DC Comics Shakes Up Their Universe, But Just How Much?
Earlier this week, DC Comics made the big announcement that was maybe the worst kept secret in comic book history – that come September, right after the conclusion of their crossover mini series Flashpoint, DC would be rebooting/relaunching their entire super hero line at #1, including long (LONG) running books like Action Comics and Detective Comics. Even more revolutionary is the announcement that DC will be releasing all these new books in digital format DAY AND DATE with the day the physical copies themselves are released to stores. To me this is long overdue…digital is the way that comics will get to much more readers than ever before, readers not close to comic book stores, or who would never set foot in one. And while this might hurt some retailers, DC needs to start planning for the future. Within the next few years, everyone will have an ipad or some form of pad…DC can’t wait, they have to act now, or they can just watch the art form die.
Of the 52 titles set to be launched (52 seems to be a magic number at DC) only 11 have confirmed creative teams right now. It seems editorial at DC is giving a real shot to certain characters that have been relegated to C-List status like Mr. Terrific, Deadman and former Teen Titan Cyborg, who has graduated to JLA status.
Reboot or Soft Reboot?
That’s the real question isn’t it? And DC has yet to give a clear answer on this one. For those of you who don’t know the difference, a regular reboot is one where everything starts from scratch, ignoring previous continuity (think Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics, or in movie terms, what Batman Begins was to the previous Batman movies) A “soft reboot’ are things like what happened to the DC Universe after Infinite Crisis and 52…things in the past were tweaked and changed, but the overall continuity remained the same, more or less.
So is this new DCU a soft or hard reboot? Sure, everything is going back to #1 in terms of issues, and we’re getting new costumes and titles, but DC did that a few years ago with their post Infinite Crisis One Year Later stunt. Will this be different, or more of the same?
Cases For A Hard Reboot
So far, website Bleeding Cool has been the lead in breaking stories and rumors when it comes to the whole DCU reboot, including breaking the story of it happening in the first place. And there are a few rumors there that certainly suggest that a step back to the early years of the DC Universe is at hand. The first of these rumors is that they are rolling back the clock age wise on everyone. In an article in USA Today, Dan DiDio is quoted as saying “We really want to inject new life in our characters and line. This was 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.” Of course, the characters were hardly ever portrayed as being “old” anyway. In the current DCU, none of the iconic characters’ ages are ever given, we are supposed to assume they are somewhere between their late twenties to mid thirties tops (despite the fact that Batman has raised three foster sons and sired a biological son during his career) So it is possible that the characters are going to have aspects of their continuity that make them appear older go away, like marriages and children, without actually erasing their histories. However, comments like DiDio’s suggest a full on reboot is in order.
Also, when talking about the new Justice League title in their reboot announcement, DC said “Together they will offer a contemporary take on the origin of the comic book industry’s premier superhero team.” This also suggests a start for the team from ground zero. Of course, they could just mean the origin of this current incarnation of the JLA, but then why use language suggesting it is something more like a complete reboot?
Then there’s stuff like rumors that once again Barbara Gordon will be under the mask of Batgirl in an all new Batgirl #1. Considering DC has repeatedly stated they would never “cure” the character of her spinal injury that halted her career as Batgirl and turned her into the wheelchair bound information broker Oracle, the only way to make that happen would be to roll back the clock on her to her early years as Batgirl.
Then, finally, there is what J.Michael Stracynski said on his facebook page in regards to DC’s plans, and it certainly suggests a massive clean slate approach is being taken, and it is all Dan DiDio’s idea:
“When Dan DiDio comes out to the West Coast, we tend to get a bite for dinner to discuss projects, ideas, books and just hang. Dan is a great guy and an energetic speaker, chockful of ideas and aspirations for DC. As part of that, he shared repeatedly on and off for really more than a year his dream of rebooting the DCU and starting over.
So I felt confident that it was coming soon (which is one reason why I felt there wouldn’t be a problem in the long run leaving the monthly books, since most of the things done in Superman and Wonder Woman would be erased by the reboot anyway, so ultimately it didn’t matter whether I stayed or left. I just couldn’t say anything at the time because I wanted to respect Dan’s privacy and his desire to do what he thought was right when he thought it was right to do it.
To a degree, I think the success of Superman: Earth One was very helpful in showing that you could reboot a major character in a very personal sort of book and have it become a real hit (27 straight weeks and counting on the New York Times Bestseller List for graphic novels).
That said: end to end, top to bottom, front to back, this is Dan’s dream, and he’s fought long and hard to make this happen.”
