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Post by dbutler69 on Mar 24, 2021 14:17:47 GMT -5
Here we are, in the final. In an axciting semifinal matchup, 70's Marvel defeated 60's Marvel 15-12. Meanwhile, 80's DC easily dispatched 40 DC 20-6.
This is the final matchup. Vote for whichever company's output you like more for that decade, not for which one you think is more historically important!
This poll wil close Thursday, April 1 at 6 AM EST.
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Post by berkley on Mar 24, 2021 14:44:52 GMT -5
The Alan Moore stuff all by itself is almost enough to make me consider giving this to 80s DC, but after that there's a pretty sharp drop-off to some good but not great books - apart from Gaiman's Sandman, which I haven't read enough of for it to add its weight in DC's favour.
So 70s Marvel wins this for me by sheer volume, the high number of top-notch series they put out in the 70s, though it's possible that no single one of them quite reaches the heights of Moore's 80s best.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 24, 2021 15:00:11 GMT -5
Very difficult decision. Any given moment I can flip the coin and choose either one. My initial emotional response is 70's Marvel as that's what I grew up with. Such great concepts and characters in capable new and established hands. But here is the rub, in that Marvel exploded with colorfully fun new characters, few managed to maintain or endure for the long haul. DC 80's on the other hand seemed to maintain quality over a longer period of terms.
That gives DC the edge for me. Consistency and volume helps give them that slight bit of an edge. I grew up a Marvel Zombie but 80's DC has the depth and quality to get my vote.
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Mar 24, 2021 15:07:34 GMT -5
Howard the Duck, yes. Captain Carrot, no.
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Post by majestic on Mar 24, 2021 15:40:16 GMT -5
80's DC. So many changes and experiments in the late 1980's.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 24, 2021 15:57:07 GMT -5
Alan Moore (Watchmen, Swamp Thing). The first year of Sandman. The first two years of Hellblazer. Morrison's Animal Man and Doom Patrol. The Dark Knight Returns. Skreemer. Wasteland. The origins of Paradox Press.
I remember a lot of 70s Marvel fondly. I even still love Howard the Duck...and maybe more if I were of a mind to go back and read it. But DC from 86-89 fundamentally changed comics. And I re-read a ton of that output over and over again.
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Post by Graphic Autist on Mar 24, 2021 15:58:15 GMT -5
Toughest poll so far for me. I loved 70s Marvel, but by the late 80s DC was my preferred comics company.
But I'm gonna go with 70s Marvel. They were my formative years. I wasn't old enough to collect yet, but I always jumped at the chance to grab a Spidey or Hulk comic when my dad offered to buy me one.
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Post by tarkintino on Mar 24, 2021 20:50:15 GMT -5
Here we are, in the final. In an axciting semifinal matchup, 70's Marvel defeated 60's Marvel 15-12. Meanwhile, 80's DC easily dispatched 40 DC 20-6. This is the final matchup. Vote for whichever company's output you like more for that decade, not for which one you think is more historically important! This poll wil close Thursday, April 1 at 6 AM EST. dbutler, you're going to drive someone crazy with this kind of contest!!  While I've said the first half of 1970s Marvel was fantastic--historic in a number of cases, I have to reiterate a point from another tournament thread: 1980s DC was their greatest, industry changing period since the publisher launched the Silver Age (including the early 70s into the early Bronze Age). In the 80s The New Teen Titans, the revamped Legion of Superheroes, Batman and the Outsiders, Detective Comics, the greatest version of a Star Trek comic (based on post- Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan movie era), Who's Who, Vigilante, Sword of the Atom, and the seismic, all-important event that actually lived up to its promise of consequence in Crisis on Infinite Earths (and its supplement History of the DC Universe). As noted before, there's other titles I could list, but its not needed to illustrate how DC became a monumental force in this period. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2021 23:23:48 GMT -5
70s Marvel had some good points, but it was also filled with Dreaded Deadline Doom reprints and inventory stories stuck in the middle of storylines (things like Avengers 145-146 Assassin story in the middle of the Serpent Crown Saga) or 3 pages of new material framing a reprint passed off as an anniversary issue (I'm looking at you Avengers #150), 6 creative team changes in an 8 issue series (Skull the Slayer), new covers depicting a story that wouldn't appear in that issue because they had to do a reprint issue instead, and other shenanigans that no professional publisher should have been churning out, and were just about inexcusable as far as I was concerned. When even bi-monthly books miss deadlines and need reprints or inventory stories, the ship ain't sailing right. So for all there was quality stories being produced some of the time, there was a lot of drek and there was a casual disregard for the customer whom they were willing to milk the money from even when they couldn't produce the promised product that for me makes it definitely an inferior period than 80s DC.
-M
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,376
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Post by shaxper on Mar 25, 2021 0:19:56 GMT -5
All of my comic book nostalgia is directed at DC in the second half of the 1980s. That plus the rise of DC's mature titles, especially by Gaiman and Moore, make for a compelling argument. But then there's DC in the first half of the 1980s...
