Over at Millarworld, Mark Millar appears to want to delve into waters best left undelved:
I don’t have anything out from either this year (besides the last issue of Civil War and Ultimates 2) so am unusually impartial. But curious what the readers think. Both Crisis/ Countdown/ 52, etc, and Civil War have established new jumping-on points for readers. So what company is working for you right now? Where are you buying most books (and not grumbling about them)?
But what’s really interesting about the thread is the tone of the fans’ responses:
“My heart is with DC. They’re doing some really interesting stuff at the moment – Morrison on Batman, Dini on Detective, Busiek on Superman, Johns & Donner on Action, and Johns on Justice Society of America… DC seem to have come around to the idea that quality characters deserve quality creative teams. Something that Marvel has been doing for years. But what REALLY lets DC down is its fill-in issues and delays.”
“DC is currently having some kind of nervous breakdown resulting in books like COUNTDOWN and the titles of their big events (INFINITE EXTREME COMPLETE AND TOTAL FINAL CRISIS) are practically cries for help. Marvel could be a lot more fun these days if it gave up its desperate attempts to be taken seriously with the post-CIVIL WARS books. Weren’t we here before with the New Universe and THE DRAFT?”
“DC probably, on a technicality.”
“Marvel. Reluctantly. I am a DC fanboy at heart, and I guess at this stage in proceedings always will be. But there’s just no denying that Marvel are putting out the more consistently enjoyable and higher quality titles right now, whilst DC’s editorially driven event after event after event mentality is getting me to drop one title after another.”
“DC for me, i’m actually getting a wee bit weary from all of the initiative stuff at marvel, maybe down to the fact i bought every civil war tie-in. and now planet hulk is kicking off too, i just feel like i’m getting bombarded by events and new launches.”
“I’d expect to say Marvel, because I’ve always preferred them to DC and I liked Civil War more than Infinite Crisis, but at the moment, I’d probably say neither.”
The thread is, for the most part, devoid of the usual “Marvel SUX, DC RAWKS” chest-beating, and instead full of fans who are sad that they can’t really give the answer that they want to. Signs of fan burnout, or something else entirely…?
June 19th, 2007 at 11:56 am
In my opinion, both companies are essentially the same with regards to events, late books, etc. A lot of it just comes down to what universe you want to read about or what writers/artists you want to follow. The Marvel vs. DC battle was tiresome when I was thirteen, you know?
June 19th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
As a guy who reads almost a ridiculous amount of comic books on a weekly basis–my regular favorites are Ex Machina, BPRD, The Walking Dead, Jonah Hex, Loveless, and Hellboy–non-cape genre books.
There are regular Marvel and DC books that are good–X-Men and Green Lantern succeed in entertaining me on a monthly basis.
I think both companies are “trying too hard” for our WHOLE DOLLAR–if you look at market share reports, Marvel gets the majority of the dollar but the quality and content of their books are the same as DC’s.
I think the consumer/fan is going to see changes in how these two companies interact with their fan base in the next 6 months to a year.
Customer satisfaction is going to have to take a front seat in this market if it’s going to continue to stay buoyant.
June 19th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I’d have to go with neither at the moment, but I might have said DC as little as a few months ago. Civil War killed what little interest I had in the Marvel Universe books and now I’m mostly just riding out Runaways and Astonishing until Whedon leaves.
Countdown may have put the bullet in most of my remaining interest in the DC Universe.
There’s always plenty of other Vertigo, Icon, and non big two stuff to catch my interest. If Marvel and DC want to make their super-hero universes all or nothing propositions, I’m more than happy to pick nothing.