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No, this isn't one of those typical "MARVEL ROCKS!! DC SUXS" or vice-versa. But instead, what you dislike, and what you do like, about both comic book companies.

With DC:

Like -
The lesser known characters are the more interesting
Inventive powersets
Superman before the mid-90's (Man of Steel Superman)
A majority of Batman stories
The ability to hire good writers
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing

Dislike -
A lot of Cockstroke writing (Writing a character as uber for the sake of the character's name)
Too much emphasis put on the lineage of the character.
Superman's messiah complex
Wonder Woman
When I read most teams (Teen Titans, JLA) it seems like the same crap over and over.
Too much of a clear cut definition of right and wrong
DC Earth seems more like a utopia than a real world

With Marvel:

Like -
Cosmic stories
Lot of characters with good development.
A variation of super-teams that are radicallly different from one another.
Deadpool
A blurrier definition of good and evil

Dislike -
Hiring Bendis, Hudlin, and Loeb
Delays on books
Putting Peter David on Frontline instead of the main book
Wolverine getting cockstroked due to the fact that he's Wolverine.
Downwriting Spider-Man.
Omega Flight being a mini, when it has the most potential.

Omega Flight is a mini? WTF i hope whomever made that desicion is strung up and tickled with feathers,then lobsters and finally monkeys.

Originally posted by Martian_mind
Omega Flight is a mini? WTF i hope whomever made that desicion is strung up and tickled with feathers,then lobsters and finally monkeys.

anyway...

DC - Likes
-Everything seems to go right at the end (mostly), it's like a comic book when you wanna read about life perfect.

well that's just about it

Dislikes
-Everyone and thier momma (except for like batman/and he kinda is in his own way) is uber powerful!
-Superman
-some (40%) of the main titles are boring....

Marvel - Likes
-Down to earth characters (about 60+ % of them) that you can sorta identify with.
-Stories are mostly (75-80% of them) intresting...
-Spider-man
-Deadpool (stole your pick! )

Dislikes
-Wolverine
-Some stories sometimes seem regergitated
-People die....hell it happens IRL, but in comics it should only happen once in a blue moon....

Marvel:

Likes

- A colourful variety of charismatic characters, most notably in their mainstream line up.
- Heavy emphasis on character developement
- More human and grounded.
- They dominate the cosmic department. And by "dominate" I mean "totally ****ing pwn".
- Some of the story arcs are extremely memorable

Dislikes

- a complete disregard for continuity and logic, though it's getting better.
- Some of the earlier writing is a little cheap, plot wise.
- Now, it's okay for writers to believe in reincarnation and such, but......Damn


DC:

Likes

- Vertigo
- Green Lantern
- Some of the mainstream arcs are surprisingly well written.
- DC is good for people who just want to sit back and watch their favorite characters perform clean sweeps. (I don't mean to sound like a condescending prick, I genuinly think this is a good way to keep people who don't take comic books too seriously happy. Just don't expect me to accept it)

Dislikes

- DC is good for people who just want to sit back and watch their favorite characters perform clean sweeps. (I don't mean to sound like a condescending prick, I genuinly think this is a good way to keep people who don't take comic books too seriously happy. Just don't expect me to accept it)
- Overpowered characters
- Superman
- Wonder Woman
- In fact, most of their mainstream characters suck.
- See Marvel dislikes.

Originally posted by Beta Ray Howard
With DC:

Like -
The lesser known characters are the more interesting
Inventive powersets
Superman before the mid-90's (Man of Steel Superman)
A majority of Batman stories
The ability to hire good writers
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing

Dislike -
A lot of Cockstroke writing (Writing a character as uber for the sake of the character's name)
Too much emphasis put on the lineage of the character.
Superman's messiah complex
Wonder Woman
When I read most teams (Teen Titans, JLA) it seems like the same crap over and over.
Too much of a clear cut definition of right and wrong
DC Earth seems more like a utopia than a real world

With Marvel:

Like -
Cosmic stories
Lot of characters with good development.
A variation of super-teams that are radicallly different from one another.
Deadpool
A blurrier definition of good and evil

Dislike -
Hiring Bendis, Hudlin, and Loeb
Delays on books
Putting Peter David on Frontline instead of the main book
Wolverine getting cockstroked due to the fact that he's Wolverine.
Downwriting Spider-Man.
Omega Flight being a mini, when it has the most potential.

