Ok, so DC announced at the end of May that they are going to essentially revamp their entire line of comics in order to, "give new readers a precise entry point into our titles." I've been thinking about this for a while now. At first I was completely against it. And now? I'm completely against it and angered by it.
Really, why do we need every issue to start from scratch? When I started reading comics back in the early 80's I had to figure out what happened before as I was reading (remember the footnotes that used to be in comics that would tell you what issue was being referenced?). That was part of the fun when I was a kid. It made me feel that I just walked into a whole new world and I was a stranger who had to make friends and get to know these weird people. And they were always easy to befriend because they never rejected you. I got to learn about their lives. I got to grow with some of them. And I got to feel their emotions over a lost comrade with them (and for the most part I got to be shocked when that comrade came back to life with them too). Starting from scratch is going to ruin that whole experience for kids starting to read these comics. Sure, the new readers will be able to relate to the characters more with the new modernization of them. But really, does that matter so much when it's the ideas that count?
In my opinion, what it really boils down to is this; GIMMICK!
Remember when DC started the biggest streak of gimmicks in comic book history with The Death Of Superman? Everyone knew that Superman was going to die. And everyone had to have that issue. Whether the person read comics or not, it was something they had to have. Sure, it revitalized a dying industry, people who didn't read comics bought up as many copies of the Death Of Superman issue as they could get their hands on, lured in more so by the sealed bag promising that the value of an unopened copy would soar. And the non-readers needed a copy to actually read, they were in the know with what happened then. And after that, well, you have more sealed bags, collectors trading cards in the comics, hologram covers, multiple covers and a whole load of other useless crap.
And DC knew what was going to happen. There is no way they couldn't have. They printed so many of these comics that people assumed would be worth loads of money, that they're essentially worth no more than the original cover price now. How many times has someone told you that they have copy of the Death Of Superman issue "still in the sealed bag" and tried to sell it to you, only to be completely confused when you tell them how little it's worth? And if DC didn't know that gimmick was going to work, why was the crippling of Batman done so soon after the whole Death Of Superman fiasco?
That's what DC is doing again. They're not trying to appeal to a new audience. People either are or aren't going to read the comics whether they revamp them or not. But you are going to see a whole load of people buying up these issue #1's figuring that they'll be able to make some good money off of them. But they're screwing themselves over because they would have made a ton of money off of Action Comics #1000 if it came out in a few years.
Oh well, rant over.
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