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DC to reboot pretty much everything in September


Bahimiron

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It's all very wtf.

A fully revamped DC Universe for a "more modern and diverse 21st century", over 50 new #1 issues, a Geoff Johns-Jim Lee Justice League, and the first of the major comic book publishers to fully embrace "same-day" digital distribution...

Considering they don't currently have 50 DCU books going and they just rebooted Wonder Woman and have revamped the whole working of the GL universe, this is all pretty crazy. Oh well. Good or bad, this definitely means there's no need to buy a DCU comic for the next three months.

Geoff Johns promised USA Today "a focus on the interpersonal relationships within DC's trademark superteam." "What's the human aspect behind all these costumes?" he tells the publication. "That's what I wanted to explore."

The revamp will reportedly involve "introducing readers to stories that are grounded in each character's specific legend but also reflect today's real-world themes and events."

Sounds a lot like the Ultimate-verse, except, you know, with the whole dang line. It's a pretty all-in maneuver.

The same-day digital is going to be the biggie, though. While it could really make a move like this, it could also be a real gutpunch to your local comic book store.

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If they do indeed go the route of same day digital release, I'll certainly be checking out some of these titles, though given their policy on 2.99 print comics, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold digital at the same price.

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I'm not sure what to think. It could be really cool to give their really solid stable of writers a chance to strip off all the ridiculous continuity shit that's got a stranglehold on all the characters and storylines and actually go wild completely unfettered.

I hope that this means that they're dropping the Vertigo imprint and just incorporating all that stuff back into the DCU because most of their best writing happens over at Vertigo and that's because they give the Vertigo guys room to stretch and tell interesting stories with those characters.

Also, one of those articles mentions that they're going down to 52 titles! (or maybe just that they are only rebooting 52 of their titles, but that just seems kind of silly I think doesn't it?) That means they're pruning off over 30 books, which means the shittiest 30 or so writers and artists are gone and their publishing costs are reduced by 30%... and thus can maybe focus on more QUALITY rather than quantity.

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Blah. I'm not that big of a DC guy anyways. Besides the big three, none of their characters or creative teams ever resonated with me. Saying that, i'm a big fan of Vertigo, and hope they don't fuck with it. Having Constantine re-enter regular DC continuity freaks me out a bit, and seems like they might start fucking what the only real good thing they have (vertigo). I couldn't disagree more with the above comment for looping it back into the regular DCU. That shit just wouldn't work there.

ETA: Another thought. To me, the only thing DC has going for it is it's strong sense of history. Fucking with it now, it think, is only going to result in a Infinite Crisis moment, and them having to reboot to the 'older' DC. Bad idea.

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I couldn't disagree more with the above comment for looping it back into the regular DCU. That shit just wouldn't work there.

But there is no such thing as "the regular DCU" once the reboot happens. They're starting fresh. That means that incorporating Vertigo into DCU could enable them to bring the same grit and tone and all that interesting shit to the rebooted storylines for the new DCU.

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But there is no such thing as "the regular DCU" once the reboot happens. They're starting fresh. That means that incorporating Vertigo into DCU could enable them to bring the same grit and tone and all that interesting shit to the rebooted storylines for the new DCU.

Negatory there ghost rider.

It may bring some grit to DCU, but it would cheapen the Vertigo imprint.

Why don't they just allow the writers they have working now in the main DCU a little more freedom with what they got. Most of the time they have huge successes with they do that (all star superman, batman and robin).

No, keep Vertigo and DC separate.

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I just find it very strange that they recently made so many changes to some of their core characters, Dick Grayson is now Batman with Damien Wayne as Robin, the Green Lantern Corps contend with an entire spectrum of fellow corps, Booster Gold has a purpose! And they're just tossing it all to reboot the whole shebang. It just seems like such a bizarre decision. Like 'well, none of that is working for us, so it's time to throw in the towel and go back to square one'. Which, depending on what square one is, could really suck. I like Tim as Robin and Dick as Nightwing more than I'd like Dick as Robin and Tim as nonexistent, for instance.

I hope that this means that they're dropping the Vertigo imprint and just incorporating all that stuff back into the DCU because most of their best writing happens over at Vertigo and that's because they give the Vertigo guys room to stretch and tell interesting stories with those characters.

