I know what the internet doesn’t need right now is another Op/Ed piece on the big DC Comics Reboot, but guess what? It’s getting one anyway.
The more I read about this, the more I recognize myself actually mourning. Mourning the loss of “MY” comics. The comics I’ve been reading for 26 years now, ever since I picked up a copy of Crisis on Infinite Earths WAAAAAAY back in 1985. After taking stock of my reactions this week, both internally and on Twitter, the irony of my own comic geek beginnings in relation to this “DCnU” is not lost on me.
So, using the standard Kübler-Ross model, I shall attempt to reconcile – for the record – how I feel about this situation overall.
Expect the unexpected.
- DENIAL:
- ANGER:
- BARGAINING:
- DEPRESSION:
- ACCEPTANCE:
When news first started breaking about the reboot, I’ll admit that I was in disbelief. There’s no way that DC would do this now. After all of the Events and Crises in the last several years? After working so hard to build up this HUGE mythology in the Green Lantern books? After creating the strongest and most diverse Bat-Family in a generation? After drafting such a deep bench of Legacy Heroes? To blow it all up and start over seems counter-productive.
But that’s what’s going to happen. Now, we have heard that the reboot isn’t going to be a complete mind-wipe, but quite a bit of it will be. The translation and execution remains to be seen. A lot of characters will have changed – ethnicities, origins, disabilities (or lack of) – and most of the costumes are being altered. (I’m particularly scarred by the new Harley Quinn as well as the Jersey Shore Superboy, both pictured to the right.)
As well, lot of characters seem to be MIA. Justice Society? Booster Gold? Power Girl? Captain Marvel? This makes me feel a lot of…
As a customer of mine said, “GEOFF JOHNS HAS LOST HIS DAMN MIND!” Not only are Johns and Jim Lee recreating the DCU in their image, but they are doing it in a way that is very egocentric. Jim Lee’s Wildstorm universe is now part-and-parcel with the DCU. The Green Lanterns – as well as their color spectrum counterparts – are all staying intact with little to no changes to their stories. Coincidentally, the Lanterns are Geoff Johns’ benchmark as a writer. The characters that are changing the most seem to be ones that neither Lee nor Johns have had any big hand in lately. This is a case of Johns and Lee believing their own press, or they have incriminating photos of Dan DiDio somewhere.
Taking a step back from that, I can see that this theory isn’t entirely true. Geoff Johns cut his teeth in the DCU by finally, once and for all, straightening out the Hawkman Mythology. That said, Carter Hall is looking to be remarkably different in the DCnU, and the character is almost starting from scratch. Also, Johns’ Stargirl, Courtney Whitmore, is nowhere to be found thus far in this new Universe. I wouldn’t be shocked if she wound up in Teen Titans, but up until now she’s been part of the Legacy set over in the Justice Society.
Which isn’t included on the List of 52.
Jim Lee, as an artist, hasn’t had any real impact on DC characters other than Batman. Even there he was just making pretty pictures. Hush, All-Star Batman, etc. This isn’t the first time that the DCU and Wildstorm have crossed-over, either. With the scuttling last year of the Wildstorm imprint, founder Lee’s characters had to end up someplace. So here they are.
Mostly, I’m just an old dog who isn’t big on new tricks. Why go thermonuclear? Which leads us to…
If DC hadn’t let so many good books go bad… If DC hadn’t already attempted so many mini-reboots and re-numberings… If DC had held some of their high-profile writers and artists to the deadline fire…
If… If… If…
Why not cut the wheat from the chaff? Cancel the dead weight. Shuffle up the creative teams. Give the readers QUALITY over QUANTITY. Apologize for the fact that J. Michael Straczynski absolutely KILLED the sales for two of your Big Three’s solo books. Enforce deadlines.
You can do all of this with just as much pomp and circumstance. You can do all of this and still roll out your day-and-date digital plan. You can do all of this without changing non-fiction history by taking three books – Action, Batman, and Detective – that have never ever EVER been re-numbered since they began in the 1930s and 40s, and rolling them – and every other title – back to #1.
You don’t want compromise? You don’t want to accept that if you had done more to encourage and enforce the status quo over the last 10 years that you look to attain with this complete and total revamp, that burning it down and salting the earth wouldn’t be necessary? This sends me straight into…
I’ve been a full-time comic reader for almost three decades now. I have been a DC Comics stalwart that entire time. Do I read books from Marvel, IDW, Image, Boom!, Top Cow, Dynamite, etc.? Sure, I do. Would I feel the same way if this scenario was presented by any of those publishers? No, I would not.
