On the DC reboot

[angelophile]

So, it's happening. DC have confirmed that as of September they're completely rebooting their entire line, universe-wide. With new #1 issues for 50 titles and "a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience."

A few thoughts from me on this:

For retailers, this is going to be a fucking nightmare.

For current readers too, in most likelihood. For example, I currently pick up Batgirl, starring Stephanie Brown as Batgirl by a creative team I love. Come September, I may go into my local store and there'll be a copy of Batgirl waiting for me. Except this Batgirl could be Barbara Gordon. The entire universe and characters I was invested in swept aside to restore a status quo I'm too young to remember.

As an existing reader, that's a horrible thought.

What's also worrying is that, for all the talk about diversity, this sounds like an opportunity to reboot the universe for movie-goers and new readers. That means restoring the most 'iconic' versions of characters. Bruce Wayne Batman. Dick Grayson Robin. Hal Jordan Green Lantern. Barry Allen Flash. Barbara Gordon Batgirl. And so on. In the rare places where legacies have been taken on by more diverse or minority characters, who aren't so well known, that could be swept aside.

On the other hand, a reboot gives the ideal opportunity to diversify and add new elements to the mix. The idea is to reach to a new audience through digital. The sensible thing, then, would be to try to appeal to as broad a spectrum of people as possible. To recreate your universe to be truly diverse.

This, of course, won't happen.

On the other hand...

There is some positive. Embracing digital with same-day releases doesn't make any difference to me, but any attempt to appeal to a new audience should be a good thing. IF it's backed up with a change of attitude by the publisher. I talked earlier about the lack of respect for the readership by comic publishers. If DC actually want to tap into the Playstation generation for sales, the only way they're going to do that is by accepting they can't pull the same old shit and expect different results.

This could blow up spectacularly. There's a danger that DC won't commit enough to appealing to the broadest possible spectrum of people with the reboot and just return to the classic status quos they think appeal to their traditional audience. The trouble is, they'll have pissed off that audience by rebooting titles they were reading and tossing aside characters they know (I'm way more familiar with Steph Brown or Cassandra Cain's Batgirl stories than Barbara Gordon's, for example, and more invested in those characters).

There's a real danger that DC could alienate their retailers and traditional fanbase but not replace them with new readers if they get stuck in the rut of rebooting to return things to how they were.

Comments

[stubbleupdate.livejournal.com]

I got the impression that they're going to turn the DCU into an Ultimate Universe, where it's going to be a new imprint that cherrypicks the "best" bits of the new universe.

For three years.

Until there's a crisis, or Arthur Curry realises that this isn't the "real" universe and they fight the Anti-Monitor to restore it to Earth Zero/Earth One/Earth Alpha/Earth, Water, Wind and Fire.

I read 1 DC book (I'm dropping Supergirl, i think) and it's best when it's in its own little bit of the DCU.

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Wait, I heard about the new #1s, but they're actually rebooting all of continuity?

Well, there goes any hope of me reading DC for a while, probably. I guess that's a little unfair, if there's a completely new concept that draws me I might give it a look, but for anything I already read and enjoyed I'll be too pissed off that they're wiping away everything I liked about it (which is almost universally stuff that didn't happen "early in their career").

Also, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they decide to try to keep the lineups and casts of the relaunched book as quiet as possible, so you literally won't know for sure who's Batgirl, or who'll be on the Teen Titans, until you go to the store (or, more likely, until a couple weeks before)

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

As more details emerge it seems that some characters will see minor changes, with others it will be more widespread.

I'd say that the recent Wonder Woman reboot of the character, for example, was a trial run to see how the fandom reacted and if it made an impact on sales. That was an overhaul of the character that was fairly widespread, but I can't see them tossing away anything much about Batman, for example.

Most likely legacy heroes will be affected most. For example, I can totally see them rebooting characters to their "most recognizable" versions. So Bruce might not change much, but Dick and Babs would be Robin and Batgirl again. Or Tim as Robin. I can't see Damian and Steph surviving, to be honest.

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Apologies, that was meant to be a general reply, not to you.

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

I just hope this won't affect the possible future availability of classic / pre-retcon stories in TPB or digital form.

[parsimonia.livejournal.com]

THIS IS ME, FLAILING MY ARMS LIKE A FLAILING-ARM-THING-PERSON!

Gah. I'm glad they're going same-day digital, but ack. Babs & Cass are my top worries here. I have an inkling they'll keep Jaime as Blue Beetle, since it's hard to argue that either Ted Kord or Dan Garret are "iconic" or whatever. Jaime is well-known to TV audiences by now.

[skalja.livejournal.com]

You'd think that, but look at what happened to Green Lantern! The vast majority of people who recognize the character at all think of him as a black guy named John Stewart, but look who's headlining the comics and starring in the movie.

[parsimonia.livejournal.com]

I feel like Jaime's a bit safer, if only because Geoff Johns has had more of a hand in Jaime's story. (Like, Infinite Crisis, as well as the Smallville appearance, though if they do launch anything with Jaime, I hope to hell they've got some of the original creative team on his book.) Whereas with the Lanterns, Johns was obviously really invested in Hal Jordan, and not so much in John Stewart, unfortunately.

Honestly, while I realize that Geoff Johns and Jim Lee have done some good stuff over the years, I think what makes me most nervous about the reboot is everything being limited to their tastes in comics. (And Dan Didio's.)

Like, it's been that way for a while now, but if they're starting things from scratch, there's more they all have control over and less stuff they've inherited from people previously in charge.

[parsimonia.livejournal.com]

Also that icon with big sad Jaime eyes. :cccc

[gargoylekitty.livejournal.com]

It could be a good thing. A chance to add a lot of diversity and remove some problematic junk from the DCU as well as presenting a relatively clean starting point for which new readers to jump in on(while shooting old readers who wanting to continue the same stories in the foot, granted).

Though I have no faith in DC to do any good with this and even expect the worse. I see this as a win-win way for me to look at it. I mean, if they prove me wrong, DC might be readable again. If the prove me right, I can continue not buying them in peace.

[parsimonia.livejournal.com]

This, basically.

[occamsnailfile.livejournal.com]

Yeah basically the same here. I don't expect them to do anything but more of what pushed me away to start with, but if they do, maybe my comics reading will expand again slightly.