Ugh. That's an awful idea. Most of what is being done in Vertigo wouldn't really work in a superhero book world anyway, so all you're doing is just ruining the titles under that imprint. Trying to fit DMZ or Fables into the DCU would be ... well, impossible since the two of them contradict one another, both being set in very different NYCs.

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Why all the Vertigo talk? It's not being affected.

Here's the reality: No one pays for comics anymore. They are available for free on the internet the same day they are released. When the companies do big events, they can pay their bills. When they don't, they can't.

So big event after big event until Marvel and DC fold up or, and this is more likely, they simply become an avenue for selling movies and movie characters.

I am glad they are fixing the JLA. I hope Power Girl gets back on the team. And MM. And Captain Marvel.

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Ugh. That's an awful idea. Most of what is being done in Vertigo wouldn't really work in a superhero book world anyway, so all you're doing is just ruining the titles under that imprint. Trying to fit DMZ or Fables into the DCU would be ... well, impossible since the two of them contradict one another, both being set in very different NYCs.

Negatory there ghost rider.

It may bring some grit to DCU, but it would cheapen the Vertigo imprint.

Why don't they just allow the writers they have working now in the main DCU a little more freedom with what they got. Most of the time they have huge successes with they do that (all star superman, batman and robin).

No, keep Vertigo and DC separate.

Nah, look, it all comes down to good writers. If they have inspired writers who they're allowing to take off the gloves and have fun with a brand new continuity, then there will be cool stuff to read.

Does that mean we'll no longer have the old Hellblazer comic, well, maybe.

Does it mean the guy who was writing that comic will no longer be writing comics, well, nope.

Comics is a storytelling medium, and resetting the continuity (if they're SERIOUS about it) gives writers a real chance to actually write some stories again. They can spend more time writing great stories than worrying about inconsistencies that prevent them from doing stuff.

So yeah, maybe Hellblazer will suck now, or be drastically different, but is that really what anyone should be worried about? I guess if you love Hellblazer, I can understand, but again, it's the writers that make or break the story... the character is just a vehicle. How about the fact that a lot of the other books kinda suck? If Hellblazer has to take one for the team, then so be it.

I actually enjoy a lot of the Superhero stuff, especially in the books on the fringes where they are allowed to play around some more because there's less restrictions about who the characters are and what they can and can't do. If they're serious about letting their creators really get in there and play around again (which has been the case in all the eras that people talk the fondest of... Kirby, Byrne, Morrison, Moore, etc) then only good things can come of it. The thing to worry about is if it's just a gimmick and come issue #5 everything is pretty much back to the normal routine.

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You seem to be focused on Hellblazer, which makes me wonder if you've read any Vertigo comics recently. I like Brian Wood and Bill Willingham, they're pretty good writers, but I wouldn't saddle either of them with attempting to get their books to fit into the DCU, much less to fit with one another. Both take place in New York, but one takes place in an NYC where fables from human myth are real and the other takes place in an NYC where New York has been established as a demilitarized zone in the wake of a second American civil war. Neither of these worlds benefit from Superman showing up.

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Problems with Superman's origin and suit reverting to the creator or something.

This was my first thought upon reading the thread, or at least my thought was if they had to reboot their main character, may as well retool the whole franchise that he spawned.

Like him or not Superman is their main character though Batman is a very close runner up and Wonder Woman is a distant third. I'm basing this not as much on current comic book sales but on cumulative cultural recognition and marketability since his inception.

I will admit though that I haven't stayed in the loop recently regarding news about Superman and its rights expiring. I don't know if DC is going to try and lease the aspects of the character they don't own from the creators' estates or just have a newish character consisting of the characteristics of which they retain copyright. I'm not too thrilled if it's the latter but I suspect that's the more likely scenario, either that or a completely new character entirely meant to take his place, which would be a disaster waiting to happen imho.

All in all, as a DC fan this issue with just Superman has my torn my heart far more than rebooting the rest of the universe ever could. I've never been a fan of reboots but I recognize they are sometimes necessary, it's just terribly difficult to pull one off that a majority of fans think is better than what they had before.

Here's the reality: No one pays for comics anymore. They are available for free on the internet the same day they are released. When the companies do big events, they can pay their bills. When they don't, they can't.