That sounds like a total reboot to me. But then, there is just as much evidence to suggest that this is something more akin to a soft reboot too. Let’s examine the evidence.
Case For A Soft Reboot
The people spear heading this whole DCU reboot are the same people who have been behind every major move at DC Comics the past 5 years or more, namely Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns. Geoff Johns in particular loves classic DC continuity, and more often than not, likes bringing back things from DC’s Silver and Bronze Age of comics that had been previously thrown out. He recently brought back the notion of Clark Kent’s career as Superboy back into Superman’s history in Superman: Secret Origin, and that was as recently as last year. Johns also spent a good portion of the past year with Blackest Night and Brightest Day, two mini-series that seemed to be made especially to bring back old characters into modern continuity. Why bother with all this if they knew they were going to just hit the giant re-set button on the whole damn universe a few months after Brightest Day wrapped up and taken the easy way into bringing everyone back? And something as big as a a universe wide reboot would have to have been in the planning stages for at least the last couple of years…certainly, the rumor of a Geoff Johns/Jim Lee teaming on Justice League has been rumored since at least 2009. They didn’t just now come up with this idea.
Then there’s DC’s Earth One publishing initiative, starting last year with the highly successful Superman: Earth One graphic novel by JMS. The whole notion behind these books is to introduce a new generation of readers to updated 21st Century versions of classic DCU heroes. A new continuation of Superman: Earth One is set to come out this year, as is Batman: Earth One. If the new Earth One DCU is going to also be a newer, hipper more modern version these characters, why bother with this grand going back to square one in the regular titles to do the exact same thing? Not to mention, certain titles at DC are just too popular at the moment to go back to square one; the Green Lantern books are not about to throw out the Rebirth, Sinestro Corps Wars or Blackest Night out of continuity, and the Batman titles have been particularly popular lately as well, with Grant Morrison’s Batman Inc. leading the way. Is DC really gonna go back to “year one” with Batman, just to make him younger and “more relatable?” Does anybody really like Batman because they relate to him? And after twenty five years, does anyone want Dick Grayson back as Robin? I sure as hell don’t.
Finally, to me the last nail in the coffin of this whole starting from scratch theory is that DC has very recently announced plans to make new ongoing titles out of characters like Batwoman, and relaunching Justice League International after Justice League: Generation Lost proved to be a hit. The whole idea behind bring a new JLI title is the notion of those characters “getting the band back together”, which makes no sense if the whole concept of the Justice League is a new one in this universe. As for Batwoman, she is also getting an ongoing series this year. Batwoman is another example of this not making sense…if Barbara Gordon is being de-aged and brought back as Batgirl, why have two red headed Bat females running around the DCU? Is that really redundant? Even DC’s VP of sales and marketing Bob Wayne said “by the way, let me just reiterate this point: This is the launch of a new DCU. it is not a reboot. I think you will soon discover why that is.” Is this all a giant clusterfuck, a case of DC’s left hand not knowing what their right hand is doing? They can’t be that disorganized, can they?
My personal theory is that Flashpoint will be used to tweek certain things in DC’s past that the “Powers That Be” (and many readers) no longer want. I think for sure that Superman’s marriage will be deleted, a la Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s marriage, especially considering that rumored upcoming Superman writer Grant Morrison has gone on record saying that he is not a fan of the Clark/Lois marriage. Other unpopular bits of continuity that DC could use Flashpoint to erase are things like the death of Roy Harper’s daughter Lian and his losing an arm and becoming a junkie again, which, let’s face it, no one liked. Other unpopular bits of continuity could be conveniently deleted, without changing the overall timeline. In any event…DC’s big change up is making news, and will no doubt result in a spike in sales for at least the short term. What will happen long term is anyone’s guess.
I’m a geek about many things, and have great love for many fictional universes, but the DC Universe is my first and favorite love. My earliest memories of life go back to age four, maybe three. I turned four in 1978, and at that time had re-runs of the 1960’s Batman show daily on tv, as well as old Adventures of Superman episodes, and Wonder Woman on Friday nights in Prime-time. Then I had them all together in the Super Friends cartoon show on Saturday morning, and finally Superman: The Movie came out that year as well. I had DC hardwired into my DNA at a young age, and the very first thing I ever read without needing to be read to was my brother’s copy of The New Teen Titans#1. So I will continue to follow and support DC in what they do, but they better be careful not to tarnish a legacy of over 75 years just to not seem outdated and out of touch or unhip. Because that would be a real shame. DC and its characters are, and should remain, timeless.
