Yum, Jim Lee.
For those of you unaware, DC comics is undergoing a major reboot and essentially re-establishing/re-imagining it's mainstream universe in September. www.newsarama.com/comics/DC-Un…
My first reaction was obviously disappointment and even disdain for the company's complete disregard for loyal fans of the current timeline/lore. But then you stop swelling with emotion and realize, this is possibly the boldest move yet to revitalize the superhero comic book industry.
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Picture this, I'm sitting in a room having a conversation and the person asks.
"So, you like Batman?"
Any comic book fan will know not to get their hopes up for a lengthy conversation of their favorite caped crusader. Why? Because most people only know him from recent movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), video games (Arkham Asylum) or through what little they remember from their childhood. (Adam West, The Animated Series)
Then you may proceed to suggest the comics because, fact, they're way better than any other media's representation of him.
Soon we hit a snag, where do they start? It's incredibly daunting to catch up on over a decade of a single character's history let alone the entire DC universe population that end up taking part in his stories. It's exhausting to say the least and not a very engaging experience.
With all these titles reverted back to issue #1 and all this modernization we should all be completely stoked about reaching new audiences and getting stories that better relate to current social norms and events. We should be.
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Generally speaking the comic book community is quite old. As much as I respect their loyalty for all these years, from spending time on forum-community sites most of ehm' seem like pretentious egomaniacs. If they aren't hovering around flexing their "superior" knowledge they're complaining about pretty much everything new.
Not saying there aren't those of us who still enjoy the latest instalments whilst encouraging "newbies" but why continue to please a fan base that's only getting older and not really growing? It's like cutting yourself and slowly bleeding to death.
Besides, if you're really a fan of DC comics you will know that their decision to make such a reboot isn't going to be some half-baked concoction of everything you love. They're going to do everything they can to make it the best they possibly could.
Stick around, maybe you'll like what you see.
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Marvel Comics did something very similar back in 2000 with the "Ultimate Marvel" (UM) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate… line but with one crucial difference. It was a completely new universe altogether, the original "mainstream" books kept going without being affected.
This decision was probably made to avoid the inevitable flames of loyalists that threaten DC's current reboot decisions. Although I see the merits of avoiding the drama while retaining the financial stability of the older continuity this also ended up creating one fatal flaw.
Ten years down the road and UM is a bit of a win/epicfail situation. On one hand it did bring in new readers (myself included) on the other it's become a shadow of the original Earth 616 timeline and a bit of a spinoff.
This is a huge problem.
Say I want to talk about Spider-man, Ironman, the X-men etc. with the rest of the community. Oops! Wrong universe. Please hold as I re-direct you to the "exclusive" Ultimate Marvel room; population zero.
Okay not "zero" but with the original still in existence Marvel has stupidly created an even smaller group of audiences to cater to. In the end, UM fans will have no choice but to also follow titles of the original timeline to truly actively part take with the "real" Marvel community.
That completely defeats the accessibility of a reboot!
Bottom line is, DC isn't only trying to bring in new readers. They're trying to unite new blood with the old ones into one happy, coherent, family. Successful fanbase = successful product.
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I hope the best for DC and really wish for their success. They're setting themselves up for a triumphant revolution or a complete failure without much of a safety net. However, if there's a time to breathe new life into their graphic novels it's now with blockbuster movies bringing in more attention than ever to their characters.
I'd also like to extend to everyone who doesn't read DC comics to give the new issues in September a try.
