Marvel and DC: What's the difference NOW?

[Fist McStrongpunch]

Yes, I've read the countless essays and whatnot about how Marvel revolutionized comics with their tales of superheroes who had real-life problems. But that was back in the 60s and 70s, and nowadays DC has just as much of this as Marvel. So really, what is the difference between the two? Is there even a difference in the tone of the stories and characters these days?

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I heard someone break it down as such:
Marvel has much cooler characters than DC
DC has much better writers than Marvel.

 

[Mr Light]

Marvel has a rich wealth of continuity with a vast interconnected evolving universe.

DC has a mired rebooted continuity that makes no sense and has invalided decades of storytelling leaving a confused mess of what did or didn't happen.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Not much. Writers, artists and editors migrate back and forth between the two companies and this has been true for decades. Their style of storytelling are pretty similar as well. Marvel hasn't been the hip and cool upstart since the last Century. And DC stopped being "your grand dad's comics" around the same time.

Marvel's ballyhooed "rich wealth of continuity" and "evolving universe" is just as confusing and convoluted as DC various reboots. "One More Day" and even the "Winter Soldier" are as damaging to continuity as any Crisis at DC. In the end its about telling a good story. Frankly slavish continuity doesn't always make for good storytelling. It can lead to a lot of wheel spinning and backtracking when moving forward should be the goal.

Worrying about what happened and didn't is just silly. I can't get into that mindset anymore.

 

[theenglish]

I heard someone break it down as such:
Marvel has much cooler characters than DC
DC has much better writers than Marvel.

I would say that the reverse "tends" to be true these days.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Something I read once that nailed it for me was, "Marvel has characters, DC has pantheons".

 

[Hound of UIster]

^That hasn't been true since the late 70s.

I heard someone break it down as such:
Marvel has much cooler characters than DC
DC has much better writers than Marvel.

I would say that the reverse "tends" to be true these days.

That seems to be entirely wrong since the DCnU reboot with DC's high turnover rate resulting in a high influx of new talent gaining a foothold versus Marvel NOW relying exclusively on their in-house writers.

 

[Ian Keldon]

In tone, there isn't much difference now. Nu52 was DC explicitly trying to copy the Marvel style with edgier stories, a less open and accepting relationship between supers and the community, etc.

 

[Icemizer]

^I hardly think the Nu52 was explicitly copying Marvel. They were doing edgy stories long before that point. Mind Wipes, Rape, etc.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

In which universe did one of the heroes punched reality or something in order to make multiple timelines fit? Or something like that.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I dunno, in which universe did one of the greatest and truest heroes make a deal with the devil?

 

[Drago-Kazov]

I don't follow superhero comics, i just vaguely remember reading about in an article about retcons.

 

[DarKush]

I don't think there's much of a difference now. Back in the day I thought Marvel had the better written characters, the cooler characters, while DC's characters had the name recognition.

But I think DC did a lot of improving since I was a kid and they are pretty much on an equal footing in terms of coolness factor for me. Granted, Marvel still has the edge, but lately they've just been overdoing their big crossovers and becoming more gimmicky and DC hasn't been as bad about that.

Admittedly my preference for DC has grown over the last several years and I've moved away from Marvel. I've been steadily losing interest since the Heroic Age started.

 

[RJDiogenes]

There has been less and less difference since DC Marvelized itself back in the early 70s. That kicked into high gear in the late 70s and early 80s when guys like Englehart and Wolfman switched over. I'm surprised younger readers would think there's any more difference between Marvel and DC than there is between Coke and Pepsi.

Back in the 60s, there was a huge difference. That's when Marvel's small-universe and feet-of-clay approach was still fresh and DC was still doing it's off-the-wall psychedelic thing. There was much more variety in comics in those days.

 

[Mike Farley]

One has gobs of books featuring Batman. The other has gobs of books featuring Wolverine. That's pretty much it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In tone, there isn't much difference now. Nu52 was DC explicitly trying to copy the Marvel style with edgier stories, a less open and accepting relationship between supers and the community, etc.

Did you somehow miss the 80s and every comic published since then? DC really began to out "edgier" Marvel back then. Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen and the proto-Vertigo titles spring to mind. Also The Man of Steel mini, Batman Year One and Hawkworld.