Really good post I agree with all of that. IMO Wonder Woman needs a complete and utter revamp. As do various of the teams. IMO most of D.C. personality's could do with the 'shit hitting the fan', if they want to survive. I also think Marvel could do with some advice from D.C. on how to set up action sequences.

D.C. Good Points (Currently):

Legion of Super heroes
Seven Soldiers
Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Grant Morisson
Planetary, Authority, Wildcats
Metzler and the JLA

Marvel Good points;

The Ultimate Universe
Universal
Warren Ellis, Mark Millar
Supreme Power (potential)
Joss Wheldon, Brian K Vaughn, Ed Brubaker
The Runaways
The Young Avengers

Marvel



Likes:


- Personification of natural forces (ie. Death, Eternity, Oblivion, etc.) it's very interesting to Marvel's mythos.-

- It's mythology is so original- well more original than DC's and Images. DC, Vertigo, and Image's mythology is too much based on Christianity and religious concepts, while Marvel has a mythology of the cosmos which is so different and far more original than the rest.

- Silver Surfer has always been a great comic book....the writers from Jim Starlin, uptil now, have always succeeded in humanizing a cosmic scale character....a fkn excellent job

- X-Men....probably one of the ballsiest comic books out there, to tackle social issues (racism, homphobia, religion etc.) and integrate them into thier stories. Also, X-Men is one of the first known comic books to include Gay characters, almost every other comic book avoids it.

-Thanos----probably, the most interesting character to ever exist....

- Cosomology of Marvel is the best




Dislikes:



-resurrection of the same stories over and over...

- constant resurrecting of the same characters who have probably died 3000 times...

- too many alternate reality comic series, it downplays on the original 616 sagas...

- bringing back Onslaught and totally f*cking it up....

-common usage of crappy artists.....(Marvel The End had a shitty penciler, im sorry)

- too many ads in thier comic books, it gets fkn annoying, and makes me take the story less seriously..





DC



Likes:



-SPECTRE !!!!!!- His comic books, all stories based around Spectre are awesome.

- The Source Wall- the concept of the source, and its wall being composed of the titans and cosmic entities who tried to steal its secrets, that is so cool !

- Lobo - funny comic book, cool character




Dislikes:


- It's annoying focus around Christianity...DC's cosmology is based on the mainstream Christian idealogy of heaven, hell, sin, etc. and it gets really annoying and repetitive, not to mention lack of originality and religious favoritism

- lack of diversity in character personalities....too conservative at times.

- Superman......

- Darksied.....most poorly written character ever. This whole, "Ha ! You didn't defeat ME ! You defeated my 5,000,000th AVATAR ! HA HA ! You will never face the true me ! I'm like Sadam Hussien to the 700th power !" bullshit is a joke.

Oh, and one more thing I hate about Marvel:



It's constant retconning of superpowers. Ex:


-Cosmic Cube being replaced by Infinity Gauntlet, Ig being replaced by HOTU


- Classic Beyonder no longer being his true power

Originally posted by Martian_mind
Omega Flight is a mini? WTF i hope whomever made that desicion is strung up and tickled with feathers,then lobsters and finally monkeys.
You're a sick bastage! Good for you.

Marvel

Likes:

-Keeps the religious influence outside the realm of comics. No angels/messiahs or any of that nonsense.

-Characters like Deadpool and She-Hulk show that Marvel has a light-hearted comedic side that is sorely missing from most comics these days.

