The age old question: which is better Marvel or DC?

[rictor]

I like both companies, and have bought certain titles from both for the entire time I've been collecting comics. Right now, I am loving DC. I really like everything that Geoff Johns does, and I am thrilled with how much attention they are devoting to the Legion this year.

[sanman]

Aside from some of the more classic stories, I don’t care about Marvel at all. I’ve been reading comics for 20+ years and the one thing I see Marvel consistently doing is royally screwing up their own properties (i.e. Spider-Man, Captain America, and Hulk most recently) for the sake of buck. A part of me wants to like Marvel—their characters are great—but I’ve usually been left disappointed.

And I do recognize that DC has more than its share of screwing with things too (just the word "CRISIS" invokes continuity frustration), but its DC’s legacy that brings me back for more none-the-less. I’ll be first to complain about 52, COUNTDOWN, and other hyped events, but DC has a way of bringing back bits and pieces of the past in fun and exciting ways. Never have I been more excited about being a part of the DC Nation!

But then there’s Valiant Entertainment...

[Xero]

well all that interests me of Marvels is Thor and Inc. Herc other than that, I'm all DC...

used to only buy marvel, but i hate how they stretch out one series like... WWH, into a 5 issue series give it infinite crossovers, and it all could have been packed into one 32-40 page 1shot called Thor Vs Sentry or Thor Vs the Illuminati. Seems like all their "Epics" that I read really have no ramifications at all, at least not ones that matter to me. But I did like Annihilation until the series stretched on past a year, isn't it still going?

DC, I never tried out cause frankly, I don't like the big three, but I love the more 2nd stringers, (hate calling guys like GL, Spectre, Doctor Fate, and Hawkman second string) however I checked out All-Star Superman, just for Grant Morrison (loved Animal Man) and I'm Hooked, now I'm even interested in Action, Bats/Supes has appeal at times too. Read 52 for Morrison and just all together a great premise (I didn't like the trinity, so a year without them was heaven to me) and that series led me to Geoff Johns, and that led to GL, JSA, JLA, and somewhere along the line picked up Bats & outsiders, Booster Gold, Titans. And if a company can make me like someone the likes of Booster Gold or Guy Gardner, then they deserve some props.

[maraxusofkeld]

I tend to like Marvel more, becasue of heroes, villians, and the whole feel of everything. I do think this: Marvel may sell more books that DC, but DC internally is organized, edited, operated better than Marvel. For example, Marvel will haul in revenues and then relaunch books that were books cancelled in the 90's, they were cancelled for a reason. They will also make endless mini's and limited series of complete and utter trash. I used to be Marvel only, but I am starting to look to Vertigo for almost all of my monthly reads, except for about 5 Marvel titles.

thats just my two cents

[Chiclo]

But I did like Annihilation until the series stretched on past a year, isn't it still going?

The sequel, Annihilation Conquest, concluded just today.

[tarheelmarine]

I was at a collectibles show this weekend and an interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of the vendors had tons of recent (2 years to current )Marvel for sale. I was looking for DC and had a tough time finding recent material(when I asked the vendors told me they had sold it all). I bought all DC stuff, and while I know Marvel sells more books I wonder how much is actually purchased by readers. I see a lot of Marvel just laying around.

[leonmallett]

I was at a collectibles show this weekend and an interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of the vendors had tons of recent (2 years to current )Marvel for sale. I was looking for DC and had a tough time finding recent material(when I asked the vendors told me they had sold it all). I bought all DC stuff, and while I know Marvel sells more books I wonder how much is actually purchased by readers. I see a lot of Marvel just laying around.

I think that Marvel books achieve stronger sales numbers than DC when looking at comparable books (if there is such a thing as 'comparable books'). If that is true then it makes sense that they will be more widely available I suppose.

[tarheelmarine]

I was at a collectibles show this weekend and an interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of the vendors had tons of recent (2 years to current )Marvel for sale. I was looking for DC and had a tough time finding recent material(when I asked the vendors told me they had sold it all). I bought all DC stuff, and while I know Marvel sells more books I wonder how much is actually purchased by readers. I see a lot of Marvel just laying around.

I think that Marvel books achieve stronger sales numbers than DC when looking at comparable books (if there is such a thing as 'comparable books'). If that is true then it makes sense that they will be more widely available I suppose.

