Yes, this article really isn't comic book movie related, but news and talk of this event has been all over comicbookmovie.com enough that I'm sure people won't care. And yes, this is another fan boy rant on the new DC comics relaunch. This was a topic that I was going to avoid seeing how so much has already been written about it, but my friends and I have been talking about it so much that I found that I did have a lot to say on the subject, so here it is.
Well, unless you've been living under a rock, you know that DC made the controversial decision to relaunch their continuity in September, restarting 52 of their titles at issue #1, with updated costumes and origins, modern storytelling, etc. Of course, fans were divided down the middle over this news, but you can't deny one thing...
It got people talking.
All eyes are on DC now as people want to know what will happen to their favorite characters, what events will be retconned, who's origin will be changed, etc. Many have said that it's nothing more than a publicity stunt, which I kind of have to agree with. But if it's a publicity stunt, it's already paying off huge. My friends and I have been talking about this since it was announced, and I have to say, I'm still a little torn on the subject.
I can see a lot of good coming from this event. It's clear that DC wants to use this new continuity to bring in new readers by starting off fresh, giving us stories not bogged down by years of continuity, and this is one thing that excites me. In high school, I was a big comic reader, usually waiting with baited breath for my monthly comics to come out, following them like an old lady follows soap operas. Sadly, college happened and I didn't really have the time or cash to keep up with comics so Wizard Magazine became my window into the comic book world. But Wizard closed it's doors this past winter and I decided that it was a good time as ever to finally dive back into reading comics again, except there was one problem: I had no idea where to begin. Batman, my personal favorite, now had an annoying son now and was leader of a world wide army of Batmen. Wonder Woman had been re-imagined to a street wise last survivor of the Amazons, and now there were multiple Lantern Corps. For the most part I played catch up, but there were still little bits and pieces that I was missing.
When I heard about the DC relaunch, I was kind of excited because it would give me a fresh start back into comics. I was especially excited to read Batman again because I'm not a fan of what Grant Morrison has been doing on the title. I'm sure there's many other fans like myself who want to get back into reading comics but don't know where to start, and this relaunch could help them. The last time DC did something similar to this was after they consolidated their continuity after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and it was a great new beginning for DC. Post-Crisis, we got John Byrne's run on Superman, Batman: Year One, Green Lantern: Emerald Knight, and many other classic stories. Much like post-Crisis, this relaunch could lead to many exciting possibilities for DC, but it could also bring many new problems.
The first problem that I'm most concerned about is what it could do to DC continuity. People have always complained about how confusing DC's continuity is, Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis, etc. I had always dismissed these complaints until this past winter when I got a writing internship for a superhero website. My duties for this internship consisted of researching and writing superhero biographies, but soon I found myself dreading having to write bios for any DC hero. With many DC heroes I found myself faced with multiple origins and story arcs from their Pre-Crisis days, and then their new Post-Crisis origins (as usual, Hawkman was the worst offender). It really opened my eyes to how convoluted DC's history really was. This relaunch could be a fresh start, a reset button, or it could just make things worse and give fans yet another timeline to sort out. Hopefully DC will figure out a way to consolidate everything into one concise universe, or else we could find ourselves with another Crisis on Infinite Earths happening in a few years.
But without a doubt, the biggest problem facing DC with this relaunch is the risk of alienating long time fans. Hardcore DC fans are complaining that years of continuity and stories are going to be ignored in favor of bringing in new readers, and I can agree with their arguments. Though I look forward to checking out the new DC Universe, if I was a long time follower I would be annoyed to find out that some of my favorite stories were being wiped out for a fresh restart. But DC says that they are thinking of their long time readers, and this brings me to next point, theories over this new relaunch.
Despite saying that this is a restart, it doesn't seem like it. The recent announcement concerning Batman made seems like DC is picking and choosing what to include and what not to include. Damian is still Robin, Dick Grayson is still Nightwing, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again, and Jason Todd is still alive. So it would seem that DC isn't freshly restarting everything but instead returning things to "status-quo". It seems they're doing this to appeal to long time fans but it also runs the risk of making things confusing, leading back to my confusing continuity argument.
Then there's the big conspiracy theory, the 52 theory. I'm sure it's no coincidence that DC is relaunching 52 titles, and some people are guessing that maybe these new stories won't be taking place in the main DCU but in fact will be on alternate Earths. This sort of makes sense especially when you take into account Grant Morrison's recent comments about his Batman run. When asked about his Batman Inc. storyline, Morrison said that it would be taking a "hiatus" when the new titles start and then would resume again in January when he would finish up his story arcs. One person could see this as confirmation that the regular DCU is still going on. One way it could happen is that Flashpoint ends and this new DCU is set up as an outcome, then somehow we find out that the new DCU is just an alternate world and the real DCU is still out there, and we return to it after a few months spent in the alternate DCU. Once again though, this could lead to confusion with continuity and what not if they really wanted to go this way.
One theory that a friend of mine brought up, and one I tend to agree with, is that these new titles are going to be part of an "Ultimate" DC universe. For years fans have called for an Ultimate DCU to rival the Ultimate Marvel universe, and when I first read about the relaunch, I thought this would be it. The relaunch is giving heroes newer "more modern origins and stories" and being used to bring in new fans, which is exactly what Marvel did with their Ultimate universe. DC tried something similar to the Ultimate books with their "All Star" line, but that more or less failed. Though All Star Superman was a success, it was pretty much a one shot, and as for All Star Batman... well let's not get into that. So this could tie in with the alternate universe theory, where we have the normal DCU continuing after a few months, and then we have this new "Ultimate" DCU continuing, separate from the rest.
Despite the multiple fan theories and the complaints, the fact is that DC is in the spotlight. Fans may complain about a confusing continuity and the negating of years of stories, but the fact of the matter is that when the new titles come out, people will buy them. Hell, I've already made up my mind as to which ones I want to buy. So, fresh start, publicity stunt, or alternate universe, this new relaunch will bring in new readers. The ball is in DC's court, and hopefully they don't drop it. Years from now, people will see this as either the beginning of a exciting new era in comics, or just as a massive hyped up event with no pay off.
By TwitterButtons.com