-This is not too important, but IMO they've always had better names for their characters (nobody can really argue with this)

-Interesting multi-dimensional characters (Magneto, Thanos, Iron Dick...er, Man,) - more blurred sense of right-and-wrong.

Dislikes:

-Overexposure of Wolverine (which wont change because he's what ultimately sells most Marvel titles)

-A few too many cosmic beings, with more being introduced each year. We don't need 3-4 Celestial guardians.

-Mid 90's (nuff said)

-Events like Civil War that try to relate to real-world current events. I'd prefer if comics stayed out of the political issues.

-Alternate realites

DC

Likes:

-Keeps most of it's cosmic beings vague and in the background, which I respect.

-They sign some of the best writers in the business.

-Vertigo (nuff said)

-I enjoy the long history of DC heroes, and the modern-day mythology built around the companies' icons (WW, Supes, etc.)

-If you count vertigo comics, DC has had a much better track record with epic stories. DC, imo, has far more "great" stories like Kingdom Come and the Watchmen than Marvel.

Dislikes:

-The heroes and villians tend to be too black-and-white. There's no bad in many of DC's heroes, characters seem 2 or even 1-dimensional at times.

-The damn Infinite-xxxx retcon events.

-The Christian-based deities and cosmics (keep the religion out of it)
IMO it's both blasphemous for believers and insulting the intelligence of non-believers.

-Too many lame b-listers.

-Many of it's comics suffer from a complete lack of any sort of scientific realism concerning many of it's mainstream heroes. Marvel has less of this since many of it's mainstream heroes are street-level. Not saying that comics need to be absolutely realistic, but DC tends to have far more character feats that make readers go

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I could think of in 5 minutes

Edit: double post, my bad

Some good stuff has already been mentioned. I'll try to cover new ground.

DC
Likes
- The interplay between Batman and Superman in Superman/Batman.
- The interplay between the characters of the Justice League.
- Powergirl when she smirks.
Dislikes
- Capes and swimming trunks.
- Over-the-top power feats.
- Silly monikers.

Marvel
Likes
- Silver Surfer
- Ultimate line
- Generally, overall interesting characters
Dislikes
- Stan Lee no longer writing.
- Jack Kirby no longer drawing (or living)
- Too much change from how characters used to be in Marvel's golden age. Example: I liked when Hulk was unequivocally the strongest one there is, and the Thing was number 2.
- Thor beating Surfer

Yeah. Alot of the main stuff was already covered. I'm trying to dig a little deeper

Marvel

Likes:
- The integration of harsher, gray-area-er themes (i.e. homosexuality, more touch on racism, etc.)
- More complex flaws within their own characters (even the big ones)
-IMO, More thought put into powers being unique/interesting, as well as being integral to the character themselves

Dislikes:
-Relies too much on it's biggest players
-Can give the feel that certain elements are gimmicks (i.e. non-U.S. nationalities, a controversial theme like homosexuality applied to a character for the attention it will get.)
- Too many C-list, nobody-cares villains lying around for whenever they need a generic baddie.

DC

Likes:
-Largley varying Origins
-Green Lanterns
-More of the 'traditional' superhero archetype

Dislikes:
-Too MUCH of said archetype
-Major gaps in powerlevels (Everyones either a streetleveler, or can fly, lift skyscrapers and shoot laserbeams from their ass)
-Too much PIS when their s-levelers need to hang with their supermen

DC
Likes:
Excellent writing, most of the time.
Moral questions of the role of superheroes
Superman
Batman Seriously, Batman's been kind of up and down, but the really great stuff like "The Killing Joke" is among the best in comics.
Flash Fanboy moment. I've always loved the flash. Though personally I consider Barry Allen the best of the Flashes, I find myself warming up to Wally.
Much less recycling of overrated characters.
Prometheus

Dislikes:

Characters tend to do extremely stupid things and have far more instances of PIS.
Excessive wanking of Superman.
Too many Retcons. Then again, Marvel has the same problem.
Darkseid losing to Supes. :WTF: This probably falls under wanking Supes, but I felt it deserved to mentioned.
Aquaman. Except for the Obsidian Age arc, he's kinda sucked.
Orion. Massively overrated bastard.


