Poll: Marvel and DC

[000Ronald]

So? Which do you perfer? I'm kind of on the fence here; a week ago, I would have said Marvel without hesitation; a few days ago, though, I got my hands on Green Lantern; Rebirth. The story itself was much better than most Marvel stories I've read, and the comic itself touched on why.

There's a point in Rebirth where Green Arrow says that Hal Jordan could save the world with a book of matches. Tony Stark couldn't do that. Steve Rodgers couldn't do that. Hell, not even Doctor Strange could do that.

My point is, both have very different merits. DC is more based on storytelling, specifically detective stories. Marvel plays out more like an action story, and much more of the emphisis is on the charachters themselves. Two very different types of storytelling, both with their own merits and flaws.

Apologies if my ploy to try to lighten the mood is scathingly obvious.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I think ultimately it DC for me, but I love both. There just so many great crazy stuff in the DC universe that you can never get in Marvel, such as Hellblazer, Swamp Thing and, my favorite comic ever, the Sandman.

 

[xitel]

I personally prefer Marvel, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, as you mentioned, Marvel tends to focus more on the characters and less on the overall story. There's also the fact that almost every Marvel character has character flaws, unlike most of the mainstream DC characters. And finally, I like the powers in Marvel more than I do DC.

 

[Rajin Cajun]

I personally prefer Marvel, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, as you mentioned, Marvel tends to focus more on the characters and less on the overall story. There's also the fact that almost every Marvel character has character flaws, unlike most of the mainstream DC characters. And finally, I like the powers in Marvel more than I do DC.

Pretty much this. I love the flawed heroes in Marvel and I find them much more fascinating.

 

[wewontdie11]

I think Marvel has more good characters than DC and that's the thing I look for most I suppose. The only real DC character I can honestly say I like is Batman. A lot of their heroes just seem quite lame, and many of them have really shitty names. I like the way Marvel do develop their characters as well, and some of the story arcs (particularly crossover ones) are pretty epic.

 

[Phase_9]

I mostly prefer Marvel, because *gasp* people can actually die. Also, their storylines are more elegant, they are still complicated and fun to read without introducting hundreds of thousands of useless throwaway characters (I'm looking at you, entire Green Lantern Corps) and crazy plot twists that require flow charts to navigate the flow charts of the plot twists. Also, Captain America and Iron Man are the shit.

 

[Nevsky]

Looking at my bookshelf, I'd say DC. However, that is more because of Batman, who is my favourite character in terms of mainstream comics.

I probably also prefer DC because they mess with their properties a little more, especially in terms of the graphic novel format, or limited series. There are tons of Batman and Superman stories, as well as crossover events, which happen outside of continuity, that help to highlight the basic tenets and thematics of their heroes and traditions, as well as experiment with genre and setting. Examples include Kingdom Come, Batman: Gothic, Superman: Red Son, Batman: Nine Lives, among others.

The closest I've come to finding that in the Marvel universe are the Loeb/Sale colour books (Dardevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray, Spider-man: Blue) and Neil Gaiman's 1602. Although, I admit I'm not that widely read.

In terms of pure publishing structure, DC also wins because some of my favourite comics ever have been published through Vertigo. Marvel are coming back with their Icon imprint, as I've been enjoying Criminal, Kick-Ass and Incognito.

I'm not an entrenched reader, though. I more follow what looks interesting. I was never a big reader of any series when I was younger, so don't have nostalgic links with a particular 'side'. I suppose I read just as much Image, Fantagraphics or Drawn and Quarterly comics. But for the purpose of debate, I put DC.

 

[BiscuitWheels]

Both comic book companies have ruined their respective universes. Marvel with the Civil War crap, DC with it's numerous Crisis-events. At the moment, aside from waiting for any new Hellboy releases, the only comics I like to read are Marvel Adventures. Thats right, the 'all ages', kid friendly line. The stories are genuinely funny, light hearted but not silly to the point of losing the soul of the characters. They are what to me what comics really should be.

 

[Abedeus]

Marvel all the way.

DC has some cool characters, like the Green Lanterns, Batman and few other, but I grew up on Marvel's Spiderman, Iron Man and Incredible Hulk TV series. Oh, and the X-Man.

 

[new_age_reject]

I like em both really, my fav superhero is Batman, but Marvels characters are generally a little more 'full'.
However, I have a deep rooted soft spot for Titan Books (Watchmen, V for Vendetta).

 

[Grenbyron]

I like Dark Horse Comics myself. They take their female breasts a bit too seriously but I like the darker subject matter they put out.

 

[Pseudonym2]

Dc and Vertigo publishes stuff Marvel wouldn't dream of touching. Like Seven Miles a Second which is an auto-biography a former male prostitute turned gay rights activist. They published a bunch of other experimental stuff such Vertical, Invisibles/The Filth, Sandman and The System.

Marvel did do Howard the Duck and Moonshadow but DC Published the trade paperback of MoonShadow.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I like em both really, my fav superhero is Batman, but Marvels characters are generally a little more 'full'.
However, I have a deep rooted soft spot for Titan Books (Watchmen, V for Vendetta).

Actually, Watchmen was originally published by DC.

 

[CaptainCrunch]

If you're asking about the printed content these publishers have produced, I'll go with DC hands-down.

Aside from the numerous Crises, which really only affect plot in certain cases, the story told in the DC universe is what I expect from the classic tale of heroes / villains. Each arc has a point to be made, and they do it without requiring over-explanation. Reading another series' parallel arc rarely is a problem for the message at hand in DC. One of my favorite Spidey arcs (Maximum Carnage) had so many "**See Amazing #345, lol -Stan" type of notes it made my head spin.

I think there is a point to be made that the movies for any given character series are not representative of the writing in the printed version. The movies have a great influence on the public perception of a character, and it makes for a readily biased opinion. Using the word "publisher" opened up a huge can of worms for this poll.

 

[Arcyde]

my favourite is either Valiant Comics or DC

 

[BiscuitWheels]

Make mine Marvel.
I'm totally queer for Claremont. For those of you who don't know, Claremont is pretty much the backbone of the X-men. All the best stories; Claremont. Plus my two favorite characters are his creations; Jubilation Lee aka Jubilee and Remy LeBeau aka Gambit.

I loved Claremont back in the day, but I was a HUGE fan of the New Mutants. I think The Demon Bear saga is probably his best work. YMMV.

 

[diefzilla]

Marvel,

Grew up an X-Men fan, just never could take Superman or Batman serious. It's totally personal taste but I just enjoy the depth of the Marvel Universe better. Plus, Marvel has Deadpool so they have me on that too.

 

[Sprogus]

I'm a bit of both worlds really, I like Batman, and I like Spiderman.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Marvel. DC has just too much bizarre art design for their B List characters making their actual A-List roster quite minimal. Then there is also the lack of depth of character ineherent in a lot of the classic DC characters.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Well, Marvel has Civil War, Deadpool, and The Punisher, DC has The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and Sgt. Rock, Dark Horse has Sin City, Hellboy, and Terminator, and Image has PvP, Spawn, and Death Jr. Deciding a best out of these would be pretty hard.