Being born in the mid-80s, my first experience with comic book characters was the Batman and the Superman movies. Batman quickly became my favourite comic book character until the mid-90’s when I got into the Spider-Man cartoon on Fox Kids. Because of my age, I never really knew the history of these characters, and I was completely oblivious to the 50-year war between both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. I simply enjoyed the characters from both sides, and I wasn’t aware how intense the competition was until my young adult years. This is why I’m grateful for Reed Tucker’s in-depth look at the history of these companies in his book, Slugfest: Inside the epic 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC.
Slugfest, begins by highlighting the origins of DC, the conservative company that was the first to dominate the newsstands with its comics. Back then (in the 30s), comics were extremely camp, and appealed mainly to young audiences between the ages of 6-11. The nature of the comics was clear-cut, having characters like Superman telling the readers what’s right and what’s wrong. Back then, the characters had no complex traits that made them relatable to humans, they were completely one-dimensional.
Some 30 years later (in the 60s), Atlas comics became Marvel Comics, and when they were facing the possibility of a company closure, Stan Lee was pressured to come up with a fresh take on comics. In 1961, Stan Lee launched Fantastic Four, and that was the beginning of the comic book industry as we know it today.
In Slugfest, Reed Tucker does a phenomenal job of documenting all of the juicy stories that stemmed from the competition between both companies. He goes into detail about the issues that played a big part in the shift of sales, the talent that were continuously stolen by both companies, and the change in the types of reader that was embracing the comics.
He even writes about the business decisions that played an instrumental part in the growth of the comics business. Such as when independent buyers started making deals for the comics to be distributed to them directly. These buyers would then set up their own stores to sell entire shipments of comics. This is what gave birth to the direct-to-consumer trades that we now know as the comic book store.
Reed Tucker writes so vividly about these times that he made me wish I was 20 years older, so I could have been alive to experience the golden era of comics. The era when Marvel’s fresh take on superheroes was changing the way the world saw heroes.
Marvel was the first to realise that by giving superheroes everyday problems, they would be more relatable, and thus three-dimensional. Their formula worked so well that DC was forced to put their pride aside and follow the same formula. This is what gave birth to stories like Dark Knight Returns and The Death of Superman.
Slugfest breaks down each pivotal moment of both company’s history, all the way up to when Hollywood exploded with comic book movies over a decade ago.
Some might think that such a grand history of events would be boring and repetitive to read, but for those who truly care about these characters, these stories and their creators, this book is captivating all the way through. Considering that Reed Tucker is fairly young himself, I can only imagine the amount of research that was necessary for him to make this book possible.
I’ve been reading comics actively for around 12 years now, and I have a Marvel Unlimited subscription that makes it easier to catch up with classic comics from decades prior. Reading Slugfest has instilled so much knowledge of the DC and Marvel catalogues in me, that I now have a new appreciation for the comics as I read through them. It’s as if reading Slugfest gave me the understanding that (previously) could have only been obtained by living through the renaissance that started in the 60s.
As I eagerly anticipate Avengers: Endgame next week, Slugfest: Inside the epic 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC was the perfect book to read. When I see the conclusion to the Avengers saga, I’ll have a deeper admiration for what I’ve just witnessed.
This is a must-read book for comic fans of all ages.
