May 31st, 2011
In case it wasn’t clear with that Superman-renounces-citizenship stunt, DC Comics is completely out of control. They’re now going to reset 50 of their titles to issue #1 in September, redesigning character costumes, attitudes, etc.
It’s not like they didn’t just reset Flash and Wonder Woman and Justice League of America in the last few years. It’s not like they didn’t just “kill” Batman. And run a weekly pub-sched maxi series (52)all leading up to an absolutely final, last-ditch “universe defining” miniseries (Final Infinity Identity Super-Duper Crisis).
DC has lost now lost both the ability and the desire to tell stories. At this point, I suspect that the only thing which would cause Warners to rethink this pathetic division is a $50M opening weekend for Green Lantern.
(For what it’s worth, my guess is that GL will actually do great business, but I’m rooting against it on the hope that catastrophe might mean decapitation of the current DC regime.)
How bad is it? My non-nerd lawyer friend K.T. emails in that this is obviously “the New Coke of comics.” The letter from DC to retailers is even more pathetic:
In addition, the new #1s will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character’s legend – but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph.
This epic event will kick off on Wednesday, August 31st with the debut of a brand new JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, which pairs Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, together for the first time. (Yes, this is the same week as FLASHPOINT #5.)
We think our current fans will be excited by this evolution, and that it will make jumping into the story extremely accessible to first-time readers – giving them a chance to discover DC’s characters and stories.
We are positioning ourselves to tell the most innovative stories with our characters to allow fans to see them from a new angle. We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling.
Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once.
You can practically hear the editorial meeting as it must have taken place:
GJ: Jeez, people really loved those Ultimate books. The characters were so edgy.
DD: Yeah, they were super edgy. I think Quicksilver and Wanda were doing it. I mean, like doing it.
BH: But they were still brother and sister?
DD: Yeah! See? That’s edge. Kids love edge. You’ve gotta have edge if you’re going to sell comics. The only problem we had with sales of 52 and Trinity was that they just didn’t have enough edge.
GJ: So what if we did our own Ultimate universe? We could, I don’t know, revamp the costumes. I’ll get Lee to draw the women even sexier. Wait until you see what he does with Power Girl once we take the restricter plate off of him.
DD: Gotta go edgier than that.
GJ: Okay. How about we make Superman gay?
DD: Edgier.
GJ: And black.
DD: Now you’re getting close.
GJ: Well . . . we could put the Justice League back in Detroit and get some more Hispanic and gypsy characters.
DD: That’s fine, but what I’m thinking is this–and idea so big and sharp, it just cuts glass: We make the entire DCU into an Ultimate universe.
BH: Wait . . .
DD: The whole thing. Start every issue at #1; re-imagine all the characters. Scrap all the old, boring stuff. New continuities. New mythos. New origins. New everything! And best of all, new costumes. Because that’s why people buy comic books–for the costumes. We’ll out-Ultimate the Ultimates.
GJ: Suck-it, Stan.
DD: I know, right? Now maybe we could get some holograms on the covers of the new #1s . . .
-
“In addition, the new #1s will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age.”
“diverse”; that word is the kiss of death. It means political correctness, doesn’t it? Oh, my aching brain…
-
e.g. “Insects are the most diverse group of land animals”
“The gray market for pain-relieving medications is incredibly diverse”
-
As a casual follower of the comic world, this is nothing less than an infection of post-modern deconstructionism whereby DC is deconstructing the oppressive “traditional narrative” in favor of a new social/world construction for their comics. They are attempting to find new morality and meaning in the complete rebuilding of the superheroes that populate their world.
It’s indeed a sad development.
-
What makes this move by DC even more wrongheaded & pathetic is that something exactly like this was first proposed way back in 1985 by Crisis on Infinite Earths writer Marv Wolfman. He wanted the last issue of the first universe defining crossover miniseries to be followed by new #1s of all DC’s books, each one with a character origin story in line with the newly established continuity. He even wanted a more multiculti and PC DCU! (CIE featured in one of its issues a Latina version of Wildcat who was quickly forgotten and replaced by the original white dude) DC editors revolted against this in favor of a more haphazard reboot (Batman Year One, the John Byrne Superman, the George Perez Wonder Woman, etc) that left them with a less coherent continuity than originally envisioned by Wolfman. Wolfman’s idea could’ve worked way back in 1985 when continuity reboots were a brand new concept but not now when after so many “after this everything changes! (not really)” events the only thing one can do is groan aloud at all the tedious fanwank.
-
These days, aren’t the actual comic books simply vanity projects that serve as loss leaders for the movies, tv shows, and video games?
-
I think the re-boot is in part because of all of the crazy stuff. I think DC painted itself into a corner and needed a reboot as a consequence. They’ve done this every so often in the past to right-age the characters, otherwise Bruce Wayne would be 90 or so…nevertheless you are spot on about DiDio and some of the others not getting it. Also when a character is 70 years old, for stories to be new, sometimes they are ridiculous, and fall flat on their faces.
DaveT May 31, 2011 at 9:37 pm
“Diverse” is a magical word that can only mean good things