For as long as there have been comic books,MarvelandDC Comicshave been the two most prominent companies around. There’s a reason the two publishers have often been referred to as the “Big Two,” as Marvel and DC helped to shape the comic book industry that fans know today. Yet each company has contributed in different ways throughout the years, bringing something new to the table in important eras of comics history.
Speaking withComics Interviewin 2008 (viaReddit), the always-contentious writer/artist Howard Chaykin talks about how each company contributed to comics history. “Marvel revolutionized comics in the ’60s, DC made them sophisticated in the ’80s,” Chaykin explains, boiling down the contributions of each company throughout comics history to their core. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others ushered in the ’60s Marvel Age with their revolutionary approaches to superhero comics, while creators like Alan Moore, Frank Miller and Chaykin brought another level of sophistication with work done primarily at DC in the 1980s.
The Marvel Age Revolutionized Superhero Comics in the 1960s
Birthing the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and More
In many ways, DC is actually responsible for the birth of the comic book. National Allied Publications (the precursor to DC Comics) published thefirst comic book that was made up entirely of new material:New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine#1. National then revolutionized the medium withAction Comics#1,the debut appearance of Supermanand the birth of American superheroes. Yet while Superman and his imitators proved successful, the stories were often one-dimensional and childish. It wasn’t until the publication ofFantastic Four#1 that Lee and Kirby brought a greater degree of characterization to the medium.
Marvel’s influence changed the entire approach to superhero comics.
Inspired by theEC Comics line of the fifties, Lee and Kirby’s approach brought a greater degree of realism to what was seen as the ghetto of the publishing industry. The work done by the duo onFantastic Fouris the perfect example of how superhero comics changed, as the heroes were no longer locked into the simplistic “White Hat / Black Hat” morality of the DC heroes but instead were often fighting themselves as much as the villains. Lee and Ditko’s Spider-Man character added even more complexity, as Peter Parker’s personal life was often filled with more drama than when he put on the costume to fight Doctor Octopus.
Marvel’s influence changed the industry’s approach to superhero comics, as anentire generation sought to emulate Kirby’s action-oriented layouts and Lee’s melodramatic scripts. Yet by the time the eighties rolled around, things were starting to become stale. The audience that had grown up on Lee and Kirby and their imitators were looking for more than what was being offered, and they found it in a group of creators who were all too eager to expand the medium beyond theapproved Seal of the Comics Code.
DC Brought Sophistication to Superhero Comics in the 1980s
From Batman to Green Arrow - to the Essential-ReadingWatchmen
The 1980s saw a lot of changes in the overall comic book industry. The decline of newsstands and the rise of comic book specialty shops meant that publishers could be more daring in the types of comics that they produced, andseveral independent publishers were able to flourish in the new market.Not faced with the same restrictions imposed by Marvel and DC, companies such as Eclipse, First Comics, andDark Horse Comics rose to prominence, allowing creators to expand beyond previous limitations and put out a more sophisticated product, overall.
Dark Horse is still publishing essential independent comics to this day: for #1s published in 2024, check out Dark Horse titles likeFML,Helen of Wyndhorn,Dawnrunner, and more.
The “Big Two” publishers took notice and adjusted their approaches to superhero comics, although it must be said that DC was able to capture the lightning in a bottle in a way that left Marvel behind. Two names in particular came to the Distinguished Competition, a pair of creatives that would help toelevate the entire comics medium’s stature in popular culture: Alan Moore and Frank Miller.Both had very different career paths that brought them into the spotlight, but they would wind up changing the entire industry with work that is still influencing the comics industry to this very day.
Miller broke into the industry in the late seventies, but it washis work on Marvel Comics’Daredevilthat made him a comics superstar. DC was quick to snap Miller up,giving the writer/artist an unprecedented dealto produce hislavish creator-owned seriesRonin. Moore came up in the British comics scene, producing a steady and impressive body of work for UK publishers such as2000 A.D.and Marvel UK. Again, DC Comics took notice, and Moore quickly made a name for himself among American fans thanks to his groundbreaking work on the monthlySwamp Thingseries.
1986: The YearWatchmenandDark Knight ReturnsChanged Everything
Two of the Most Influential Superhero Stories of All Time
1986 wound up being a banner year for comics, as the twin releases ofWatchmenby Moore and Dave Gibbons andDark Knight Returnsby Miller hit the industry like an atom bomb. Moore and Gibbons completely reworked the approach to superheroes with their twelve-issue series, asWatchmengave mainstream audiencestheir first taste of a grounded, adult take on what was previously seen as solely a children’s medium. The increased sexuality and violence on the page got all the attention, but it wasWatchmen’s careful attention to greater thematic concerns that made it the pinnacle of superhero comics sophistication.
Miller’s concurrent work onThe Dark Knight Returnsgarnered even further acclaim, asMiller’s radical take on Batman finally turned the view of the characterin the public eye away fromthe cheesy antics of Adam West. Miller’s grizzled version of the Dark Knight in a dystopian future Gotham captured long-time fans immediately, but it also caught the attention of the general public, garnering write-ups inTimeandRolling Stone. Aside from all of that, Miller’s darker take led to an entire wave of equally “grim’n’gritty” comics, where the heroes and the villains they faced became far more violent and twisted.
Another series that doesn’t get enough credit these days for changing the medium is Howard Chaykin’s highly-influentialAmerican Flagg, predating bothWatchmenandDark Knight Returnsby a couple of years when it was released by First Comics in 1983.
DC was quick to capitalize on the success of bothThe Dark Knight ReturnsandWatchmen, putting out a wave of comics that expanded horizons by creating more adult-themed superhero series likeHawkworldandGreen Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, as well as Chaykin’sThe ShadowandBlackhawkprestige format miniseries.DC also experimented with different imprintsthat sought to reach audiences beyond diehard comic book fans, as lines such as Piranha Press and Vertigo told stories that were about as far away from the capes-and-tights crowd as it gets, further pushing the level of sophistication seen in mainstream comics.
DC Comics Brought More Adults into Comics in the 1980s with Intense Stories
But at What Cost to the Superhero Genre?
While highly-influential, theimitators didn’t always achieveWatchmenandDark Knight Returns’ specific brand of adult sophistication. “The medium grew and changed to survive and as comics grew up, the audience grew with it,” Chaykin notes toComics Interview, but the writer/artist didn’t necessarily see this as a good thing:
Marvel and DC both learned the wrong lessons from that and now these adolescent power fantasies are adult power fantasies. Murder, sex and death are in vogue. And I’m sorry for that. We’ve lost something.
10 DC Artists Every Superhero Fan Should Know
The DC Universe has been shaped by hundreds of talented artists, but fans are going to want to make sure they know these 10 iconic creators.
There’s something to Chaykin’s words, as thecomic book industry in the 1990sseemed to lose the entire audience of kids that kept the industry going throughout most of its lifespan. Yet both companies still operate as two of the most powerful forces in popular culture today, so it’s interesting to look back on each company’s history to see how bothMarvelandDC Comicsrefined and revolutionized comic book superheroes.
