Anyone that follows my reviews should know by now that I’m an unabashed DC fan. Does that make me a Marvel hater though? While I am very outspoken over the “Quemas” regime at Marvel, I don’t “hate” the company. I still happily read quite a few Marvel books each month. Over the years though Marvel has done a number of things that really stuck in my craw, while most of DC’s bad moves have garnered a “what the hell are they doing”, rather then outright contempt on my part. DC in my opinion seems to care for their fans and product more; Marvel is always looking to cash in. Bastardization is something Marvel does far to regularly and easily for my tastes.
THE POWERS THAT BE
A lot of the differences between the companies come down to the Editor-in-Chief position at Marvel. While DC has seen editorial shake-ups of their own, until recently Jenette Kahn has steered the company since the mid 70’s. While Ms. Kahn’s successor Paul Levitz, has made some changes, they haven’t been to the point of scrapping everything before him.
Corporate ownership of DC by Warner Bros. has really been a blessing that Marvel has not shared. Yes the suits at the WB can occasionally be a pain in the ass, like when DC was told in no uncertain terms that Aquaman must be resurrected. Yet as a whole it has given DC a ton of autonomy, and freedom from petty financial squabbles. DC’s also had a wide range of avenues available that weren’t open to Marvel. Marvel’s former private ownership caused a lot of heartaches, but even more have been incurred by their current need to report to shareholders, as Marvel is available for purchase on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: MVL). While stockholders may have drastically changed their business tactics, it comes down to the same thing with Marvel, don’t worry about the future when we can have a great present.
Sure DC has an Executive Editor position, but many of Marvel’s decisions seem to come from one man. I have never felt that way with DC, barring the early 90’s they seem to take the safer route with their properties. Sure DC usually seems to be playing catch up sales wise with Marvel, but they haven’t been on the doorstep of financial collapse in a long time. DC may milk things but the classic feeling is never lost. Marvel on the other hand beats things to death, and that’s quite often the hand that feeds them.
BASTARDIZATION
Marvel and DC in the end are out for the same goal, to make money. Yet Marvel seems to go to ludicrous extremes to make this happen. It seems any time I feel good about Marvel’s present, they do something to screw things up.
The title-numbering situation is a great example. Simply put Marvel should not be allowed to place number on their comics any longer, as they are arbitrary and thus meaningless. Whatever makes them more collectible at the moment is the direction Marvel takes. There is no respect for their collective past, just the best short-term “money” decision. Wolverine was restarted at almost the same time that the “powers that be” decided to return Fantastic Four to it’s original numbering. You really can’t go both ways guys. In one month Marvel took their second longest running (by continuing number) series and restarted it, yet by default they created their highest number because a 500th issue would have been their if FF was restarted twice.
Other books like Captain America, The Punisher, and Daredevil are all about to get new first issues, and whatever excuse is used it’s really because the whim strikes them. Sure DC started over Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman, but following The Crisis: On Infinite Earths in 1985 these truly were “new” eras for the characters. If you’ve noticed the whim hasn’t struck DC in nearly twenty years.
Sure lesser characters’ titles get cancelled and restarted. Yet I don’t understand why people get excited for restarts that are nothing more than a money making scheme. DC’s got huge plans in order with all new creative teams on the Superman franchise next year, yet the numbering continues. Batman is the best selling book on the market, and it’s well past issue 600. Quality and great characters sell books, not the crap that Marvel creates.
THE BOOM YEARS
The boom in the late 80’s and early 90’s brought a ton of interest to the industry, and even made some people very rich. A lot of people blame Marvel for almost single-handedly ruining an industry that has survived for more than half a century. To be honest, they’re 100% right. Sure DC, Image, and every other fly by night publisher joined in the variant cover and quantity over quality craze. Yet Marvel went far beyond and tried to take over the industry, effectively trying to put their competition out of business.
Marvel did their best to ruin the industry by exclusively selling their comics through Heroes World, shutting out groups like Diamond and Capital City. Diamond recovered by getting everyone else exclusively, but Capital City sadly took the long dirt nap eventually bought out by Diamond. Not to mention the countless comic stores that went out of business following the nosedive the industry took.
Still to this day, Marvel appears indifferent to the plight of the dwindling comic book retailers. Until uber-comic retailer Brian Hibbs filed a recent lawsuit, Marvel didn’t follow their own printed policies regarding late books. Any books late by more than 30 days should have been returnable. Of course Marvel wilted under the suit and eventually let most of the books over the last five years that fell into the above criteria, as well as a couple of others, be returned. Yet how did that help people that already closed their doors?
The people I feel for the most are the comic shop owners. So many lost their businesses in the last five years, and Marvel never seems a friend to them. At times it feels like they still believe it’s the boom, when obviously it’s not. Once again things like their strict no reprint policy benefit speculators, but not the fans and certainly not the retailers.
IMAGE
Sure DC has had their employee relation issues over the years, but no labor difficulty in comics can compare to the mass walkout that Marvel caused in the early 90’s. Not just seven workers, but also seven of the biggest artists in the industry left Marvel in one fell swoop, due to feelings of discontent.
In my recent Near Mint Memories column (A Death in our Family), I traced the spark for most of the current problems within the comic industry to the “Batman: A Death in the Family” stunt. This was the catalyst, the biggest factor leading to the collapse was the Image Seven’s split.
While DC may have created the first “media” event in comics, Marvel’s poor pay rates and shoddy treatment of their talent, caused some of the most popular artists in the industry to take a hike. Thus beginning the “let’s start our own company” era. Leading to a market inundated with low quality material and late books that were vastly over printed
CROSSOVERS
Here’s the one area that I must say Marvel has a clear advantage on DC. Sure both companies did these things like they were going out of style, I bet neither thought they actually would, but Marvel quit a lot sooner than DC. For this of course they get my gratitude.
WHAT REALLY COUNTS
Honestly a lot of the above reasons don’t add up to much more than picking my shots at Marvel. What it all comes down to for me though is the quality of stories, and what I like to read. Simply, I’d much rather read about the adventures of Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, or the JSA then Spider-Man, Thor, Daredevil, or the X-Men.
In my opinion, today there is simply no comparison between the two companies. While Marvel produces some wonderfully written series, they just don’t write many super hero books. That’s of course not a bad thing. CrossGen has done brilliant things outside of the traditional super hero market. The major problem I have is when the non-super hero titles are Incredible Hulk or Daredevil. Well written, usually, but when Hulk doesn’t appear in his book for issues at a time, I take offense. Comics need less superhero books and more variety, but they should be entirely new concepts, not true classics reinterpreted.
A final note: I find it funny that DC is the corporate conglomerate, yet I firmly believe that Marvel is much more the “Evil-Empire”.
