The age old question: which is better Marvel or DC?
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
- siren3-4
- The best feeling I get is filling holes
- Posts: 8912
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:46 pm
- Location: Florida
I enjoyed 52 but Countdown lost me . . . I actually had quite a few DC comics on pull after the last crisis series with the One Year Later stories . . . I just stopped caring . . . I figured I would pick up the trades or HC collections of any stories that got high praise . . .tarheelmarine wrote:52 was good stuff. I look forward to the Countdown Trades.Squirrel wrote:Theres isn't many DC titles I even give a glance at except BATMAN (and just the simply titled 'Batman' one)
What was up with that count up to 52 and then count down..crazy stuff, who the heck paid $3 a week for those books? for 2 years no less!!
as its been simply put......
So far I have heard nothing good about countdown . . but I do have the GL HC books coming from dcbs . . . but that's it for new stories from DC for me . .
- Dr. Solar
- Spanked like a 4 year old in K-Mart.
- Posts: 10898
- Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 8:09 pm
- Favorite character: Sven
- Favorite title: Psi-Lords #2
- Location: Los Angeles Surviving Sectors
My summary of Countdown is that a bunch of random stuff happens, and the degree to which it doesn't make sense is only matched by the lack of entertainment value.siren3-4 wrote:I enjoyed 52 but Countdown lost me . . . I actually had quite a few DC comics on pull after the last crisis series with the One Year Later stories . . . I just stopped caring . . . I figured I would pick up the trades or HC collections of any stories that got high praise . . .tarheelmarine wrote:52 was good stuff. I look forward to the Countdown Trades.Squirrel wrote:Theres isn't many DC titles I even give a glance at except BATMAN (and just the simply titled 'Batman' one)
What was up with that count up to 52 and then count down..crazy stuff, who the heck paid $3 a week for those books? for 2 years no less!!
as its been simply put......
So far I have heard nothing good about countdown . . but I do have the GL HC books coming from dcbs . . . but that's it for new stories from DC for me . .
52 was great. Countdown isn't.
- Draco
- Well I think I talked enough poop...
- Posts: 10178
- Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:44 pm
- Valiant fan since: preordered vh1 from start
- Favorite character: X-O from vh1
- Favorite title: X-O vh1
- Favorite writer: Good question?
- Favorite artist: ooooh another good question
- Location: Dead Universe Comics, Buckinghamshire, England
Im a little suprised to see how the chart favours Marvel so much.
Sure ice cream is for all, but after that heinous crapola they pulled with WWHulk im suprised there wasnt a mass exodus on Marvel titles like with Spiderman ONe more day.
I was personally more put out by the crap they pulled with WWH considering how many titles it spanned over then one title which had less than 20 good issues in 15 years, and they were all around Civil War.
DC as a whole ( even though the last two years have been evens with Marvel on shockingly bad stunts only the mentally disables would attempt) have been superior in consistent storytelling, art and continuity for ten years plus ( Zero hour was the jump on point although itself as a story was weak).
Marvel whilst gaining high profile writers and artists again since early 2000's, have had way to many insane continuity failures beyond anything acceptable.
Plus they keep bringing back characters form the dead without explanation which is just sad and shows such a lack or respect for the customers, previous story arcs and creative teams.
Civil war was probably the single best thing Marvel ever put out that spanned the entire Universe, then they dropped the ball, fell over, chipped their teeth, knocked themselves out and when they woke thought it was ok to just go back to peddling old toss each month ( barring a few good titles sure) and everyone would be cool.
House of M was for all intents and purposes a great way to say "reality warped so we can do what we want now", but there was no overall editorial direction to say exactly what was now that wasnt then etc etc.
Marvel Suck cock in hell until they have someone like Mark (RIP) Gruenwald again to oversea and ensure continuity is adhered to and respected.
over
just my
Sure ice cream is for all, but after that heinous crapola they pulled with WWHulk im suprised there wasnt a mass exodus on Marvel titles like with Spiderman ONe more day.
I was personally more put out by the crap they pulled with WWH considering how many titles it spanned over then one title which had less than 20 good issues in 15 years, and they were all around Civil War.
DC as a whole ( even though the last two years have been evens with Marvel on shockingly bad stunts only the mentally disables would attempt) have been superior in consistent storytelling, art and continuity for ten years plus ( Zero hour was the jump on point although itself as a story was weak).
Marvel whilst gaining high profile writers and artists again since early 2000's, have had way to many insane continuity failures beyond anything acceptable.
Plus they keep bringing back characters form the dead without explanation which is just sad and shows such a lack or respect for the customers, previous story arcs and creative teams.
