DC Comics Rebooting Entire Universe Back to #1

[wikiman]

To all of you who said that "decades of history" are a barrier, that keeps you from reading comic books i say : NO IT ISN'T. Because all those years of stories were erased from existence ten times over. They are all irrevellant now.
Let's make a challenge. Ask me anything about some of DC titles, and i will tell you in three sentences or less everything you need to know to start read it. If those books are really burdened by years of continuity, then i shouldn't be able to do it, right?
Come on test my mettle.... or something.

 

[Ukomba]

Again?

 

[nathan-dts]

This is why I don't buy comic books. You can't just retcon things out of existence.

 

[Druyn]

I was going to ***** about how this whole reboot and younger cast thing didn't work that well with Marvel's Ultimates line, but you know what? Fuck it. It's not like they're getting rid of anything good. The big two haven't put out a decent storyline since Secret Wars, and there's no reason this will be any worse than the current offerings. If it works out alright maybe I'll buy DC comics some more.

Really? Not a fan of the Brubaker-Cap run, or Civil War?

Shit, Civil War is what I meant. Sorry. That is the one that is the last thing that was good. Secret Wars... I must've sounded like a real tool there.

Yeah, just a little bit. all the yearly crossovers since them have really dropped in quality, but that was gold. Whenever I get depressed about the way comics are going, I find any comic with the Marvel Ares in it. That's a great way to pick it up. Or Silver Surfer Requiem, which is the greatest comic ever written as far as I'm concerned. It actually made me cry. Check it out if you can.

 

[4173]

I'm leery, but I'm willing to wait and see, because same day digital distribution IS A FREAKING AWESOME IDEA.

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

I'm not much of a comic fan, especially DC.
I loved the Marvel cartoons of the 90s, easy to get into and followed the basic storylines very well, but once I turned my attention to the comics, they were normally too far ahead of the storyline to really get into.

Its mainly why I like spin-off series, especially the What if? and alternate earth comics, (e.g. Earth X series, Exiles ect.).
They take what I'm familiar with, but take it in new directions.

 

[Ericb]

I hear you, once you've read stuff like Luther Arkwright, Zenith, Transmetropolitan etc (the list is near endless), you begin to wince at the very existance of Marvel/DC. Seriously i think those two companies are about the best argument against comics being art

All right, thanks for the suggestions!

But yeah, they've become nothing more than street-level drugs, still around only to suck the money off of the addicted who get nothing out of it but a quick and forgettable fix.

 

[xdom125x]

I could get into this. I only recently started reading comic books (just DC stuff) and have been in fear of the continuity lock-out, so this could help me.


P.S. Seriously, why is Cyborg there?

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

I'm happy about the reboot because it will be an all new universe just for newcomers scared of the density of the current one. I see it living side by side with the current universe but never crossing paths like all the different TMNT series that come about... unless they do a Turtles Forever kinda thing...maybe I should have shut up at the start of my point.

Regardless I only just started buying DC's video game based comics and the idea of following newer iterations of Wonder Woman, Flash, Lex Luthor... I mean Superman and Batman from newer origins sounds good to me.

 

[PrinceofPersia]

So are there any new superheroes this time around? Like completely new?

Next to none most likely. Both Marvel and DC like to recycle old material rather than take the time to be creative and forward looking with new supers. This whole mess is primarily the reason I got out of superhero comics. There is no end to their stories it just keeps going and going as long as the company makes money.

 

[Manji187]

So are there any new superheroes this time around? Like completely new?

Next to none most likely. Both Marvel and DC like to recycle old material rather than take the time to be creative and forward looking with new supers. This whole mess is primarily the reason I got out of superhero comics. There is no end to their stories it just keeps going and going as long as the company makes money.

*Sigh*... they need to grow a pair. Apparently, they'd rather make a bad Superman comic than an epic "new superhero" comic, cuz the former will sell anyway. This short term "business sense" could prove to be their long-term undoing.

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

Damn, as a nerd, I feel almost sacrilegious in saying that I'm in support of this.
I mean, I don't read comics, but I've always wanted to, and getting into a story thats been running longer than I've been alive is really hard.
Plus, comics are expensive. I'm not sure I want to shell out $10 every week for 20 pages of a story that I might not even be that invested in.
However, a reboot would allow me to get in a foothold on comics, and digital distribution is a lot cheaper and easy to manage.

Besides, it doesn't seem like DC is gonna strip out all the backstory and lore that they've built up over the decades, that's not how they roll or how a company works.

 

[Aisaku]

To all of you who said that "decades of history" are a barrier, that keeps you from reading comic books i say : NO IT ISN'T. Because all those years of stories were erased from existence ten times over. They are all irrevellant now.
Let's make a challenge. Ask me anything about some of DC titles, and i will tell you in three sentences or less everything you need to know to start read it. If those books are really burdened by years of continuity, then i shouldn't be able to do it, right?
Come on test my mettle.... or something.

