Phew! Brian Hague raises some issues that I hadn't really considered before and makes some valid points.

I have always bought whatever I could get my hands on and so never considered myself a DC or a Marvel person. In fact, the more rare the issue, the higher I prized it. Here in the UK, in my area at least, Charlton were like gold dust.

I have to say, though, when Marvel first arrived it was like an explosion! The informality, the inclusivity ... and Kirby and Ditko ... wow!

I've gone through periods where I read DC exclusively. I've always liked the "feel" of the classic DCU, parallel worlds, make-believe cities, and all. Superman may be my favorite comics character of all time.

But: my formative comics-reading period was all Marvel. To this day, I get a thrill when I see old covers with the bar across the top that says Marvel Comics Group. The superheroes--Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, the FF, Nova, Ghost Rider, the X-Men, Power Man & Iron Fist, Daredevil, etc., etc.--intrigued and excited me in a way that no one from across the aisle ever quite managed to do.

I like DC, but I love Marvel--with all the emotional baggage that entails.

 

I've bounced back and forth through the years. Lately I've been digging Marvel just because of the movies, since the DC ones are impossible to watch (and I stopped buying the regular comics ten years ago).

But trying to put everything in the balance, I believe DC would be the winner (Batman still my favorite comic book character). Those were the comics that made me a regular buyer back when i was a kid. I clearly remember getting the last issue of the Legends mini drawn by DC and I was caught for good. I didn't stop buying comics (first the local reprints and later the american originals) for the next twenty years or so.

I've loved many DC books, characters and stories but the Marvel Universe captured my imagination in a different way.

A strange extension of this Marvel Comics love is that I go to see Marvel movies opening weekend but won't see DC movies until (at the earliest) the second weekend.