DC Relaunching Everything? - Part 4

[Manic]

I've finally hit the acceptance stage of this relaunch. This is the exact same thing as the post-Crisis relaunches, only slightly more organized. I'm gonna suck it up and buy what interests me.

 

[trustyside-kick]

its not that i wish failure upon DC. but i dont think they should be rewarded for this either. i dont believe in what they are doing, i do not think its good for the characters, and i do not think it will be good for fans or the industry. honestly, if this blew up in their face and it forced them to "undo" what they did....i would be stoked.

if DC wants to shake things up to bring greater attention and respect and sales to their properties, im all for that. but they went about it in the wrong way.

Curious: Have you listened to the SDCC panel podcasts that DC had? Read a lot of the articles about this relaunch?

 

[IpponDropkick]

Time to use more posts on more stupid stuff. When do these drop? I'm excited to get reading the relaunched books.

 

[Spider-Nerd]

Since the only DC character and cast of characters that are of great interest to me are Batman and the Bat-Family, I'm pretty okay with the "reboot". I suppose I'll be picking up Batman, Detective, B&R, and I'll be damned if I miss out on Nightwing.

 

[Phatman]

To be honest, regardless of your feelings about the relaunch, I don't see how anyone could want this to fail. With how much DC have invested in this, if it flops it will be bad for us all.

I doubt it would be bad for anyone. If the DC relaunch fails, like the DC implosion of 78, Time Warner cleans house in editorial, something I feel they should have done a decade ago. When Superman is in a comic walking around trying to find himself instead of beating down some robot or bad guy something is FUBAR in editorial and creative, and it's time to FIRE SOMEONE.

In the aftermath Maybe DC hires some serious comic professionals like Jim Shooter and the late Mark Gruenwald, Julius Schwartz or Dick Giardano to run DC's day-to-day editorial. Those guys take us back to basics with good guys fighting bad guys all ages entertainment.

Maybe it'll lead to a new editorial mission for DC, one that focuses on readers younger than 18-25. And maybe they'll stop with this dreary depressing "grim n gritty Let's kill everybody /silver age emo rehash that has plagued the industry for twenty years and taken the industry nowhere. Let's face it the real world sucks and people are miserable. No one pays three dollars to read about a superhero who is miserable as they are. Comics are supposed to be an escape. It's time to bring back the FUN and excitement to comics. It's a sad day when Batman: Brave and the Bold can produce more exciting adventures with DC heroes than DC comics entire creative team.

My Candidates for a New DC editorial: Guys like Chuck Dixon, Bob Layton and Mark Waid. Seasoned pros who know how to work in the bullpen and can produce consistent results month-to month.

And maybe these guys will start focusing on making books that can carry themselves based on solid storytelling month-to month. It's about time the industry stopped depending on some stupid event or gimmick every quarter to spike sales and focused on writing quality stories.

Maybe we get a serious look at the comic book distribution system where Time Warner seriously looks at making books returnable again so that big box retailers like supermarkets, Wal-Mart and Target involved in distributing comics again. Will this lead to Warner finally **** canning Diamond and going with Hatchette or The Hudson Group for distribution? I hope so, because we need a NEW DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR COMICS YESTERDAY.

It makes them really take a look at their creative and really take a serious look at truly diversifying. The comic book industry is STILL 95% white and 95% male. Maybe once Warner takes a serious look at the MESS DC is, they'll hire some of the women and minorities DC editorial ignored for the past two decades at the comicons. Maybe we get a LGBT writer on Batwoman so we can dig deeper into the LGBT culture. Maybe a Hispanic writer on Blue Beetle who digs deeper into hispanic and aztec culture. Another woman on Wonder Woman or Birds of Prey with a unique perspective. A brotha on Mr. Terrific who explores race and culture and how the third smartest man in the world deals with that pressure. Maybe this new fresh perspective from a more diverse creative team finally gives us some characters new readers can identify and relate to. And maybe DC stops depending on Geoff Johns and whatever flash-in-the pan hotshot flavor of the month writer or artist shows up.

And maybe we get some new bad guys. DC's biggest weakness has always been the crap rogues gallery they have. Outside of Batman and Flash, DC has the lamest bad guys. Marvel blows DC out of the water when it comes to bad guys. People who are built up and can be a credible threat to the DC heroes.

I'm all for this relaunch failing. Because it'll make everyone WAKE UP. Because it will make everyone STOP DENYING the problems and focus on real solutions instead of half-assed gimmicks like reboots and relaunches. And because maybe we'll finally see some real change in the comic book industry.