Okay, I'll bite. Power Girl.

P.S. Seriously, why is Cyborg there?

Cos' he was in the Superfriends and Teen Titans, or cos' he's black. Take your pick.

Cyborg being there further cements the idea that this is a marketing mandated move rather than something out of DC's writing staff.

Also there's one unexploded landmine just waiting to blow over this:

DC is going to distribute their comics via Apple, which has a very strict policy on censoring adult content and isn't gunshy on blocking content that fails to meet their standards. Will this be a bump on the same day digital publishing model? Or will this cause to DC to enforce more severe censorship standards on their content?

 

[4173]

To all of you who said that "decades of history" are a barrier, that keeps you from reading comic books i say : NO IT ISN'T. Because all those years of stories were erased from existence ten times over. They are all irrevellant now.
Let's make a challenge. Ask me anything about some of DC titles, and i will tell you in three sentences or less everything you need to know to start read it. If those books are really burdened by years of continuity, then i shouldn't be able to do it, right?
Come on test my mettle.... or something.

Okay, I'll bite. Power Girl.

I'm not the OP, but I'll give it a shot.

Refugee from a destroyed alternate universe. Less powerful Superman but not vulnerable to Kryptonite. Something something something her personal life as Karen.


(Superman could be replaced with actual powers without making it more sentences. Krypotinite not strictly needed if they have literally no comics background. Don't personally know specifics of her personal life.) Anyway, I think it's doable.

 

[wikiman]

To all of you who said that "decades of history" are a barrier, that keeps you from reading comic books i say : NO IT ISN'T. Because all those years of stories were erased from existence ten times over. They are all irrevellant now.
Let's make a challenge. Ask me anything about some of DC titles, and i will tell you in three sentences or less everything you need to know to start read it. If those books are really burdened by years of continuity, then i shouldn't be able to do it, right?
Come on test my mettle.... or something.

Okay, I'll bite. Power Girl.

P.S. Seriously, why is Cyborg there?

Cos' he was in the Superfriends and Teen Titans, or cos' he's black. Take your pick.

Cyborg being there further cements the idea that this is a marketing mandated move rather than something out of DC's writing staff.

Also there's one unexploded landmine just waiting to blow over this:

DC is going to distribute their comics via Apple, which has a very strict policy on censoring adult content and isn't gunshy on blocking content that fails to meet their standards. Will this be a bump on the same day digital publishing model? Or will this cause to DC to enforce more severe censorship standards on their content?

Power Girl. Crap.
Well it isn't too hard, her orgin story changes ewery few years, but since we established that stories discarded by mighty DC editors are not important...

Power Girl is Kara-Zor L, cousin of Superman from planet Krypton set in another universe. Since it was alternate version of Krypton, she is not affected by kryptonite, wich is deadly to our Superman. Now she resides in New York, divides her time between leading a group of superheroes called Justice Society, living under secret idenity of Karen Starr, CEO of Starr Industries, and fights crime in a very thight uniform.

Come on, somebody ask me about Batman. It will be fun explaining this whole "Batman INC" thing.

 

[wikiman]

You know what? This kind of stupidity is what hurts how comics are viewed worldwide. A bunch of poorly-dressed people engaging in inane adventures that should have been resolved, one way or another, decades ago.

There are great comics about every single subject under the sun, and this super-hero bullshit still grabs the news more than any other theme explored in graphic novels.

I am officially praying for the day this whole genre enters a massive economic and creative meltdown.

And this is why i dont read DC or Marvel. Multiple creators with multiple agendas, confusion and reboots.

Pfft, i like a little continuity in what i read

And thank God/Dawkins that there are many other comics around the world. I pass at the childish continuity clusterfuck spelunking.

I hear you, once you've read stuff like Luther Arkwright, Zenith, Transmetropolitan etc (the list is near endless), you begin to wince at the very existance of Marvel/DC. Seriously i think those two companies are about the best argument against comics being art

Hmm. Wasn't Transmet published by DC ? Yes i hear you say, it was another imprint. But it was under DC. Warren Ellis is writing superhero books right now. Grant Morrison, is writing only superhero books now. Bryan Talbot did art for Batman.
This argument, that superhero books can't aspire to something more than lowest form of entertainment is very stupid. Superhero genre is open to many interpretations. You can have "Batman Brave and the Bold" wich is aimed at kids, at one hand, and "Batman : Arkham Asylum" wich gives kids nightmares, on the other. You can have a bit of campy fun of Morrissons "Batman and Robin", and Snyder's drenched in noir "Detective Comics" run. Sure there is a lot of crap out there, but everything is mostly crap. Even Vertigo publishes bad books.

