DC Comics to restart every superhero comic at issue #1

The entire line will be re-launched and feature "younger" and cosmetically redesigned versions of the heroes from DC Universe. Starting this summer, the publisher will re-number its entire DC Universe of titles, revamping famous characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and others from its 76-year history for a more modern and diverse 21st century. The first book to be released under this new era: Justice League No. 1, out Aug. 31, a series by writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee that reunites the famous lineup of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Johns promises a focus on the interpersonal relationships within DC's trademark superteam. "What's the human aspect behind all these costumes?" he says. "That's what I wanted to explore." In September, more than 50 more first issues will debut, introducing readers to stories that are grounded in each character's specific legend but also reflect today's real-world themes and events. Lee spearheaded the redesign of more than 50 costumes to make characters more identifiable and accessible to comic fans new and old. "We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line," says Dan DiDio, who co-publishes DC with Lee. "This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience." In an even more important move in the competitive comics industry, DC is making issues of all the renumbered titles available digitally via apps and a DC website the same day they arrive in comic shops. It marks the first time a major comics publisher has done so with its popular superhero titles. The company has come in second to Marvel every year since 2002 in market share, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. While the two companies are making millions off movie adaptations of their comic books, print sales for both have dropped in recent years, as new technology gives readers many more options. "We're allowing people who have never bought a comic book in their lives to download them on portable media devices and take a look," Lee says. "Having the ability to give people access to these comics with one button click means we're going to get a lot of new readers." He says what makes this plan so ambitious is that it's not just about changes in characters or costumes but setting the stage for how comic books will be consumed in the future. "We're trying to set the table for the DC Universe's future success and health." DC Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Sales, Bob Wayne, issued a letter to retailers addressing the announcement. While no prices were discussed for the new books or their digital counterparts, Wayne addressed the question of narrative continuity: We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling. Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2011-05-31-dc-comics-reinvents_n.htm



• sigh

• Wow didn''t see this coming. This seems to be more of a move to push DC into digital publishing which is the future anyway.

• Shit like this is why I quit reading comics. I''ve never forgiven DC for fucking up the Legion of Super-Heroes with this sort of thing.

• As R3 wrote, LSH, one of my all-time favorite series, was absolutely ruined in this way. It has never recovered. \ \ Then there was Heroes Reborn, which was Marvel''s attempt at a linewide relaunch. Total failure.\ \ I''ll bet DC reverts back to the original concepts (and original numbering) within 18 months.

• Who will be left? I presume the first two; the others I''m not so sure.%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Superman%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Batman%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Flash%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Green Lantern%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Wonder Woman%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Aquaman%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ Atom%0D

• So, all these stories like Infinite Crisis, Blackest Night, etc. No longer happened? johns spent all this time with the multiple lantern corps, etc. and now they all get over-written and we AGAIN go back to the beginning?%0D\ %0D\ UGH!!

• This is reminiscent of 25 years ago with Crisis on Infinite Earths when they were going to fix everything by merging all the earths into one. Great idea on paper, poor execution in reality. \ \ They may have gained a lot of readers with the reboots back then, but they also ultimately lost many readers, like me. The final straw for me, as r3 and r4 said, was how they destroyed my beloved Legion of Super Heroes. \ \ Why does DC keep shooting itself in the foot?

• Can someone explain the difference between the Justice League and the Legion of Super Heroes. And can you explain the Infinite Crisis? \ \ These threads always get so big so fast, that I''m always afraid to pop in. Give the basics early, so I can follow as an outsider.

• Didn''t Marvel do exactly this in the late 90''s? And wasn''t that a huge failure for them?

• Pros (few and far between):\ \ 1. Morrison''s Batman and Johns'' GL are allegedly largely untouched\ \ 2. Morrison may be writing Superman\ \ 3. Johns is also doing a new Aquaman book\ \ Cons:\ \ Everything else. Plus:\ \ 1. Batgirl is Barbara Gordon again\ \ 2. Superman and Lois are apparently no longer married\ \ 3. Legion is getting fucked up anew\ \ DC Comics is an absolute clusterfuck. They need to stop.

• Johns promises a focus on the interpersonal relationships within DC''s trademark superteam. "What''s the human aspect behind all these costumes?" he says. "That''s what I wanted to explore."\ \ ---------------\ \ \ So basically, he promises to write the 2011 JLA like the 1975 Steve Englehart Avengers. How exciting. This whole thing is lame on their part, just a complete capitulation and admittance the entire company is creatively out of gas. How many times now have they restarted their line and multiverse as they always fall on the crutch that their xxx year history is just too much to understand? \ \ \ Well why is it too much to understand? In 1965 or whatever Mike Sekowski was able to explain the entire multiverse concept in two panels of primitive art.

• "...admittance the entire company is creatively out of gas."\ \ I''m surprised that hasn''t happened earlier, especially since superhero comic book readers get the shakes if they don''t have the ''exciting newness!'' they feel entitled to. (Compare with Archie''s relative conservatism - other comic book genres have less demanding readers.)

