>>87062820DC has just never been run by as big of shills as Marvel. DC had O'Neil and Levitz and Len Wein who are all great about artistic integrity.
Not to say DC are some stalwart of creativity, but they were where all the best writers were at the time because of the British invasion and Vertigo. DC wanted more Alan Moore's, Marvel wanted more Jim Lee's.
The comics industry was really a dumpster fire at the time, it's just DC spent the decade doing the exact same thing as they did in the 80's while Marvel and Image did all this new shit.