Also in the news : We still dont know if it is a reboot, because coming attractions, look a lot like the old ones. So whatever happened, happened, just don't talk about it? I dont know it seems that DC is afraid to create big changes, as i said looks like they are erasing only things inconvenient for them (ergo hard to understand or not selling well)Trying to have the cookie, and eat it too. If there will be Justice League International, and new Justice League # 1 is not an orgin story.....Those characters know themselvs for years now, so this no continuity thing is impossible, if that's the case. Well it's a Schrodinger's reboot right now, at least until september.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/questions-clues-dcnu-110602.html

http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/06/02/dc-announces-justice-league-printdigital-combo-pack/

 

[Quellist]

You know what? This kind of stupidity is what hurts how comics are viewed worldwide. A bunch of poorly-dressed people engaging in inane adventures that should have been resolved, one way or another, decades ago.

There are great comics about every single subject under the sun, and this super-hero bullshit still grabs the news more than any other theme explored in graphic novels.

I am officially praying for the day this whole genre enters a massive economic and creative meltdown.

And this is why i dont read DC or Marvel. Multiple creators with multiple agendas, confusion and reboots.

Pfft, i like a little continuity in what i read

And thank God/Dawkins that there are many other comics around the world. I pass at the childish continuity clusterfuck spelunking.

I hear you, once you've read stuff like Luther Arkwright, Zenith, Transmetropolitan etc (the list is near endless), you begin to wince at the very existance of Marvel/DC. Seriously i think those two companies are about the best argument against comics being art

Hmm. Wasn't Transmet published by DC ? Yes i hear you say, it was another imprint. But it was under DC. Warren Ellis is writing superhero books right now. Grant Morrison, is writing only superhero books now. Bryan Talbot did art for Batman.
This argument, that superhero books can't aspire to something more than lowest form of entertainment is very stupid. Superhero genre is open to many interpretations. You can have "Batman Brave and the Bold" wich is aimed at kids, at one hand, and "Batman : Arkham Asylum" wich gives kids nightmares, on the other. You can have a bit of campy fun of Morrissons "Batman and Robin", and Snyder's drenched in noir "Detective Comics" run. Sure there is a lot of crap out there, but everything is mostly crap. Even Vertigo publishes bad books.

Also in the news : We still dont know if it is a reboot, because coming attractions, look a lot like the old ones. So whatever happened, happened, just don't talk about it? I dont know it seems that DC is afraid to create big changes, as i said looks like they are erasing only things inconvenient for them (ergo hard to understand or not selling well)Trying to have the cookie, and eat it too. If there will be Justice League International, and new Justice League # 1 is not an orgin story.....Those characters know themselvs for years now, so this no continuity thing is impossible, if that's the case. Well it's a Schrodinger's reboot right now, at least until september.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/questions-clues-dcnu-110602.html

http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/06/02/dc-announces-justice-league-printdigital-combo-pack/

Point taken and agreed upon, Watchmen was DC too after all. I have no problem with the superhero genre (the example i made, Zenith, is a superhero story, if a rather unusual take on the genre). Just the whole way DC and Marvel and their imitators present it...

 

[Aisaku]

Power Girl. Crap.
Well it isn't too hard, her orgin story changes ewery few years, but since we established that stories discarded by mighty DC editors are not important...

Power Girl is Kara-Zor L, cousin of Superman from planet Krypton set in another universe. Since it was alternate version of Krypton, she is not affected by kryptonite, wich is deadly to our Superman. Now she resides in New York, divides her time between leading a group of superheroes called Justice Society, living under secret idenity of Karen Starr, CEO of Starr Industries, and fights crime in a very thight uniform.

Come on, somebody ask me about Batman. It will be fun explaining this whole "Batman INC" thing.

And your description is pretty much all the points towards retconning her out of existence... points against, she's the poster girl for cheesecake in the DCU.

I do wonder about Batman Inc... I mean I read the pre Final Crisis Morrison run and I thought it was excellent. So I'm assuming it's just as good?

 

[minuialear]

This could either be fantastic or god-awful. There are frankly a lot of crap offshoots that have become canon in a bunch of the franchises and it would be great to see them erased and to have the storylines become less dense and convoluted, so this could be awesome; on the other hand, the convoluted and disconnected nature of each canon allows everyone to sort of pick and choose what comics best fit their perception of the characters they read about (so if someone doesn't like what happens in one comic, they can always turn to another plotline as a sort of salvation for their character). That won't exactly work once DC starts saying, "Nope, all that's gone now, this is THE plotline for now."

Hopefully it's a good one...