Civil war was probably the single best thing Marvel ever put out that spanned the entire Universe, then they dropped the ball, fell over, chipped their teeth, knocked themselves out and when they woke thought it was ok to just go back to peddling old toss each month ( barring a few good titles sure) and everyone would be cool.
House of M was for all intents and purposes a great way to say "reality warped so we can do what we want now", but there was no overall editorial direction to say exactly what was now that wasnt then etc etc.
Marvel Suck cock in hell until they have someone like Mark (RIP) Gruenwald again to oversea and ensure continuity is adhered to and respected.

just my

- Draco
- Well I think I talked enough poop...
- Posts: 10178
- Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:44 pm
- Valiant fan since: preordered vh1 from start
- Favorite character: X-O from vh1
- Favorite title: X-O vh1
- Favorite writer: Good question?
- Favorite artist: ooooh another good question
- Location: Dead Universe Comics, Buckinghamshire, England
- X-O HoboJoe
- Bradley is not unsupervised anymore.
- Posts: 22413
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:07 pm
- Valiant fan since: 1991
- Favorite character: Aric
- Favorite title: Shadowman
- Location: Adrift on the Seas of Fate
- BloodOfHeroes
- We clutch at lies 'n pray they’re truths
- Posts: 4657
- Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:14 pm
- Favorite character: Bloodshot
- Favorite title: Bloodshot
- Favorite writer: Kevin VanHook
- Favorite artist: Sean Chen
- Location: FLA
- xodacia81
- Here I am, happy as a clam
- Posts: 18404
- Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:09 pm
- Location: East of Chicago, West of New York
I've tended to like the films more. I used to read DC more than Marvel, though I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED Marvels. I guess that in the early to mid 90's, the height of my comic interest-and no, not fueled by speculation, though I like many hoped that some of my extras would one day sell enough to at least buy gas or a nice dinner-I was just more into DC. This would probably be because, simply put, from late 92-late 94, DC had 2 of the greatest storylines ever.
Almost EVERYTHING in the Superman books from the Death through the immediate followup after The Fall of Metropolis, was superb. The Batman books were also rockin at the time. Zero Hour kind of started to lose things for me. I liked the new Aquaman and I liked the Marz take on Green Lantern, having never really gotten into it before. Kyle Rayner was an interesting character to me when I was younger. I thought the whole collapse of the Corps was handled well. But, not being "steeped in the tradition" what did I know, right?
Anyhow, I wish I had paid more attention to VALIANT and not gone hog wild with some of the ALIENS books from Dark Horse. I regret not picking up more of the GOOD stuff Marvel WAS doing, at the time.
I guess what I'm saying is, I chose Ice Cream, but it WAS DC for me, long ago. The "new" Batman series, the Spiderman Series, even the Xmen series, all are good and all are better than what they had in the books most times I've tried reading them since my heyday in comics. I won't count Supes, since the old series of films is simply too special to be compared. Sure, it's not the "greatness" that is Batman Begins or Sin City, but I will always have a soft spot for them. I'll shut up now.
Almost EVERYTHING in the Superman books from the Death through the immediate followup after The Fall of Metropolis, was superb. The Batman books were also rockin at the time. Zero Hour kind of started to lose things for me. I liked the new Aquaman and I liked the Marz take on Green Lantern, having never really gotten into it before. Kyle Rayner was an interesting character to me when I was younger. I thought the whole collapse of the Corps was handled well. But, not being "steeped in the tradition" what did I know, right?

I guess what I'm saying is, I chose Ice Cream, but it WAS DC for me, long ago. The "new" Batman series, the Spiderman Series, even the Xmen series, all are good and all are better than what they had in the books most times I've tried reading them since my heyday in comics. I won't count Supes, since the old series of films is simply too special to be compared. Sure, it's not the "greatness" that is Batman Begins or Sin City, but I will always have a soft spot for them. I'll shut up now.
- Todd Luck
- Doomed to forever roam the black halls
- Posts: 4729
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:02 pm
- Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Wow!
Have the DC fans gone away or just not voted yet? Those are very different results from when I did this poll a while back...
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/viewto ... 53&start=0
I'm still with Marvel for the time being and avoiding DC even though I was a lifelong DC fanboy before. I only get All Star Batman and Legion now (Miller and Shooter are always exception to any rule). No hard feelings with DC. I've collected their comics long enough to know if you don't like the direction they're going in now, just wait a few years and half of it will have never happened and all the characters will all have different backgrounds and personalities again. At DC, history is whatever the creative team is writing that month.
Enjoying the hell out of The Twelve, Captain America, Thor and Annihilation from Marvel. Looking forward to Secret Invasion since I've enjoyed their other crossovers.
