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Post by BoilerRoomBrawler on Dec 15, 2012 4:06:09 GMT -5
Just as the thread title asks. What are the differences between DC and Marvel comics? This can range from characters to settings to storytelling to themes and beyond. It can range throughout their histories of course, but let's try to find what rings true the most. Opinions may of course vary. To get it started, DC's major characters predominantly seem to have started in the '30s and '40s. Superheroes were brand new and time had yet to tell how to write them. Most of Marvel's major characters, on the other hand, started in the '60s and '70s. Superheroes had been around the block by now; creators like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby now had a better idea of what made them tick as well as what could stand reexamination. I could say much more, but I'd rather the discussion just begin. So let's get to it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 4:11:16 GMT -5
Marvel's characters tend to be connected to one major city, NYC, while DC's characters are spread out more and tend to inhabit fictional places.
DC's characters, unless the reboots have changed, don't share a common origin and were created by different people. The majority of Marvel's main characters were created by the House of ideas and reflect the notion of science gone awry; there is also a metastory about the Marvel Universe and why people can gain powers in the first place.
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Dec 15, 2012 4:45:31 GMT -5
Marvel seems to have a lot more ancient mythology based heroes than DC.
Marvel also has two types of classification for powers for the non-mythology powered heroes. Mutants and Mutates. Mutants are born with their powers while Mutates gain their powers usually via science. DC doesn't seem to have this classification division.
Also, may just be me but DC seems to have a lot more heroes who lack actual powers and use gadgets instead than Marvel.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 4:49:24 GMT -5
Heh, I remember an early Sandman (DC/Vertigo character) story where Morpheus visits John Constantine and, during the talk, Constantine talks about his ex-girlfriend selling his stuff including "Me Silver Surfers."
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Dec 15, 2012 5:04:00 GMT -5
I think Linkara put it best by saying DC has heroes you can look up to whereas Marvel has heroes you can identify with.
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Post by Cela on Dec 15, 2012 6:40:57 GMT -5
In Marvel, the civilians are dicks.
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Post by Mike Wooster on Dec 15, 2012 7:51:15 GMT -5
In general, Marvel heroes were created as an alternative to DC heroes. They were meant to be more relatable and flawed. The idea took off so DC went ahead and copied that model. For some DC heroes it was able to stick, while others, including their premier character, Superman, it hasn't worked out.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 9:07:07 GMT -5
Marvel is good.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Dec 15, 2012 9:53:32 GMT -5
The way my brother described it to me, which I like is:
Marvel is heroes as people.
DC is heroes as icons.
For comparison, 9/11 in Marvel comics was a huge event because most of their heroes are in NYC, and so all their issues that month were silent out of respect.
But DC so frequently has events so huge that 9/11 was barely a blip on its radar for those characters.
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The OP
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Post by The OP on Dec 15, 2012 10:13:25 GMT -5
In general, Marvel heroes were created as an alternative to DC heroes. They were meant to be more relatable and flawed. The idea took off so DC went ahead and copied that model. For some DC heroes it was able to stick, while others, including their premier character, Superman, it hasn't worked out. I disagree. I don't think there's much difference between the two companies at all, and the main reason for that is that plenty of writers and artists have worked for both companies. It's kind of like asking what the difference is between WWF and WCW. Different characters, different mythology. That's it. Yes, DC has a red, white, and blue boy scout in Superman; Marvel has one in Captain America. For every Wolverine there's a Batman. This idea that either company is significantly more one way or the other on that scale I think is just a total misperception. It's not like Marvel doesn't have their share of lame Golden Age heroes either, but most of theirs weren't even good enough to be remembered today. Just Captain America, Namor, and Human Torch.
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Post by Red Impact on Dec 15, 2012 10:13:31 GMT -5
DC reboots Marvel retcons
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H-Virus
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Post by H-Virus on Dec 15, 2012 11:15:32 GMT -5
In Marvel, the civilians are dicks. This is the biggest difference I see. In DC, the populous idolizes heroes. In Marvel, the populous constantly finds ways to vilify them. The two companies themselves even drove this point home in the JLA/Avengers crossover.
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The OP
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Post by The OP on Dec 15, 2012 11:19:47 GMT -5
That's true of most DC characters, but there are exceptions like the Spectre, Phantom Stranger, and sometimes Batman. That sounds right as a generalization though.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Dec 15, 2012 11:22:06 GMT -5
the big difference is that the people of the DC universe love having Superheroes around. they venerate them. yeah there's a seemy underbelly of that universe that's been mined for years (Suicide Squad, Secret Six, Stormwatch, the various Vertigo books that were part of the old DCU), but as a whole they tend to be really shiny ad optimistic.
Marvel, on the other hand, has a population who seem almost schizophrenic. sometimes they hate/fear superheroes (with good reason), sometimes they hate them for no reason, sometimes they venerate them (particularly when Kurt Busiek handled the Avengers), and sometimes they have the survival instincts of a suicidal lemming and put Norman Osbourne in charge of everything even though his past as a violent serial killer is public knowledge. with Marvel as opposed to DC it really depends on whose writing what.
and DC's continuity, at least until recent post-Flashpoint hiccups tended be way more cohesive than Marvel's (your mileage may vary on whether or not that was a good thing).