• Some of the blogs are gossiping that Barbara Gordon will be back as Batgirl but Birds of Prey will still be around as well. If true, how will that affect Kate Kane as Batwoman? For R8, my best attempt at simple answers: The Justice League is the club of heroes that protect Earth. Usually consists of some combination of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, etc. The Legion of Super Heroes takes place a thousand years in the future and consists of teen heroes inspired by the legend of Superboy in the 21st century. The various Crises series are big stories that take place across all the DC books and change the character's histories so they don't get too old (otherwise, Superman and Batman would be 90 years old), as well as any other huge changes they feel like doing at the time. It's kinda like the new Hawaii Five-O or Charlie's Angels -- same characters, same basic concept, but younger and starting out today instead of years ago. The first Crisis made it so Superman was never Superboy when he was young, which means he could never inspire the Legion in the future. That's the original way the Legion was fucked; then everything they tried to do to fix it made things even worse. The best way to understand the Crises is to read the Wikipedia articles. The first one is linked below; if you want to know more, the others are called Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, and the one going on right now, Flashpoint.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths

  I know, my best attempt sucks.

• r5, if you read the articles, it says that all those heroes you mention except the Atom are part of the core of the "Issue No. 1" Justice League.\ \ It doesn''t mean the Atom won''t be there - supposedly the JL will grow to 14 heroes, but they haven''t committed on who the others are besides Cyborg.\ \ I hope the bring back the Kara Zor-El version of Supergirl. And I assume Barry Allen will be the Flash. That''s the next movie they''re doing.

• Read the pertinent Wikipedia articles, R8. It''s not our job to make the thread more friendly for ''outsiders''.

• r15 you don''t need wikipedia to explain the difference. The Justice League is the team of mainstream heroes who work together today (Superman, Batman, etc). The Legion is a group of teen and post-teen heroes nobody ever heard of except comic fans, and who live 1000 years in the future and do their heroics then. See how simple that was?

• [quote]So basically, he promises to write the 2011 JLA like the 1975 Steve Englehart Avengers.\ \ I wish, that''s my favorite Avengers run.

• This stupid. So Superman and Lois are no longer married? I suppose that means Spider-Man and Mary Jane are no longer together either and that Batgirl is Barbara Gordon again. I hate resets.\ \ Sent from my iPhone

• It figures. I was actually liking Paul Levitz''s latest run on Legion. So, naturally, they''re going to start fucking with the Legion again. \ \ \ Levitz and Jim Shooter are the only writers who know how to do LSH properly.

• Since Johns re-set the Legion just a few years ago to essentially the pre-Crisis version, I think the Legion is safe.\ \ I wonder about the Teen Titans. If Dick Grayson is Nightwing, the Teen Titans probably won''t get too messed with. But if he is Robin... And, really, you know this is going to mess up Donna Troy and Power Girl.

• Just as long as nothing happened to the hunky Superboy.

• It looks like the goal is to make eveyone younger. Donna Troy and Power Girl have been through so many changes that making them younger and erasing the earlier stories will only help.%0D\ %0D\ Wally West and his children will need major changes if he becomes younger, which will likely need to happen if they make Barry younger.

• Didio has gone on record in the past, essentially saying he thinks the heroes should be in their iconic form (as the general mass audience knows them - not the comic fans who have been following along, but the ones outside the comics mainstream; so Barbara Gordon would be Batgirl, Dick Grayson would be Robin, Barry Allen would be Flash). And if the main heroes are getting de-aged somewhat, I would assume their former sidekicks would also get de-aged. I assumed that meant we would have the original Teen Titans back and all the new ones would simply vanish - but then I heard there was a Nightwing book coming out - then again, who knows who is in the costume. I don't know - I've liked pretty much everything that Geoff Johns has done EXCEPT for his and Didio's mad love for Barry Allen. I think that was a mistake. Even under Geoff's pen, Barry is still less interesting to me than Wally - yes, Barry's more interesting than he used to be, but I still have a hard time swallowing the fact that Wally -who held the Flash mantle successfully for years - has essentially been relegated to cameo appearances in the DC universe in order not to take any light away from Barry's re-emergence. I guess it's now all a moot point anyway -

• What about Action comics - are they really going to restart that at #1 too? Isn''t it just a hundred issues until it his #1000? I thought that would be the first comic book ever to reach that number. Why would they throw that away?

• Don''t worry, R24 -- in a year or two, they''ll revert back to the original characters and the original numbering, just as Marvel did after Heroes Reborn.\ \ And I generally like Johns'' stuff, but I''m not at all fond of his most acclaimed work -- Green Lantern. I''ve always liked the character, but I have no interest in what Johns has done with him.

• Honestly, if even half of these rumors are true, I''m not picking up a DC Comic for a long, long time.\ \ Call me a fanboy if you must.

  The Voice of the Night

• I actually think it''s a great move. By essentially erasing all of the history, except the parts they want to keep, they can remove some of the stupid decisions and continuity flubs and massive backstory that keeps the DCU so insular. I haven''t read DC since the 90s, but I will probably pick up a few titles just to see how it works.

• And then, after a few issues, you will stop, R28. Comics have no other ongoing audience beyond the fanboys, so why waste time trying to attract one? It''s really just writer/editor muscle-flexing.

