I always gravitated more to DC. There are a few reasons. One, in general, DC was more writer-driven and I'm a story guy. Two, DC tended to keep the story in one issue, which was great for me. We didn't have too many outlets to buy comics, where I lived, in the 70s and they weren't consistent in what they carried. You never knew if you could find part two of a story, which was very common at Marve. Three, for all of the talk of more "realistic" personalities, I found too many Marvel characters to be big whiners; especially Spider-Man. I have never really gotten into the character because he alws seemed to be in the middle of a pity-party. It may be closer to reality; but, I was never that big on reality invading my superhero comics. These are guys with their underwear on the outside. How realistic can you really be? Four, I really, really hated Stan's hucksterism and the whole tone of Marvel's editorial voice. It sounded like a used car salesman and Watergate had turned me into a pretty deep cynic, at the age of 6. I didn't believe anything that was claimed in commercials and very little that was hyped on the Marvel pages. Five, DC heroes acted more like grown-ups. The JLA called each other by their given names, they acted professionally. By contrast, the Avengers seemed like an unruly frat house half the time. Maybe that's because it reflected Marvel, behind the scenes, where you had editors backstabbing each other and writers getting messed up at parties and elsewhere (if you believe Sean Howe's book).

That isn't to say I hated Marvel. I loved a lot of their artists and their books of the 70s looked a lot better than many DC books did. However, I tended to enjoy more of Marvel at the fringes, than the big books. That was somewhat true at DC, though I enjoyed a heck of a lot more of their mainstream titles. While Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and Steve Engelhart were getting all of the attention, I preferred guys like Steve Gerber, Don Mcgregor and Doug Moench. Engelhart I appreciated more at DC, same with Marv Wolfman, though I enjoyed his Daredevil and Tomb of Dracula. Again, the fringes. My favorite Marvel books tended to be the team-up titles, which gave you more variety and less continued stories.

Looking over time, I enjoyed Marvel a heck of a lot more in the 70s than any other time, though the 60s stuff (seen in reprints) held up well. From the 80s on, I rarely read Marvel. The independents gave me true realism and Marvel was a mess. Still don't think they ever improved that much. Individual titles and stories grabbed me; but, never their whole line. DC was great in the 70s; at least, my favorite pockets, and was on fire in the 80s. They sustained enough in the 90s to keep me reading, though more on the fringes again. By the turn of the Millennium, I wasn't reading much from either company.

Still, I wasn't big on brand loyalty. I read everything from Harvey and Archie, to Gold key and Charlton, to Atlas/Seaboard, and the 80s independents. I read Heavy Metal (when I was old enough) and offerings from NBM and Catalan Communications (and now, Cinebook). Good comics are good comics.