BIG CONTEST Ends, small contest Begins
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner in Grotesque Anatomy's
first-ever
BIG CONTEST —Mr. Ed Cunard. Here is Ed's
winning
entry in response to the question "DC or Marvel?":
DC, without a question.
I feel the need to qualify this, though. While I read very few
mainstream-type comics, those I do read generally come from Marvel.
That said, the question isn't which does one prefer. It's more
open-ended than that.
There are many reasons that I would place DC over Marvel.
1. The imprints. Vertigo, Wildstorm, the Cartoon Network stuff... DC
offers more variety in what it publishes than Marvel. I'd say DC offers
more diversity than the fan-favorite CrossGen comics, because no matter
how one dresses up the CG line, it's still heroic fiction. CG will
likely never publish anything like Kuper's "The System."
2. The heritage. Hell, perhaps we should bury DC on this one, and not
praise them, but superhero comics wouldn't be what they are today (or
in any decade) if it hadn't been for Max Gaines' empire. Marvel may
have revolutionized the genre, but to throw an analogy to music, there
would be no hip-hop without disco.
3. The willingness to take chances. We're not talking Marvel MAX, or
Marvel Knights, or even a self-doubting superhero. While DC may have
the reputation of being the staid father-figure of the publishing
houses, they've got the title for taking chances. The first real female
super hero lead. The absorption of other intellectual property (Captain
Marvel, Charlton characters, Plastic Man). Giving Alan Moore Swamp
Thing. The (overdone in my opinion) gay-bashing angle in Green Lantern
(at least they tried). Social relevance in Green Arrow/Green Lantern.
The Milestone imprint. Combining the Batman mythos with jazz music for
"Batman: Jazz", a little-read but excellent miniseries (and, judging
from discussion, I may be the only one to have read it). Taking the
iconic American superhero and making him a communist in a time when
patriotism is at a jingoistic fervor. Doing revamps before the rest of
the cool kids (the Silver Age revolution, Crisis, S:MOS, Batman: Year
One, etc.). Hell, taking a chance on Jonah Hex.
4. Titles that hold up long after the first read. Any fool can rattle
down DC's best and brightest: Watchmen. Sandman. Transmetropolitan.
Preacher. Miller's Batman.
5. Pimping for capitalism. All entertainment mediums do it. DC's more
honest. I mean, the theory of putting a gorilla in a burning jail cell
to sell comics - priceless.
6. Spreading the word. Yeah, Marvel's had some success with film
properties as of late, but DC's been doing it forever. The Superman
radio show and serials. The Batman serials. The televised Superman, in
various incarnations (the George Reeves version, the Lois & Clark
version, Superboy, Smallville). The Max Fleisher Superman cartoon. The
Superman films. The Batman films. Hell, the Swamp Thing film. Taking
unknown characters (a la Birds of Prey) and taking a shot with them in
the competitive television marketplace. The Flash television show.
Batman: The Animated Series. Justice League. Teen Titans. Hell, using
Batman in OnStar commercials qualifies.
7. Giving Siegel and Shuster "fair" retribution (although, in this
sense, "fair" meaning passable, not just) way before Marvel credited
Kirby, Ditko or Joe Simon.
8. Giving us the "Marvel Age of Comics". Without DC, we never would
have seen the Fantastic Four, as DC printed and distributed Marvel's
early titles because of some poor business decisions of Goodman's
company.
It would have been too easy to go the route of neither, and instead
demonstrate why the smaller publishers make what the "big two" offer
look rather silly. Instead, I took the question at face value. While
Marvel (at this stage) gets what little money I allocate to superhero
fantasy, DC's intrinsic value is higher across the spectrum.
There were several things I liked about this entry. First of all,
for someone whose attention span
slash reading comprehension
has been forever corrupted by many too many PowerPoint presentations, I
appreciate lists (as astute readers of this blog probably guessed long
ago, given the number of entries that simply turn into bullet point
lists). Secondly, gorillas; gorillas are always good.
Finally, I liked the fact that Ed—who admits that most of his
mainstream comic dollar goes to Marvel—could look at the question
objectively and decide that DC comes out on top.
And now, the final installment in the trilogy of contests to promote
this blog, the
small contest: For this one, all you have
to do is post something—
anything—in
this
thread. Then I'll
draw a winner at random. Winner gets two comics (hence this being
the
small contest):
BIRDS OF PREY #56 (first
issue by the new creative team of Gail Simone and Ed Benes) and
BIRDS
OF PREY SECRET FILES AND ORIGINS #1 (both of which, I believe, sold
out). Contest ends October 30th. As with the previous two
contests, I'll cover all shipping costs.
