Why Marvel over DC?

[Agent Z]

Different rules.

How exactly?

[KOSLOX]

I've always like the "idea" of DC comics but rarely like the stories barring a few notable exceptions.

Batman: No Man's Land
Green Lantern (Johns Era)
52
Seven Soldiers

I'm planning to pick up Green Arrow Rebirth though. That preview looked good.

[parker stark]

I grew up with both, but went on to only follow Marvel. The characters were based in a real city, many were outsiders who made a lot of mistakes. All of which made them more relatable.

[Inhuman X]

Since i asked the DC guys..i felt I should ask you guys

what are the reasons why you prefer Marvel over DC, if you do prefer Marvel over DC? is it cause of the characters, structure of the universe etc. or other reasons

Do you like them equally?

what are your reasons

I read both when younger and still pull a few titles from both companies. Back then and to a degree now I always liked DC for the more iconic characters and Marvel for the world happenings and everyday plots. But now, I find I feel the big two have fallen to making shallow comics with too few pages of story and art written by people that don't seem to love it or stick with a title long. No real continuity. I read more indie and titles from smaller companies like Valiant that seem to be getting it right all around.

[marvelousmetalmouse]

Marvel got to me first. That's basically it.

[codystarbuck]

I have never been a company man; but I tended to have a preference for DC's characters. Most of that is based on when I was exposed to them, which was in the early 70s. The DC heroes seemed more "heroic," more of what I thought heroes should be. That's not to say I didn't see that at Marvel; but, I didn't see it as consistently. I grew up in an era without the direct market and comic book shops. In the 70s, newsstands started disappearing, so you couldn't always find comics in the same store, month after month, or not the same titles. Marvel favored continued stories, which meant you were taking a chance on only getting one chapter of a story. DC usually had complete stories (not always, like the JLA/JSA crossovers), so they were a safer bet. I also grew up in a farm town, with no outlet for comics. So, the "done-in-one" aspect made DC more attractive. It also helped that the constant "hucksterism" in Marvel's ads and Bullpen Bulletin's page was kind of off-putting, to me. It felt like a hard sell, and I didn't like it.

Once more steady sources became available, it depended more on character, creative team and story. I tended to flow back and forth. Marvel had some young, innovative writers who were producing some interesting things, and who were doing so without much editorial interference. That led to things like Steve Gerber's Defenders, Don McGregor's Black Panther and Killraven, Doug Moench's Master of Kung Fu, and Chris Claremont's X-Men. Those were the books that I enjoyed, more than Thor, the FF, or the Avengers. Conversely, when Jenette Kahn came to DC, she started to shake things up and got her editors to take more chances. She implemented incentives that attracted writers and artists who were willing to innovate, rather than imitate. It took a while. For a few years, New Teen Titans and Legion of Superheroes were my only regular DC books. I was still probably reading more Marvel, consistently. Then, Kahn's changes started paying off and DC became exciting, while Marvel churned out books that looked and sounded the same. I barely read a Marvel from the mid-80s onward, through the 90s. I didn't totally abandon them, there were still some mini-series; but, the only title I bought consistently was Classic X-Men (filling in gaps that were more expensive, via back issues). By the turn of the Millennium, my interest in DC books, apart from select titles had waned. I actually started picking up more Marvels. It didn't last, as they would reverse course, or a new team came on and I didn't care for the direction, or I just grew bored with the book. I don't really read either, these days, except collections of old material and the odd fringe book.

In the end, it was never the companies, it was the stories and creators. I'm not a big fan of Spider-man, because I always felt the soap opera was overdone, especially when I was young (it was pretty heavy, in the 70s). He seemed like a big whiner and for somebody who could whip together high tech gadgets, he never seemed to figure out that he could make money that way. And Aunt May was always near death's door. However, I loved Marvel Team-Up. Spidey was a lot more fun there and the soap opera wasn't as big an issue. I liked the Thing in Marvel Two-in-One. I was kind of cool on the FF, until I saw more of the classic Lee & Kirby run, and better writers, like John Byrne, came onto the later stories. Avengers had major ups and downs. My strongest period of reading it was when Jim Shooter was the writer and George Perez and John Byrne were the artists. They clicked. I love Frank Miller's Daredevil; but, I equally enjoyed the previous Shooter and Gil Kane run, and seemed to be one of the few who liked Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown's run. I never got into Thor, really, though I enjoy a good portion of what Walt Simonson did, Roy Thomas' mixture of Thor and the Eternals, and love Kirby's art on the book, when he really started cutting loose.

For me it isn't Marvel over DC or DC over Marvel, even though I have a more natural inclination towards DC's characters. It's more, I like these characters; but not these other ones. I like this writer and that artist more than someone else. I like this concept. At the same time, I read stuff from Archie, Harvey, Gold Key, Charlton, Atlas/Seaboard, First, Eclipse, Dark Horse, Comico, Innovation, Image, IDW, Boom, Dynamite, Cinebook, NBM, Viz, Heavy Metal, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink, Renegade, Slave Labor, Rip-Off Press, etc, etc.... I always felt there was room for all, just like I enjoyed tv shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS, before cable. I might watch one network's line-up more than another; but, I usually watched at least one show on another network.

