Quite a few comments about getting into comics and a particular issue or character really making an impression. I love to hear those stories.
Thinking back on it…
I was actually introduced thru a pile of comics that my sisters boyfriend was going to throw away. I was Pretty young and asked if I could look thru them. He said “take them or I throw them away”.
The first comic on top was Jack Kirby’s ‘The Demon’. Also in the stack was Batman, Detective Comics, House of Mystery, Action Comics, and even Tarzan. etc. . From Marvel I read Conan, Kull, a couple X-Men, Daredevil, and Spider-Man. I was absolutely blown away!
I had no idea I’d just hit a crossroads in my young life. I had no idea how much these would get me thru the hardest times in my young life. They were my escape. But looking back on it. Besides Conan and an early love for Daredevil and Spider-Man… it was what DC was doing that got into my DNA.
I liked that the city’s were NOT New York… or any place I ‘knew of’. I loved imagining there was a Gotham City, Metropolis and so on. I needed that.
As a younger man I did read a lot of different stuff. And nowadays… when budget permits, I still try something new. But when push comes to shove…and as I have already mentioned, somehow DC Is my choice and somehow got into my DNA.
Side note: At my daughters wedding last year… and with her blessing, I wore a Batman tie clip and Batman cuff-links! My daughters friends and my new son-in-law loved it! And said they expected no less! DC and Batman are just a part of me now!
Thank you for the kind words @baseballmaniac01.45870
I WISH I could’ve paid five cents for a comic. That would’ve been great!
If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t go to my first comic shop until I was maybe eight or nine. If I got comics before that (this was the time I was reading anything I could’ve gotten because a comic book was a comic book) it was either someone giving me their old ones or going to the corner store bodega where they’d be on the vertical magazine racks. Funny enough, this is also where I got my Marvel and DC trading cards. If you were lucky they had those wrapped 3-packs of comics. I used to get those a lot. Sadly, they were the same three pack. I guess the store got a whole case of the same 3-pack and put them on the shelves. I can’t tell you how many copies of Marvel Tales I had with the Death of Captain Stacy growing up.
I understand the point of this thread is to celebrate DC Comics, but I’d just like to say; there’s good on both sides of the fence. I think limiting yourself to one publisher is just pointless. There are so many great comics out there, DC, Marvel, and every other publisher, that it’s always just seemed so strange to me that people still play company loyalties. As much as I’m loving Matt Fraction on Jimmy Olsen right now, I’m also really liking X-Men. And there’s nothing wrong with having Batman next to Spider-Man on your shelf.
Well, except for the fact that that’s entirely out of alphabetical order.
I wouldn’t say a preference for one particular company above others means that’s all we read. For me the Marvel comics I read consistently were West Coast Avengers, the Gruenwald Run on Captain America and What If…?
I’ve been dabbling in IDW with their Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and Half Past Danger. Over at Image I was loving Five Ghosts until it stopped. I’m a sucker for anything Rocketeer and Jon Sable: Freelance.
My heart will always belong to DC, but if a title catches my interests, I’ll always give it a shot.
And no worries, @Batwing52, I knew what you were trying to say
Happy birthday! To answer your question, I think it’s when I fulfilled my tour in the Marine Corps. There was no way I could collect during those years, and after I got out and adjusted to civilian life again, found my way back to the comic shop, something happened. Having not read comics for a few years due to those circumstances out of my control, when I went back in the shop and started up a new, small pull, which has gradually grown today to all but four in cannon DC titles, I realized there’s just a “feeling” I get from reading DC which I can’t fully articulate, and that I do not get from Marvel.
DC felt like coming home on leave to the people I loved and missed. Both universes have a deep history,( I do feel DC is deeper, but more on that in a bit )but with DC I just get this feeling of sinking into that favorite chair, or sleeping in one’s own bed. I hope anyone who reads this can somewhat understand what I’m getting at, because I really have no other way to articulate it.