Age of Apocalypse and Heroes Reborn – Marvel Comics’ last two big reboots – mean nothing to me. The DC Universe that I grew up reading means everything to me, and this wholesale destruction of it cuts me deep. If I didn’t work in the industry, I would strongly consider this the end of my personal era and file away the longboxes for good.
I mean…look at all of the classic stories I came into comics with: The Man of Steel. Batman: Year One. The Dark Knight Returns. I’ve been through more Starmen than I can count. I read through Superman Red and Blue. I was there during Zero Hour, during Final Night, during Legends and Invasion. I’ve seen Eclipso rise more than a few times. Through Mind-Wipes and Rapes and Retcon Punches, OH MY! Why are you doing this to me?!? Everything that came out of Crisis on Infinite Earths has been the road map of my comics book geekdom, and I don’t understand why you would want to…um…
Why anyone could think to…er…
Shit.
The last time DC Comics did a full-scale shakeup of their comic book universe was with Crisis on Infinite Earths. They did so to streamline their continuity, to put a cap on the Silver Age, and to bring a new generation of readers to the 4-color medium.
And that included me.
So who am I to say that this is such a bad idea? As a reader, as a retailer, as a convention organizer, who am I to tell anyone that they can’t do something new and exciting? Would I be who I am today if Crisis on Infinite Earths had never happened? If the DCnU brings in new readers, new customers, and new discussions, then I’m all for it.
If they tell me great stories paired with great art, why should I care if they aren’t “MY” characters?
Because they will be someone’s characters.
Somebody is going to find that issue of Flash, or Wonder Woman, or Justice League of America and it is going to be their gateway into the wonderful adventures and worlds inside of comic books.
And who am I – as a reader, as a fan, as a retailer, as a human being – to deny them that?
[Update June 15, 2011: Newarama.com has a decent update with some material from the powers and writers at DC. DC is going to make a timeline available for the reboot and also much of the history for many of the titles is going to remain intact - not a hard reboot at all. Check out the article over on Newsarama for specific details. -ed.]
Well said, Todd. It’s not the end of the world, it’s just a new beginning. Hopefully, it’ll be a good one.
Sometimes it takes me a little longer than others to come around, is all.
I enjoyed the last line…except I’d add the caveat that I’d be stunned if the new status quo lasts more than 2 years. The difference with COIE is that it was actually allowed to develop. The current editorial structure of DC enjoys burning down the earth, rebuilding it, finding out they messed up even more, burning it down, rebuilding it…rinse, lather, repeat. I wonder about all those ‘new readers’ that jumped on the last 7 ‘staring points.’
I have heard from newer readers – including the Bunker’s own Tom Edwards – that they feel as if this is a big middle finger to them. I can certainly see why they would feel that way.
As to whether or not the DCnU has legs…we will all wait and see. The big test will be seeing how many of the new #1 titles are still around for issue #13. That first year is going to tell us everything.
I could’ve dealt with a complete reboot, back to the beginning reboot than what they’re doing. I’ve read so many versions of these characters over the past 51 years and I can’t go backward. Babs is not Batgirl. She’s Oracle. Or make her something new, but not BG. Don’t de-age characters. Or if you do, do it across the board.
Whatever. Thanks to DC, I’ll have more money to spend on other things in Sept. A few indie publishers might benefit and I doubt DC will notice I’ve stopped buying them. Well, maybe a few. Grifter and Voodoo are not really part of the DCU, or haven’t been, and Batwoman’s new enough to not have rebooting matter.
What stage would you say I’m at? I do accept. I just don’t care, anymore.
Acceptance is acceptance, regardless of the actions taken as a result.
For those of us who have been around this block a couple hundred times, I think our acceptance will always have an asterisk next to it.
Excellent article, well-stated points of view. I *want* to care about this reboot, but I just can’t bring myself to do so. It smells like another marketing gimmick, regardless of how massive and sweeping it may (or may not) be. I want good stories; either give them to me or don’t, but don’t try to distract me with smoke and mirrors. I’m not as patient as I used to be.
“So who am I to say that this is such a bad idea? As a reader, as a retailer, as a convention organizer, who am I to tell anyone that they can’t do something new and exciting?”
