Why Marvel?

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:27 pm

Ok, that's the question. Why Marvel? What is it that makes Marvel so "big" to those who love it above all else? Why Marvel?

comicsyte95 · Post by **comicsyte95** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:41 pm

I blaim it on the movies.People that would never pick up a comic any day in their life will watch a comic based movie with enough advertising and if the previews for it look cool.If they like it they will swear by marvel after that,and usually stick to marvel.

Thats why i beleve that if VEI ever put up a movie it would draw in a mega amount of new fans.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:45 pm

Mostly great characters that have stood the test of time. They really have connected with younger people with the movies as well.

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:13 pm

For me, I think "why Marvel?" boils down to two main reasons -

1. I only have room in my life for one soap opera. And that soap opera is the X-Men.

2. I was strictly a Marvel fan for many years. I only started branching out to DC and indys in the last 6 or 7 years. Especially with DC, I have an analogue to native language syndrome - I always want to relate the characters back to a Marvel counterpart so I can understand them better. For example, when I think about Lex Luthor, most of the time I fill in the gaps with Dr. Doom.

OmenSpirits.com · Post by **OmenSpirits.com** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:26 pm

Why?

When Jack kirby's legacy was RESPECTED, influencing the very fabric of MU, then it was a worthwhile endeavor to read marvel.

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:16 pm

I like Chiclo's reason 1 above... plus, it came down to that fateful day in 1983, with a 12-year-old me and only a dollar in my pocket, & looking at the spinner rack in my local drugstore. I was looking at either Arion The Immortal (DC) or X-Men.

I chose X-Men (#171) and never looked back. Since then, I have read a lot of DC stuff, as I managed a newsstand for 5 years and worked at my LCS at two different times and tried to read everything being printed. I like Batman, and could collect it, but the rest of DC just wasn't "me" by then.

-slym

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:07 am

Much like what Slym wrote about what i saw in Marvel and what was on the rack ext to them helped.

I think Marvel had the continuity licked some time before DC realised it was a must across the board.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 6:23 am

Daniel Jackson wrote:Mostly great characters that have stood the test of time.

Yep.

The reason the Marvel characters interest me more is that the main Marvel characters usually aren't rich nor aliens.

Spider-man, Daredevil, Cap - all human. None of them rich nor alien. The are regular people that something extraordinary happened to. Therefore, I can connect to them.

I just can't connect with Batman, a millionaire's son nor Superman, an alien. Thinking about it, that may be why I really liked the Flash from DC.

In summation, I can establish a connection with most of the more popular Marvel characters whereas I never could with DC big ones.

Same with Valiant - they the Harbys were human as were most of their big characters.

Unblessed · Post by **Unblessed** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:05 am

Marvel tells stories.

DC is epic.

People want stories that entertain them.

Unblessed · Post by **Unblessed** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:53 am

Jay Tomio wrote:I also want to add that (at least over the last few years and likely decades). MARVEL is clearly the best comic publisher when it comes to marketing itself. In fact, I'd say none of the other companies even practice it.

And they sure do market the shiznat outta them turds.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:23 am

In the 80s Marvel published The Transformers and that was the ONLY comic I cared about.

At various points I'll read more Marvel than DC and other times it was more DC than Marvel. Before I left comics I was reading about 80% of the DCU and one Marvel Comic (The Amazing Spider-Man), but once I started reading the lead-ins to Infinte Crapfest I saw that DC was going in a direction that wasn't interesting to me, and I no interest in what was going in the Marvel Universe, and was in bad financial straights and I decided that since I wasn't enjoying any comics that it was time for me to leave. So I left.

I came back this year because I'm a huge a Transformers, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age fan and I decided it was a good time to return and check out these comics, and I decided to try out Marvel again because their universe makes more sense to me, (and that I can't stand DCE's co-publisher Dan Dibio and even if DC fired him today), I'm not just interested in DCU right now and it's imprints right now.

ian_house · Post by **ian_house** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:32 am

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:28 am

ian_house wrote:Meh.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:45 pm

Draco wrote:
ian_house wrote:Meh.

Must be a DC fan....

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:51 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:
Draco wrote:
ian_house wrote:Meh.

Must be a DC fan....

Harlan Ellison once wrote that "DC...IS comics". His wife, apparently, favors the land of Marvel.

Zool · Post by **Zool** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:02 pm

I'm a Marvel, probably, though I read far more DC than I used to (and a ton of indies).

I think Marvel's legacy is still built on it's 60's creations, which were a reaction to DC's older product.

