While we're at it,let's evaluate the decade that came before the decade we last evaluated.

Marvel wipes the floor.

Miller DD
Simonson Thor
Claremont X-Men (many artists)
Byrne FF and Alpha Flight
Part of Mantlo/Buscema Hulk
Rom and Micronauts (Mantlo)
Layton Iron Man
Layton Hercules
Quite a good decade for Spider-man titles
West Coast Avengers
Moon Knight
Ka-Zar
A bunch of good miniseries
The NAM
Not Secret Wars

Jay is correct. Except I did like Secret Wars, because it had ALL THE CHARACTERS.

I’m with Jay.

I'm going to copy Jay's answer and say Marvel.

Mostly because I preferred Marvel's 1980's comics to D.C.'s ones.

Yeah, this one seems pretty indisputable.

Last but not least...

It's really difficult to decide since I like just about every comics line in the 80s -- I mean, the indies alone got the Ninja Turtles, Rocketeer, Love & Rockets, Nexus, Xenozoic, Megaton Man, Elfquest, Usagi Yojimbo, Airboy, and on and on -- and Marvel and DC were like the Lakers and the Celtics, just killing it on both sides.

Even the less celebrated stories and runs during this era are killer -- for example, 10 Nights of the Beast by Jim Starlin is amazing and you never hear anything about it anymore. Alan Davis' Excalibur run is pretty dope and it's somewhat of an also-ran in terms of reputation.

DC's highs are higher than Marvels -- Watchmen, The Killing joke, Year One, Dark Knight Returns, etc. are still DC's best selling graphic novels year after year. I can't think of a bookstore best-seller Marvel produced during this time (but I might be spacing). That said, I think their extended runs are of greater interest to me -- Simonson's Thor, PAD's Hulk, Claremont's X-Men, Miller's Daredevil.

This is my favorite era for comics writing as well... I find almost everything is at least readable. They really reached a strong balance of making a single issue an entertaining individual experience while also continuing an ongoing longform storyline.

Tough, tough, tough.

Interesting. I think if this question were posed to the general comics audience, DC would probably win on the strength of Alan Moore's output alone.

There is no such thing.

DC had some great stuff (almost all of which is pictured above or mentioned by Hanzo) but the sheer number of creative teams striking gold at Marvel during the 80s gives it over to them IMO.

1980-1985 Marvel
1986-1990 DC

Marvel was probably more consistent during the 1980s, but DC was trying a greater variety of experiments. I guess when you're Number Two you try harder.

This was what I was going to suggest. I don't have a horse in this race because it was a time when I wasn't reading them hardly, but in what I have seen since it looks likely. And it coincides with Byrne starting on Suprman.

The only things that have really held up for me are Walt Simonson's Thor and Steve Ditko's indie creations like Static and The Missing Man. No interest in revisitng anything else from back then, so I'll abstain from voting.

Perhaps there is a such thing and they are here ... on IMWAN.

I just meant general American fandom -- all the Wednesday Warriors and lapsed American DSM readers combined.

yeah but still

yeah but still

There, he said it...twice.

Marvel.