The counter-argument isn’t that they “can’t.” It’s that these announcements so far, by and large, are ::not:: new and exciting. Consider:
* A “new and diverse DCU” only features one female writer out of 52 announced books
* That same announcement was accompanied by a Justice League featuring only one non-white member – actually one of the least diverse JLA line-ups in years
* Bryan Q. Miller, who won critical praise for his work with an all-new Batgirl, is not writing a title in the new line-up. Scott Lobdell, who’s best known for his work in the 1990s, has three.
* Speaking of Batgirl, it appears DC doesn’t see an issue with taking Barbara Gordon – arguably comics’ greatest disabled hero ever – out of her wheelchair and de-aging her. Talk about a middle finger to a fanbase.
* Static Shock is seemingly the only character from the Milestone Universe to survive – and how long did it take DC Comics to even integrate him in the first place?
* Power Girl, another fan-favorite character, has seemingly been ignored in the reboot in place of a Supergirl with an awful costume. (I say “seemingly” because DC’s promotional language continues to sound more like a Stan Lee impersonation than something approaching, you know, honesty.)
* Stormwatch features The Midnighter … wearing a spike on his chin.
I understand that DC wants to attract new readers. It’s just that there’s little indication these moves will do that – really, was Barbara’s wheelchair that big of a turn-off? – without alienating a sizable portion of existing fans. That’s not “denial,” and it’s not saying DC “can’t” do whatever it wants. Considering that the company was already losing market share before it even announced the reboot, it’s recognizing that DC is going to need a hell of a lot of people to come out of that Green Lantern flick and suddenly want to read about Midnighter’s chin-spike or Dan DiDio’s OMAC.
I’m with Shelly and Art: I can’t really get to acceptance on this. Is a(nother) reboot necessary? Not really. Is it any more likely to pull in all those (hypothetical) new readers than the last few times these creative PTB have tried? Probably not. Do the announcements so far look like substantive improvements over what DC was offering before? No, in many cases the opposite.
The best-case scenario you describe is that this move defies the odds and somehow manages to attract and retain a new generation of readers. Know what? That’s pretty cold comfort, because I’m not in the business of selling comics. I just *read* them. And as part of the current reader/customer base, as opposed to the hypothetical new one, all this does is alienate me.
I have not reached stage 5 yet. I’m so stuck in stage 4, I’ve contemplated stopping collecting comics all together. I look at the many, many figures and clothing and other DC related things I’ve bought even in just the past few years and feel like it was even more of a waste than it technically is anyway. Every new bit of info about the reboot makes me literally sad. I just can’t seem to move on to acceptance. Maybe it’s too soon. Maybe it needs to just be August or September before I reach the last stage. I don’t know.
I hear where all of you are coming from. Believe me.
Comics are always changing. There were a few times along the way where I threw up my hands and “quit” – but like the addict I am to the 4-color crack, I always came back.
I’m still working through my Bargaining Stage, too. I’m not 100% sold on this. As I read here, and on other boards, blogs, tweets, and from talking to the customers in my shop…I really wish that DC could have found a way to make this happen without making current readers feel so isolated.
I also look at all of the times where I’ve gone all Fanboy Ballistic over one thing or another, only to be proven wrong once I’d seen the final product. So this time, I’m choosing to exercise patience over pouting and see how it all turns out.
Keep the conversation going! It’s all awesome.
Just gonna say:
I walked into a comic book store (with the intent to actually buy comics) for the first time just last week. I’m 23.
I immediately realized: I think I love comic books.
THEN I learn DC reboots in September…
I am effing PUMPED!
I only hope comic vets can come around to the change and see it more of a breath of fresh air, give it all a chance at least, and get on the brand-new bandwagon.
I empathize with your frustration! Reboots of your most cherished comics are never going to sit well when your history with the characters goes back several decades!
Around 1990, I got into Ghost Rider. But I had no clue that the original series, with a totally different Ghost Rider existed ten years earlier! Obviously, it didn’t matter to me, because I was just discovering my love for comics, and this particular series.
As you mentioned, there’s always a new generation getting hooked, and they’ll find their own favorites. We shouldn’t stand in their way, nor whine about the changes that will inevitably alter this artform. Change is necessary for survival!
Regards,
- Christopher
only … a year later we learned your fears were warranted. The reboot is awful. Simply , awful.