I had recently begun thinking about just why I love Marvel so much due to a co-workers jest at why I'm always dogging batman and other DC characters *cough* Aquaman.
I have come up with a few factors.
1. X-men CartoonI believe I was exposed to Marvel first. Watching the X-Men cartoons when I was ... 8 in 92 when they were on Fox I want to say. Now the Batman cartoon also aired pretty much at the same time, but lets face it.. he is one guy with no powers, To my 8 year old mind he could not hold a candle to the X-Men. And this show could not have came out any sooner. Because then I discovered that this show was based off comic books when I was at the grocery store with my mom and recognized the characters on the cover. I had always seen these comics in the magazine racks while looking for the latest issue of Nintendo power but had no interest in them. While they had colorful pictures and such, they seemed to be in the middle of a story they I had no time to read about or catch up on cuz I needed the cheat codes out of the Nintendo power before my mom came to get me. But after the tv show I knew who these guys were and was interested. In 93 the Fatal Attraction event started in the X-men comics and I had to get the correlating crossover comics of X-factor, X-force and the like. Man I was hooked.
2. Spider-man cartoonThis is much the same reason as above. Spider-man along with the Marvel Power Hour of F4 and Ironman came out in 94.... DC didn't stand a chance =) The Superman series did not come out until 96. By this time I was firmly in the Marvel corner with only Batman representing DC for my Saturday cartoon viewing. I became deeper and deeper involved in the marvel universe. I even starting to read comics that did not have a cartoon show featuring them. Mainly the Silver Surfer comics whom I was introduced to by the F4 cartoon.
3. ContinuityBasically Marvel has it DC does not. I'm a creature of habit and I hate change. I can pick up a Marvel comic and with just a few exceptions its going to be from the same universe as the last one I read from 10 years ago. DC seems to like to reboot their universe every decade or so. Now Marvel does have an alternate universe but its not like you can mistake one for the other. One says ULTIMATE (insert name of comic) on the cover, the other does not. DC on the other hand doesn't really have this feature. If I'm at a comic book store and I pick up a comic I don't wanna have to research which universe or time period the comic I'm reading is from. I want to be able to just know. With Marvel I know, with DC its up in the air.
4. Real world setting
Can you ever visit Metropolis? No? So how can you relate to that.. But can you visit New York? Yes! Basically, I like that Marvel uses real work locations in their stories, It has more affect on me when the f4 save New York then when Superman saves Metropolis.
In conclusion, I prefer Marvel, this does not mean DC sucks even if I'm over heard saying so at work. Hell; of all the similarities one can draw between certain Marvel and DC characters (best example perhaps Aquaman and Namor, or Deathstroke and Deadpool) I think the Green Lantern corps is way cooler then the Nova corps... (sorry Mr. Rider I wants me a Power Ring, orange if available, but will settle for Quantum Bands). Oh but batman does suck..and he's not a superhero... but that rant is for another day.
