Originally published August 31, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1450
Although intercompany rivalry and jabbing between Marvel and DC is hardly anything new, in the past it was always done with a sense of… I dunno… style. And humor. Cast your recollections to the days of “Our Distinguished Competition,” which always sounded to me like a southern lawyer sparring with a northerner. Or just calling the competition “Brand Echh,” in a send-up of commercials at the time which wouldn’t compare themselves directly to competitors but instead use a generic substitute (as opposed to now when Advil will not hesitate to tell you it’s better than Excedrin, Bayer, Tylenol, Dristan, and sex all rolled into one.)
And DC occasionally took shots back, mostly aimed at Stan’s ego… and, most memorably, Marvel expatriate Jack Kirby basing the characters “Funky Flashman” and “Houseroy” on Stan Lee and Roy Thomas. As a young reader, that went right past me without ruining the stories, as the best in-jokes should.
But now, though… the kid gloves seem to be coming off. Friendly feuding is rapidly being replaced by what seems to be genuine dislike and personality clashes, at a time when the industry still needs a ton of work to become genuinely healthy. Under those circumstances, watching DC and Marvel wail on each other is kind of like watching a T-Rex and a triceratops going at it while sinking into a tarpit.
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