• Prior to 1985''s Crisis on Infinite Earths, the way DC dealt with continuity errors or stupid decisions was to simply ignore it. \ \ For example, a late 60s issue of Superboy had him discovering Jor-El and Lara in suspended animation in a rocket traveling through space. The discovery was never mentioned ever again.

• A lot of people here "fanboys" are forgetting the business side of this for the company. They want their characters to be more mainstream to the general public. And having new issues coming out in digital format on the same day is quite clever. If they can aggressively price digital issues so ipad and tablet users who are just curious about comics get hooked on them, a new money stream is open.\ \ More brand recognition and awareness opens door to more merchandising, tv shows and movies.\ \ I really hope they succeed in the digital push of comics.

• Gail Simone is on Firestorm(????)\ \ Captain Atom and Mr. Terrific are both getting a series\ \ Dan Jurgens, who wrecked the original Justice League International, is getting another go at it, as well as Green Arrow\ \ Duane Swierczynski (Cable, Moon Knight) is doing a Batman book, presumably alongside Morrison''s Batman Inc.\ \ Some no-name is writing Flash\ \ Brian Azzarello is writing Wonder Woman(???)\ \ Tony Daniel, not known for his writing skills, is doing Hawkman\ \ The Legion are getting another "Legion Lost" book (ugh)\ \ Christ, what a clusterfuck. Virtually all these books will be cancelled in 18 months. The only thing I will bother even looking it are Morrison''s books and Johns'' JLA, GL and Aquaman. And even a Morrison Superman book cannot entice me much if the Clark and Lois marriage no longer exists. DC is a disaster area.

• The mainstream/general public is not eagerly awaiting a Mr. Terrific or Captain Atom comic, even if they will now be able to get it digitally.%0D\ %0D\ The DC strategy is to throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and hope that one or 2 things stick.%0D

• Having an African-American (not to mention a pretty damn interesting character) headlining his own book is one of the reasons we are getting a Mr. Terrific comic.\ \ I have seen this "Jurgens ruined Justice League International" line elsewhere on the net. What the hell is that about? What did he do to them? I thought his run was fine. It was Dan Vado, Kevin West, Gerard Jones, Chuck Wojt-whatever who killed the title (for my money).\ \ The concept of the Legion Lost book has not been announced. My guess is it will be the Archie Legion (last seen at the end of Legion of 3 Worlds) exploring the Multiverse...which sounds fun!

• [quote]Gail Simone is on Firestorm(????)\ \ With Ethan Von Schiver, to boot.\ \ As those two are polar opposites, politically, that will be a fun collaboration.\ \ I''m sorry, DC, but I''m done.

  The Voice of the Night

• Yeah, Dan Jurgens typically means I won''t be getting it. I know he''s had lengthy runs on things, but outside of his run on Aquaman (which he took over from Erik Larson, after Larson pretty much decimated the books several years ago), I find his writing to be underwhelming and his art to be nothing more than satisfactory. With his writing, I feel like he''s often going for A-List stories, but in execution it comes out C+, maybe a B at best.\ \ And I can''t help but notice there are a number of talent on these books who have yet to prove they can handle monthly deadlines, and a few artists acting as writers who have yet to prove they deserve to headline a book.\ \ Right now, feeling very "One Year Later..." in terms of switching up creative teams that don''t necessarily bode well for the titles ...

• Unless DC is dedicated to making the JLA work with the big names, I don''t necessarily see this incarnation being a success. How many times has DC "learned their lesson" and brought the big guns back to the JLA, only to systematically remove them again, one by one, until it''s all second and third stringers (which, depending on the characters, I don''t actually mind, but it doesn''t seem to be what the general audience is looking for - and yet, it seems to happen every time). We go through the same pattern again and again with DC and the JLA.

• You know, guys...they''re comic books. I love them too, but if they''re going to survive, it''s not going to happen by pleasing indignant fanboys with decades of historical knowledge. Rebooting and creating new entry points is essential to rebuild and replenish a fan base. VOTN, I''m sorry if this means you''re "done," but, y''know, you''re a grownup--maybe you SHOULD be done.

• Why are you talking to me, cunt/R16? It''s R8 who needed to know the information.

• But they never get this ''new audience'', R38. Reboot after reboot, it''s the same, self-replenishing fanboy readers as before. They''re just thrashing around to hook a bigger share of this group, till the next Marvel event pulls tham all back that way.

• [quote]VOTN, I''m sorry if this means you''re "done," but, y''know, you''re a grownup--maybe you SHOULD be done.\ \ Except that they make their money on the backs of overgrown manchildren who buy their funny books and DC Direct figures.

  The Voice of the Night

• So, there was an article on Bleeding News that this whole thing was Dan Didio''s brain child - which I guess was pretty much a given. Then it was followed up with another article on yet another creator who has already left one of the relaunched books - that makes James Robinson (Hawkman), Brian Celvinger (Firestorm) and now Brian Wood (Supergirl). This is discouraging and worrisome to me because this has been one of the hallmarks of Didio''s run - a sense of chaos, ill thought out plans, and the feeling that the company runs with an idea and makes it up - and changes it - and sometimes changes it back - along the way. Long term IDEAS with extremely short term and malleable visions.

• Robinson is NOT doing the Hawkman book

• How hard is it just to keep the characters young? Why start all over? Bart Simpson hasn''t aged and it doesn''t freak me out.

