Robert Summit wrote:


This is a highly subjective comment--but, jeepers, DC Comics just always seemed to be more fun. I'm talking Silver-Bronze. Marvel Comics always
seemed a little--pompous. But I loved them both.
I agree, I loved both as well. I collected tons of DC even though I've always liked Marvel best. I collected JLA, Detective, Superman, Batman, World's Finest, Legion of Superheroes (Superboy), Wonder Woman, New Gods, Kobra, DC Comics Presents, etc, etc. I also collected the other companies like Charlton, Gold Key, Atlas/Seaboard, Harvey, Red Circle, etc.

But I always felt the exact opposite. To me, Marvel was always more fun, because DC always seemed sorta juvenile. All the silliness of the various composite characters (DC had a real fetish for composite characters!), the goofy costume stunts (Batman as a knight, a zebra, a rainbow, etc), Superman doing insane things, lame attempts at humor with characters actually winking at the reader, etc, etc. image

If either company felt pompous to me, it was definitely DC! There was another irritating fetish DC had, that of "challenging the reader" to "guess" the "secret" of the story. It would even say so on the covers..."Reader - Can you figure out the solution to Superman's latest dilemma?". And inevitably it was some totally idiotic solution to some non-problem that I always found a much saner and simpler solution for. Of course, the DC writers would just about dislocate their own shoulders from the vigorous public display of patting themselves on the back at the end of the issue when they "explained" the supposedly ingenious "secret solution" that they had challenged the reader to figure out. It was condescending and arrogant, as well as silly, all at the same time.

Now that I'm working on rebuilding my long-lost collection, I find myself enjoying the Marvel stuff just as much as I did back in the day, and I'm finding more and more of the DC stuff being enjoyed merely on a nostalgic level, not due to any quality appeal. Even as a kid, there was a greater amount of DC stuff that was just pastime entertainment, and greater amount of Marvel stuff that really got me excited.

But, as much as I rip on DC, I still gotta love 'em! image

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted in a profoundly sick society."

- Krishnamurti