Wednesday, December 15, 2004

I Prefer DC

Remember when I talked about Identity Crisis last month? About how much I'm enjoying the superhero murder/rape mystery of the DC universe? If you don't recall, check the archives if you want.

Anyway, last month a lot was revealed within the pages of #6. Including vital clues as to who the killer is. I couldn't believe who the clues point to, so I'm not going to until I read the last issue, which comes out today. After I read it, expect a review of the full mini-series. But for now, I have to say that I didn't really believe the hype that the title brought with it beforehand, but I was curious so I picked up the first issue when it came out.

This title deserves the hype. I've never anticipated the release of the next issue so much. Never.

Which leads me to discuss something I realized lately. I grew up a Marvel comics reader, thanks largely to the X-Men cartoon of the 90s. It wasn't my favorite cartoon, that title went to Batman: The Animated Series. But the X-Men were easier to jump into comic-wise. Ocasionally though, I'd pick up a DC title like Superman or Batman.

When I jumped back into the world of comics after a 5-year hiatus, I still tended to collect more Marvel titles than DC. But that was when Bill Jemas was the president of Marvel, when the comics were evolving outside of the norms. Nowadays, Marvel's comics are backtracking to the 90s and worse, now that Bill Jemas is gone. That means 20 X-Men spandex titles where 15 of them star Wolverine, sub-par storylines from usually good writers, and resurrections of dead heroes and villains galore.

Meanwhile, DC has been enlisting top-notch talent from novelists and artists all around the world. They revamped the Batman and Superman titles, made Wonder Woman interesting again, and remember that Green Lantern title I was concerned about? It's great. Even Aquaman is fun to read. DC has also been tackling some tough but important issues lately: Green Arrow's sidekick has AIDS, John Walsh from America's Most Wanted helps the Outsiders put an end to a child slavery/sex ring, and Green Lantern's friend is brutally beaten because he's gay. Oh, and Identity Crisis.

The point of this rant is, I now collect more DC titles than Marvel titles. Sure, I don't collect a lot of comics for budgetary reasons, but of those I do collect, DC is the majority. Sure, Marvel may have all the fancy movies and milkshakes, but DC has it right where it counts the most: COMICS.

Word is there's another big event planned for DC next year called DC Countdown. 80 pages from the best talents in the bizz, all for a dollar. It must be crucial reading for that deal, and if Identity Crisis and Green Lantern taught me anything, it's believe the hype for anything DC.

1 comment:

  1. It's about time you switched over to the Dark side! I've been collecting more DC than Marvel since the beginning. Marvel has always been more about flashy covers and money-making as their main point of business. DC is cool. There.

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