by Amir Hafizi
Pix credit: Marvel Comics and http://www.comicbookmovie.com/ |
The giant Marvel vs DC fight was over more
than a decade ago, as comics fans generally grew up and took on a (hopefully) more
mature stand and viewpoint of the medium. Still, the companies fight to make
more money and generate more interest in a declining medium, but the fans today
are calmer and much harder to be turned into mindless zealots, we pray.
The people who still think a Marvel vs DC
stand-off is good may be people insecure with their sexuality or girls who
think that the world is always divided by grouchy fights between two sides.
Pix credit: Marvel Comics and DC Comics (via http://prismcomics.org) |
However, there is a noticeable difference
between the two companies, if we look at their products and character designs.
Marvel scored big in the 70s and 80s with
their ‘gritty realism’ of the superhero genre. Their heroes are always flawed
in some way. For example, Spider-Man can climb walls, but he couldn’t climb out
of financial struggle. Iron Man’s Tony Stark has an almost impervious suit of
armour and billions of dollars, but he is an alcoholic. In the X-Men universe,
all mutants have superpowers, but are hated by the public. In essence, at a
glance, Marvel features mainly two-dimensional characters - he can fly, but he
has an acne problem. She’s strong, but she has a bad back. Or deaf in one ear.
This sets up many drama and crisis for the
characters - perfect for teenagers. Today’s Marvel writers sometimes enjoy the
realism and take the stories even further into real world problems, such as the
Marvel Universe-changing Civil War saga which saw the heroes and fans split
into two camps over a Superhuman Registration Act.
Pix credit: http://www.critiques4geeks.com (and Marvel Comics) |
DC’s characters are not two-dimensional.
They’re one-dimensional. Consider their (arguably) most famous character -
Superman. Superman is just super. That’s it. He has no weaknesses for the first
five years of his creation, until 1943 when Kryptonite was introduced in
Superman’s radio show. Before that, the Man of Steel had no weakness.
He could move at super speed, is
superstrong, completely invulnerable, is a nice guy and is the world’s biggest
Boy Scout. Later comics show him having even more superpowers such as
‘super-knitting’, super-baking and other ridiculous stuff.
Also, look at The Flash - a being who could
move so fast, he can go beyond the speed of light. He could run on water, and
vibrate to go through walls. Basically, The Flash is a speed elemental.
In DC, superheroes are basically Gods and
their dilemmas are usually not the mundane daily life stuff, but more on
ethics, morality and the like. If you are God, what would you do? Could you
stand the guilt and the responsibility? What if a God disagrees with another
God’s ways (Batman’s protests against mind-wipes) or if a God turned rogue
(Superboy Prime)? DC’s tales are always grand in scale.
Today, writers and artists working for both
companies have turned these comics superheroes and villains into complex
character studies. Marvel’s Civil War saga and DC’s constant and sometimes
controversial reboots shed light into one and two-dimensional characters alike.
Whenever there are crossovers, these
differences are sometimes highlighted, though in the massive DC vs Marvel
Comics in 1996 which spawned the Amalgam Universe, the companies simply asked
for votes from fans rather than have deep character studies. So it was ‘If
Superman took on the Hulk, who would win?’ rather than ‘if two really morose
characters who are hung up over their parents’ (Batman) or uncle’s (Spider-Man)
death met, would they be able to help each other in some form of group therapy
thing?’
Pix credit: http://westfieldcomics.com |
There’s no way for this short article to
explain all the differences between the products of Marvel and DC. In fact,
maybe a few books would not be enough to cover even a quarter.
Whatever it is, let’s just be happy that
these two companies are still there, churning out comics for people to read and
enjoy, regardless of our tastes (indie elitists go to hell!).
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