Marvel in the 1970s was the ultimate new frontier for comicdom. Not only were they exploring countless new and off-the-beaten path genres, including horror, sci-fi, martial arts, blacksploitation, sword and sorcery, female/feminist protagonists, and movie tie-ins, but they were innovating with format too: Giant-size, Treasury, Curtis Magazines, etc. The X-Men had their finest stretch here, as did the Avengers, and I would argue Spidey did too. And while DC might have hit the mature, adult audiences target beautifully in the late 1980s, Marvel certainly had their share of writers who were speaking to an older, more sophisticated audience with Steve Gerber, Doug Moench, and Don McGregor, as well as Claremont to a somewhat lesser extent. Writing and characterization truly grew up in this era, as Marvel hungrily explored the boundaries and limitations of the medium.
'80s DC is home to me, but I respect '70s Marvel far more, and I think I get more enjoyment out of it, issue-for-issue, too.
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Post by kirby101 on Mar 25, 2021 8:58:30 GMT -5
No brainer for me. The real close contest was Marvel 60s vs 70s. Marvel 70s here by a wide margin.
The highlights for DC in the 80s was Moore and DKR. And there were good books, Superman reboot, Batman year one... I probably like DC more in the 80s than Marvel.
But Marvel in the 70s, Conan, X-Men, Captain Marvel and Warlock, Master of Kung Fu, Luke Cage, Man-Thing, Killraven, B&W Mags, Deathlok, Dracula, Werewol Kull...and I loved their main super-hero books too.
So not a real choice for me, Bronze Age Marvel is where I became a comic fan.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 25, 2021 10:31:50 GMT -5
For me, it's close; but, 70s Marvel is all about the fringe and 80s DC is just across the board. New Teen Titans, Legion of Superheroes, Firestorm, All-Star Squadron, Doug Moench Batman, Miller Batman, Superman revamp, Wonder Woman revamp, Captain Atom, The Question, Mike Grell Green Arrow, Suicide Squad, JLI, Mike Barr's Batman graphic novels, Watchmen, proto-Vertigo, Star Trek, Baron on Flash and Messner-Loebs on the same, Crisis, Ronin (to a certain extent).
A lot of 70s Marvel is short bursts of a title, or a short-lived second or third tier title, a cult favorite, a single storyline. 80s DC, for my tastes was large chunks of the entire line. Even in the dawn of the 80s, I found more there than anywhere else, until First Comics came along.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 25, 2021 12:33:13 GMT -5
It is a very tight vote. It seems from most of the responses the vote is going with the emotional resonance of 70's Marvel growth into embracing comics being more than just a kids disposable kind of limited experience. And I was there right in the middle of it all. I ADORE all the wonky 70's fun and experimentation from Marvel, but I am also disappointed, as at the time it was nearly impossible to enjoy them as much as i would like.
As stated, missed issues with fill ins, many low tier sellers unable to find based on distribution factors so a collection had many holes, jumping artistry or writers from issue to issue, jumping from titles to other titles at times, cancelled before ending a storyline. Many of the most memorable were bi-monthly and ran for less than 6-12 issues in a 2 year time before cancellation. DC in the 80's on the other hand provided very well done ONGOING series and limited series that were more accessible to the public. In the newly developed LCS combined with all the various other outlets still available I was buying tons more comics. And for many I had ENTIRE runs of 30-100 issues to enjoy over and over, not a mere handful of issues.
DC triumphed over Marvel in quantity and quality in every way. Marvel birthed the Roadway for comics of the times and years to come. But it was a bumpy, pot hole dirt road which DC paved over and created a vast highway, learning and stealing all the best aspects and providing a superior product in the 80's.
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Post by kirby101 on Mar 25, 2021 12:50:23 GMT -5
I think it is unfair to give DC the edge because distribution was better in the 80s than in the 70s. First, Marvel was a prime mover in developing the direct market, more than DC. Carol Kalish did as much as anyone at the publishers to promote the LCS. I think we should judge this by the comics themselves. It's not that the quality/quantity argument isn't appropriate, but that should be handicapped.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 25, 2021 13:22:54 GMT -5
Distribution may have been better in the 80's but my point of this is about DC allowing writers/artists the time to "grow" their series over a longer run of issues which provided stronger fan following. Marvel was shooting concepts into print and based on sales cancelling just as fast. I would have loved a steady diet of the lower tier Marvel providing new stories but the truth in the end is MOST were done and gone too quickly. They developed "CULT" status but most have NOT developed into ongoing or major players in the world of comics.
DC managed to mostly trump Marvel in that respect. Ongoing regular series that went on to become fan favorites providing much more. Not saying Marvel 70's is any less GREAT in their accomplishments, just that 80's DC served us readers a better and stronger decade.
70's Marvel holds a special place in my mind and heart, but I can say I actually ENJOY re-reading more of 80'S DC.
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