• They just recently restored Wonder Woman''s numbering to the original. Same thing with Adventure Comics.\ \ And now they''re going to throw that all away. \ \ 900+ issues of Action and 800+ issues of Detective is something to be proud of, not something to hide away in shame.

• Why doesn''t it freak you out, R44? Bart in real life would be 32 years old. Lisa would be 30 and Maggie would be 22, already graduated from college. It pisses me off that The Simpsons aren''t going with real time continuity and not aging the characters. It throws any realism out the window. Comic writers know the fans won''t stand for this so have to age their characters.\ \ Sent from my iPhone

• Hitler reacts to DC''s announcement.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpUh_Yl49l4

  The Voice of the Night

• Well, unless one of the other chicks dyed their hair red, that is Barbara Gordon as Batgirl on the new Batgirl #1 cover. The book is being written by Gail Simone, who is leaving Birds Of Prey. '90s X-Men hack Scott Lobdell is writing both Superboy and an all-new Teen Titans, which is likely due to former '90s Marvel EIC Bob Harras becoming a big wheel at DC. He is also writing some god-forsaken thing called "Red Hood & The Outlaws," featuring Jason Todd, Arsenal and an apparently rebooted Starfire. The new Nightwing appears to be Dick Grayson, again. All the Batman books (ALL of them) are being relaunched, and several new and pointless titles are being added. The trend at DC is for artists to start writing as well, since we saw how well that turned out for Image Comics in 1992 - Francis Manapul and another guy are co-writing and drawing Flash, Tony Daniel, David Finch and Greg Capullo are getting Batman books. On a slightly less dire but equally pointless note, George Perez is writing and drawing a Superman title.

• Everything revealed!\ \ Catwoman #1 is coming back too. Wish they would have revamped that ridiculously ugly costume!!

  http://comics.cosmicbooknews.com/content/dc-relaunch-batwoman-1-batgirl-1-catwoman-1-birds-prey-1-covers-and-details

• People have complained about Scott Lobdell, but really, in certain ways, I actually really enjoyed his writing after Chris Claremont left the X-men. Scott was able to delve into the X-Men''s personalities and show sides that the reader hadn''t seen yet.\ \ His drawback was starting stories that he never followed up on. I think this was partly his fault - and partly the editorial influence in the X-office at the time. He was constantly throwing things into the script that should have been followed up on, but were never touched again.

• Jim Lee designed Catwoman''s current costume. That was never going to go anywhere.\ \ I don''t know, maybe I''m just too fickle, but there''s nothing there I want to read, except maybe Batwoman.\ \ And I find what they''re doing to Barbara incredibly offensive.

  The Voice of the Night

• I thought Darwyn Cooke designed Catwoman''s current outfit. Either way I love it and it''s the only looks she''s had that I''ve liked. I''m glad that hideous purple thing from the 90s is gone.\ \ I''ll be buying some day and date digital books from DC. I''m a trade waiter and have been waiting for this day. I''m glad DC finally had the balls to move forward and embrace the new marketplace.

• Darwyn Cooke did design Catwoman''s current outfit and I love it too, but not every artist makes it work like he does. Having said that I think they should throw money at him instead of Lee the next time they need a high-profile costume design because Wonder Woman in The New Frontier is the only version of that costume that''s ever worked for me.\ \ I do agree that what they''re doing with Batgirl is totally offensive but even just on a pure sad nerd level I think she''s a cooler character as Oracle.\ \ Did I mention that I haven''t picked up a superhero comic in years but still know what''s going on with them and have strongly-felt nerd rage opinions on them? Comics are worse for you than crack cut with laundry detergent

• Speaking of bad costumes: Black Canary''s new one looks like Jack Kirby''s design for Granny Goodness.\ \ And I thought her old JLI one was bad.

• Totally agree R54. They''ve gutted the BoP and I''m not interested.\ \ justice League Dark on the other hand...again, it''s so dumb it just might work. Which I guess is true of the entire reboot. Could be a disaster but i''ll be there.\ \ This is what should have happened after Infinite Crisis, instead of the half-assed One Year Later mess.

• The Teen Titans cover and line up were revealed. Complete and total abortion. \ \ The 90s called, they want their also-rans back. \ \ Fuck DC. I''m done.

  http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/08/the-next-generation-of-justice/

• I''ve got some concerns about this restart (I''m trying to remain optimistic but the vile taste of One Year Later and the damage it did to some of my favorite titles still lingers) and I''ve got some curiosity. \ \ But I''ve also got some confusion. When Rob Liefeld gets a book (an artist / writer who has never met a deadline he hasn''t missed), David Finch gets to continue (like his art but seriously - he and lateness are like twins), Yildiray Cinar gets moved to Firestorm (he''s completely competent but very non-exciting) - where are Nicola Scott and J. Calafiore and Scott Kollins - artists with great, unique styles who also deliver on a monthly basis? They best have books assigned to them or I''m going to wonder even more about the fairness and thought process over at DC.

• I''m losing a lot of things that connect me with my childhood this fall, DC Comics and One Life to Live!

• That Titans book is even worse than I could''ve imagined given the creative team.\ \ LIEFELD???\ \ Wow.

