I don’t mean to be contrary, but it happens a lot

One common thing for quick celebrity interviews is to run down a list of either/or questions. Star Wars or Star Trek? Flowers or Candy? Beach or mountains? Some people will just never make the choice; it is always some completely different third thing. I find it irritating, possibly because I am usually neither/both. Maybe we just have the wrong choices.

Anyway, at dinner the other night, and I know I owe this largely to Big Bang Theory, which is the only reason that I was even asked to explain the two main superhero stables, I was finally asked that question I have seen so many others asked: DC or Marvel

I have been waiting for this. I have had my answer ready for years. It’s Dark Horse. And yes, my sisters looked at me with exactly the amount of frustration that I would have expected of anyone, but it just is. I truly drink neither coffee nor tea, but like hot chocolate. I truly enjoy both the beach and the mountains. And truly, if we are going into the realm of comic books, it’s Dark Horse for me.

Oh Gina, is this just more of your pro-Portland Metro area/Oregonian bias? Not exactly, but I think there is an indirect connection, and I will try and back up and get around to it.

The way that I see the DC-Marvel rivalry is that the DC stable is more powerful. Superman has so many different powers, where Spiderman is an awkward kid who is always struggling for money. Marvel has the vulnerability where DC, well, I guess they have the superiority, which annoys me though not in the case of Batman.

I guess that would make me lean more towards Marvel, but no, it’s still Dark Horse. Now, they have a lot of titles, I know, and so I am generalizing, but that was generalizing about Marvel and DC too. What I am saying is that for me Dark Horse represents the quirky, the offbeat, and the weird, and that’s what I love.

I have only read any Flaming Carrot recently, but I knew I wanted to for a long time. The way this happened was that I was looking up Mystery Men (the movie) on Wikipedia, and it linked to an article on the Carrot, because they came from his series. There were many intriguing things in the article, but this line is the one that totally stole my heart:

“Possessing no real super powers, the Carrot wins the day through sheer grit, raw determination, blinding stupidity, and bizarre luck. “

How could I not love that? I keep on possessing no real super powers over and over again! And what I lack in blinding stupidity and bizarre luck, I make up for in sheer grit and raw determination. And not every Flaming Carrot comic has been through Dark Horse, but a big chunk of it has, and yes, they are the ones publishing the Umbrella Academy and Danger Days. And Hellboy is from them, and he’s a great character.

Even look at the name—Dark Horse is not an exact synonym for underdog, but it’s sort of related and I love underdogs.

So I don’t like them because they are local, but at the same time, I think it might not be a coincidence that in this area they support the quirky and that I like it too. Maybe it’s a regional thing.

Let’s just take it one step further and say that when the time comes, Dark Horse is obviously the right publisher to do the Grimm comic books, and hey, both people from Dark Horse and from Grimm have worked with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It just works.

Finally, if anyone is wondering, I like candy but I prefer flowers.