I'm old enough to remember when Marvel said it was superior to DC because...

[Mark Trail]

...in part, it wasn't so reliant on parallel worlds and convoluted continuity.

Man, how times have changed.

[Anthony W]

....they weren't so reliant on turning everything into mantles.

[The Negative Zone]

Are you just saying that because What If is popular? I've always heard Marvel focused on the human aspect of characters is what made them popular.

[Spiderfan001]

....they weren't so reliant on turning everything into mantles.

Well, Marvel messed that up as well.
Spider-verse was cool, Spider-fam is not.

[Mark Trail]

Are you just saying that because What If is popular? I've always heard Marvel focused on the human aspect of characters is what made them popular.

I wasn't thinking at all about the TV show.

I'm saying it because, back in the 70s and early 80s, Marvel (especially, but not exclusively, in the form of EIC Jim Shooter) was known to say that their comics had a more streamlined continuity, in comparison to DCs "Infinite Earths," and multiple versions of the same characters running around, which made them more amenable to new readers. "What If" was a popular book, but it was largely the only place where one saw parallel earths and those earths tended to be "one and done" stories and not to crossover. In fact, DC allegedly took his comments to heart and that is why they tried (and ultimately failed) to streamline everything to a single cohesive Marvel-style universe with COIE.

Flashforward to the present and (at least if the articles at CBR are indication), Marvel is just as reliant, if not moreso, on the parallel earth concept, with stories parallel earths and complete with the heroes meeting their alt-universe counterparts being published on a monthly basis.

In other words, things have changed.

[Thor-Ul]

I remember the times when Marvel fans mocked concepts such as the Legion of Super-pets.
And then, one day, the Pet Avengers debuted and several Marvel fans praised the idea.

[Mark Trail]

I remember the times when Marvel fans mocked concepts such as the Legion of Super-pets.
And then, one day, the Pet Avengers debuted and several Marvel fans praised the idea.

Yeah, while (like the output from both publishers) there's a certain "gritty" covering to it, a lot of modern Marvel seems like silver to bronze age DC.

[JudicatorPrime]

We could spend the better part of the rest of the year documenting each instance where the House of Ideas copied the Distinguished Competition. Marvel may be superior to DC, but that claim can't be borne aloft on the wings of "original" ideas or concepts. I'm sure the argument will be made at some point that Marvel is simply doing what DC did, but doing it better. Whatever floats their boat.

[Anthony W]

...in part, it wasn't so reliant on parallel worlds and convoluted continuity.

Man, how times have changed.

So what you're saying is that Marvel is going through a Midlife Crisis. Get it?

Yeah, while (like the output from both publishers) there's a certain "gritty" covering to it, a lot of modern Marvel seems like silver to bronze age DC.

Marvel became Silver Age DC so gradually I didn't even notice.

[Iron Maiden]

Well, with DC comics they might as well call it the Batman & Friends Comics company these days.
Releases in July

Batman
Joker
Detective Comics
Nightwing
Batman the Detective
Robin
Batman Urban Legends
Batman Reptilian
Harley Quinn
Legends of the Dark Knight
Catwoman
Next Batman Second Son
Batman the Adventures
Batman Superman
Batman Secret Files The Signal

[John Venus]

I remember when one of the Marvel encyclopedias I had claimed that Marvel was superior because their characters were allowed to grow and progress. I'm not sure exactly which year characters stopped aging and growing at all and remained perpetually young and only surrounded by the 'illusion of change' but for me it was really OMD/BND that really drove the nail in the coffin on the idea that we'll ever actually get to see them meaningfully grow older and change.

It's really no wonder we are getting Spider-verses/Iron Spider Lad/multiple Spider-Men once a character goes from a dynamic character who could evolve and change to a static character perpetually stuck in a status quo, the only thing left to do is franchise them or just keep throwing situations at them instead of organically developing their conflicts. OTOH, Superman has a whole tv show now that's centered around him as a father figure even though you had writers in 1999 proposing to break up the marriage in order to bring back the 'good ol' days' and even the Nu52 undid the marriage. One of my friends said after seeing the teaser for Superman & Lois; 'why can't we get a Spider-Man show that's like this but with Peter, MJ and Mayday Parker?'.

[Doom'nGloom]

Well, with DC comics they might as well call it Batman & Friends Comics company these days.
Releases in July

Batman
Joker
Detective Comics
Nightwing
Batman the Detective
Robin
Batman Urban Legends
Batman Reptilian
Harley Quinn
Legends of the Dark Knight
Catwoman
Next Batman Second Son
Batman the Adventures
Batman Superman
Batman Secret Files The Signal

Holy batnipples that's a lot of Batman.

[kilderkin]

For me the rot started with OMD, and hasn't stopped since

The tagline they used to use on adverts was "it's your universe" iirc,

But I mostly feel like a lot of the writers (not all by any means) use the books to tell me what I should think of the real world rather than what the characters think of their own fictional world

Subjective though that is I don't think it's getting better for me in that regard any year soon

[Anthony W]

For me the rot started with OMD, and hasn't stopped since

The tagline they used to use on adverts was "it's your universe" iirc,

But I mostly feel like a lot of the writers (not all by any means) use the books to tell me what I should think of the real world rather than what the characters think of their own fictional world

Subjective though that is I don't think it's getting better for me in that regard any year soon

The older writers used to make you think current (not all) Marvel writers tell you what to think.