So big event after big event until Marvel and DC fold up or, and this is more likely, they simply become an avenue for selling movies and movie characters.

I am glad they are fixing the JLA. I hope Power Girl gets back on the team. And MM. And Captain Marvel.

I agree, however, I think there will always be a place for comics and a market for the actual printed on paper kind. But I think the industry will be seriously downsized and streamlined, only a very few titles remaining in print to cater to a smaller but still dedicated marker, but on the other side more titles than ever in digital media, the industry needs to learn how to make profit from that.

But again, I agree that their biggest money maker are the movies and television series based on the characters. It would still behoove them though to keep some form of the curent comic book format going to serve as a creative well for the movies and television shows.

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Personally, I'm fearing it's going to be a line wide "Spider-man: One more day" scenario where they pick and choose things. This will probably result in me dropping most of my DC titles unless they offer up some solid info on the level of reboot. It seems madness to me to relaunch and reset the continuity on titles like Green Lantern and Batman which have been enjoying a lot of success witht heir current storylines and creative teams.

I think they'd have been better off doing the "ultimate marvel" thing and test the water with a separate universe of titles. In a way that's almost what they did with JMS "Superman: Earth one" but JMS has confirmed that is a completely separate entity.

As for the Johns/Lee JLA realunch, unless the completion of the DC game has freed up Jim lee's time then I'm not going to be burned by another of his books. He only ever managed one issue of Wildcats and has yet to finish the Frank Miller Batman series. Speaking of which it would be nice to fold some of the Wildstorm universe into the relaunched DC. EDIT: Just announced that Grifter will be a new issue 1 meaning they are incorporating Wildstorm. Part of me hopes they don't bother with the authority because they are pointless unless they are the most powerful group and I guess they won't be upstaging the JLA - unless they are the JLA black/edge that's being mentioned?

folding Vertigo into DC would be utter madness. Thankfully that's not the case. While Vertigo isn't a hot seller it's trades do very well and it's easily the best breeding ground for new intellectual property to sell into other media. I'm fine with Vertifo comics that were initially part of the DCU having aliases back there eg Constantine, swamp thing and even the Endless but it's impossible to do so with DMZ, Northlanders etc.

As for the digital move it makes perfect sense. If people are getting them online illegally having them available on the same day is only going to improve the situation. They'd probably do even better if the online comic was released first as I think immediacy is as big a factor as being free for many illegal downloaders. I do think they need to protect the comic shops though and same-day online comics should cost the same as real ones - then a couple days/week later have it at a discount. After 2 weeks/ a month the comic should be available for "free" online with an annual subscription.

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Does anyone read comics anymore? Such a boring medium. I wouldn't mind if the industry switched to a graphic novel medium completely. And if they just told stories, instead of trying to advance an overarching plot. Everyone knows Batman, and Superman's origins. No reason to rehash shit, or try aim for an end goal. Just put out graphic novels that have some premise. You can add sequels to that line of graphic novels, or you can just have them all standalone, completely unrelated to each other.

The only comics I've even bought in the past year have been Darkhorse's Conan.

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This whole thing is pretty annoying. More than annoying if you're a comic book reader. I can see what they're trying to do here, the entire industry needs an injection of fresh, new reader blood, but I'm really not sure that this is the way to go about it. For one thing, I'm more hesitant towards buying the Grant Morrison Batman comics which I'd heard good things about if either everything that he was working towards is going to be over and done with in the next few months. The whole Batman Incorporated was an interesting idea. How many other storylines are going to be affected by the reboot? That's my complaint, it isn't that a whole backlog of events won't have happened (which I never understand that mentality because the proof that it happened is there in your hands.) but all the things that all the writers were working on and towards in the present are just going to be thrown away.

From the point of view of a writer, it's just a lazy way to fix the problems in the shared universe. Your stories are getting too convoluted and it's hard for readers to jump on? Then surely you need to actually put the effort in and decide what needs fixing. Marvel did the 'Ultimate Universe' and that worked well until it became almost as convoluted as the real deal. Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis had their flaws, but they were trying to fix what had become readily accepted problems in the universes (for CoIE, it was the Multiverse, in IC, it was to try and solve the darker and edgier turn of the medium) where the reboot only seems to reek of 'Ultimate-isation'.