Marvel is perhaps slightly more grounded, slightly more relevant. But it's a matter of degrees. I heard an artist say that Marvel was 'a little more street' which was said tongue in cheek, but I kind of see his point.

I think people pick their universe based on when they get into comics, and for me that was late 80's.

DC had Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, which were game changers for the industry, but Marvel had Miller on Daredevil, Clairemont/Byrne on X-Men, Gwen Stacey happened in Spiderman (all Shooter era as it goes)... it felt more like a coherent universe.

myron · Post by **myron** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:32 pm

maybe in part it has to do also with the age of the reader...someone earlier said something about relating to younger people...

I'm a little older than many here...I read a ton of batman and superman books in the early 70's...they were (iirc...it has been awhile) usually more available in the spinner racks...I don't even recall ever SEEING an X-men book until 120...although I know they were there. PLus I liked larger DC titles like Worlds Finest because it had like 6 stories in it rather than 1...more bang for that buck or 60 cents or whatever it was then...and unlike 400yrs I never really thought of Bruce being a millionaire or Supes being an alien...they just were...

I did get into ASM and Thor but it was because of the treasury editions of the early issues, which were all but unatainable even at that time...

dhudson1 · Post by **dhudson1** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:34 pm

I have always read both Marvel and DC. Usually every couple of years, my opinion of which is the best flip flops based upon there current quality.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:43 pm

dhudson1 wrote:I have always read both Marvel and DC. Usually every couple of years, my opinion of which is the best flip flops based upon there current quality.

What do you think is better right now?

I say neither. Alot of people seem to be getting burned out on all the events...... even Brightest Day.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:14 pm

400yrs wrote:
dhudson1 wrote:I have always read both Marvel and DC. Usually every couple of years, my opinion of which is the best flip flops based upon there current quality.
What do you think is better right now?

I say neither. Alot of people seem to be getting burned out on all the events...... even Brightest Day.

The events are meant for "cohesiveness" but are burning people out. I like BD, but I want a break from everything being cosmic and connected all the time. It is tiresome and that goes for both DC & Marvel.

Unblessed · Post by **Unblessed** » Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:00 am

xodacia81 wrote:
400yrs wrote:
dhudson1 wrote:I have always read both Marvel and DC. Usually every couple of years, my opinion of which is the best flip flops based upon there current quality.
What do you think is better right now?

I say neither. Alot of people seem to be getting burned out on all the events...... even Brightest Day.
The events are meant for "cohesiveness" but are burning people out. I like BD, but I want a break from everything being cosmic and connected all the time. It is tiresome and that goes for both DC & Marvel.

Yup.

I have been burnedededed by all the connectedness and over explaination of "how it works" and what not.

Stopped picking up BD. Feels like the 90's again. Variant covers. Gotta buy the monthly run from the publisher to get the continuity.

From Epicness to 90's rehash.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Tue Sep 14, 2010 11:42 am

I've always thought of DC as more mythological/fantasy where Marvel is more Science Fiction.

Valiant/New Universe ect. tried to take the next step to hard sci-fi (science fiction that is more explained/plausible and more consistent. Reality based).

X-O HoboJoe · Post by **X-O HoboJoe** » Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:41 pm

"Why NOT?"

RJMooreII · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:29 am

xodacia81 wrote:Ok, that's the question. Why Marvel? What is it that makes Marvel so "big" to those who love it above all else? Why Marvel?

Marvel has a lot of big name characters, a hugely expansive and (contra DC) well integrated Universe. A lot of it is lame, but even the lame stuff usually has pretty high production values. The stuff that's good in Marvel - Starlin's Infinity Quest or the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Saga - are some of the best comics out.

Basically, even at its worse Marvel usually has good pencils, inks and editors who can run a spellcheck and at its best it has great stories and fantastic art. The fact of the matter is, guys like Olivetti and Alex Ross just aren't working for independent companies.

I actually couldn't give a crap about all the emo-whiner stuff in Marvel, my favorite characters in Marvel are all supervillians and cosmic demigods like Doom or Thanos. My fav. DC characters are Superman, Black Adam, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom and Green Lantern. My fav. Valiant character is Solar.

I don't like 'flawed' people who sit around and mope because they don't have good taste in women and can't man up and get over crap that happened 10 years ago, and move on with their damn lives. I hate Spider-Man for that reason.

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:39 pm

I must disagree about Marvel always having good art. As long as JRJR is working for them, he has put them behind the 8-ball.

Marvel villains are great. DC can't really handle villains as well as Marvel can with a few exceptions. I am convinced that Captain Cold would be a hero in the Marvel universe.

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