Another thing about DC for me is the characters who aren’t the “big seven”. I think what truly separates the two companies is DC’s obscure characters. IMO they’re so much deeper of a roster. Look at 52 as an example. A 52 issue weekly, putting less familiar characters in the forefront and for my money, it was brilliant. Now of course writers could take less obscure Marvel characters and tell a great story, it really is about the writing, BUT the fact that some of these lesser known characters are pushing 80 years old is a testimony to all these years of DC making them feel familiar enough to care about Booster Gold, Renee Montoya, Ralph Dibny, and so on, carrying a year long story. The groundwork was laid for these characters decades ago so today’s writers can take their talents and make a story putting them front and center and it works
I’m gradually getting back in to marvel, I was like 10 and decided that marvel had too many big word, and I came to DC and said: Batman just knocked that guys tooth out! So I’ve been a fan since…
But last week I started marvel zombies, and I’m on the 3 book, so I’m getting back to marvel.
I started reading only DC exclusively when Marvel did Civil War 2 and Secret Wars. Then I got off DC and started with other publishers like Image and IDW. It really just depends on what titles I’m interested in.
I apologize. I don’t mean to imply that we shouldn’t read other titles and publishers. There is a lot of other good stuff out there. I just meant that as time has passed and comics have really gotten expensive… I’ve had to make the tough decision of what to read… and mostly DC titles are what called out to me.
There are exceptions (as I’ve already mentioned Conan in other posts) and I also read all Usagi Yojimbo books when I can afford it. (If you have an interest in Japanese history or Samurai Culture you need to check out Usagi… even if you don’t, still check it out! )…
I’m just realizing that for myself … it’s the DC books I choose more then any other. So, in that age old debate… I’d have to say that I AM DC over Marvel.
To… JGj-USMC… just want to say to you (and any other veterans) Thank you for your service!
And it sounds like we both get that same vibe from DC. Other publishers do have great characters and stories… but DC ‘just feels right’ to me in the overall! Just my humble opinion.
See, I completely understand the idea that you like more DC books than you do Marvel, and that you might be more willing to try out a DC title than some other publisher’s. That makes sense. I think what I’m trying to go for here is that there isn’t necessarily a need for debate or favoritism when it comes to publishers. You could say something like, “right now DC is publishing better books” or “Marvel did way better in the Silver Age than DC” or something along those lines. I just believe that the concept of publisher rivalry is an archaic notion.
Interestingly enough… as I stated at the beginning… I thought the debate of ‘who’s better… Marvel or DC? Was quite literally, pointless also.
I was always just glad that their were so many great comics to read from the big two as well as other publishers.
But again…as I’ve kind of pointed it out… comics cost too much!. I had to make choices… and suddenly realized when I made those hard choices…
… I was reading mostly DC Comics. I had never realized this would happen until I had to make a hard choice because of budget…
So for me… the pointless debate suddenly got decided for me.
So, maybe I should’ve called the post… ‘What decided it for you?’
(And for what it’s worth… No matter how you feel about it… I’ve enjoyed all the comments. Thanks for all the great discussions and opinions!)
Like most-I read DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image and loved it when Archie Comics brought back Shield and The Crusaders-but I have viewed DC as first among equals for decades. One publisher will catch fire while another seems to loose their way for a while-but I can’t see myself ever giving up on Superman, Batman or The Legion.
I think there are some general philosophical or ideological differences in “world building” between publishers, and the DC/Marvel debate has been going on since the 60, so there is 60 years of “rivalry” there.
For me it has a lot to do with universe building.
I always liked the multiverse idea. DC really developed it and gave it purpose, and populated their universes in richer ways than Marvel did and it took them a long tine to do it.
I don’t think it’s a question of do various publishers put out good and bad books. They all do on both counts.
For me at least it’s more a premise of the over arching “world building” that is core to a publisher. I enjoy history and DC has done a better job in utilizing historical characters, bringing them into a more present day context.
I’m not a big fan of Batman, Superman or Spider-Man (the 900 lb gorillas in the comics room. So it’s true subtleties I see that color my preferences.
When I first started reading in the early 70s, I just read the Sea, however the enjoyment I got from reading those comics eventually led to me reading Marvel and other publishers.Although my first love is DC, I do not think I would choose one over the other.
Also in my opinion, DC has far more iconic heroes and villains than Marvel. The Marvel movies have pushed their character closer to the forefront of people’s minds, but if you were still to ask someone to name a superhero they’d think of Superman or Batman.