But then, on the other hand, the entire thing also brings up something that I also have a problem with in comics. The Silver Age Deification, or the 'Geoff Johns Factor'. Partially, this is something where for once, the blame lies at both the writers and the fans. Yes, the Silver Age was a brilliant period of comics history where for DC, many of their older characters were revamped and streamlined to great success. It's the Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern that people firmly remember over their Golden Age counterparts, but for better or for worse, this isn't the Silver Age and I think it hurts the industry in so many ways to keep obsessing over that status quo and those characters. The Kyle Rayner-Green Lantern/Wally West-Flash have just as much right to prominance as Hal Jordan (Hal Jordan indeed being the prime example thanks to groups such as H.E.A.T who chomped at the bit for Jordan to be re-established as GL) and Barry Allen. I personally love seeing Dick Grayson as Batman and Damien Wayne as Robin. Comic books are this fantastic medium where the characters have the potential to change over time because they'll never stop telling stories about them. How come the Silver Age characters get right of prominance over the characters who followed after them and have just as much depth and detail?

This isn't a change, to me, it appears to be a creative step back. I'm very willing to be surprised and I want to be surprised, I want to be proven wrong.

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Does anyone read comics anymore? Such a boring medium. I wouldn't mind if the industry switched to a graphic novel medium completely. And if they just told stories, instead of trying to advance an overarching plot. Everyone knows Batman, and Superman's origins. No reason to rehash shit, or try aim for an end goal. Just put out graphic novels that have some premise. You can add sequels to that line of graphic novels, or you can just have them all standalone, completely unrelated to each other.

The only comics I've even bought in the past year have been Darkhorse's Conan.

The problem with the comics is that they write them for graphic novels. Sure, the story has a point(over the course of 4-6 issues) but it's made the comics redundant. The problem with the graphic novel approach is that it's even less sustainable than the comic books. There simply isn't enough room on shelves for the glut of graphic novels available. I also question whether everything needs to be traded as it waters down the strength.

Graphic novels can only work if they are supported by the monthlies be they physical or digital. That or they have to reduce the number of graphic novels being made and ensure the overall quality is high.

I'm not sure your solution would entirely work either as eventually the graphic novels would have too much continuity too. Making them all stand-alone could work but they run the risk of people losing interest.

Mammile. I completely agree with you on the silver age obsession. The mistake they made was introducing legacy characters in the first place (although it's actually one of the things i like about DC). As soon as they did that they age all the other characters and the problem is they don't do it across the board. Batman and Superman (although supes could age differently) should be the age of the original green lantern and the flash but he isn't. The same problem occurs with the other generations too eg Nightwing and all the Robins getting older. It's one of those things editorial should have stuck with or bever started. Marvel has dodged this bullet by on the whole avoiding any next gen heroes and on the whole having the characters age together (or not really age at all).

When i was reading comics it was wally west and Kyle rayner who were the flash and green lantern and I liked them. It took a long time for me to come around to their predeccessors and I think i still like the younger gen more. The crazy thing with this reboot is that if they do go ahead and do it, it seems like Geoff John has wasted a decade of his writing career.

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When I first heard of this news I groaned "Why do they let creative types run this business?". Geoff Johns can write some fun stories (I am told, I'm yet to read one) and Jim Lee can draw nice Batman pin-ups.

I'm not sure they should be making these types of decisions. Then I realized it's just me and my fading opinion that renumbering Action comics is a bit sacrilegious.

But starting with all number 1's is great for the digital side of business. If you are buying something to read on iPad that's numbered #567 can be daunting. This way if you start with #4 there's only 3 issues to catch up.

And it's not like most of DC's heroes back catalogue is filled with Dark Knight Returns level of quality. Does Green Arrow have a good story anywhere out there? Seriously, fuck Green Arrow. I just have to say it.

And if rumors are true we might get a new Superman book by Grant Morrison. That can only be good news.

Plus, Azzarello on Wonder Woman is so left field that I'm gonna check it out.

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Know what I'd like to see? New characters. Scrap them. All of them. 50 years is enough. As the World Turns has gone bye bye, so should Supes. Just saying. He was a hero for the 50's and isn't relevant to today.

Lets have some creative integrity and instead of rechurning the same characters - do something new. It's just like Hollywood, do we REALLY need a Three Stooges movie?

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