• [quote]The Teen Titans cover and line up were revealed. Complete and total abortion. \ \ It''s so EXTREME!

  The Voice of the Night

• At least it doesn''t look like they are ruining the Legion.\ \ Lemire''s Animal Man is promising too.

• Will Robin go back to wearing those cute little shorts that he used to wear?

  Curious

• Martian Manhunter joins a new Stormwatch team? I don''t know what to think of that. I bet Apollo and The Midnighter won''t be gay anymore, though.

• Is that Poison Ivy in the Birds of Prey?\ \ If so, then I''ll actually pick that title back up.\ \ I used to read every DC title...for the last year or so I''m down to just the Green lantern titles.

  http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/template.php?src=/images1/aimages/bop_cv1_solicit-674x1024.jpg

• So, with Blue Beetle and Suicide Squad, they''ve announced 48 of 52. Assuming the last four are Action, Superman, Superboy and Supergirl, that means no more Secret Six, Zatanna, Power Girl, or Justice Society.

  http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-men-at-war-110609.html

  Boo.

• Blue Beetle? AGAIN?!?!?\ \ It failed the first time.\ \ VOTN (or any DC insiders), why is DiDio so determined to push this character?

• [quote]VOTN (or any DC insiders), why is DiDio so determined to push this character?\ \ It''s all in the name of diversity. Why else does Mr. Terrific suddenly have his own book?

  The Voice of the Night

• The Superman solicits make it clear it''s being rebooted as well, basically.

• VOTN, yeah but they killed off Ryan Choi. That wasn''t being very diverse.

• Yeah, but I''m sure that new "Kitana" character in the new Birds of Prey is going to be Asian, so I''m sure it balances.\ \ I guess we can be relieved that there''s not another attempt at a goddamn Freedom Fighters book.

  The Voice of the Night

• DC/Warner Bros. ditching the Wildstorm characters is the worst decision possible. They would have given Warner a whole new line of heroes to exploit for movies and cartoons. Who needs the 60,000th Batman/Wonder Woman/Justice League/Superman reboot?

• Who the hell is Batwing?

• According to Newsarama, Apollo and Midnighter are still gay and other Wildsotrm characters will be integrated into the mainstream universe

• From the DC Message Boards in regards to Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle's new book: "Honestly, I think Jamie Reyes is more shoved down our throats than Damien. I mean, the kid couldn't even hold his own series fer crying out loud, and this was after Didio used all of his power to try and keep it going, yet they're still trying to convince us how utterly popular and beloved he is amongst the fans." "His last series run didn't last that long. What's so different about this one? Paging Ted Kord!" "Dan is in love with his pet character, so Jaime will continue to be propped up despite his dismal failure. Someone tell "10,000 in sales" to get prepped; he'll be accompanying the blue kid again!" "Oh. Wow. Kid Beetle gets another crack at mediocrity. Joy. Didn't DiDio say that he wanted the iconic versions of characters? The ones comic readers know and love? Wasn't that the reason given for bringing back Hal and Barry? If so, then DC is being hypocritical holding onto DiDio's pet character." "I never got Jaime myself,but Didio does." "So why does does this character get a second chance at a series less than three years after his first one failed?"

• [quote]Who the hell is Batwing?\ \ An African-American Batman character. I imagine that will eventually tie into Batman, Inc, once it restarts.\ \ [quote]"So why does does this character get a second chance at a series less than three years after his first one failed?"\ \ Because Latino characters are underrepresented in DC as it is, although they have a perfectly wonderful Latina lesbian character who I''m betting is going to disappear as well.\ \ Having said that, I was really impressed by how much more I liked Jaime when Judd Winick was writing him in Justice League: Generation Lost.\ \ Also, calling back to a mistake where I said Jim Lee had made Catwoman''s current duds, I just assumed it had debuted with all his other re-designed characters way back in Hush.

  The Voice of the Night

• Man, all those Ted Kord fans are bitter bitter people. I guess I would be too, but still. Any book can work with the right team working on it. Jaime Reyes isn''t an inherently flawed character.

• Batwing is a revival of the pre-Crisis character of the same name from Earth 2. He worked briefly with the Huntress, Batman and Catwoman''s daughter.

• I don''t understand why DC cannot just create a new Latino superhero as opposed to killing off one and then handing the title over. is the Latino not good enough to have his own hero?

• If it''s an original Latino character you want, why not revive Vibe. Oh, sorry, I''ll go now.

• What about Extrano from The New Guardians?\ \ Ay, Maria!

• [quote]If it''s an original Latino character you want, why not revive Vibe. Oh, sorry, I''ll go now.\ \ DiDio''s latest edict!\ \ Justice League Detroit must return!

  The Voice of the Night

• I just don''t understand why DC is rebooting after all this build up with Blackest Night and Brighest Day, Return of Bruce Wayne etc

• Man, fans are really pissed about DC leaving out Wally West, the JSA and the Marvel/Shazam Family while titles like OMAC, Frankenstein and Blue Beetle get second shots.\ \ Anyone care to guess why these others were omitted?

• they''re probably going to re-introduce those characters within other comics. Maybe they''ll have the JSA appear as new modern characters that never existed during WWII?

