no question that for me and my friends Marvel in late 1961/62 was a revelation!!
FF was first and started out looking kind of crude, but as i said by issue #3, it had already matured into something special and Lee emblazoned the cover with "World's Greatest Comic Magazine"..........
the other heroes started out similarly, in that they seemed to be ideas in progress.
The Hulk changed from grey to green and disappeared after only 6 issues. Ironman started out Grey, switched immediately to Gold and then 8 issues later switched to the modern red/gold combo. Thor was very confusing with the Dr Donald Blake thing as it seemed they weren't sure if they wanted to keep that concept or not. Spidey was pretty much solid from the beginning, although having grown up with DC super hero ART, it was a bit hard to take Ditko, at first.
DC had the dumbest story lines and villains. everything was a gimmick (ala Paste Pot Pete at Marvel). but Marvel villains were more evil and exciting and the battles were all Kick-. very little secret identity crapola stories at Marvel (Spidey/Hulk/Thor had them but they were played down). whereas at DC, they were a mainstay. DC had all the sidekicks, dopey pets and "Imaginary"stories. and so on and so on......
Once the Marvel characters quickly matured, the stories were simply more engaging. i was a converted DC fan!!!!
the artwork though was another issue. Marvels covers were more exciting and battle filled, and much of Batman and Superman was awkward or silly looking, but with a stable that included Infantino, Kubert, Kane, Anderson, Heath, etc., DC didn't play second fiddle to anyone.
i continued to buy DC's because they were pretty and i was a collector, but you can bet when i came home with 5-6 comics, the Marvels were the first ones that i read.............
Burntboy, reading your post is like reading my own mind. I wasn't reading these books when they hit the rack, but my older brother had a stash of comics, Marvels and DC: Marvel Tales and Marvel Collectors Item Classics, and the DC Giants (I guess he liked the big squarebound 25 centers). As a kid, I found the DC stories silly and/or stupid. I loved the Marvels for the exact same reasons you describe above.