On DC and Marvel

The first computer I ever knew was a Mac. An Apple IIE. It was a nice little computer that came to be a fixture in my brother's room when my dad upgraded to an IBM. My brother and I had a great time with that little Apple. Sure, we learned about the IBM, too, how to access stuff like Carmen Sandiago and Bolo Adventures using DOS. WordPerfect, too. But we spent a lot of time on the Apple, playing Gertrude's Puzzles and a text version of Zork. I also came close to mastering Aquanoid. Well, as close to mastering a computer game I ever come.

Nowadays, I use Windows-based PCs at work, school, and home. Guess it was kind of inevitable, given that they're everywhere. That has a tendency to give me this odd little feeling of inferiority, this feeling that, gosh, I should be using a Mac. Or, at the very least, a Linux-based PC.

But I don't, because PCs are what I'm now comfortable with. So it goes.

Now, I bring this up because I feel approximately the same way about the DC multiverse. Surely, the first superhero I ever knew of, as an American, was Superman. Surely it was. I mean, I don't remember, but the odds are excellent.

The first superhero I probably knew of was DC, but eventually I ended up learning about Marvel characters, too, through X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons. Oh, I watched that Batman cartoon as well, but it was awful dark. X-Men was easily my favorite. (And I still have a soft spot in my heart for Rogue.)

I drifted away from DC, from Superman and Batman (neither of whom I ever cared much about), and found my comfort zone in the Marvel universe. At least, when it came to superhero fantasy, I did. (Mind, this was back when the only comics I ever read were the daily strips in the newspaper.)

But I still feel that odd feeling of inferiority, as someone who prefers Marvel over DC. (It's baseless, but it's there.) Which is why I'm trying out a few titles. Just to see. If only to learn what all the fuss is about. It's not easy to get in the right mindset, but nobody ever said it would be easy. Who knows? While I can't see reading DC over Marvel (anymore than I can picture myself trading in my Dell for a Mac), maybe I'll find some part, some pocket of the DC 'verse that I enjoy, that I can feel. Or maybe not, it's hard to say. All I can do is try. Next on the agenda is HAWKGIRL and CATWOMAN. The previews look interesting. That's a good sign, right?

Heck, today is full of good signs. You see, I'm typing this on a Mac.