I originally read both classic Marvel and DC before I tried reading indie comics again (Dark Horse, but since starting using Hoopla I read a lot of Spawn from Image Comics) before feeling like switching comics again: I’m vaguely debating over reading the Big Two again.
While I have a Marvel stigma going on because I’m not happy with them in their current form I’m also familiar with DC more because they a have a much better legacy than Marvel in my opinion unless there are comics from both companies that I can read without a stigma.
Overall, I don’t know where to begin with the Big Two now that I changed my mind again.
For DC, I may read Batman or Superman but I don’t know where to begin for either one.
For Marvel, I don’t know where to start and I currently have a stigma for them because of their movies becoming more dominant.
Where should I start rereading the Big Two?
I asked about other comics in case there might be better titles from Marvel or DC.
Personally, I find Stan Lee in the original Marvel comics to be corny no matter what character you’re reading about but those comics had other people working on them as well (Steve Ditko is one of them) that don’t get as much credit. Stan Lee pretty much took all the credit for every character created. Todd Macfarlane did create Venom and worked on Spider-Man in the 90s but he gets less credit than Lee; the same goes for the creators of the X-Men…Stan Lee takes all the credit here…you get the idea. I have really bad memories of them taking over film and television with their MCU rewriting the main Marvel Universe by replacing the characters who got their own movies to the lesser and smaller characters they still had the rights to.
DC, however, I read that they seem to be leading the industry despite their small market share compared to Marvel:
MARVEL COMICS - 36%
DC COMICS - 23.3%
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/438242/comic-direct-market-share/
DC usually has more of their most famous characters taking center stage and they seem to be doing fine, but I suspect that sometimes they mishandle their characters like in Superman: American Alien where Superman’s origins are haphazardly refreshed and Pete calls him out for fighting Batman (wow, so clever) or in Injustice 2 (which is a comic book video game, but still) has superheroes doing horrendous things and has Harley Quinn do good things while she lasts, no to mention the Red Sun Prison segment where Firestorm is scapegoated for the plot of releasing Superman without Batman telling him about it. Not to say I haven’t read any much more comics from them considering I read the Golden Years of Batman: Volumes 1-4 on Hoopla and they were more innocent. You could chalk it up to Mortal Kombat creators running the show and twisting up the morals and plot points that they think suits their own ideas.
And then we have Dark Horse, which is what I’ve been reading lately:
DARK HORSE COMICS - 3.9% (same source)
So far, I’ve been reading Hellboy and I feel like they tell a much better story than the Big Two because even though Hellboy is a devil he was raised by humans and given much character development throughout the series. There’s wit, charm, supernatural hijinks, Lovecraftian horror and pulp fiction storytelling at its finest despite the dark occult setting while Hellboy I’ve read was raised a Catholic despite being a…well…a devil, because Mike Mignola grew up a Catholic and learned things while writing the comic. He isn’t religious, and that’s okay because he’s very talented at what he does…drawing monsters (no really, that’s the documentary) and demons and religion and supernatural activity and paranormal evil and Nazis and making it cool.
As far as I know, there are lots of spinoffs by the author and maybe I can read DC Universe by Mike Mignola but I haven’t been willing to go back.
Hellboy is more like a piece of graphic literary fiction inspired by history which I believe is right up my alley after all the Big Two comics I could handle.
Perhaps some other Dark Horse titles as well? I trust that they publish what I want to read, and I might even read their manga if I can possibly handle it with my sensory issues in that particular medium (and anime, but I’m not going there anymore: this is why I reset my accounts) and maybe Dark Horse has some lighter titles that I can enjoy too? Maybe not everything at Dark Horse is dark, gloomy and strange? Those would be the titles I would want to read.
And it’s perfectly fine not to get involved much with the Big Two, it’s a lot to take on and titles change hands so often, with each new writer wanting to make their mark that it just becomes a headache. These days I tend to just follow the creators I like and skirt around the core of the universe picking up their more sci-fi and horror titles.
From what you say about Hellboy it seems like you appreciate that one clear creative voice that you get from such projects staying with the original creator. Although not as long-running you might like Frank Miller’s Sin City or Robert Kirkman’s series, like The Walking Dead and Invincible (one bonus from his work is, like manga, you can just pick up the first volume and work your way through) or various titles from Jeff Lemire or the work of Warren Ellis (like Transmetropolitan or The Authority, that I mentioned, or Planetary) or Kieron Gillen (Wicked + Divine, Once & Future, Die, etc). Others include James Tynion, Scott Snyder, Cullen Bunn, etc. If you sample enough you might find other creators you like and then you can root out their other work.
Or you can try big fictional universes that also happen to be relatively new, so they haven’t had time to get overly convoluted - Saga is a massive hit or you could try Radiant Black.