[Centipede Damascus]

I like DC's characters a lot, but Dan Didio and Bob Harras have been strangling the life out of them for the past five years or so.

[Beaubier]

I really only prefer Marvel over DC because of the X-Men. I love the X-Men mythology, and my favorite characters from that world (Magneto, X-23, Hellion, Nocturne, Quicksilver) are amongst my top favorite characters in any fiction format period. I'm not terribly thrilled with the way the X-Men are being treated nowadays, so I might get more into DC.

Aside from Batman knowledge that I've mostly acquired from the cartoons, I don't know a whole lot about DC. However, the DC books I've read all of the way through are some of my favorite superhero comes I've ever read (Secret Six, Batwoman). I used to love Harley Quinn, but I hate the Nu 52 version. I'm thinking of trying to get more into DC now as I'm not a huge fan of what Marvel is doing these days, but I find it a bit daunting since there's so much history that I don't know, so many relationships I don't understand, and so many characters I'm unfamiliar with. I am pretty excited (if a little concerned) about the Watchmen crossover that's happening though.

[Icefalcon]

At the moment I'm just reading that couple more Marvel than DC titles, but I'm open to Rebirth and or (new) Marvel Now changing my reading list dramatically.

Incidentally is the previous Marvel Now initiative to be renamed Marvel Then to make way?

[Wissenschaft]

I have always read Marvel books over DC books. The only DC books I really read are Batman and some justice league. The one DC book that I did like was the Red Lantern corp.

I don't like how powerful a lot of the DC characters are. I like my characters to not be that strong and have ultimate powerful. (same reason I don't like Thor). A lot of the marvel characters may have powers but they are not all powerful. They have serious flaws that keep them from doing the things that they want to do.


Even some of the most powerful X-men mutants( my favorite books) can be limited and flawed. I like seeing these normal humans getting powers that are strong but not too strong while also being feared and excluded from the rest of society.

DC just doesn't do that for me. It's all too easy from a Wonder Woman Green Lantern or Superman to just go crazy on an enemy and win the day. I get they can't do that to all their enemies like Ares and Darkside ect but for the most part that is what ends up happening.

What this guy said. Ugh, are you a mind reader? Get out of my head! :P

I could give a big philosophical breakdown of what I feel the differences are... but I think the honest truth is a lot simpler.

When I was a kid, I was introduced to Marvel first via the X-Men cartoon. My starter drug was Marvel, and that's where I stayed.

This too. That 90s xmen cartoon was a hella of a gateway drug.

[CitizenErazed]

I suppose it comes down to first experiences, most people would have experienced the TV cartoons first I think or a movie. For me it was 90s spiderman cartoons with the occasional X-men, I had no exposure to DC at the time, didn't know what it was. It was the bigger universe that got me hooked into marvel though, all those cameos in the cartoons, I remember a spiderman episode where captain America is on it and gets himself trapped in a force field or something fighting his arch nemesis and this big deal was made of him like we were all supposed to know who he was and respect it, so I wanted to find out more, who were these other characters, what were their stories? What was this wider universe? This was then enforced more with computer games and then movies.

DC came into my life through pop culture references much latter on, and I just really didn't like it, for one thing it just didn't LOOK as nice, the characters I though looked dated, for another, it didn't fit into this big universe of heroes I was on board with and it's own universe I wasn't aware existed, it looked more like a bunch of stand alone stuff. The big thing though was that the characters just weren't very good, especially superman, who I still think is possibly the worst hero ever created.

I feel a hero can be judged on their weakness, what makes them vulnerable. A big green rock a good hero doth not make. Marvel can at least handle high powered heroes, take the Sentry, he has a lot going on with his mental health and metaphysical problems, Superman on the other hand has nothing going on but a snooze fest, there's no depth and no real sense of peril. Marvel also seems to have a much better sense of humour.

So in short, Marvel got me first, DC can't handle characters and Marvel have a better sense of humour and bigger canon universe.

[StaticShock99]

I'm a big fan of diversity so Marvel has been keeping my interest by diversifying their line. It's nice to see more POC and women characters getting pushed. I used to like both equally but DC's current leadership and choices have largely turned me off from them. Marvel's not perfect but they've been improving which is good.

[MyriVerse]

How exactly?

Because X-Men are freedom fighters and those kids are targets not crimefighters. Different fights. Different rules.

[Ken Ashcroft]

Blame my big brother. When I was a kid and just starting to read, he was a big Marvel fan and use to leave piles of comics in his room and I used to sneak into his room and read them when he wasn't around.The Hulk, Thor and the Avengers were some of the earliest comics I remember reading and I've been hooked ever since. Might have changed the course of my life if he had brought DC comics instead back then.

[Cmbmool]

Grew up on Marvel and felt a more strong connection to it than DC.