Marvel
Likes

Deadpool!
Thanos
Apocalypse, pre-jobbing.
Real world elements. Things like gay mutants and family issues.
Cosmics.
Captain America.
Onslaught, before Loeb ruined him.
Magneto
More compelling and interesting characters. As if you couldn't guess I was gonna put that.
Character deaths. Mixed bag, but usually a good thing.

Dislikes.
Writing is more miss than hit.
Onslaught Reborn. Utter crap.
Tiers aren't clear
Certain characters *cough* Wolverine, Hulk, Cyclops, Cable, *cough* get massive jobber auras.
Squirrel Girl. Funny, but her beating Thanos didn't sit right with me.
Excessive jobbing.
Extreme PIS.
The disgrace that is current Apoc. The writers have not only jobbed him, they've ruined the rep and standing of one of Marvel's greatest villains and mutants.
Celestials. Can't stand em.
Civil War. Worst arc ever made in Marvel history. The idea wasn't bad, but it's poorly executed and they shouldn't have tried to connect it to real world politics.
HOM. Wanda is a serious *****.
Thanos being killed by Drax. Actually, I don't dislike that, since we all knew Drax would get him eventually. What I dislike, is the minor possibility that Thanos might stay dead.
And as previously said, too many retcons.


That's all for now.

ok, you guys sure do read alot of comics

I'm going to share my perspective as someone who only occasionally browses comics in the bookstore, so take my opinions with a grain of salt


DC Pros:

- focused on a few iconic characters

- Batman

DC Cons:

- not fun to just skim through

- very few characters that average person knows about

- hard to follow story lines

comment: as you can tell, I don't read much DC

Marvel Pros:

- a HUGE selection of different and interesting characters

- many icons of their own

- more relatable characters

- more interesting visually

Marvel Cons:

- Too many different comics

- quality and consistency issues

I hate when they have so many different times and realities. It gets very confusing.

DC

Like good stories and characters

Dislike bad stories and characters

Marvel

Like good stories and characters

Dislike bad stories and characters

Originally posted by By Crom!
DC

Like good stories and characters

Dislike bad stories and characters

Marvel

Like good stories and characters

Dislike bad stories and characters

Best post on this thread...

I agree with Boriqua....DC gets way to religious around thier cosmology, and Marvel can get wayyy too political with thier characters and stories...that gets so0o0o annoying...... propaganda in the form of art is horribly annoying.



Marvel also has too many fkn alternate realities....

Originally posted by Lord Urizen
I agree with Boriqua....DC gets way to religious around thier cosmology, and Marvel can get wayyy too political with thier characters and stories...that gets so0o0o annoying...... propaganda in the form of art is horribly annoying.



Marvel also has too many fkn alternate realities....

Civil War is clearly just a "right wing vs. left wing" propaganda. It's just a jab at the Bush administration.

I don't mind the Christian theology in DC since Marvel has alot of allusions to Hinduism.

Originally posted by Draco69
Civil War is clearly just a "right wing vs. left wing" propaganda. It's just a jab at the Bush administration.


Which is why I don't read it. I may agree with the message, but I am not going to read a comic book series whose only point is a political argument....I'd just watch the News for that....



Originally posted by Draco69
I don't mind the Christian theology in DC since Marvel has alot of allusions to Hinduism.


I dont necessarily MIND the Christian mythology in DC/Vertigo, because they pull it off pretty interestingly.

But it limits the entire cosmology of DC/Vertigo to one religion, a religion I am not a big fan of anyway, and secondly, there's way too many comic books that do that...


Spawn, for example, is like 80% based on Christianity, although they take a FAR better jab at it, by challenging it, and even daring to claim that God is an evil bastard.....

You said earlier

Originally posted by Draco69
Best post on this thread...