Have the DC fans gone away or just not voted yet? Those are very different results from when I did this poll a while back...
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/viewto ... 53&start=0
I'm still with Marvel for the time being and avoiding DC even though I was a lifelong DC fanboy before. I only get All Star Batman and Legion now (Miller and Shooter are always exception to any rule). No hard feelings with DC. I've collected their comics long enough to know if you don't like the direction they're going in now, just wait a few years and half of it will have never happened and all the characters will all have different backgrounds and personalities again. At DC, history is whatever the creative team is writing that month.
Enjoying the hell out of The Twelve, Captain America, Thor and Annihilation from Marvel. Looking forward to Secret Invasion since I've enjoyed their other crossovers.
- Draco
- Well I think I talked enough poop...
- Posts: 10178
- Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:44 pm
- Valiant fan since: preordered vh1 from start
- Favorite character: X-O from vh1
- Favorite title: X-O vh1
- Favorite writer: Good question?
- Favorite artist: ooooh another good question
- Location: Dead Universe Comics, Buckinghamshire, England
You just described Marvel perfectly right there tooTodd Luck wrote:Wow!
Have the DC fans gone away or just not voted yet? Those are very different results from when I did this poll a while back...
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/viewto ... 53&start=0
I'm still with Marvel for the time being and avoiding DC even though I was a lifelong DC fanboy before. I only get All Star Batman and Legion now (Miller and Shooter are always exception to any rule). No hard feelings with DC. I've collected their comics long enough to know if you don't like the direction they're going in now, just wait a few years and half of it will have never happened and all the characters will all have different backgrounds and personalities again. At DC, history is whatever the creative team is writing that month.
Enjoying the hell out of The Twelve, Captain America, Thor and Annihilation from Marvel. Looking forward to Secret Invasion since I've enjoyed their other crossovers.



Hands down Marvel. Maybe not for the content of their comic books. I dont read Marvel or DC to be honest. But they have marketed their characters so well that everyone knows who tons of their characters are, even if they are not into comics whatsoever. DC, a few. Superman and Batman. Thats about it. And their movies suck compared to Marvels.
- Dr. Solar
- Spanked like a 4 year old in K-Mart.
- Posts: 10898
- Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 8:09 pm
- Favorite character: Sven
- Favorite title: Psi-Lords #2
- Location: Los Angeles Surviving Sectors
All the best comics are DC lite.Chiclo wrote:Marvel... did DC Lite? Just for a moment?Draco wrote:House of M was for all intents and purposes a great way to say "reality warped so we can do what we want now", but there was no overall editorial direction to say exactly what was now that wasnt then etc etc.
- tarheelmarine
- Ask me about the Mellow Mushroom
- Posts: 3747
- Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2004 4:14 pm
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: Magnus Robot Fighter
- Favorite title: Shadowman
- Favorite writer: Jim Shooter
- Favorite artist: Jim Calafiore
- Location: Japan
The first Countdown trade comes out in Apr or May. I will try the first one, but I am waiting for Final Crisis.Dr. Solar wrote:My summary of Countdown is that a bunch of random stuff happens, and the degree to which it doesn't make sense is only matched by the lack of entertainment value.siren3-4 wrote:I enjoyed 52 but Countdown lost me . . . I actually had quite a few DC comics on pull after the last crisis series with the One Year Later stories . . . I just stopped caring . . . I figured I would pick up the trades or HC collections of any stories that got high praise . . .tarheelmarine wrote:52 was good stuff. I look forward to the Countdown Trades.Squirrel wrote:Theres isn't many DC titles I even give a glance at except BATMAN (and just the simply titled 'Batman' one)
What was up with that count up to 52 and then count down..crazy stuff, who the heck paid $3 a week for those books? for 2 years no less!!
as its been simply put......
So far I have heard nothing good about countdown . . but I do have the GL HC books coming from dcbs . . . but that's it for new stories from DC for me . .
52 was great. Countdown isn't.
- Todd Luck
- Doomed to forever roam the black halls
- Posts: 4729
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:02 pm
- Location: Winston-Salem, NC
I'd have to disagree.Draco wrote:You just described Marvel perfectly right there tooTodd Luck wrote:Wow!
Have the DC fans gone away or just not voted yet? Those are very different results from when I did this poll a while back...
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/viewto ... 53&start=0
I'm still with Marvel for the time being and avoiding DC even though I was a lifelong DC fanboy before. I only get All Star Batman and Legion now (Miller and Shooter are always exception to any rule). No hard feelings with DC. I've collected their comics long enough to know if you don't like the direction they're going in now, just wait a few years and half of it will have never happened and all the characters will all have different backgrounds and personalities again. At DC, history is whatever the creative team is writing that month.
