This went a bit different than we expected, so brace yourselves.
Why do I read Marvel Comics?.....that's a question I never quite took the time to explain. I'm going to actually go through this with my other fellow comic reader Joebear29.
Joebear: I grew up kind of a small kid in a pretty tough part of Syracuse, NY. I got picked on alot in my youth, at school and around my neighborhood and my one escape was reading comics, Marvel Comics. Every Friday, my mother took me to the local book store and let me spend my allowance on comic books. The comic section of the book store was located in the very back and had comics hanging up on the walls and in rows and rows of boxes. I remember the first time I walked back there and looked at the back wall, there was Superman hanging up, Batman, Justice League, The Flash and so on. But then there it was, Claremont and Lee's X-Men #1. I was 9 years old when I bought that issue, and 20 years later I'm still reading X-Men(and still have that issue), and numerous other Marvel series.
Siphen: I read comics basically because things have never quite gone my way growing up. Everything between being picked out, excluded, and just feeling like I was born into the wrong world. It was when I was at my lowest that I turned to comics because it was my way of coping with my troubles, I had something to focus on besides all the negatives and superheroes seemed like the best thing to believe in at the time. I read Marvel Comics because the heroes are down to Earth, you can make an argument about many heroes they have and I could tell you why they can be easily relatable to normal people. Marvel heroes are flawed, they have flaws just like us which could make a god-like character seem like a pushover. Everyone knows I'm a huge X-Men fan because they are the most relatable characters I believe have been created. What I never understood was how people say they are relatable to Batman....are you an orphan? billionaire? get a bunch of woman? or as skilled in martial arts like him? if not then you are wrong which is why I prefer Marvel heroes.
Joebear: I don't know what it was that day that brought me to that particular issue, maybe it was the bad ass cover, maybe it was how awesome the characters looked, but whatever it was it has shaped the person I am today. I tried to read DC comics, but could only get into maybe one or two of it's characters. How can I be asked to care for heroes who are damn near immortal, or from another planet. I also never understood why nobody knew Clark Kent was Superman, or Hal Jordan was the Green Lantern. I also never felt that there weren't any real consequences for being unmasked, or having their identity revealed in the DC universe. Seriously, if anybody deduced that Clark Kent is Superman what are they gonna do.......NOTHING HE"S SUPERMAN, he could fly to get you before you tried to harm anybody he cared about. Now, lets say......Spiderman, he needs to hide his identity at all costs. Not only would it put a target on his head, but Aunt May's, M.J., and any of his friends who know nothing of his identity, and he can't get to them at super speed like the boring boy scout. Basically I just can't relate to, or care for the characters in DC, for the most part.
Siphen: My main reason for liking Marvel is because they house my favorite heroes which are the X-Men. Superheroes that save a world that despises them. They constantly face death when they step out into the public, but that doesn't stop them from saving the world more than the Avengers. They are all flawed individuals who have developed over the years to overcome.
Siphen: When I read Marvel comics I like to see a variety of heroes who acquire their powers by somewhat realistic means unless it was from outerspace. But you don't get that with DC, what you get is them trying so hard to impress you by making a world that seems to be larger than life, overrun with heroes and villains who almost can't be killed, not saying Marvel's can't be killed, but DC makes it unrealistic. Some say that DC was first to make dark stories like Batman losing his parents or Superman's planet blowing up......yeah right, you call that dark when it is one event in their life and you have Marvel who put time into developing characters like Iron Man who struggled most of his life with his alcoholism which could have killed him if he didn't try to make a change in his life.
Joebear: This brings me to the characters themselves. In Marvel we get a vast array of different heroes, in DC we get different shades of their big 3. And for people who say what about Booster Gold, or Blue Beetle, I say they are jokes. Sure, Marvel has a few characters that seem like rip off's of DC characters, but it's what Marvel has done with these characters that makes them stand out. You say Hawkeye is a rip off of Green Arrow(who is just Batman with a bow and arrow), I say he is a vast improvement over DC's archer. And how about DC's continuity prior to The New 52, there was none. Constant ret-con's and rewrites and plot holes, and shit that just doesn't make sense.
Siphen: What I like about Marvels world events is that when it is centered around a specific hero or group of heroes, they give them the spotlight to shine. Though Marvel may overdo with all the mini series connecting to the event, they at least are attempting to give every hero a chance to shine and be noticed, that's a part of marketing whether you like it or not. Every single event affects the whole universe and somewhat acts as a change in pace and direction of a series or specific hero. DC has a bad record of feeling the need to throw Batman into every event to take on beings that have the powers of gods and of course put him in some situation in which he's able to defeat or kill them. You tell me how reasonable that sounds to you? and you know it's true. Where Marvel succeeds is that they have a large library of heroes and they make use of them all. This goes from multiple teams including the many Avengers teams, X-Men teams, Future Foundation and so on. DC gives me nothing but unoriginal characters of the same race, with similar powers and of course the numerous sidekicks or young counterparts(something I have said in multiple blogs that I hate).
Joebear: And this brings us to movie adaptations. First though let me give DC credit for their animated shows and movies. Batman:The Animated Series, Superman:The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, and Young Justice are all great shows, and their animated films are also all very good. Marvel just does it's superhero film adaptations much better. Nolans two Batman films, Superman1,2 and Returns, Tim Burton's Batman, and Batman Returns and Watchmen are the stand outs. They also gave us such gems as the Swamp Thing movies(Liked the first one a little), Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Green Lantern, Jonah Hex, and Superman 3 & 4. Marvel has had a few stinkers, but mostly in the past. Compare X-Men, X-2, X-Men:First Class, Blade 1 and 2, Spider-Man 1 and 2, Punisher:War Zone(And the one with Tom Jane I suppose), Iron Man 1 and 2, Thor, Captain America:The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk, and Kick Ass. These are my reasons for reading Marvel, or why I dislike DC comics.
Siphen: To me Marvel has the better stories too, they have consistency with their series because they keep the same writers instead of switching them up and losing the reader in confusion. How anyone can say DC has the better stories is beyond me when they had to reboot them just to make them appealing again, and even then they angered many fans because some still did not deliver besides Batman or Superman.
Joebear: See, Siph gave me guide lines for this and I've gone totally all over the place with it. Back to why I love Marvel. In my opinion Marvel characters have more depth to them, they are more complex. The majority of Marvel's heroes struggle with more, have more flaws, and more at stake. Plus being from New York, I love that so many of my favorite characters operate from it. And with it's size it makes sense, you hear that DC. I could never understand DC and it's one hero cities. Another thing I love about Marvel are the story lines and I actually love cross over events(except Shadowland and Fear Itself). And DC, they love some damn capes don't they. I also love Marvel's villains much better too. Give me a Magneto, Dr. Doom, Apocalypse, Ultron, M.O.D.O.K., the Skrulls, Loki, Thanos, Galactus, Norman Osborne, Red Skull, Mandarin, Sentinals, Sebastian Shaw, Carnage, or Kingpin over Lex Luthor, Darkseid, Braniac, Doomsday, Two-Face, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Black Manta, or Nekron.
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