So I got bored…
As I said I was bored but I think this picture of Elseworld Supergirl came out pretty interesting from my camera phone. While I wanted to share this, I started to think, aside from this well done, uhmm, action figure, why was I such a big fan of DC comics overall? Going back to the 70’s when I started to collect comics, I was always partial to the DC universe even though I collected Marvel as well. Why DC over Marvel? The Superfriends, for me, dominated my Saturday morning cartoons watching even with Wendy(she is another one to go on the list), Marvin, and Wonderdog. Marvel did have their own animated version of their heroes but the animation was very static and this read more like an upgrade comic book with sound effects. You can say that I have brand loyalty to DC much in the same way I love drinking Coke but I will drink Pepsi too.
Another reason to consider, DC was in many respects an underdog to Marvel Comics. In NY, I was in the minority who admitted to being a Mets fan and not a Yankee fan. Alternatively, another comparison, I was an Intellivision fan over the more popular Atari. In the Chris Claremont heyday, the Uncanny X-Men and the Dark Phoenix saga was Marvel’s pinnacle. Whereas the DC storyline in the same time frame left a lot to be desired.
Over the past decades, DC has had incredible success with the Death of Superman and Batman’s Knightfall series. This World’s Finest pair has also dominated the animated arena once again with their animated series including JLA & JLA Unlimited. Marvel on the other hand as done well with Spiderman and X-Men but the did not have the staying power to stay on the air.
The last point I want to bring up are the “What If” versus “Elseworld” series. I will admit that the What If series was great at the beginning to see alternate origins or events unfold but Elseworld really captured my imagination. The “Speeding Bullet,” title was incredible where Kal-El was raised by the Waynes and we see a flying Batman. WOW! The Elseworld action figures have the same WOW effect as the book had on me. Where is Marvel? I love the relaunching of the entire franchise with the Ultimate universe but they have yet to win me over.
Monster
UPDATE: Click here for more pictures