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The OP
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Post by The OP on Dec 15, 2012 11:26:13 GMT -5
That's a good point, DC even has a character who wanted to be a superhero in order to become famous (Booster Gold). If Marvel tried to do the same thing it might not work. Unless they've done it already and I just don't know about it, which is possible since people seem to copy each other a lot in the comics industry.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Dec 15, 2012 11:30:27 GMT -5
I think it's easier to say that the line between the 2 has really blurred, especially in the last 10-15 years. at one time Marvel had a tight rein on their writing talent and kept the same guys writing the books sometimes for over 30 years (e.g. Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Peter David who still works there). DC was pretty much the same. nowadays most of the seasoned writers have put in quality time at both companies and some of the biggest have jumped back and forth a few times (Bendis is the only guy I can think of whose done extensive Marvel work but never did anything at DC). as a result of drawing from the same pool of writing talent, the 2 companies have become more similar.
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Post by BoilerRoomBrawler on Dec 15, 2012 11:36:06 GMT -5
In general, Marvel heroes were created as an alternative to DC heroes. They were meant to be more relatable and flawed. The idea took off so DC went ahead and copied that model. For some DC heroes it was able to stick, while others, including their premier character, Superman, it hasn't worked out. I disagree. I don't think there's much difference between the two companies at all, and the main reason for that is that plenty of writers and artists have worked for both companies. It's kind of like asking what the difference is between WWF and WCW. Different characters, different mythology. That's it. Yes, DC has a red, white, and blue boy scout in Superman; Marvel has one in Captain America. For every Wolverine there's a Batman. This idea that either company is significantly more one way or the other on that scale I think is just a total misperception. It's not like Marvel doesn't have their share of lame Golden Age heroes either, but most of theirs weren't even good enough to be remembered today. Just Captain America, Namor, and Human Torch. I agree that there is certainly some level of similarity between the two (asking their differences wouldn't even be asked if they were completely different) and that part of it stems from some common writers and artists over the years. It may even be that they grew more similar with time as their history and continuities built up. That said, most of Marvel's major characters emerged over two decades later than many of DC's major characters. They were created as an alternative, competing product to DC at the time. One such difference then was that all of Marvel's characters existed in the same universe on the same Earth. DC had multiple Earths in multiple universes. That of course changed with Crisis on Infinite Earths when they collapsed their universes into one explicitly to imitate Marvel.
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Post by Jiren on Dec 15, 2012 11:44:44 GMT -5
I think it's easier to say that the line between the 2 has really blurred, especially in the last 10-15 years. at one time Marvel had a tight rein on their writing talent and kept the same guys writing the books sometimes for over 30 years (e.g. Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Peter David who still works there). DC was pretty much the same. nowadays most of the seasoned writers have put in quality time at both companies and some of the biggest have jumped back and forth a few times (Bendis is the only guy I can think of whose done extensive Marvel work but never did anything at DC). as a result of drawing from the same pool of writing talent, the 2 companies have become more similar. DC was annoying me with it's writer changes I'm OK when it's the writer's choice (Morrison) or when the writing has been less than stellar - Gail Simone - Batwoman/Firestorm - David Finch - Batman: TDK - Tony Daniel - Detective comics - Perez - Superman but when they replace a writer who's been doing great stuff - Higgins - Deathstroke - Winnick - Catwoman - Nathan Edmondson - Grifter and replace them with terrible writers like Liefeld & Nocenti. Thank god things are finally getting back in order (Aside from Nocenti witing Catwoman)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 11:48:48 GMT -5
I disagree. I don't think there's much difference between the two companies at all, and the main reason for that is that plenty of writers and artists have worked for both companies. It's kind of like asking what the difference is between WWF and WCW. Different characters, different mythology. That's it. Yes, DC has a red, white, and blue boy scout in Superman; Marvel has one in Captain America. For every Wolverine there's a Batman. This idea that either company is significantly more one way or the other on that scale I think is just a total misperception. It's not like Marvel doesn't have their share of lame Golden Age heroes either, but most of theirs weren't even good enough to be remembered today. Just Captain America, Namor, and Human Torch. One such difference then was that all of Marvel's characters existed in the same universe on the same Earth. DC had multiple Earths in multiple universes. That of course changed with Crisis on Infinite Earths when they collapsed their universes into one explicitly to imitate Marvel. Not necessarily, as there are lots of alternate futures and characters that cross over dimension to dimension, such as a Reed Richards from an alternative Earth where he was sent to get the Ultimate Nullifier to defeat Galactus instead of the Human Torch and failed to get it in time to stop the world eater.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 11:49:57 GMT -5
In general, Marvel heroes were created as an alternative to DC heroes. They were meant to be more relatable and flawed. The idea took off so DC went ahead and copied that model. For some DC heroes it was able to stick, while others, including their premier character, Superman, it hasn't worked out. I disagree. I don't think there's much difference between the two companies at all, and the main reason for that is that plenty of writers and artists have worked for both companies. It's kind of like asking what the difference is between WWF and WCW. Different characters, different mythology. That's it. Yes, DC has a red, white, and blue boy scout in Superman; Marvel has one in Captain America. For every Wolverine there's a Batman. This idea that either company is significantly more one way or the other on that scale I think is just a total misperception. It's not like Marvel doesn't have their share of lame Golden Age heroes either, but most of theirs weren't even good enough to be remembered today. Just Captain America, Namor, and Human Torch. I have to agree. DC/Marvel are both mainly used to prop up their existing franchises more so than anything else. Writers/artists seem to exist in more of a caretaker role due to DC/Marvel being so protective of their copyrighted entities. The corporate "brand" is the most important thing to both of them. I'm not necessarily knocking them for that - there's a LOT of money to made between the two of them, but because they've institutionalized their titles so heavily it makes the distinction between the two very blurry. DC has Vertigo & Marvel has Icon, but due to the changing market, it's pretty clear they're both putting less and less emphasis on them.
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