In the superhero comics world the eternal question is: Marvel or DC? Most fans patronize both companies, but everyone seems to come down on one side of the dividing line or the other. Straddling is not allowed.
So which company is better? Let's break this baby down Dr. Jack style (with apologies to Bill Simmons and Dr. Jack Ramsey):
Note: Each category is worth one point, except for BAD MOVIES, IMAGIZATION IN THE '90s, and POOREST TREATMENT OF A SIGNATURE PROPERTY, which are each worth one negative point.
BEST HERO, Part 1
Obviously, "best" is a subjective term, but I'm looking at it from a recognition standpoint. Few would argue that DC's signature character is Superman and Marvel's is Spider-Man. But who's better? Wow, that's tough. I could probably write a whole essay on it.
But let's do this quick and dirty. Spider-Man is an everyman, or at least what every man perceives himself to be: smart and misunderstood, funny, and irresistible to the ladies. He adores his old Aunt May and he struggles to please everyone, pay the bills, and do the right thing. His powers and costume are as cool as they get. Kids love him. They connect to him in a way that almost no other superhero can match.
Maybe that's because his origin hinges on a mistake. He thought too much of himself, didn't stop a thief, and later that thief killed his Uncle Ben. Spidey learned then that "with great power comes great responsibility" and has worked to redeem that moment ever since. The actuality of his powers ("bitten by a radioactive spider!") are silly, but the reasons for his heroism are flawed and genuine.
Superman, on the other hand, is often held up as the epitome of perfection. There's no mistake in his origin, no regret or moral ambiguity. Nevertheless, his is perhaps the best origin in all of comics. Rocketed from a dying planet, adopted by a kindly old couple who raise him with an uncompromising sense of compassion and duty. Though he could dominate with his powers, instead he serves. Though Superman is ultra-powerful and ultra-good, he is not completely unrelatable. My best evidence of that is Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Superman For All Seasons story, where Superman felt vulnerable and, well, human. And like Peter Parker, he struggles with a steady job and juggling his secret identity with his hero persona.
But I've got to give Spider-Man the edge, if only because I think his appeal is greater, from his sense of humor to his costume to his personal life. I always liked Superman, but I never wanted to BE him. And that's the difference.
Edge: Marvel
BEST HERO, Part 2
Batman and Wolverine. They seem of a piece, these two. They're both cool but prone to violent fits, nearly impossible to subdue, and lacking in personal skills. Both claim to be loners, but subsequently surround themselves with as many people as possible (Batman joining the Outsiders and Justice League, Wolverine with X-Men and the Avengers).

Whereas Batman has the most-easy-to-comprehend origin and motivation of any comics character anywhere, Wolverine's is mysterious, which was cool at first. Then it got too drawn out, and then when it was finally explained just felt like a convoluted mess.
As for villains, Batman's got the best set of rogues of any hero (Penguin, Catwoman, Mr.Freeze, Poison Ivy, Joker, Riddler, Ra's Al Ghul, Bane, Scarecrow, Clayface, King Tut, etc.), and a strong supporting cast. Wolverine's got Sabretooth, Lady Deathstryke, and some ninjas. Yawn.
Edge: DC
THE NEXT THREE
Okay, so we're even on the big two iconic heroes, but what about that second tier? There could be a huge discussion on this, but I'd say Marvel's next three are the Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. Those characters are absolute cornerstones. DC's are even harder to pinpoint, but I'd go with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash.