 

[Motown Marvel]

Curious: Have you listened to the SDCC panel podcasts that DC had? Read a lot of the articles about this relaunch?

I've kept up on articles.

 

[Watchman]

Lemire and Robinson drop some information on their books at Fan Expo Canada.

Shade has a great art team and I'm hoping that it's the return of good Robinson.

And some information to make people real happy.

Dan DiDio pretty much comfirmed Wally West won’t be around for a while as Wayy’s origins derive from Barry’s and the timeline is too concise. They will have Bart for the teenage set however.

 

[Manic]

*reads the Wally West news*

HIT THE DECK!

*dives for cover*

 

[flash13]

I miss Wally but I've gotten so used to him not being around in the DCU anyway. Hopefully they'll bring him back soon.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Lemire and Robinson drop some information on their books at Fan Expo Canada.

Shade has a great art team and I'm hoping that it's the return of good Robinson.

And some information to make people real happy.

Ooch!

 

[HighFivingMF]

Heyo!

 

[TheDreamMaster]

So I am not gonna read back 3 threads and 30+ pages to see, but is this a complete start over of everything? I ask because they are obviously keeping things like Batman Incorporated, Batwoman, the Red Lanterns, but I picked up the free issue previewing the 52 titles launching, and it has like an 8 page story of Batman fighting some robot-alien thing, then gets saved by Green Lantern, who says "Batman. You're real?". So are they all starting from scratch?

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yes, and no. In some cases, like Justice League and Superman, it's pretty much a straight reboot from scratch. For others, like Green Lantern, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the reboot is much softer. And for many others, we don't know for sure, but it's probably a similar story: some getting hard and some getting it softer. Just...look at it as starting over from the beginning and go with what you're interested in.

 

[HighFivingMF]

So I am not gonna read back 3 threads and 30+ pages to see, but is this a complete start over of everything? I ask because they are obviously keeping things like Batman Incorporated, Batwoman, the Red Lanterns, but I picked up the free issue previewing the 52 titles launching, and it has like an 8 page story of Batman fighting some robot-alien thing, then gets saved by Green Lantern, who says "Batman. You're real?". So are they all starting from scratch?

That's from Justice League, which is set in the past and tells the JLA's new first mission. Batman and Green Lantern are pretty much unchanged, everything else is getting some altering. But no, it's not a start from scratch.

 

[Anubis]

Lemire and Robinson drop some information on their books at Fan Expo Canada.

Shade has a great art team and I'm hoping that it's the return of good Robinson.

And some information to make people real happy.

*reads the Wally West news*

HIT THE DECK!

*dives for cover*

Well, seeing as nobody else has bothered to comment :


MOTHA F**K *#*(#*#*#*#Y^*& C**K SUCK #)(&#)(#&#(& SONOFAB***H BALD HEADED PIECE OF ##)()#(*((*!!!!!!!!!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, f*** that noise. Isn't Johns in charge of creative s*** now? Didn't he promise people a few years ago that he loved Wally and because he wrote him for years, he wasn't gonna s*** all over him post-Rebirth?

Oh well, I guess it's at least nice to know that pretty much anyone with power in this industry is inevitably going to be a lying a**hole. A man's gotta know where he stands, after all.

 

[Ipodman]

How is bald headed an insult?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's a genetic insult. From both God and science.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Because bald people have no hair.

 

[Anubis]

I take it you're bald?

Trust me when I say this....being bald is bad unless you're black. And even then that's only if your head is shaped right for it.

Also it's "Bald headed piece of ##)()#(*((*"

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's how they cursed in the '80s.

 

[Anubis]

I felt it necessary to go old school for that particular rant.

 

[Ipodman]

And went comic style too... #@$@*$&#%$^$

 

[hippie_hunter]

It makes them really take a look at their creative and really take a serious look at truly diversifying. The comic book industry is STILL 95% white and 95% male.

You know why? Because the vast majority of modern day comic book writers were comic book fans when they were kids and the vast majority of comic book fans are white, heterosexual males.

Maybe once Warner takes a serious look at the MESS DC is, they'll hire some of the women and minorities DC editorial ignored for the past two decades at the comicons. Maybe we get a LGBT writer on Batwoman so we can dig deeper into the LGBT culture. Maybe a Hispanic writer on Blue Beetle who digs deeper into hispanic and aztec culture. Another woman on Wonder Woman or Birds of Prey with a unique perspective.