  PariahNoMore

• I kinda agree that the JSA needs to be put to bed for now. Though I''m kinda surprised that Dr Fate and Power Girl didn''t get a series.

• It seems to be about selling comics with concepts that they think can be turned into movies.%0D\ %0D\ They truly have no idea what will sell anymore so they''re trying all kinds of different concepts and hopefully one or two will succeed.%0D\ %0D\ Wally, JSA and the Marvels will return shortly after most of the new 52 fail.%0D\ %0D\ They know those concepts will sell. Not blockbuster sales, but still some sales. Right now, they''re crossing their fingers on the new 52.

• The Marvels have been promised by DiDio for years now and he never delivers.

• R84 is on to something. I think that DC is going to do a "everything is different" approach, like the Ultimate line, but leave aspects that were working- GL, Batman, Legion- and re-invent the stuff that wasn't. Like everything else. Reintroduce concepts-JSA, PG, Doom Patrol, Fate, Shazam- slowly into the lune to make up for misfires. Wally West is Kid Flash again, it appears. Origins will be rewritten for many characters that need it, like Hawkman, Aquaman, Titans, etc. that have skewed older due to decades of continuity. Younger, fresher takes give them new potential. I think that they are going to use TV versions for some characters so newer audiences to be able to identify them, except in the case of WW and Supes- both of whom need some serious updating. Things like the origins of Donna Troy, Power Girl, Hawkman etc can be fixed, the JSA can be reasonable ages (85 is just too damn old to be running around in tights if you're not senile) and have sensible origins and connections to their counterparts, and any number of convoluted continuity changes can be erased. And I'll bet money that Ted Kord will be alive.

• VOTN, Justice League Detroit was so bad it was good in hindsight.%0D\ %0D\ As a spinoff mag it would have worked, but Vibe, Gypsy, Steel, Vixen and Dale were shoved down our throats and no Reddy, Hawks, Dinah or Ollie each month as a result?%0D\ %0D\ WHAT were they thinking??%0D\ %0D\ I cheered when Vibe was killed off.

• The JSA will return on Earth-2.\ \ The Marvel Family will reappear on Earth-5/S.

  Grant Multiversity Morrison

• I resent old people more for knocking Wally West back to Kid Flash more than I do for hoovering up Social Security and the shitty jobs I should be choosing from right now

  Tragic Nerd

• So do Wally''s kids get ret-conned out of existence? That sucks, but can''t say that i''ll miss them.

• This will be just like Heroes Reborn, after about a year, They will return to pre-flashpoint like nothing ever happened.

• Wait, last week it was being speculated that Kid Flash was Wally, but Brett Booth referred to him as Bart and I read at least two other articles that confirmed it was Bart. So far, Wally is MIA.

• Who needs Wally West, after all we have Jaime Reyes...the Saviour of the DC Universe!

• I''m sure they''ve left themselves a backdoor out of this, but in the mean time, think of how many DC Direct figures they''re going to sell.\ \ ...and I think Superboy looks kind of hot.

  The Voice of the Night

• I''m still having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around the idea that this new DC universe takes place "earlier" in their careers - and yet, much of the history seems to be in place. Looking at Batman, he apparently is still on his fourth Robin (Dick, Jason, Tim and Damien) and Bruce is still apparently a father to Damien. So, younger, but everything happened - just in shorter time period?\ \ And I''m still frustrated that the JSA and Wally are missing from this reboot.

• I think we just need to be patient. Since they''re starting over again, they need time to lay some groundwork. The JSA, Marvel Family etc will return.%0D\ %0D\ Check out Newsarama for more info on what''s going on.

  http://www.newsarama.com

  PariahNoMore

• This is a non-story - DC and Marvel have both done this before, it''s a marketing gimick pure and simeple. Note - they are not starting the storylines over - just the numbering of the issues.

• Some Bad Things about this redo:\ \ Justice league Dark: Constantine in a regular DC comic? Nah...it won''t work!\ \ Hawkman is still Carter Hall? Bring back Katar Hol, the movie will be based on his story not that old JSA character!\ \ The Legion, how many times has that been rebooted? Please, DC fucks it up all the time.\ \ Sgt Rock? No one gives a blank about him! This is just plain stupid.\ \ Resurrection Man? No one cared the first time!\ \ I,Vampire? True Blood done wrong.\ \ Flash: Barry Allen was a flop the first time around. Bring back Wally!\ \ Bob Harras is the same dipshit who hepled to destroy Marvel years ago why is DC letting him have a role in destroying their universe as well?

• [quote]Hawkman is still Carter Hall? Bring back Katar Hol, the movie will be based on his story not that old JSA character!\ \ I keep having flashbacks to the post-COIE Hawkman where he was some paramilitary stormtrooper from Thanagar, and I just dont know....\ \ Have they said anything about Elongated Man? Garth? Ray Palmer?\ \ Long interview on Newsarama between contributor Jill Pantozzi, who is confined to a wheelchair and wrote a rather heartbreaking editorial about how rolling back the clock on Batgirl felt like getting kicked in the stomach, and the lady in question, Ms. Simone.

  http://www.newsarama.com/comics/gail-simone-dicusses-batgirl-and-oracle-110609.html

  The Voice of the Night

• It%E2%80%99s my understanding that September DC releases are just the initial rollout and some of them will probably turn out to be limited series. Some character reboots they%E2%80%99re saving until 2012.

