Super Fight!

[Lissa]

Marvel really hasn't brought much new to their line since then I feel. Which isn't to say they haven't created quality stories, but most of the time they are nothing groundbreaking and unfortunately seem to fall prey to two dimensional characters that get too much play because they are soooo "cool". Venom? Carnage? Most of the 90s were a wasteland for Marvel just based on those two characters. "Hey Carnage! What are some of your character traits?" "I like to kill people..." Well at least they can't be accused of false advertising.

DC, although not maintaining the market share that Marvel does, seems to have been the trend setter for what stories are being told in comics for the last 30-40 years or so. In the late 70s much of the work done with the New Gods was nearly directly copied by marvel. In the 80s Frank Millar nearly single handedly revitalized the comic world with The Dark Knight Returns. The 90s mostly sucked for both companies but as vapid as Knightfall or the Death of Superman run were for DC things were even worse for Marvel (save for the often brilliant Age of Apocalypse). And the direction of present era of super hero comics can mostly be laid at the feet of DC's Identity Crisis. (Geoff John's work in Green Lantern the last few years has made that mythology one of the most vibrant, no pun intended, in all of comics.)

Having said all that, DCs "mature" line: Vertigo, is probably the most consistently superb line of comics on the stands and if you ever had any interest in getting back into comics or graphic novels I would start there. Y the Last Man can be found completed in graphic novel form now, and of their present runs Fables, Scalped, and DMZ are all wonderful. Finally, if there is anyone on these boards that reads comics and are not presently picking up The Unwritten every month you are doing yourselves great disservice. Don't miss this book.

I would posit that Marvel and DC are not the only game in town to look at. There are a number of independants that are also worth taking a look at. Dark Horse has some especially good series and a variety of there are the occasional series that make a splash and steal the thunder from the other players in the industry as well. Some of those series delve into some very mature and interesting topics.

Given, I haven't read comics since the mid 90s, but the 90s weren't as barren a time as one may think. While Marvel and DC may have dropped the ball then, new torch bearers came about and continued to make very good comics.