I have to completely disagree with you there because we had a straight writer do Batwoman in Detective Comics who not only performed the miracle of using homosexuality to enhance the character in a positive way, as opposed to the crutch that it usually is, but also created one of the greatest comic book runs of all time.

Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Matthew Sturges did fantastic jobs on using Blue Beetle's Hispanic heritage to benefit Jaime Reyes' character. There was even an issue published entirely in Spanish.

And we've had women write Wonder Woman before. Jodi Picoult wrote Wonder Woman as a ****** who couldn't even pump gas. Gail Simone's run on Wonder Woman was underwhelming at best. Meanwhile some of the best Wonder Woman comics have come from men (George Perez, Greg Rucka)

You see, gender, race, and sexuality of a writer have nothing to do how well a character is written. We've had white males do fantastic jobs in portraying minority characters. Greg Rucka and Gail Simone are probably the best writers in regards to writing homosexual characters and they're both heterosexual. And we've also had minority writers do horrific jobs on minority characters (like Felicia Henderson writing Static, Aquagirl, and Blue Beetle on Teen Titans, Reginald Hudlin on Black Panther).

What is needed first and foremost for minority characters are good writers. We need more Greg Ruckas and Gail Simones. We need writers who actually take the time to develop these characters as opposed to treating diversity for the sake of diversity.

A brotha on Mr. Terrific who explores race and culture and how the third smartest man in the world deals with that pressure. Maybe this new fresh perspective from a more diverse creative team finally gives us some characters new readers can identify and relate to.

I think that completely defeats the purpose of Mr. Terrific. I would rather see a writer actually competently write about atheism than about race relations. So far Mr. Terrific's atheism isn't atheism, it's "I'm angry at god." We've had well written homosexuals and characters of other races, but we haven't gotten a good atheist yet.

And maybe we get some new bad guys. DC's biggest weakness has always been the crap rogues gallery they have. Outside of Batman and Flash, DC has the lamest bad guys. Marvel blows DC out of the water when it comes to bad guys. People who are built up and can be a credible threat to the DC heroes.

Lex Luthor, Darkseid, Sinestro, Black Manta, Ocean Master, Brainiac, Deathstroke, Vandal Savage, Hector Hammond, Metallo, General Zod....

I'm all for this relaunch failing. Because it'll make everyone WAKE UP. Because it will make everyone STOP DENYING the problems and focus on real solutions instead of half-assed gimmicks like reboots and relaunches. And because maybe we'll finally see some real change in the comic book industry.

Except they are providing real solutions. Let's take a look at the core problems of the industry.

First and foremost is the comic book shop. They're really uninviting places where socially awkward nerds hang out. And they smell funny. Regular people just don't want to go in there. So how do they fix the solution? By going beyond the comic book shop, by offering digital copies day and date, by selling comics at other retailers such as Hastings and Barnes & Noble. And guess what, DC is doing that.

The second problem is that comics are hard to get into due to decades worth of convoluted continuity. They aren't new reader friendly at all. Asides from Batman, Aquaman, and Green Lantern, the rest of DC is essentially getting a clean slate in regards to continuity. New readers don't have to feel obligated to check out comics that are decades old and written in an out of date style that only hardcore geeks like. All these new #1's makes new readers feel easier to check them out as opposed to Action Comics #905.

What DC is doing is actually taking a look at the problems of the industry: the comic book shop, falling readership, being complicated for new and lapsed readers, limited distribution, etc. and is actually attempting to fix these problems and provide solutions. These are the actual problems in comics, not there aren't enough black or gay characters.

 

[Mystirious]

Since the only DC character and cast of characters that are of great interest to me are Batman and the Bat-Family, I'm pretty okay with the "reboot". I suppose I'll be picking up Batman, Detective, B&R, and I'll be damned if I miss out on Nightwing.

Check out the Batwoman series too Spider Nerd its going to be great

I think that completely defeats the purpose of Mr. Terrific. I would rather see a writer actually competently write about atheism than about race relations. So far Mr. Terrific's atheism isn't atheism, it's "I'm angry at god." We've had well written homosexuals and characters of other races, but we haven't gotten a good atheist yet.

I still dont get how he's an atheist. He's met an angel. He's seen the afterlife. He's seen gods

It's a genetic insult. From both God and science .

Being bald makes you evil. Just like hairless Lex Luthor