• Ah, just like they did after the first Crisis.\ \ And we saw how that turned out.

  The Voice of the Night

• R {101} Hawkworld(the miniseries) came a full 4 years after Crisis started. Hawkman wasn''t rebooted after Crisis but long after it.

• I think the current Hawkman mythos- reincarnated lovers from Egypt- is a great high concept for a movie.

• DC Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras and Executive Editor Eddie Berganza clarify a few things:\ \ Stories like Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Identity Crisis, Death in the Family, and Killing Joke are still part of the DCU history. In fact, some events in those stories are specifically referenced in September.\ \ Both Action Comics and Justice League are set at the "dawning of the age of superheroes." (But that dawn doesn''t appear to be too long ago, since it''s being reported that they will take place only five years in the past.)

• Pretty bummed about the whole reboot (though I''m looking forward to the Batwoman ongoing), so I''m glad that Marvel is doing a new Alpha Flight maxi. Issue 0 was out last month and the first proper issue came out yesterday. Good stuff and Northstar and his BF figure prominently in the book.

• [quote]R {101} Hawkworld(the miniseries) came a full 4 years after Crisis started. Hawkman wasn't rebooted after Crisis but long after it. That's actually sort of my point. Rather than have everything start over in its new, unified one-Earth continuity back in '86, they staggered it, which left things kind of all over the place. And not for nothing, COIE took place over the course of a year. This is something that's happening in a matter of two months. I mean, maybe the creative staff have known for longer that it's coming, but it just seems like a lot of us are shell-shocked because no one seemed to see it coming. I get the comparisons to Ultimate Marvel, but the thing was, Marvel didn't just completely stop the 616 stories when they decided to start from scratch on a few of the titles. I don't know, I like new and different, but this just feels wrong. Maybe this will give us the opportunity for a new Neil Gaiman or a Grant Morrison before he went off the deep end. If we get a book like Morrison's Animal Man, or Sandman, or hell, even a beautiful final story like "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow," I'll eat my crow, but I'm just not feeling it.

  The Voice of the Night

• Can we talk about the horrible costume redesigns?\ \ Supes, WW, Canary, Zee- some of these are just awful.

• My friend works for Wildstorm/DC in San Diego and says Blue Beetle is the next BIG THING. Says that character is really going to be getting a huge push and be the next "event" character. Some villian called LaDonna? His main big bad, is supposed to be the new Luthor. Whatever that means.

• r109, they''re all shit-- pointless seams on everything, very 90s looking all around. I wish Jim Lee and Geoff johns would be fired from DC.

• Sorry, it is La Dama not LaDonna. Any info?

• I''m 61. I had all of the "Superman Family" comics back in the day (the ten-cent day): Superman; Superboy; Supergirl; Lois Lane; Jimmy Olson; plus JLA; Detective (AKA: Batman); World''s Finest; etc.\ \ Now I''m trying to "retrieve" those Oldies, one Comics Convention at a time.\ \ But I never looked for "continuity"; never thought the characters should "age" (I believe it''s called "suspension of disbelief"); never sought "cultural relevance" or a revelation of characters'' frailties.\ \ In short, I read comics as a 50''s kid; appreciated them as a kid; and don''t understand the adult perspective and criticism of them now.\ \ But then, once these "books" changed for their now-adult consumers I lost interest.

  Mr. Mxyzptlk

• Unscientific poll from ComicBookResources:\ \ People want Justice League, Batman, Batwoman, Action Comics, Green Lantern, and apparently nothing else.

  http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32809

  The Voice of the Night

• FUCK YOU!\ \ YOU WILL PEOPLE WILL WANT BLUE BEETLE AND YOU WILL BUY HIM.\ \ MARK MY WORD, ASSHOLES!

  Dan DiDio

• Superboy is gay in the restart. At least I can wish...

• I''m sorry, but when I see things like the mysterious brunette on Justice League International disappear off the cover, when we hear (from Harras I think?) that the costumes we have seen may not be the final costumes, we it was revealed that in some cases, more than one team was working on a book and didn''t know it until the relaunch was officially announced and the OTHER team was on the book - it''s just classic, go off half cocked way that Dan Didio runs things - messy, convoluted, and without any type of discipline to pull off a long term vision.\ \ Doesn''t mean I''m not buying a number of books, but my expectations aren''t way up there ...

• So, dawning of the age of heroes was about five years ago - and Batman has had at least three Robins (Dick, Tim and Damian) - maybe four (Jason) -and one of them is his kid? And this is supposed to make the characters seem younger how exactly? And like a number of other artists on this reboot, I love Eddy Barrows work - will be looking forward to seeing him on Nightwing - but has he EVER done anything where he's been able to get out more than three issues in a row without having an assist on the third issue and a fill in for at least one or two issues afterwards? Then there's Scott Lobdell - I actually like his character work. What I have reservations about is his plotting - I had heard, and he just confirmed this week in an interview, that he doesn't do long term plotting. While he has a general idea of where he is going, he says he likes writing himself into corners and then trying to figure it out - which explains why individual issues of his can be good, but take twenty and read them and some things don't always add up.

