I'm writing this a few hours before I got the DC Chicago meeting,
where I'll supposedly get some more insight on this MAJOR DC
relaunch event.
A few weeks ago DC announced that they're restarting the
majority of their comic line - starting out with 52 NEW #1
comics for the month of AUGUST.
Since the announcement
people have not been able to stop talking about it, with 2
groups firmly setting up their camps of 'WORST IDEA EVER -
I'M QUITTING DC' and 'THIS IS GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY
AMAZING!'. While I've seen both of these strong willed
camps over comic opinions before, they're nothing new, I'm
just take aback as to how opinionated both parties are
without having read a single book yet.
Honestly you're going to quit
reading DC COMICS without even having read one of these new
direction/new launch titles?
I suppose it's human nature to dislike
change, but from what we've heard so far this isn't anything
that
different/new from what we've seen before from DC in the
past, in fact, we've been through this a few times and I'd
have to say most of the changes ended up being for the
better.
It all began in Action Comics
#1, 1938.
Superman is introduced to the world. Not clearly
defined yet, Superman could only jump large distances and
slowly over the years his powers, origins and costume get
updated. Nothing was set in stone yet so anything they
didn't like was simply forgotten and changed. No
gigantic event to explain it. No story explaining why
the Daily Star became the Daily Planet. It wasn't felt
to be necessary, who remembered one issue from the last?
In the 1956 DC
re-launched their super-hero line with a BRAND NEW FLASH
appearing in SHOWCASE #4. New costume, new identity,
new Earth even. Same with GREEN LANTERN. DC
re-used the names but tossed out the costumes/identities and
histories of both characters. Then Superman, Batman
and Wonder Woman (the big 3) got some updating and
introduced them to the new characters - explaining that the
1930's & 1940's stories had taken place on EARTH-2 and you
were reading the adventures of SUPERMAN & BATMAN of EARTH-1
from this point onward... It needed some updating, and it
worked out pretty well. DC had changed with the times.
In 1985
Crisis on Infinite Earths appeared and the multi-verse got
reduced, Characters history, origins and costumers all
re-written. Barry Allen as the Flash was done, and now
the Flash was Wally West in an updated costume. Hal
Jordan got replaced in short order with a younger, hipper
Kyle Raner as Earths Green Lantern with a new costume design
as well (sound familiar to the happenings in Showcase?)
Superman lost his limitless powers, no longer could he push
planets around, he needed oxygen for long trips through
space, his convoluted 40 year history tossed out the window
for a more manageable history. Heroes dies, heroes
changed and the post 1985- DC looked nothing like 1960's &
1970's DC. It was an exciting time to be reading
comics and while it's clear that all changes were not for
the good - it did give DC another 26 years that they may not
have enjoyed if they hadn't made these changes.
Now it's 2011 and DC's
decided that it's time for another rethinking of what they
want to do with their comics. In all fairness, it's
been 26 years since the last major shake up. Sure
there's been some half-hearted attempts in between to clean
things up (Zero Hour, Infiinte Crisis), but they were just
that - half-hearted attempts. DC has said that they've
looked over what they were doing and felt it was time for
some dramatic changes again. The timing seems right
(they were re-inventing themselves every 20-30 years anyway
and we're at 26 years since Crisis). I, for one,
enjoyed most of the time period of Crisis and post-Crisis
and find this entire relaunch idea very very similar to that
one.
Similar to DC COMICS 1985 re-launch of their characters and history:
1. ACTION
COMICS will take place in Supermans formative years (similar
to JOHN BYRNE's MAN of STEEL)
2. JLA will take place 5 years ago when the JUSTICE LEAGUE
was just starting out (similar to DC's JLA YEAR ONE
mini-series)
3. Characters costumes are being tweeked and re-designed.
4. Titles are starting over at #1, similar to SUPERMAN #1
from 1985, and FLASH #1 and GREEN LANTERN #1, WONDER WOMAN
#1, etc. etc. Only this time DC's keeping it a little
simpler by restarting ALL of the titles.
____________________________________________________________________
I'm back from the meeting and naturally more excited
than ever about this new re-launch that isn't a re-boot.
A few things were made a little more clear, with lots more
of announcements to come over the next two months:
Action Comics deals with
Superman coming of age, settling on his costume, basically a
Superman Year 0.
JL takes place in the past as
well, think of it more as a DC Year 5.
Rest of the titles take place in the present day, well, the
regular ones anyway. Jonah Hex is still in the past,
Legion are still in the future - you know what I mean.
It's not a reboot - Death of
Superman still happened, Killing Joke still happened.
Your comics still 'count' if that's what you're worried
about.
It's a relaunch - with titles starting over at #1 tweaks
being made to costume, character, and DC's overall approach
in telling stories. The Trade Paperback will no longer
dictate the length of the story.
48 of the 52 books will be $2.99, only JL, ALL STAR WESTERN,
MEN OF WAR & ACTION will be $3.99 and they'll have more
content, more pages.
They are not returning to the old numbering, at least not
under the current regieme.
Grant Morrison mentioned the one character he could write
forever? Superman.
Dave Finch has an assistant working with him to help him hit
the deadlines.
Speaking of which DC has re-dedicated themselves to making
the deadlines, and not just MONTLY, but WEEKLY deadlines.
If Green Lantern is due in the 1st week of the month, and GL
Corps the 2nd week - then that's when you'll get them.
In order, on time. They proven they can do it with 52
& COUNTDOWN & TRINITY now they're going to make certain they
do it with EVERY SINGLE TITLE.
This isn't it. There will be more. More news
will be released as we get closer to launch times, come
October there will be more titles announced, and November
and so on.
It's an incredibly exciting time to be reading comics, we'll
just have to see if the product is as good as the
intentions...
Here's the
PAGE
listing DC'S NEW 52, coming right at you...
La-La-La-La-La-La-La, La-La-La-La-La-La-La
