You really are bugger for the bottle aren't you?
You clearly need to read some of what DC was putting out when Stan Lee was actually writing. While by todays standards Stan's bombastic style may seem a bit crass, but it was way ahead of its time in the 60s, where DC was continuing to crank out endless stories of Jimmy Olsen gaining powers, and Superman being turned into a monkey.
It. was. FUN. Remember that? Remember how comics used to be fun? Of course, that could never work today. Today's fanboys wouldn't stand for it. We all saw how long the Impact line lasted, didn't we? And of course, no one has time for any of the Johnny DC books. I've seen people talk **** on them without even reading them. No, comics can't be fun. They can't be wacky and crazy and silly anymore. We demand realism. To paraphrase Grant Morrison, if what we're seeing all over comics today is realism, maybe we ought to be examining the real world before we go trying to **** up fictional ones.
I'm not saying that a lot of the DC writing from that period holds up spectacularly today, but when I see guys like Morrison and others updating Silver Age DC concepts for a more modern sensibility, I like what I see. Then I look at Marvel, whose basic tendencies haven't changed a scintilla since the company began, and I look at their comics, which, as always, are the same old Silver Age concepts, updated for a modern sensibility. But unlike at DC, where it all feels both fresh and historical, Marvel's stuff feels trite, shallow, and depressing.
Keep your postmodern mire of meaninglessness, that morass of almost-depth of character that has always been Marvel's trademark. I'll take a little heroism with my superheroes. I'll take flawed characters who still somehow come out as OK people at the end of it, before I'll ever enjoy characters whose flaws consume them. If the last few pages of Civil War are Marvel's idea of optimism...God save us from the pessimists.
Kitsune said:
Marvel was also the first company to deal with issues like drug abuse, in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man that didn't carry the comics code approval. I think that you bias and ignorance are crystal clear.
I'd have to go back and check, but I believe that while the Marvel issue came out first, both companies were developing them independently. The Green Arrow issue just came out later.