positronic

June 6, 2011 3:28 pm AAAAAAAAAND... now it appears the dreaded "reboot" isn't a reboot after all.  At least according to DC's Bob Wayne.  And as the news begins to trickle out about titles and creative teams, it's more of a musical chairs remix, rejiggering, some status quo changes, a bunch of costume changes, some old character relauches.  In short, nothing that you wouldn't see over the course of a few years from DC anyway.  The only difference seems to be that they're all renumbered #1 and it's all happening the same month.

There seems to have been very little changed about the Green Lantern titles beyond the actual titles and the numbering, and shuffling some characters between different books. And they're adding the previously announced Red Lantern title.

Batman, Inc, appears to be gone, as is Morrison. But BATMAN and DETECTIVE merely appear to have swapped creative teams, while Finch's BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT gets a new #1 (think of the first run as a miniseries).  BATMAN AND ROBIN is Bruce and Damian, Bruce appears to be the only Batman now. BATWOMAN appears to be exactly the same book as previously announced.  They're adding a NEW Batgirl (doesn't look like Cassandra Cain or Stephanie Brown, in fact it looks more like Barbara Gordon...) and reviving the NIGHTWING (Dick Grayson) and CATWOMAN series.

But they sure got people talking by using the dreaded "REBOOT" word, didn't they?

June 6, 2011 7:45 am @MaxD  I feel your pain, Max. But what's done is done, there's no turning back at this point. Sure, I guess a year down the road, DC could offer some sort of blanket apology along the lines of "You, the true bosses of DC Comics, have made your wishes known loud and clear, and effective with all books shipping in _____, all DC universe titles will resume under their previous continuity and numbering..." But let's be realistic, how likely is that to happen, even if the reboot is a resounding flop?  And by then, the damage is already done.  If people have left, they probably aren't coming back.

June 6, 2011 6:47 am It's a bold move. I hope for DC's sake that the gamble pans out. The industry truly does need new readers. I wish I could be as optimistic about the actual chances of luring them in, but that's just me. I guess at a certain point in time it makes sense for the 50-ish year-old fanboys (of which I am one) to "shuffle off to Buffalo".

It's been nearly a week since the news broke, and I've made my peace with it. I'm a trade paperback guy after FLASHPOINT ends.

June 6, 2011 12:22 am @Phosphene 

I don't say the Batman books aren't selling, only that I can see that the whole Morrison era (2 Batmen, Death of Bruce Wayne, Damian, The International Batman Wannabe Squad/Club of Heroes/Batman, Inc.) would be confusing as hell to new readers. 

Ditto for the whole Superman thing (although those problems go all the way back to the Byrne Man of Steel/Death and Return of Superman/New Krypton/War of the Supermen/Grounded).

With Green Lantern, short of eliminating the whole emotional spectrum, various Lantern Corps, the GLC itself, the Guardians and 4 earth Lanterns and just paring it down to Hal Jordan, I don't think you can really simplify the thing for new readers that much. With the new movie and upcoming animated series, most people interested will already be exposed to the basic layout.

And they're doing this for the new readers, right?  Not the existing ones.

June 5, 2011 10:02 am And Jim Lee says, "And we're keeping my AWESOME Wonder Woman costume, so eff you."

June 5, 2011 9:52 am And Morrison's on Superman now, from what I read.  Haven't heard anything about the Bat-books. I'd guess you might expect Batman and Detective Comics to continue as #1 issues. Who knows what the other titles might be,

June 5, 2011 9:21 am @Phosphene  Funny, I would have thought that Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League (and maybe Teen Titans) were the primary things driving this push for a reboot.  Obviously Green Lantern is an example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but Legion and Flash were just rebooted (or "retooled", whatever) a year or two ago (Wonder Woman too, but nobody seems to be embracing that one).

I'm reading Batman, Inc.,  and it's certainly an original take on the character, but I can totally see where all of the above franchises would be confusing as hell to the new reader coming in from the movies and cartoons.

On the other hand, if these things are being viewed by DC as broken, then who bears the responsibility for breaking them?  Dan DiDio, that's who. (Well, the writers too I guess, but he's the boss.) If we hit the refresh button, that just means he gets to break them all over again.

June 5, 2011 5:55 am I think my point there was that the trades af recent stuff aren't "now", they're sort of "last year". And crossovers have always been hard to read in trade collections.  The experience just isn't the same as picking up the books each week as they come out. That "gotta have it this week" (or even more so "the day it comes out" is a lot of what drives the hardcore fan. I guess my heart just isn't in it any more.

June 5, 2011 4:30 am Sorry, that should have read "not only has DC rendered my encyclopedic knowledge of DCU history irrelevant"...  should proof these things before I hit "submit".

June 5, 2011 4:14 am Well, up to this point I have spent a lot of money on trades as well.  Lots and lots of Masterworks, Archives, Omnibuses (Omnibi?), Essentials, Showcases, etc. But I have tended to get monthlies because of the "now" factor and because I was invested in the ongoing universe.  My interest in the DCU has probably peaked during the period in between INFINTE CRISIS and FLASHPOINT. With the new DCU, not only has DC made rendered by encyclopedic knowledge of DCU history irrelevant, they're making me sort and sift through 52 new titles and creative teams, trying to decide what's worth buying and at the same time what previous history "still applies" and what doesn't.  It's all too much, and now I'm just thinking of tossing it all in as far as monthly DCU titles is concerned.  Probably Marvels too, given that my interest has been fading since the end of DARK REIGN/SIEGE. FEAR ITSELF is just awful. I'll probably pick up the Green Lantern titles in trades when they come out (the assumption being they haven't messed with these as much - why would they?), maybe Legion?  Not sure, depends on how "rebooted" it is. Time to jump off the cosmic treadmill. End result, I'm just not that interested in the "universe" aspect any more.  Will wait till the reviews are in and the trades are out, then pick and choose accordingly.