I prefer the characters and the universe because those were what I was exposed to first, both in comics forms and in cartoons. Spider-man was the only Marvel character to have that kind of exposure for me at a young age but even then I didn't really get his comics on a regular basis until Ultimate Spider-man.

In terms of how they're run, DC generally seems to be the less crappy company in terms of treating their customers with contempt - see the way DC has improved the paper quality and started to increase the page count on their comics now that $4 is the norm, whereas Marvel still uses awful paper, even in trades, and flood the market with multiple books, shipping twice a month, and they've been at $4 for years now, despite being the biggest publisher in comics. But then you look at DC Publishers being allowed to reshape the DCU according to their own preferences or the moronic controvery around Black Label - mature-rated books have mature content? Gee, what a shocker - and they can be every bit as awful as Marvel.

If there is one area, though, that I think DC simply is flat out better than Marvel at it's... well, let me put it this way: google "greatest Marvel graphic novels ever" and then google "greatest DC graphic novels ever". Marvel has some quality stuff, sure, but in terms of both standalone graphic novels and the collective output of Vertigo (especially its first 15 years or so), DC is just on another planet. It's kind of nuts.

Oh, also, considering that I grew up reading comics in the '90s, DC couldn't help but win. The '90s were one of DC's best decades creatively and quite possibly Marvel's very worst ever.