DC vs Marvel: Or, who wins the comic book media war?

By: Gere Iverson - MSTv contribuitor

We're sure you've all seen the new trailers for the upcoming "Superman V Batman," "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Ant-Man" and the "Fantastic Four" reboot films. If not, stop being lazy, click the links and hit up Youtube now..

Ok, you're back.

Now, I'm sure most of us are having literal joy-gasms every week from the heroes on our television screens. Plus, the very idea of even more of the spandex clad set hitting our friendly neigbhourhood multiplex cinemas regularly, have made millions of movie-goers very happy. And, of course billions of dollars for the heroes parent/production companies.

So, it seems that everyone is winning from the "DC V Marvel" (with Dark Horse and Image sneaking in drive-by's for good measure) visual media feud.  But, what company has the upper hand?  And more importantly, which one is doing a better job?

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Well, let's go back about 55 years to the beginnings of this "feud."  At the time, DC was in full swing with "rebooting" their original golden age heroes to much success.  Marvel, on the other hand, had given up the ghost with their old heroes and were mainly doing monster, romance and western comics.  

Then as now, both companies had the comic game mainly on lock in a very friendly rivalry. But, who could have imagined that this friendly rivalry could become a friendly war from just a simple game of golf in 1961? 

Most know the story of how the publishers of DC and Marvel, were playing golf  in 1961. The DC boss, either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld, bragged about the success of their revived superhero line and new team, the Justice League of America. (first shot) In response, (or retaliation) the Marvel boss, Martin Goodman urged the now legendary Stan Lee, to create his version of a team of superheroes; or simply, the Fantastic Four. (second shot)

More and more readers liked this new and different comic high, from Marvel, now on the street.  So, ole Stan got even weirder and wilder, with more incentive to follow up using the same formula, just more tailored to fit different buyers.  Then he just completely cut loose and boom -- the Marvel universe is born and the comic war flat out began.

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