Marvel's financial issues were all on paper.  Ron Perelman (not the actor, Ron Perlman), whose McAndrews Group owned Marvel, at the time, basically bled every cent out of the company.  When they took Marvel public, they pocketed the proceeds from the stock issue.  They then issued junk bonds, with the stock as collateral.  They pocketed the proceeds from that.  They issued a second set of junk bonds, with the stock, again, as collateral.  Then, they went on a buying spree, buying outright or buying controlling interest in Fleer (who produced Marvel trading cards), Panini (who produced Marvel licensed books in Europe, and then Heroes World, to be their own distribution company.  Fleer took a major nosedive when the trading card market bottomed out, after speculators abandoned the market.  Panini also had financial problems and it was sold off.  Heroes World was a fiasco.  It was a regional distributor, who did not have the infrastructure to handle accounts on a national scale, and Marvel didn't pump in cash to expand their staff.  Since they were the sole outlet, every comic shop had to make a separate purchase from them, rather than a single to Diamond, Captial or regional distributor (like Heroes World, originally).  Marvel also set ridiculously high minimums and product bundling to get decent discounts.  So, shops were way over-ordering, tying up their cash, since they had to purchase the comics up front.  Then, they were stuck with excess inventory they couldn't shift.  That reduced their cash, which meant they couldn't pay for their orders and comic shops started shutting down.  That reduced Heroes World's cash flow, which sent their costs skyrocketing.  Marvel was heavily debt financing, with nothing going back into the company.  mcAndrews were skimming everything off the top.  They cut staff in a couple or three waves, reducing Marvel's staff by about 50-60%.  Marvel's stock price plummeted and the junk bond holders (led by Carl Icahn, who had bought them up, looking to acquire the company) were going after control of the company, since the stock was the collateral for the junk bonds.  Marvel was over-extended on bank credit and McAndrews took them into Chapter 11, to hold of Icahn and his group.  They couldn't take control, without the bankruptcy court's approval.  McAndrews tried a couple of reorganization plans, that basically didn't address the outstanding debt and the court shot them down.  Icahn submitted his own proposal, that shut out many of Marvel's other creditors, like Toy Biz and they fought it in the court.  Toy Biz submitted a proposal that addressed the bank debt and McAndrews decided to cut losses and withdrew opposition, while Icahn's group was undercut, since they would be part of the repayment.  Toy Biz acquired the company in a stock trade, got new financing and then ran it tighter than a skirt on a hooker.  It was the influx of movie cash that helped get Marvel's debt paid down and obtained more lenient financing, then the Disney buyout.

All of that is a complicated way of saying, Marvel was still earning more from publishing than anyone else; but, the money wasn't going to the company.  It was being siphoned off by McAdnrews.  Marvel's stock performance was used to back up McAndrews venture capital portfolio and to back the junk bonds.  Marvel's licensing wasn't that strong and their media presence was mostly failed projects, like generation X and Nick Fury, with Blade about the only project that hit, before the first X-Men movie and Spider-Man.  If McAndrews had put the money from the stock and the junk bonds into Marvel, they wouldn't have needed the bank financing (which was also used for the licensee purchases, like Fleer and Panini) and would have been financially stronger than DC (apart from being a division of a multi-billion dollar entertainment conglomerate).  Their debts were mostly numbers on paper, due to financial games.  That was the reason for McAndrews existence.  They use other money to buy and sell companies, pocketing the profits, then moving on.  Venture capitalists have wreaked more havoc on the US and world economy than just about anyone, as they portfolio strength is more important than running their holdings well.  Your biggest example is Sears.  It is owned by a venture capitalist who has run it into the ground; yet, he's still making tons of money.

Marvel's financial woes led to staff cuts, which led to a mass exodus of talent, in one way or another.  Editorially, it had been a mess since Shooter was ousted, though his latter days weren't roses, either.  He had alienated a large part of the staff, and no one wanted to work there anymore.  The problem is, they didn't have a good successor in place.  Tom DeFalco was way over his head.  The McAndrews people made a bigger mess of that, when they restructured the editorial side, then the Bill Jemas mess.

DC was pretty stable through all of that.  They were making a ton of money in other media, licensing, and in bookstores.  Marvel barely existed in the book trade, since they wouldn't keep their trades in print.  DC managed their presence well, though at the expense of creators like Alan Moore, and their property rights.  DC started having bigger issues when the publishing people were more and more replaced by people from the entertainment side of Warner and by inexperienced writers and editors, causing them to lose focus.  That's when you see them turn back the clock to stunt after stunt, reboot after reboot, trying to squeeze dollars out of a shrinking direct market.  Warner cared more about what DC's characters did in other markets, ot publishing.  Marvel has since caught up, as Disney's thinking is the same.

Thanks for the explanation.  But, I strongly beg to differ that Marvel didn't have financial issues during this time - if it was "all on paper" it was definitely still an issue.  People losing their jobs, bad morale, etc.  Whoever made these decisions obviously had their collective heads up their collective a$$e$.  I'm surprised that Marvel survived as a company - without going under.  But, I guess their luck turned around with the huge success of the Marvel movies - starting in 2000 with the first X-men film (which I didn't like that much, but that's another post).

Sears is a good example of another company this has happened to; also, I read that TRU's demise (earlier this year) was because of similar reasons.

I see what you mean. But surely it's meant to be excessive and problematic that Batman is behaving that way? If I'm not mistaken, there is a bit earlier where Batman is appalled by Ivy's evil acts, so it's more a result of that than because she 'smarted off' to him.

I think the proceeding page had Ivy revealing that the affluent men she exposed to the spores at the event were either zombies or dead.

Again, though, he had Ivy beat at this point, so the kick to the face just came off as "extreme 90's Batman" more than anything.

That, or he was worn down and literally running on no sleep at that point for days.

There is some exceptional artwork through this story, by Aparo and Breyfogle (I think either the Mad Hatter or the Zzasz issues are Norm’s last on Batman for a bit—in the background of one of the panels, there’s some graffiti that says “Metaphysique is coming”, a sly reference to Norm’s creator-owned Bravara series that came out soon around this time—which I actually read and wrote him a fan letter about).

I also think Mike Manley does some great work when he takes over after #500 and AzBats is in the batsuit.

I remember my father buying the trades for me when I was little, many years after the story was finished. It was great. And even looking back I still find it a really good story, which is why I voted for it in the 'top 100' poll we did last year.

Did Doomsday really require a backstory though? He and Bane were both villains invented to come out of nowhere and be the one to somehow succeed where a rich rogues gallery with a half century history had failed. Bane had to have a psychological component since Batman had become a deeply psychological character (and because breaking him wouldn't be that hard). Superman just needed someone to punch him to death.