Marvel > DC
Ok, I know that without DC, Marvel may not exist today. It’s not a chicken before the egg debate. DC came first, but first is not always best. In fact, without Marvel, DC may have gone under many years ago. It’s been a wonderful rivalry and relationship over the years.
I want to be clear: Even though I think Marvel is better than DC, I still like DC. I never understood why someone would love one and hate the other. Why can’t we like both? I do. I just like one more than the other, that’s all.
Why do I like Marvel best? Where do I start? In almost all comics, you have to be able to “buy into” certain ideas, like the fact that some people have supernatural abilities. It is not a fact, it’s fiction, but you have to go along with certain principles of the story. Otherwise you may find that the story is too farfetched. It’s like Agent Smith said in the Matrix “…the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world… No one would accept the program. …human beings define their reality through suffering and misery…” If you can relate to the subject matter, then you will enjoy the story more.
Superman… He is an alien from the planet Krypton. He lives in the great city of “Metropolis.” He is super strong, super fast, super smart, he has X-ray vision, super smell, super memory, heat rays shoot from his eyes, he breathes cold breath and strong winds, has invulnerability, super hearing, and he can fly… I remember as a child thinking “that’s a bit much” and not really buying it. Then, this all-powerful alien is stopped by a man with no powers that is holding a green rock. Really?! For many years DC ruled on the wide-eyed wonderment from fans that enjoyed the simple stories. Luckily, they evolved with the times and followed Marvel’s lead by writing more realistic and dirty story lines.
DC comics take place in a fictional world. Made up buildings in made up cities like Metropolis, Gotham, and Star City. Marvel comics take place here in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. You can flip through the pages and say “See where Spider-Man is standing? I’ve been there!” Even though he doesn’t exist, his city does. His troubles exist too. Peter Parker is a guy you could relate to. High school, feelings for girls, the everyday droll and mundane. Spider-Man was the character Peter dressed up as to protect people. That’s the biggest difference I guess. I always felt like Superman was trying to hide and put on his mask as Clark Kent, the phony. It’s not easy to relate to the Alien pretending to be a regular guy, or a billionaire playboy going out at night dressed as a bat. It’s a lot easier to relate to the high school kid that got bit by a spider, or a nerdy guy that got hit with gamma radiation and now when he gets angry he becomes the Hulk.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are legends. With the amazing Steve Ditko, they propelled Marvel to be the best selling comic brand in the world. They invented so many of the classic Marvel heroes: The Avengers (including The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor) Daredevil, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and most importantly to me, the mother-freaking Xmen!!
As editor-in-chief of Marvel, Stan Lee broke away from the normal way (DC’s way) of comic writing where the squeaky clean good guys win and the dirty bad guys lose, and brought real controversy to the genre. He allowed the heroes of his stories to be darker and the bad guys seemed justified sometimes in their crimes. The world was no longer Black and White, but now shades of Gray.
Stan Lee successfully took on the overbearing and outdated Comics Code Authority over a story-line in Spider-Man about overcoming drug addiction. He pioneered the new industry standard for what was acceptable material to put into comics.
Stan Lee also had a soft spot in his heart for putting smart, beautiful Redheads into his comics. Having a smart, beautiful Redheaded wife myself, I can’t complain.
I’m not trying to say that you should read Marvel and not DC, read them both, and the many other companies out there printing fantastic material. I’m saying that if I had to choose one over the other, it’s not even close.
Marvel = realistic people, in a real world, forced into extraordinary circumstances
DC = extraordinary people, in a fake world, forced into ordinary circumstances
Marvel > DC
Jerry Loveless
I thought that this was a well-written article. The author clearly has put a lot of time into this debate and is able to see both sides of the argument. As a person who is not very into comics, I enjoyed the analysis of Marvel and DC!
I think Jerry is a super writer…Congratulations! Love you!
I agree with you on Marvel topping DC. I find myself more involved in the stories that I can relate to. Music is like that too. If you can relate to the lyrics, you are emotionally involved in the song which makes you share a special connection with the artist. I’m sure a lot of people feel they have things in common with Peter Parker.
Great read!
Interesting take on your love of Marvel. While I appreciate the competition, I’m a DC girl myself.
Well put. Relation to a character is always a major factor in sustainability of the brand.
I think you did a pretty damn good job of critiquing the Marvel / DC world of comic-books Jerry, however, in your summation I think you may have come up just a bit short. I think I would have said it more like this:
Marvel = realistic people, ( who became freaks due to an unrealistic happening i.e.. accidents or the like, in a semi ) realistic world, forced into extraordinary circumstances
DC = extraordinary people or aliens, in a made-up world, forced into ordinary and extraordinary circumstances
Interesting perspective. I find the more outrageous a story line is, the more I get to use my imagination to flesh it out. Fictional places, fictional people leave lots of room for the reader to surf the galaxy to bring greater context to what they’ve read. More work at first, perhaps, but eventually flights of fantasy are easier & more vivid. I’m not a real graphic novel fan, but I like all kinds of stories! I can make up my own pictures!
Well written. It was interesting to learn a little bit about the people behind Marvel. I didn’t realize that people had an issue with people OVERCOMING drug addiction…
Wow, Jerry, I can’t believe you are working in a bank. This is what you need to be doing, I think I now know the purpose of our meeting! We need to make some comics…
Hey, you have to come by and check my X-men collections out, plus I have almost the entire set of X-ecutioner’s song. Yes…a whole day of comic reading fun must be had this winter!
The article is amazing bro, totally agreeing with you. Like, my fav character was always The Punisher. Vigilantism at it’s best. And NO superpowers except the fact that he knows all there is to know about weapons. But still inside, he is a lonely, tortured soul who seems to get nothing out of his work, it’s always onto the next mission, some drug dealer or mob boss, or a crossover with that good intentioned daredevil…so much character, but sooooo cold. Later though I think DC tried to bring in the more realistic life struggles for their characters, probably noticing the fact that people were more into the humanist side of the superhero.
See.. what I love about this article is that you put something completely out of my realm of interest into something totally interesting. I’ve never quite thought about it, but I would absolutely say I’m more of a Marvel guy if I were to get into comics.
Keep ‘em coming Loveless!
Well guys, i think DC Comics and Marvell are both goods . Of course there is some no realistic things. But for those like me who love science,physics, quantum mechanics, parallel universes will prefer DC Comics. Let’s take a look for Batman he is brilliant, he is human and he use his brain to solve many situations.
Many characters from Marvel are very eccentrics (I don’t like this) .
Whoever wrote this article is stupid. Seriously? Its retarded to try and write your OPINION and pass it off as fact. I read both DC and Marvel comics, but to me, DC’s characters were always the more human, more mature, and more developed ones. Each company is capable of producing greatness or producing crap. Its only the immature fanboy that turns a blind eye to this fact.
In the end, comics, like most things, are about opinions, not facts. It depends on your personal tastes and preferences and my tastes have alway led me to DC. Also, the fact that Marvel’s events have been nothing but mindless superpowered fist-fights of late (Fear Itself and Avengers v. X-Men) makes me weary as to whether the company is even capable of putting out a good story anymore. So, for all the Marvel fanboys out there, why don’t you go and read Infinite Crisis, 52, Green Lantern: Secret Origin, Sinestro Corps War, Rage of the Red Lanterns, Superman: Birthright, Batman: Year One, All Star Superman, Blackest Night, etc. and the current runs on Animal Man, Swamp Thing, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Batman and THEN come tell me that Marvel is inherently better than DC!