Maybe it's a cop-out, but I'm not willing to make a judgment here.
Edge: tie
BEST VILLAINS
It's often said that a hero is only as good as his villains, and it's pretty true.
Marvel has its fair share of morally complex despots: Dr.Doom, Magneto, and the Kingpin, namely. There's also Galactus, the world-devourer, who is cool despite the bucket on his head. The shape-shifting alien Skrulls are always good for some trouble, and then of course there're the thrilling Thunderbolts, villains posing as heroes initially, though later the concept became a warmed-over version of DC's Suicide Squad. And Spider-Man's rogues gallery is admirably twisted and weird.
However, many of Marvel's villains leave me cold: Modok, Ego the Living Planet, Apocalypse, Mr.Sinister, Thanos, even Ultron and the Red Skull lack real depth and motivation beyond boring old world domination. And that's weird, because Marvel's heroes are more relatable than DC's, so you'd think the villains would be the same.
Instead, DC almost has the market completely cornered on villains that are cool but also endearingly compelling. Of course there are the badasses like Darkseid, but there's also the frustratingly charming Lex Luthor. Of course Batman's got the Joker, and The Dark Knight proved that the villain can be your most interesting and compelling character.
Add in Superboy-Prime (the villain equivalent of an impossible-to-please comics fan), Black Adam, Bizarro, the rest of Batman's rogues, Flash's rogues (Zoom, Gorilla Grood , etc.), and DC is clearly the best at being bad.
Edge: DC
A-LIST TEAMS
Teams have been a hallmark of superhero books almost since their inception. When a team book is humming along, it's hard to beat the quality and the potential for good stories (plus, group shots are always awesome). The A-List are teams that even your mom might know.

DC can't quite compare to that list. Of course there's the Justice League of America. It's hard to argue with that collection of heroes (and DC has done equally as well as Marvel with incorporating lesser-knowns with the big guns). And then there're the Titans (Teen, New Teen, New, adjectiveless, whatever), a collection of sidekicks and other young heroes. But beyond those two, can any non-comic fan name another DC team?
Edge: Marvel
B LIST TEAMS
Okay, here's where Marvel falters. After the Avengers, F4, and X-Men who do they have? The Defenders? Alpha Flight? Power Pack? The freaking Champions?

Edge: DC
RACIAL DIVERSITY
For the most part, superheroes are the Utah of the comics world. But both companies have made some attempt to diversify. In some cases, the attempts were and are cloying and racist (an American Indian superhero called Warpath...seriously?).
Marvel was, not surprisingly, ahead of the game in introducing black characters. There was Captain America's partner, the Falcon, plus the Black Panther, Luke Cage, Blade, Black Goliath, Jim Rhodes (War Machine), and Storm (of the X-Men, who are pretty darned white for a group that's supposedly an allegory for racial tolerance). Representing Asians are Sunfire, a Japanese X-Man who didn't stick around long, and the Chinese Shang-Chi, who reinforced sterotypes by being a "Master of Kung-Fu." For American Indians there was the X-Man Thunderbird (Warpath's older brother, by the way). He was killed during his second mission with the team. There's also Shaman, from Alpha Flight. Latinos are out of luck unless you care to seek out the few times the Living Lightning showed up in The Avengers. The current Marvel Universe is still pretty white, though Luke Cage and Black Panther have taken on larger roles. The Spider-Man of the Ultimate universe, Miles Morales, is half black, half Hispanic.
However DC wins this one mostly thanks to Milestone Comics, the diversity-minded imprint they ushered into existence in the mid-'90s, and whose heroes they are now incorporating into their proper universe. The latter is great news. Static, Hardware, Icon and Rocket, and the Blood Syndicate are all vibrant, rich characters who deserve more time in the spotlight.
Edge: DC
HEROINES

DC loses points because so many of their heroines are analogues of heroes. Think about it Supergirl, Superwoman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Miss Martian, Mary Marvel, Hawkwoman, etc. Marvel has been slightly less guilty of this.
However, DC wins where it really counts, because they have Wonder Woman. Marvel has not managed to create an iconic female character who sustains her own solo title, pilots an invisible jet, and is recognized by the masses.
Edge: DC
ALTERNATE REALITIES
Both companies have had their share of stories set in alternate realities, but which has done it best?


Which is better? While part of me prefers Marvel's simpler, compartmentalized approach, I think better ideas have come out of the DC multiverse.
Edge: tie
GOOD MOVIES
With both Marvel and DC ramping up their movie release schedules, what better time to discuss their cinematic successes?