Then you said

Originally posted by Draco69
Civil War is clearly just a "right wing vs. left wing" propaganda. It's just a jab at the Bush administration.



I hate to correct you. But this is an even better post.

DC Comics:

I like the Mythology and stories which usually involved religious epics.
I like the Mythos of the characters.
I like symbolism and storytelling of the events in the DCU.
I like how DC tries to keep their characters within the Golden age of comics
I like how DC depicts the American vision.
I like and remenber Jack Kirby.
And...I like many many other things...

I don't like what Dan Didio is doing.
I don't like how they're destroying the Mythos with unsual stories and turning the characters into a more human essence.
I hate absurd plots and corrections.
I hate the death of characters which later are substitude with other indiviuals.


Marvel:

I like their cool character but I still think those characters have a long way before they become the Mythology which DC have already establish.
I like the Spiderman of the 80's.
I like the sagas.
I like all mutants.

I don't like the entire Stan Lee issue.
I don't like the way Todd Mc Farlane was treated.
I don't like what they're doing with the characters and they way they're been change.
I don't like how Marvel behave itself with City of Heroes.

Above all I hate and completely dislike how Marvel comics allow their characters to be use for mainstream movie explotation sales. I despise this with all my heart. This is the one cardinal sin I won't forgive Marvel. Even worse I totally dislike their fanbase that jumps up and down when someone criticizes their movies.

I also don't like the Marvel Movies fanbase who think the movies based on the characters is good. It's garbage and hold NO weight for the true image of the comic characters.

i dislike how marvel comics are so complicated and complex. . . to many different realities, universes, etc . . . but i like there characters more than DC. on the other hand i like DC because they are simple and easy to follow. thats just my two scents

DC


Likes:

The writing is generally better than marvel's, same with the art imo...
Superman (too many reasons to list)
They seem to do the big events better...
The subtlety... guys like the punisher and wolverine in marvel are so in your face 'oh look at me, i'm such an anti hero, i save people's lives but have no problems crippling villains to do it', but in dc, when a good character shows that bit of darkness, to me its more believable, and a hell of alot scarier... superman, wonder woman... knowing that they're capable of acts that evil, i think thats something incredibly human...
The whole concept of the Green Lantern, pure genius...
Thats it for now...


Dislikes:

Devaluing all the good about superman by making him do insane shit, thereby making his already impressive (and genuinely feasible) feats look tainted...
Getting rid of wally... what. the. hell.
That Lois Lane is a self obsessed cow. (sorry, but women like that just get under my skin)
That Selena and Bruce haven't just shacked up yet... for chrissakes, just marry each other already!


Marvel

Likes:

The X-Men... considering it was made in the 60s, it was incredibly ahead of his time...
Cyclops... pretty much the only character i can actually completely identify with...
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the guys are legends...
Silver Surfer, if you don't know why, then shame on you...
The Ultimates


Dislikes:

The sheer commercialism... they are ruining marvel as a whole by looking more at the money side of things than the actual comics and the characters themselves...
The constant shifting of the x-teams...
Overrated writers and artists...
The sheer amount of crap i hear from marvel fanboys, the writers are to blame as much as anything...
Chris Claremont, i know he's a writer, but god, the man deserves a swift kicking... a very long lasting swift kicking...
The events... no matter how much they try, they just cant seem to do em properly... at least imo...


That's all for now i guess...

I think for Marvel, X Men and Silver Surfer have been the best series in the long run...


I think for DC, Spectre is the best series...

DC

Likes -
-Batman/Superman's relationship. The two are built so well that it would take real talent to screw them up.
-Oliver Queen
-the utopian feel their comics give. In this world it's okay and generally good to be a superhero.
-Green Lanterns
-Teamwork. There are four teams and every super hero seems to know every other super hero. Good connections. JSA/JLA/Outsiders/Teen Titans
-Batman's Villains
-Art and writing is usually very good.
-Elseworlds
-Vertigo
-Frank Miller

Dislikes
-Powersets. Everyone appears to be either uber-powerful or not powerful at all.
-Frank Miller (no typo. I like a few of his DC works and hate the rest)

Marvel:

Likes-
-John Romita Jr. (I know I'm the only one.)
-Peter David (I know I'm not the only one here.)
-Deadpool
-More social conflicts
-Overall character work is great. Not to mention the humor.
-More likely to take risks.

