MarvelGuy Goes Dark Side (Darkseid?), or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love DC Comics

A confession, up front: I am a Marvel guy, through and through.  I always have been and I always will be.  Even as I a kid, I just couldn’t get behind the god-like heroes of the DCU. They seemed unrealistic (and yes, I am aware that we’re talking about superheroes), un-relatable and just…silly, for the most part.  There were, of course, certain exceptions.  I’ve always had a soft spot for the Man of Steel after watching some of those old Max Fleischer cartoons when I was a kid.  I’ve always been a fan of Batman, as all self-respecting comic fans should be.  Swamp Thing was one of my favourites, too.

But it’s important to note this: my exposure to DC characters came solely from the screen.  As I’ve said, I knew Superman from the old cartoons and, to a lesser extent, Richard Donner’s movie and the New Adventures on TV; I knew Batman from Tim Burton’s movies and the awesome cartoon series on Saturday mornings; I knew Swamp Thing from Wes Craven’s dodgy movie adaptation and various sequels/spin-offs.  I didn’t pick up an actual DC comic until I was eighteen.

For me, Marvel heroes were the only ones that mattered.  Spider-Man was my first comic book love, closely followed by the X-Men.  Again, my introduction to these characters came from the small screen – in the form of those awesome ‘90s cartoon series – but this time I was invested enough to follow the characters back into the books they came from.  I gave up comics for a while, but when I eventually got back into them just before university, I emerged myself fully in the Marvel U.

Once again, the DCU held little to no interest to me.  Ironically, the first book I read when getting back into comics was Superman: Red Son.  After being blown away by Mark Millar’s commie awesomeness (I always maintained that Superman’s powers would make him a fascinating villain or anti-hero), I quickly discovered that it was hard to find a Superman book that wasn’t, well, daft.

Over the years I branched out and read Alan Moore’s legendary run on Swamp Thing and it was everything I love about the character from the schlocky movie and more.  I verified that Batman was indeed an awesome character and some of his books were superb.  But dipping my toe into books like Green Lantern and Infinite Crisis just confused me and put me off with their convoluted story lines and ridiculous characters (Mogo?  Really?).

Don’t get me wrong, Marvel has its share of convoluted stories (Clone Saga, anything involving X-Men) and ridiculous characters (Squirrel Girl and, speaking of sentient planets – Ego, the Living Planet), but they are always handled with a down-to-earth attitude and sense of fun that is distinctly Marvel.  Please remember, that at this point I’m a DC novice and this is by no means an educated, unbiased opinion.  Address your hate mail to my ass.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’m rambling.  Let’s boil this down to the basics: Marvel = win, DC = silliness.

Or so I thought.

I recently read – and adored – Scott Snyder’s awesome Vertigo series American Vampire, and on the back of that decided that I needed to read everything he’s putting out at the moment.  Seriously, the guy’s a legend.  He writes fantastic horror, and if there’s one thing I appreciate, it’s good horror.  Therefore when I heard about his recent run on Detective Comics my mind ran the following equation and promptly melted with excitement:

Batman(Christopher Nolan + the Long Halloween + Hush + Year One – Joel Schumacher) x Scott Motherfucking Snyder x Jock = AWESOME

I was not disappointed.

I’ll save my review for another day, but suffice to say my equation is accurate.  I found myself hooked on a DCU character like never before.  I’ve always been a Batman fan, but now I find myself slowly becoming a fanboy.

The door was opened. As had happened with Marvel, I began to branch out into other heroes in the DCU.  I’d heard good things about Animal Man, so I read that.  Secret Six.  Batgirl.  Suddenly, I found myself getting it.  These characters and stories weren’t silly, they were fun.  There’s no such thing as a bad character, only a bad writer.  Nowhere else is this more evident than in the DCU.

As the infamous DC relaunch draws nearer, I’ve found myself in the perfect position.  I know the scheme has its detractors, but speaking as a fledgling DC reader this is a fantastic opportunity for me to jump on board the characters that interest me without having to know sixty-odd years of backstory beforehand.  I’ve pre-ordered my number ones: Scott Snyder on Batman and Swamp Thing is enough to give me a permanent erection; Jeff Lemire on Animal Man is beyond intriguing; and, of course, Action Comics.  I’ve always felt that, handled right, Superman could be a fascinating character and this reboot is something I can’t pass up.

I want to post reviews as and when I get the books – the DC Relaunch from the perspective of a (relative) newcomer, but no promises.  I have a notoriously bad attention span.

Until next time, true believers!