This is tough. Though DC may have more historical quality on its side at this point, Marvel is way more relevant in the current moment, with a plan and direction behind their film division.
Edge: tie
BAD MOVIES
Now for the cautionary tales. Both companies have made their share of stinkers, but whose offenses have been the most egregious?


DC has its own list of stinkers, including the final two Superman films (Richard Pryor and a Soviet Superman, seriously?), Halle Berry's Catwoman, Shaquille O'Neal's Steel, and the limp Superman Returns. 2011's Green Lantern wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be, but it clearly could have been better. And though Marvel may have more awful films under its belt, none is worse than Batman and Robin, a poorly-written, poorly-cast, poorly-acted, poorly-executed waste of time.
Edge: DC
MOST CONSISTENT LONG-RUNNING TITLE

Edge: Marvel
POOREST TREATMENT OF A SIGNATURE PROPERTY
As I often tell my English students, a story without a problem is not a story. Since superhero stories are pretty much neverending, our beloved characters are naturally going to experience lots of trouble. However, each company has one character that they have put thorough so much misery that it borders on sadism.


So which is worse? Well, I think of it like this: Most of Batman's tragedies led to very good stories. Such is not the case with Spidey. The Clone Saga and One More Day were awful stories for the characters and readers alike.
Edge: Marvel
JACK KIRBY IN THE '70s


Edge: DC
GRIM AND GRITTY IN THE '80s:
The '80s were all about bringing gravity and realism to the superhero genre, but which company was more successful?


Edge: DC
IMAGIZATION IN THE '90s


Marvel's crimes were mostly against fashion. The Avengers and Fantastic Four both started wearing brown leather jackets. (and don't get me started on the Invisible Woman's disappearing costume), and half the X-Men suddenly wielded improbably large guns (Freud alert!). But the characters stayed the same at their core, and so did the status quo.

Edge: DC
CURRENT EVENTS
I'm not a big fan of cross-company events in general. I feel like most great stories can be contained to one or two parent titles.
Marvel has been on a seemingly never-ending cycle of events. Civil War led to The Initiative which led to Secret Invasion which led to Dark Reign which led to Seige which led to the Age of Heroes, which led to Fear Itself which leads to Avengers Vs. X-Men. I haven't read most of them. Though they seemed well-coordinated across the line, I don't have the energy or money to commit to never-ending line-wide events.
DC though, seems to overhype every event, mismanage it, and then reset everything to status quo anyway. Though Identity Crisis, 52, and Blackest Night were very satisfying, and Final Crisis was an interesting experiment, Infinite Crisis, One Year Later, Countdown, Brightest Day, and Flashpoint have all been uniquely disappointing. One positive for DC is that they tend to confine their events to the mini-series themselves, or a single family of titles.
But the other part of this category to consider is both company's attempts at getting new readers in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, DC completely reset their universe. They effectively threw out all past continuity, redesigned costumes, and put all of their long-running titles back to #1. This "New 52" initiative were rewarded with crazy-good sales and buzz. Marvel's 2012 response is dubbed Marvel NOW!, a nearly line-wide creator-shuffle, with, yes, new #1 issues (which, in Marvel's case is admittedly less drastic considering nearly every title had already reset to #1 at least once before).
DC's hastily-thrown-together stunt has resulted in a confused mess of frustration for long-term fans like me. I've essentially quit the company after giving the "New 52" a college try. It's still early to judge Marvel NOW!, but at this point I'm willing to give Marvel the points because they learned from DC's mistake: They continued building on their existing universe instead of destroying it.
Edge: Marvel
THE FUTURE
Both Marvel and DC have provided us with extended glimpses into the future, but who has done it most compellingly?

Edge: DC
* * *
WINNER:
Are you ready for the final score? This actually turned out to be somewhat lop-sided. Marvel ended up with 6 total points. DC earned 9 points. It's like Superman took on Moon Boy in a straight-up fistfight.