These type of threads are ridiculous.
No one comic producer has better heroes or better stories.
No to mention its so subjective that no discussion made can actually come up with an imperically correct answer.
Never mind the fact that in many cases the same great creators have worked for both. I love the work of Roy Thomas, whether it was conan, The Avengers, The Invaders, or Defenders at Marvel or All Star Squadron, Arak son of Thunder, Inf Inc or Young All Stars at DC.
I love the work of Mike Grell whether its Green Arrow, Leguon of Super heroes at DC or Ironman, Xmen forever at Marvel.
I love the work of John Ostrander whether its Spectre, Suicide Squad, Firestorm at DC or Xmen, heroes for hire or Punisher at Marvel.
Quite frankly the idea of this thread is offensive, as comics are comics and the same crearive people work regularly for both companies
I'd imagine Marvel owes a lot of that comic book success to their superior cinematic franchise -- at least over the last decade or so.
I generally prefer DC to Marvel, but that's just personal taste... Outside of a few good titles, both companies have mostly been generating shit for the last few years, though. Why more people haven't migrated to the Indie side of things is beyond me.
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Last edited by Galan007 on Mar 20th, 2020 at 01:44 PM
Re: Marvel vs dc: Which has the top characters/story
Isn’t that a very subjective question? I always enjoyed Spider-Man and Batman rags, and have for years. I think Spawn had interesting stories a decade and a half ago. Etc etc etc
Re: Re: Marvel vs dc: Which has the top characters/story
I stumbled across this researching the history of DC. Apparently my opinion on the relative lack of sophistication DC has in comparison to Marvel storywise isn't unique...
"However, the senior DC staff were reportedly at a loss at this time to understand how this small publishing house was achieving this increasingly threatening commercial strength. For instance, when Marvel's product was examined in a meeting, Marvel's emphasis on more sophisticated character-based narrative and artist-driven visual storytelling was apparently ignored for self-deluding guesses at the brand's popularity which included superficial reasons like the presence of the color red or word balloons on the cover, or that the perceived crudeness of the interior art was somehow more appealing to readers. When Lee learned about DC's subsequent experimental attempts to imitate these perceived details, he amused himself by arranging direct defiance of those assumptions in Marvel's publications as sales strengthened further to frustrate the competition.[45"
"In June 1978, five months before the release of the first Superman movie, Kahn expanded the line further, increasing the number of titles and story pages, and raising the price from 35 cents to 50 cents. Most series received eight-page back-up features while some had full-length twenty-five-page stories. This was a move the company called the "DC Explosion".[54] The move was not successful, however, and corporate parent Warner dramatically cut back on these largely unsuccessful titles, firing many staffers in what industry watchers dubbed "the DC Implosion".[55] In September 1978, the line was dramatically reduced and standard-size books returned to 17 story pages but for a still increased 40 cents.[56] By 1980, the books returned to 50 cents with a 25-page story count but the story pages replaced house ads in the books."
DC wings got clipped cuz their were performing poorly WHILE being owned by a corporate conglomerate.
1. Thats compeltely untrue. For most of the few years after N52 relaunch DC was the top seller. There have been many other fluctuations. Also ots only been 18 years not 30. As someone who used to check the top 100 sellers every month I can state with a certainty.
2. Thats not the question you asked, frankly it has jothing to do with it.
3. As Galan already this has a lot morebto do with the MCU than just comics. The reason is that when Marvel went into the MCU they kept it very close to their comics. While with the exception of Batman and the original Chistopher Reeves Superman movies Warner has in almost all cases had great deviation in it characters in the digital medium than in the comic medium. Its actually the rrason why the Nu52 (IMHO) turned their sales around so much. They changed their comics to be closer to their digital versions. So those who were interested in a digital version who picked up a comic recognised the character.
Your question was which publisher makes better or more interesting characters and just by going over the 3 writers creators that I listed I can detail why neither is better.
During Grell's run on Green Arrow he developed the character immensely he made him kill, struggle with the guilt and come back from that. He devoloped him into a true social justice warrior an element occasionally pointed at in his history but now firmlt cemented into his character.
Ostrander in Suicide squad gave great depth to villains like Deadshot. He was the one who created the reason behind his deathwish.
Thomas in hin run on All star squadron retconned mich of the golden age and JSA history to explain and tie together every incosistency in the characters portrayal of 4 decades done bybwriters who didnt bother to research the characters properly and maintain consistency.
You asked which company has the best characters and stories not which sells better. But there are great stories for both companies. Characters can be great or written as crap by a poor writer. In BC and GA Oliver's characyer was poorly written yet when written by Grell he was fantastic
How do you really answer this unless you are a fan of both and quite knowledgeable on both? I'm just going to describe my thoughts on DC.
One aspect that I definitely prefer over Marvel is the whole "story" aspect, I feel like it just really connects the whole universe in general. I've always felt like even despite the reboots and alternate universes etc.DC has somehow kept a sense of character/central theme whatever you want to call it. It just seems neat.
A major downside for me is some of the characters and power levels really just take me out of it all together. When half the team is on some muktiversal level and they are having an 8 panel fight with bankrobbers are whatever is just gay.
Batman and Supermans good two shoes boy scout bullshit pisses me off to no end. It really makes them villians in my eyes. It's such a dumbass way of going about things. But in all honesty it is kind of moot because nobody does in comics anyway.
As a child. Darkhorse was honestly my go to. Then Spiderman and Venom, I was a Superman fan as well until DOS and by the time he came back I was a teen wasn't into the boys out role model anymore.
Marvel overall is better and more consistent, but DC has more masterpiece home runs like The Sandman, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Hitman, Ex Machina, etc.
Its not about which company, They both have great and shitty stories. Not to mention that most writers has worked for both companies. The issue is the writers, When the companies have good writers they could produce good story vice versa
Another of my favorite writers (from back in the Silver age and early bronze) was Dennis O'Niel. He was the one who delved into the psychology of Batman. He created Arkham asylum, Lady shiva, Ras Al Ghul, Bronze tiger, Richard dragon, O-Senei (the master of Bruce Wayne, Richard Dragon, Ben Turner, and Shiva). His work on Green Arrow was second only to Grell. He was the reason Vic Sage (the original Question) was such a great read
Over at Marvel he's the reason I came to love Daredevil and Powerman and Iron fist. He also did great work on the Amazing Spiderman.
I'm not much into street level chsracters as a whole. But every one Denny O'Niel wrote I loved. I pretty much gave up on Batman after he left it in 2009. Of all the "old school" comic writers he and Thomas gave their characters the greatest depth (IMHO)
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