Free Comic Book Day: Marvel vs DC
Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day, which is essentially Christmas for comic book nerds. There are tons of sales, and obviously, free comics. Many companies make their free comics to tease their upcoming series, and obviously Marvel and DC would want to help promote the new beginnings for their most popular series. However, DC’s only free comic book day comic was for a much younger audience, as it was from their DC Superhero Girls series. That’s because that seem week they released their first issue of DC Nation, which occupies the same niche of Free Comics. So, did DC’s 25 cent comic beat out Marvel’s two free comics?
Starting with DC, DC Nation features three short stories to promote the Batman and Catwoman marriage, Justice League: No Justice, and the upcoming Man of Steel miniseries.
The Batman story has the Joker breaking into somebody’s house and waiting for his invitation to the BatCat wedding. The Man of Steel story has Clark Kent being offered Lois Lane’s corner office, but him refusing due to her being gone. It also introduces Robinson Goode, who seems to be planning something evil.
And finally, the No Justice story basically just introduces the four different teams of heroes and villains. The ending also shows that the threat is coming to Earth.
Marvel has three stories, and one timeline refresher. These are for the Avengers, Captain America, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Avengers story has Black Panther meeting Odin, and both of them talking about the Celestial that the Ancient Avengers killed. Then Odin reveals that Loki buried that Celestial under current day Africa. The end of the story has Steve and Thor calling Tony to talk.
The Captain America story has a bunch of Steve Rogers robots drop into the middle of a protest. These robots are based off of Captain America’s No War Lost design. Captain America obviously comes down to fight them, with more ready to attack.
The Spider-Man story takes Peter Parker back to his essentials. He and his buddy Randy Robertson are apartment hunting when he has to duck out to fight Boomerang, Rhino, Electro, and Big Wheel of all people. After cracking jokes and managing to take them out, the Mayor of New York Wilson Fisk apprehends the villains, but Boomerang not only gives him something, but also manages to escape. Peter makes it back to the apartment they’ve decided on. But Peter finds out that one of the rooms is being sublet to none other than Boomerang.
The Guardians story is literally just a summary of what they’ve done lately, all in order to prepare people who want to start reading Infinity Countdown.
So, did who won, DC or Marvel? Marvel wins for two reasons, the first of which is that their comics were actually free. The Marvel stories also are told across more pages, allowing to further set up these stories.