Yes, more books ordered means there should be more available to buy, but it seems to me they are just lying around with no buyers. In contrast it seems that DC books are actually going home with buyers. Granted this was just one show, but it made me wonder.

[Eternalwarrior68]

I like DC, better stories imo. Dont get me wrong marvel used to put out alot of books i loved to read but civil war killed my return to marvel. I have been following Captain America since the relaunch and I personally love it. Plus Mike Perkins is a great penciler/inker.

DC: All I have to say is Greenlantern! Everything GL is great, even the Kyle Ryner stories after hal went nuts.

[tarheelmarine]

DC: All I have to say is Greenlantern! Everything GL is great, even the Kyle Ryner stories after hal went nuts.

Yep, Rayner got me into GL!

[Draco]

I was at a collectibles show this weekend and an interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of the vendors had tons of recent (2 years to current )Marvel for sale. I was looking for DC and had a tough time finding recent material(when I asked the vendors told me they had sold it all). I bought all DC stuff, and while I know Marvel sells more books I wonder how much is actually purchased by readers. I see a lot of Marvel just laying around.

I think this is simply a case of most retailers all being hapy to have a few extra copies of Marvel books but not DC's.

They sell through on DC and dont feel the need to have any for the BI boxes.

[Draco]

Wasn't Emerald Dawn .

I loves me some Emerald Dawn.....

I loves me some another Emerald Twlight for Hal Jordan.

Hal Jordan I *SQUEE* HATE that character more than Batman, I have never cared for him in any series. He is the most boring character in the DCU and no matter who writes him he always seems to have the personality of a dead cat. The only time he was intertesing and I cared for him some what was when he was the Spectre.

Hal Jordan as the Spectre was one of the concepts that brought me back to collecting. Loved the Spectre series by Ostrander. Hal Jordan was my favourite GL (saying that I'm not anti-Kyle).

Day of Judgement was great...but then the ongoing series? Ugh. Complete failure. Totally resolved any drama there was in the concept during the first story arc (Jordan struggling with the wrathful aspect of God) and then goes into complete New Age malarkey for the remainder of the series. Total and complete let down compared to Ostrander's run.

Jordan's Spectre was about forgiveness and redeeption not about vengence and Bibcal vs. moderen day justice. The only problem was when DeMantis wrote arcs over two issues they quickly became very predicable: a villian would make the Spectre over power Jordan. Jordan would whine about becoming Phallax. Jordan would eventually get his head out of his *SQUEE* and resolve it and beat the villian.
The single issues stories were much better, my favorite was The Silver Room (I think that was what it was called) about a vampire who locked himself in a silver room so he could pay for his sins, and The Spectre tells him at the end the woman that he bit and killed before she became a vampire had forgave him and all he had to do was to forgive himself to get into Heaven. The second best was where Abin-Sur's ghost is about to reborn and he doesn't want to go through the process and Jordan is torn to help his friend accept a new chance at life or lose his companship.

The only multi-parters that were any good was when the Spectre went to
Apokolips and confonted Darkseid over a lowely slave there and it ends
with Darksied sending her to a place worse than Apokolips...Earth, and where Sinseto came back as a demon like monster and at the end
he tells Jordan that he would rather spend eternity in Hell than ever accept
his help for redeemption.

So overall was the series worth picking up in 50p bins?

I tried a few early issues and wanted to gouge my eyes out they were so wordy, weird and wanky.

Hal as GL is one of all time faves and i love Spectre too, but together the ones i read smelt of poo.

What say you?

[Zaphod]

I haven't collected comics in 15 years or so. I pick up the occasional graphic novel and am looking forward to the return of Valiant.

I didn't read one more day but if I am overhearing correctly that Peter Parker needed to choose between Aunt Mays life and the worst retcon job ever, I am done with Marvel. I never cared for Spiderman anyways but it sickens me that there is no continuity and no respect given to the stories that came before.

The occasional retcon can and will happen, to satisfy the media but it seems these days, the retcon has been accepted simply for the retcons sake.

We laud over the perfection that was the first year or so of Valiant and we don't know what compromises the company would have had to have made to sustain itself (V2 and Acclaim shouldn't count as they began the "retcon for retcon's sake" mode of existence.

I choose Marvel because that is the majority of my collection, Valiant a close 2nd. I own a handful of DC books, heck I think I own more *shudder* Image books than DC.

Though I did have a minor addiction to Starman in the early 90's (read: before it was actually good)