Enjoying the hell out of The Twelve, Captain America, Thor and Annihilation from Marvel. Looking forward to Secret Invasion since I've enjoyed their other crossovers.
![]()
![]()
Sure Marvel does retcons. Reed Richards space ship is no longer the first manned space flight, Bucky was a little older with a higher rank in the 40s, etc. But all companies have retcons. And all companies also have creative teams that aren't aware of every issue done before them or writers who do "their take" on the character. Hell, Valiant published stories that completely contradicted issues published a year earlier in the same series! It's comics. It happens.
As a long time DC fan it is kind of refreshing to be able to pick up a Marvel comic from the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc and know they more or less happened in the current Marvel Universe. It's cool to see stories like the Captain America/Iron Man Civil War special that have the characters discussing actual adventures they had in old comics and not something the writer had to invent that month. I think I own one whole miniseries from Marvel that's no longer in continuity. Like I said, to me that's refreshing.
But DC has kind of a different approach where they very freely rewrite entire chunks of their past, rebooting entire series while others stay intact. And they do it...A LOT. As a result there's hundreds of DC comics I own form the post-Crisis 80s, 90s, that simply no longer exist in the current DCU. And I'm never quite sure what's "in"; if the heroes/villains in the current issues are acting out of character or if the background I knew about them has been retconed away. I can literally own hundreds of issues of a character published a few years back, including everything on their back story, and pick up a current DCU comic with them in it and not have a clue where they come from now.
And that's not to say that's always necessarily a bad approach to take. I thought Byrne got some incredible stories out of the Superman reboot of the 80s. Orstrander did so many retcons on Martian Manhunter and Specter that he practically rebooted both of them and I thought those characters were infinitely better for it. Unfortunately the mentality that allowed those stories to happen also lets them get wiped out very easily (the entire series of Martian Manhunter seemed to be "out of continuity" about a month after it was canceled!

- Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
- Posts: 8008
- Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:58 pm
- Location: Physically: USA---Spiritually: Ireland
Re: The age old question: which is better Marvel or DC?
I grew up a Marvel zombie, but right NOW, I'd have to choose DC. They're just putting out better, quality stories. You have to look no further than Green Lantern for an example.
Last edited by Lightning Strike on Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
- Posts: 8008
- Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:58 pm
- Location: Physically: USA---Spiritually: Ireland
I would agree that Marvel is more accessible than DC to new readers but ONLY because Queseda is intent on relaunching each title every two to three years, which is not always a good thing.Dr. Solar wrote:True. One thing I left out of what I wrote is that Marvel seems generally more accessible than DC.
- siren3-4
- The best feeling I get is filling holes
- Posts: 8912
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:46 pm
- Location: Florida
Re: The age old question: which is better Marvel or DC?
That's because if you look further than Green Lantern you will be severly disapointed . . .Lightning Strike wrote:I grew up a Marvel zombie, but right NOW, I'd have to choose DC. They're just putting out better, quality stories. You have no need to look further than Green Lantern for an example.
- tssgery
- Just jumpin' through time arcs, that's all.
- Posts: 1899
- Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2004 9:33 am
- Location: Alexandria, VA
- Contact:
I had been spending $50-$100 a month on comics but I stopped buying new comics about 6 months ago. There are, simply put, very few good titles out there... for either company. There's an occasional good storyline, but that's about it.
I had bought every issue of Amazing Spider-Man for about 20 years until September of 2007
I had bought every issue of Amazing Spider-Man for about 20 years until September of 2007

- Dr. Solar
- Spanked like a 4 year old in K-Mart.
- Posts: 10898
- Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 8:09 pm
- Favorite character: Sven
- Favorite title: Psi-Lords #2
- Location: Los Angeles Surviving Sectors
Re: The age old question: which is better Marvel or DC?
I somewhat agree, but I think "severely disappointed" is a little severe to say. No more disappointed than one might be with Marvel, imo.siren3-4 wrote:That's because if you look further than Green Lantern you will be severly disapointed . . .Lightning Strike wrote:I grew up a Marvel zombie, but right NOW, I'd have to choose DC. They're just putting out better, quality stories. You have no need to look further than Green Lantern for an example.
My DC pull list a year ago was Batman, Detective, Superman, Action, Wonder Woman, Flash, Justice League, Justice Society, 52, Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Corps.
Today, It is Green Lantern, GLC, and Countdown (I am in for the last bit of Countdown, because I came so far with it I might as well finish up plus it's on pre-order).
I wasn't severely disappointed, just not as interested as I was.