What exactly is the 'definitive' source material?>The Golden age, the first ever stories involving the characters and also written by the actual creators No. The Golden Age versions are borderline incomprehensible to modern fans.>The Silver Age, where most of the characters formed as silhouettes we recognize and, in Marvel's case, is also the original version of the characters tooNo. Most modern perceptions are still different from what was in the Silver Age(Lex Luthor being a criminal scientist instead of a rich businessman, Joker's a prankster instead of whatever he's supposed to be now) or weren't introduced yet(Doomsday, Lobo,Venom, New Gods)Nope. For DC it's the post-Crisis continuity reboot era plus Alan Moore and Frank Miller's Batman comics, and for Marvel it's the 2000s Ultimate run, Chris Claremont's X-Men run and Frank Miller's Daredevil comics
