Posted: 24 June 2018 at 10:23am | IP Logged | 1
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As a sophisticated adult (some of the time), I hate binary questions such as, "Do you like Coca-Cola or Pepsi?" I like both, although Pepsi is a tad sweeter; I also eat fish and meat; and, as a wrestling fan, I enjoyed both the WWF and WCW.
The question has come up in my life, childhood and adult, about whether i prefer DC or Marvel. I like both. I have liked both at various stages. I think it's fine for kids to debate such stuff, but it's a bit undignified when adults start throwing things around such as, "DC sucks, Marvel is king!" Or vice versa.
However, let's go back to childhood. Did you have a preference? If so, why? Thinking about this topic recently, I did have a preference, and some of that was down to numerous factors. I like both. But for me, I preferred DC.
Perhaps some of it was down to the fact that more DC books were available than Marvel. This was a period before specialist comic shops, where railway station shops, newsagents and the like all sold US comics. For every Marvel comic, there were at least 5-6 DC comics. So I was able to read more DC. In my young, unsophisticated mind, maybe I equated quantity with quality.
However identifiable the Marvel characters were, DC characters were larger than life (I am referring to civilian identities). I mean, Bruce Wayne was a millionaire, Hal Jordan was a test pilot, Barry Allen was a police scientist, etc. There were gods, aliens, etc. Yes, Marvel did have those, but there was something more fantastical about DC. It felt like Marvel *could* be taking place outside my window whereas DC was a realm which felt 100% escapist. I am not articulating that well, I know.
Also, Kenner's Super Powers Collection inspired far more awe in me than Mattel's Secret Wars Collection. And whilst I shouldn't compare apples with oranges, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and SECRET WARS came out at roughly the same time. My adult brain has very different views on those now, but at the time, enjoyable though they both were, CRISIS felt like the superior book.
It probably helped that, by the end of the 80s, whilst Marvel's only big-screen release was HOWARD THE DUCK, DC/WB had given us four Superman films, a Supergirl film, and a Batman movie (two if we count the 1966 one). It just felt like DC was king.
So, for some of the reasons listed above, I guess DC were better for me. All of those reasons above are the result of an unsophisticated young brain and must be judged as such. I have very different views now about some of the above points, but at the time, they were what I believed. And I guess kids should be allowed to believe.
It's like anything, really. I view some things favourably today when I didn't yesterday thanks to historical context; and things I didn't have much time for years ago are better now. I am not just referring to comics here.
But, enough from me. Based on childhood perceptions, were you in the corner of either DC or Marvel?
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