I have not looked at comicbooks in sooooo long.
Growing up in a broken family with my parents divourced and my mother working full time, my life was pretty chaotic.
I identified with the Marvel characters and their "real" world problems, but I think in all stories whether books, TV, Movie, or comic books, I was more comfortable with happy endings. That's why the empire strikes back is my least favorite star wars movie. But growing up when Marvel first came out, They were cool because they were new and kind of like undiscovered treasure. So overall I liked DC because they were more traditional happy ending stories.
My thinking is about the same for Mad magazine vs Cracked. I like Mad magazine better because it is more established and refined. It was familiar you knew what you were getting with spy vs spy and the movie farce and the folding back cover. But Cracked was kind of cool because it was new.