• I hope they do another HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE like the one Marv Wolfman and George Perez did after the 80s Crisis event.

• Not only that, but there are four current and/or former Robins running around in the NuDCU, but apparently only room for one Batgirl, and that has to be the one who would offend the greatest numbers of people.\ \ I also have to wonder how Johns feels about having to put Stargirl, a character he created in memory of his sister who died on TWA 800 on the shelf.

  The Voice of the Night

• I''m going to be very curious to see how this year''s DC Nation panel at Comic Con goes down.\ \ I went to my LCS this week to hunt down an X-Factor issue that I had missed, and got into a brief conversation with the owner. He is of the mindset that DC knows this won''t work and will have it snapped back within six months. And he said most retailers are extremely pissed at what they''re doing with the digital distribution, but that he''s been shifting his business model away from comics and towards Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh for years because it.

  The Voice of the Night

• If this thing actually sticks, I wonder what they''ll do in Teen Titans to fuck up "The Judas Contract?"

  The Voice of the Night

• Chatted with owner of my local comic shop today. He said he''d sent DC a letter telling him this latest reboot is the stupidest thing they''ve ever done. Said he told them they were fucking up his business since most of his regulars told him to stop their DC orders once the reboot happens.

• Is DC even going to have the rights to Superman in a few years?\ \ Then they''ll have to reboot the entire DC Universe to eliminate Supes.

• I honestly think that Warner Brothers will eventually cough up a number that the Siegel and Schuster heirs like.\ \ I''m sure a lot of the litigation has been to run up the price on the material.\ \ With that said, the first appearances--specifically the art involved--start becoming public domain in about twenty years, and once that''s lost, there''s no way of getting it back.

  The Voice of the Night

• So it appears that every gay male character except for Apollo and Midnighter will not be appearing in the NuDCU.

  The Voice of the Night

• The more they talk about this at San Diego, the more I think it is going to be horrible and fail miserably

• Agreed, r127. And I hope it does. \ \ DC is going for a Marvel in the 90s vibe and tossing aside everything that makes the DCU special and unique.

• Once I heard about this stupid reboot, I stopped buying DC. I also have been pissed off that their flagship character and one of my favorites has been back burner for the last two years or so.\ \ What did they hope to gain from this? Sure, it will grab some PR for them, but I don''t think anyone is going to suddenly become a comics reader because of the reboot.

• At first I thought this was good idea. Clear out all the history, let fresh and innovative talent create new stories that build on the basics of the characters, give general guidelines about this new universe and go from there. Hell, I might even pick a few up just to see where they go with this new playing field. Now I've read more about it, and it's just another epic clusterfuck. Superman died, Final Crisis happened, Batgirl was paralyzed, all 4 Robins are alive, Blackest Night is still in continuity... What. The. Fuck?!?! This is a train wreck of epic proportions in the making. How can Batman be early 30s and trained 4 Robins (one of whom died and came back semi-evil) with the first super heroes only being around for 5 years? They are making the same mistake they did 25 years ago (when I bought my first comic) when Crisis v1.0 didn't take the opportunity to start everything fresh. They could do that, and then "re-launch" a parallel world with 5-8 books where the current Supes, Bats, WW etc. still have their old history, and devote those books to an "anything goes" type world. That would then please long-time fans, while bringing in new ones who don't want to have decades of backstory weighing them down. Kinda like Marvel's Ultimate line, but in reverse- the new books are the "main" universe", while the older universe retains the whole history of the DCU. God, I'm so glad I gave up collecting comics (for the most part-still buy a few TPBs every few months) because I think this is going to be an epic fail of massive proportion.

• In the advertisement for the new Huntress mini-series, the editors note that the story will have ramifications in other titles including Mr. Terrific and surprisingly the Justice Society. Since the Huntress story takes place on the main DCnU, how can the Justice Society be included when it is now exists only on earth-2? Does this mean their will be a main universe JS or are we going to see some multiverse planet hopping? I'm beginning to think that there will both an Earth-2 JS and a main earth group.

• I have a friend who is a Green Arrow fan and I want to get something for him for Christmas that is Arrow-oriented. What is the must-have book every GA fan should have?

• cosmetically redesigned versions of the heroes = giant titted nerd masturbation porn

• Why didn't you start a new three to ask that question, r131? Why did you bump a long-dead thread?

• R131 probably isn't a paying poster, so can't start a new thread, R133.

• R131, is he a fan of the TV Green Arrow or the comic Green Arrow? They are two different things. If it's the former, there's a new comic based directly on the TV series -- I think it's up to four or five issues now. If it's the latter, GA's most iconic book may be The Longbow Hunter by writer/artist Mike Grell, the man most associated with the character. Kevin Smith's short stint also has its fans. Keep in mind that neither of these have much to do with the TV series nor the current incarnation of the comics character.

  http://www.amazon.com/Green-Arrow-Longbow-Hunter-Graphic/dp/1401238629

• Thanks, r135. I'm not a paying member, so I searched for a DC comics thread to post my query. I'm also not a comic book fan so I have no idea what is what. My friend is a fan of both the show and the comic book, so your suggestions and tidbits are helpful - thanks, again!

  r131