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By Jason Bourgeois
So, yeah. If you're reading this, you are probably a comicbook fan. I think that assumption is safe to make. Which means, unless you have been living under a rock for the past month or two, then you have seen the news that DC Comics is doing a reboot in September.
Kinda.
I've been processing this for well over a month now, letting the dribbles of information wash over me, and trying not to make any knee-jerk reactions. There's still a lot to come, like the actual books themselves, but I do have some thoughts on the matter, now that I actually know more than just, "DC is doing a reboot!!"
First of all, it's not a reboot, not really. They're keeping a lot of what has gone before. Or at least, come along since the first Crisis on Infinite Earths. Oh, I'll get back to that particular subject. I've read over the September solicitations, and yeah, they are keeping tons of stuff. So this isn't a reboot. Not really. It's a refresh? A revamp? And frankly, it is going to be a mess, I think.
They had this same problem the first time they tried a major reboot with Crisis on Infinite Earths. See? Told you I'd get back around to it. They wanted to do a reboot, and they did that. But only with a few characters, like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. But they didn't tell everyone this, and they ended up with more continuity snarls than they had before. Hawkman was a particular trouble spot. And his character has not gotten a single iota better, from a continuity standpoint, since then. They have tried many times to patch him up, and every attempt just makes it a bigger mess.
So, guess who's getting a reboot this time? Why yes, Hawkman! That should work well.
And how many of the major tweaks that happened because of Crisis have all become undone by now? Remember how big of a deal it was to dial back Superman's powers? Make him more human relatable? Make him more unique by removing all the other survivors of Krypton? Yeah, that's all gone. How long will these changes stick?
The biggest problem with the...whatever this is, is that they're keeping giant, sweeping storylines like Brightest Day, which is good. You don't want to lose this rich, wonderous universe they've spent the last five years building. Especially with the sales they've generated from Green Lantern and Batman. You've got strong books, strong hooks, and lots of fans there. Fine, keep that stuff.
But then you have players within those stories getting reboots? How is that going to work? How can you have Hawk & Dove get a new ongoing series, where Hawk is just now meeting his new partner, but she has a relationship with Deadman...when that relationship came from Brightest Day? Which they were involved in because of Hawk being brought back from the dead? And they've been partners for years? Augh.
I have some hope that these issues will clear up as we move forward, and it's not that bad. It is hard to tell based solely on solicitations.
But with only some characters getting rebooted, and many things staying the same, and so many things being the same as they ever were, this begs one very, very big question; Why reboot at all? Why restart EVERY single title from #1, including Action Comics, and Detective Comics? Two long running titles, that have never renumbered, reaching their very high numbers of 900 and 700 legitimately. Sure, these are only big deals to the hardcore people, but there's still a sense of history and importance behind them.
Sure, for some titles, the renumbering could be a good idea, and there's a number of new series launching, or whole new directions. But Superman? Batman? Others? Why? The #1s will sell well enough, but in the long run, will it be worth it? Will 52 new titles be able to hold up big sales? This is a huge question, and if this fails? Hooboy, things could get very interesting in the comic stores, if they're left holding the bag here. The market is already unstable, and DC may have just tossed a live grenade into the room. It could explode into a bunch of confetti, but that's rare.
This is a huge risk, with very little, in my opinion, long-term gain. This changes everything for DC, could make a huge mess, more confusion, and if it fails spectacularly, who knows what could happen? Can the market support this many simultaneous launches? I'm doubtful.
But with all that, what ultimately matters, is the stories. If they're good, regardless of the issue number, regardless of what came before, what's gone away, and what is yet to come...isn't that all that matters?
I personally say yes.
When I was making up my list of September comics to get, I looked at DC as any other month. Would issue X be an issue of something I would be getting regardless of being issue #342, or #1? Would I read this if it was by this creative team? If it's something I'm getting, the answer is, for about three quarters or more of the books, a big old yes. There are a few I'm looking at for curiosity because it sounds interesting, but I'd do that for any new number one with an interesting story.
All I have right now are tons of questions, and very few answers. I'm generally ok with what I see coming for the books I'm curious about. There's plenty of strong creators. I wouldn't be buying Action Comics by Grant Morrison either way. I won't buy it as #1, I wouldn't get it as #907, or whatever. But the stuff I'm getting, looks just fine.
This just leaves a bad taste in my mouth with that giant, lingering question of WHY? Is this the best, only way they could get attention? That's sad, if so. I hope it isn't. It could deal more with the push to put everything day and date with digital distribution, making an easy "Start here!" point, and that makes some deal of sense to me. It still seems like overkill, though.
Those are the big strokes for my thoughts on the relaunch. I'm cautiously optimistic, with some books that look quite good. They're also doing a few more diverse titles, with more magic and western based books, for example. And some science fiction concepts. This is all to the good, but again, does it require a line-wide reboot? No, says I.
I really hope this works, because comics selling is always good for the market, and if this fails, it could be a disaster for everyone, not just DC.
Next month, I'm going to get a bit more granular, and look at the titles themselves, with more in depth thoughts on most of the titles coming, as well as any other thought I might have forgotten about, or didn't fit into these wider ideas bouncing around my head. I'm still trying to clarify my ideas, and wrap my brain around this, because good or bad, this is huge. Good luck, DC.
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