Dislikes-
-If someone dies...let them die. Don't kill someone unless you're willing to commit. At least wait something in the area of 5+ years before even thinking about bringing them back.
-Give Peter David more work! He's good.
-Wolverine is not the almighty.

I'm actually not a very critical person. I like both comic book series.
I think I prefer Marvel though.

Marvel=likes
Cable and Deadpool basically the best teamup comic around IMO
How they utilise ancient mythology and characters in a unique and Skillfull way
vast cosmic hierarchy

Dislikes
Overrating Wolverine
Lack of comitment to deaths
Wasp
Money driving many desicions
Wasp
The chump writing Black Panther
Wasp

DC likes

Jonn
More Adult feel
Very well linked superhero community
Some very good writing
Ragman
Wildstorm
Nightwing

Dislikes
Most of my favourite characters are green and vulnerable to fire
Superman
Wonder woman

I like both DC and Marvel so this is not fanboy rantings:
Marvel pros:
More character developement, even though Marvel has their popular characters the whole universe is not centered around them, They have characters who are original and not "hand me downs" like DC's WOndergirl, Batgirl, RObin #3, kid flash #3 or 1000 who keeps count, Devil boy, etc..

Marvel dislikes: Some of the artistry and design I mean the Thing should not be 6ft that looks stupid. He was always close to the Hulks size. The Sentry, when is he going to do something of significance. Characters jobbing for Wolverine, that was old a long time ago. Not having cartoons that are actually good and true to the comics, and last for a decent amount of seasons like DC's cartoons.

DC pros:
DC has a lot of mindless action. Wildcat, and Black Adam. Very good artistry (Powergirl, Phantom Lady, Black Canary). DC's deities focusing on Egyptian mythology instead of the old Greek or Norse. DC's "minority" characters are more interesting and overall better than Marvels ( Mr. Terrific, Vixen, Black Adam)

DC dislikes:
DC focuses everything around Superman and makes him the best and most powerful at everything. Not having a decent title run with Cap. Marvel. Not trying to make more original characters, just more "hand-me down" characters as stated in the Marvel pros. Not making Darkseid more of an "active" threat by actually doing things and not an "implied" threat by having him stand around with his tired pose of hands behind his back doing nothing and DC saying "he is Darkseid he is a bad man".

Originally posted by boriquaking55
Marvel

Likes:

-Keeps the religious influence outside the realm of comics. No angels/messiahs or any of that nonsense.

-Characters like Deadpool and She-Hulk show that Marvel has a light-hearted comedic side that is sorely missing from most comics these days.


a) Marvel keep the religious influence out? You sure!? They have Asgard for Christ's Sake...

b) Have you read Lobo etc.?

Originally posted by Martian_mind
Wasp
Wasp
Wasp

dammit, knew i forgot wasp... her and pym are two of my favourite characters...

and i like how they retconned pym's beating her...

Marvel

Likes
-More Real World Characters

-Ult. Marvel (except Ult. X-men)

-Great Writers (Brubaker, Carey, Vaughn, Slott, Davis, ect..)

-Majority of books are good, and a handful are great (Astonishing, Ultimates, Ultimate Spidey, ect..)

Dislikes

-Ult. X-men

-Crossover events

-Lack of time given to show character development from events (Spiderman with House of M!)

-God Awful writers (Hudlin, Loeb and sometimes Bendis)

-Selling out quality for quantity (Majority of Xmen books for the past 5 years)

-Making characters cash cows (Spidey, Wolverine, Hulk, ect..)

-Joe Q's pathetic attempts to justify crap writing