (when it was written by Ed Brubaker). Exhibit B: Dan Slott's Superior Spider-Man had him execute a one-note '90's throwback called Masacre in the middle of Grand Central Station, and his Avengers teammates are mad at him for it (as if none of them ever killed anybody before), while the people of New York City love him.

As far as the "big two" are concerned, I have a deep love for Marvel. You guys hit the nail on the head when you said that they are flawed, and that's what makes them so great. These ARE modern gods, and they squander and screw-up just like everyone else; it's "real", and it's refreshing to see.

And, let's face it, Marvel has 'The Punisher'. Nothing beats 'The Punisher'.

The Avengers beat the Punisher in last year's "War Zone" miniseries. Frank just can't allow himself to win a fight against Captain America. But now he's rollin' with a new roster of Thunderbolts, so there's that.

 

[ltmarcos]

I got to be honest... DC sucks!

DC recycles waaaaaaaaaay too much!
-the Joker
-the Riddler
-the Trickster
-the Puzzler

It's the same guy!!!!

If you look at it... DC only has 2 archetypes; Superman & Batman.
Where as Marvel has 4; Thor, Captain America, Iron man & HULK.

You obviously don't know much about the DC universe if you think the Riddler and the Joker are the same guy. Names are similar but that is about it.

Also if Iron Man is an archetype because he is a regular guy in powered armor/suit with powers. You left Blue Beetle or Booster Gold off your archetype list. Also 3 of your 4 Marvel archetypes all got there powers through science. Only one was born with it.

My pick goes to DC. Have really liked there event comics like 52( amazing story I highly recommend it) Blackest Night, and not as good but still pretty good Brightest Day.

 

[SoopaSte123]

The Marvel universe is better. Marvel has Spiderman, X-men, and the Avengers, all which have many interesting and unique characters with their own stories to tell. DC has Batman... and that's about it. All the other main characters are dreadfully bland in both powers and personality. DC has better characters for darker, grittier stories, however, but that doesn't change my overall opinion.

 

[Jayemsal]

No, I wont do your job for you.

You two are the ones who tell us what you somehow find better, then we tell you you're wrong.

 

[PhiMed]

Pick out what is best?

To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of the women.

Everyone knows that.

 

[SkullKing84]

If I have to pick from the Big 2, I'd go with Marvel. Better characters almost always translates to better story


All publishers in play? Image Comics

Bomb Queen, Chew, Invincible, The Walking Dead, to name just a few

I have to 100% agree... and now I'm gonna cancel all activities for the week. Rereading Bomb Queen, Walking Dead and other Image Comics i have.


Ah, best vacation from work ever... no obligations and can actual take time to read.

 

[crazy_coug99]

I would have to go with Marvel. I grew up watching animated Spiderman and X-Men series. I prefer the Marvel characters because of that realism that Marvel is known for. That is to go against DC because, as said in the video, they are perceived to be as gods or in a "perfect" ideals and characters. I liked the flaws that Marvels gave us. Plus with DC, which universe are you talking about, whenever the DC fans get over a major plot point, like with the death of a major character, DC just comes out and says that "Owe, it's a different universe from the normal universe. Whereas Marvel a death is a death and it affects the characters deeply.
Also Marvel wins all because of Joss Whedon, 'nough said.

 

[Lunar Templar]

barely making it past the intro here and i already disagree.

once again, Gold Digger ...

(edit)

finished watching, answer is still the same

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Marvel as comics. DC wins with their animated series from the 90's!!!!

 

[Vortigar]

Marvel has the more cohesive overall universe. They've never fully rebooted it and you know the basic backstory of most characters. DC has a lot of vagueries that they've tried to clear up with their latest reboot (what is it five times now already? Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths plus the original universe?) but stuff has already turned sour. So Batman has been working for only 6 years, but he's got a 12 year old kid from after the time he became Batman? That f up was quick DC, it only took you 3 months of comics to fall flat on your face there. Marvel simply forgets about the stuff that didn't work and leaves the greatest hits as the back story. The only time that failed is in One More Day.

DC has the better individual stories because their characters are mostly these solid archetypes and thus lend themselves easily toward a more symbolic arc that allows them to put forward more philosophical or poetic points.

As for characters. Marvel has a massive advantage with the X-Men roster here. DC was never able to get a really good team book going, their characters work best alone. They also flunked the Wildstorm integration by smearing Stormwatch and the Wildcats out over different teams. Still, trying to find the best character is tricky, for me the mainline heroes are a given so Supes, Batboy, Spiderbrat and Wolveryuck (God I hate that dude)are not going to be deal breakers they all have their appeal and are awesome when written well. So the difference has to come from the second bench and this is where I hit a snag. It's a toss up whether I like Dr Strange or Wonder Woman more (both greats in their good days but have been lingering around for a long time with nothing of note coming out, current WW is pretty good though). Power Girl or She-Hulk (I really couldn't say)? Iron Fist or Batwoman?

I used to be a massive Marvel fan and overall their universe feels more complete to me but those stories weigh more heavily. In the end you're still meant to read this stuff and DC has the better end of the stick there. So DC wins by a slight margin (I've got more Marvel books at home but currently I'm mostly reading DC).

I don't really care though, I pick and choose the good arcs left and right when word of mouth reaches me across the internet.

Which reminds me, are there collected editions of Damage Control out there? That stuff was brilliant.

 

[RJ 17]

Hmmm, seems at the end of the episode you're instigating a flame-war between two hardcore "nerd" fanbases...isn't that against the Escapist rules?

OT: My vote goes to Marvel mainly because I think, as a whole, the cast of characters is a lot stronger than the cast of characters for DC. That said, I believe DC has the best villians...and by "DC" I mean Batman.

But if for no other reason, DC gave us Aquaman, and that's why they lose this one.