Saturday, December 17, 2005
Let's Keep It Clean People
At the end of my last post, I said I was going to discuss DC's dominance in the blogosphere (Blogsphere?). That is, while there are quite a few sites that discuss both of the "Big Two", there are seemingly almost as many that discuss only DC. In contrast, Marvel-only sites seem almost nonexistent. So, the post is going to be an open question about why that is. I know DC is currently outselling Marvel, that DC apparently has locked up many of the best writers with exclusive deals (greedy bastards), and are planning to royally piss me off with Infinite Crisis and One Year Later. All that being said, I figure there would be a few REALLY passionate Marvelites out there. Maybe I've just missed them. Anyway, I figured this would ultimately become a Marvel vs. DC thread, and I've seen that often enough in game console form (Playstation kicks Xbox's ass! No way!), to just prefer to avoid it. I am going to discuss my reasons for preferring Marvel over DC at some point, but not today. But if someone wants to try and explain their preference, I'd really appreciate that.
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5 comments:
I think the reason you are seeing DC dominating the talk on the blogoverse, is just that they are putting out the more exciting comics at the moment.
Infinite Crisis, as much you have disdain for it, has got a lot of readers excited. You really aren't sure what's going to happen to any of the book you might like from DC. That fact is bound to get people talking alone. Add in that, as you noted, they have the majority of the best writers in the business. It's not hard to see why people are discussing them so much.
Marvel, by contrast, is more interest in licening their creations out for movies, video games, and other things, and the comics seem to have become a second place matter to them. For Marvel's it more about "cashing in" on Spider-Man's icon status, than it is about putting out good Spider-Man comics.
DC seems to be invested in making their comics exciting. Moreso than Marvel is at the moment. THat's why DC is dominating, not only the blogoverse, but even Diamond's sales charts. Hopefully Marvel will get the "Hollywood stardust" out of their eyes and staart focusing more on what got them those sweet movie deals... the comics.
Anyway, that's my take on it.
I know in my case, it's just a question of tone and style. I'll probably babble about it more in depth at my own blog at some point, but honestly, it's just a question of which characters appeal to me. And more of those characters are DC.
Though I admit to a strange love for Scott Summers, Reed Richards and Wade Wilson.
I hate alliterative names though.
Kalinara, I kind of figured at some point it would boil down to "different strokes for different folks" kind of thing in terms of preference for some people.
And James, I hate to say it but I gotta agree, DC is generating all the buzz, and Marvel is killing themselves. Quesada says he wants fewer mutants titles, THEN put out fewer mutant books, you don't have to undo Morrison's work and make fewer mutants. As a biology major, the idea of mutants gradually overtaking 'normal' humans, given the competitive advantage, made a lot of sense, even if I didn't really care for Morrison's work itself. To just wipe it out. . .
An interesting topic; thanks for bringing it up.
I have made clear on my own blog why I prefer one company's offering over the other's. However, if there IS a dominance of DC in the blogoverse, I do NOT think it is because DC's current work is superior to Marvel (although that may well be true).
Rather, I think DC, its highs and lows aside, inspires greater long-term devotion and intellectural interest in its readers through characters that are less "personal" and more "iconic".
That also, on the whole, gives more to talk about and a great sense of meaning and important to the subject matter.
That, and all the panels where Hal Jordan gets hit on the head.
It could also be DC is just doing better right now. I buy an equal number from each (5 and 5)but DC has more titles I might slide in to my pile. Meh highs and lows just like the economy.
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