RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books DC resets the numbering on every comic after Flashpoint

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/31/flashpost-the-issue-one-renumbering-of-the-dc-universe/

hmmmm....If that's the case,you'd almost have to wonder what's the incentive to pick up any regular ongoing DC book until then.Also......there will be much bitching and gnashing of teeth and I do believe a fair amount of fans will walk away from DC and comics altogether.

There is a lot of news about this coming out still and nothing is saying it will be a full reboot but I'm assuming the last remaining issues before the reboot will have some sort of finality to them to keep people buying them. Maybe all the comics will come to some sort of logical ending?

Its looking like this will be DC's "ultimate Universe" but without the original universe.

My favorite rumor going around is that DC lost their legal fight involving Superman and his new origin won't involve anything that they don't own anymore.

Before today some people were assuming that DC will lose all right to Superman by the end of this year and they were going to cut him out entirely.

Emphasis added.



But wasn't the whole point of 52, etc., that the multiverse still exists? Therefore, the "original" universe will still be there, just waiting for the next silver age fan wankster to come along.

I'm not reading any DC books now except for Vertigo and the occasional mini-series or graphic novel. This is unlikely to get me back.

With all the talk about "The Dark," I hope that each series doesn't end with some silly fade to black a la the fade to white entropy wall that consumed the final pages of each series going into the conclusion of Zero Hour. I hope but, I wouldn't put it past them.

USAToday article here. Looks like Superman and WW are getting new costumes.

Supes' looks pretty similar to that Wizard "Ultimate DC" design from 2003.

Prediction: Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman will be rebooted to be more like, respectively, Snyder's film, Reynolds' movie and the aborted David E. Kelley TV pilot.

Batman still won't be rebooted to reflect the Nolanverse even though everybody on earth recognizes that as the best version of Batman since, at least Dini-Timm.

52 new ongoing series. Digital and paper comics same day release. Some white people might become non-white people.

Some sites are claiming this will be a "full reboot" but how are comics like Justice League explained then? Don't they need to go through everyone's origin before they start forming teams?

If it wipes away the last oh.....10 years or so of "meh" Superman that I've read then I'm all for it.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/31/flashpost-the-hooking-up-of-superman-and-wonder-woman/

The simplest way around that (and one that used to be used a lot in comics) would be to have each book start with the heroes already established and then flash back to the "new" origins.

This is actually the least surprising news of all, if true, especially with Snyder's movie (itself a reboot) coming out.

Has Superman even been with Lois? He lived on New Krypton for a while than after that he left home to walk around the country. I don't know how much time that took up in DCU time,but it seems like he's never home.

Yep. Save some bucks than at least try the new stuff.

The Superman-Lois marriage (unlike the Spidey-MJ marriage) has never really worked. I'm really surprised it hasn't been retconned before now.

it all sounds like positive changes to me. maybe a bit unnecessary, but... in this microcosmic view of the intraweb, alone, there's more comic book related discussion in the past few hours than there has been in a few months.

new costumes is good. reworked stories is good. a more media-pleasing relation to other sources (superman more like smallville, batman more like begins) is good. new numbering and a true "jump on point" is good.

question is, who is it "good" for - and the answer is more than likely "not you guys." but, quite frankly, its time for the industry to say "fuck you guys." the majority of us will follow along, anyway. but comics are a dying breed - any chance to legitimately attract new blood is a good thing, and i think all of the above does so.

i'm actually very much looking forward to the digital comics thing ...the thing that makes me not-white or something. i haven't purchased a printed comic book in sometime, but i've been buying them through iTunes on occasion - starting with the classics (dark knight returns, long halloween, etc.) and eventually snagging the whole blackest night saga. and with no messy under-the-bed boxes or ads for x-ray specs!

Damnit, does this mean the Superman-Barda hardcore fuckfest is going to be retconned out of existence before we get to see it?!

perhaps.

but if my theory is correct, DC is actually saying superman and barda will fuck you

finally!

All of it means nothing if the price isn't right. As much as people bitch about comic nerd bitching, those same comic nerds are what have kept the print side of the business going. Until the business reverts back to the pre-speculator days of making comics on the cheap as a disposable, affordable media, they aren't going to be bringing in too many new readers. Only the nerds will pay $3+ for a funny book. You start pissing them off without attracting new readers, and you've fucked your business.

Modern and diverse=Silver Age. Good to know!

Based on that JLA image, I'd guess "modern and diverse" will mean hypIng b-list minority characters like Cyborg.

In terms of attracting new readers with a reboot, Ive got no problem with that. However, my suspicion is that DC won't fix the real problems: an over reliance on crossovers and events and overbearing attempts to homogenize the line for the sake of "branding", thereby stifling the creativity of most of the writers.

$3 feels like a lot for a book, i agree. but im not certain there's much of an argument about price when it comes to new fans. new fans aren't buying a dozen books every wednesday, so the difference between $1 and $3 isn't that great. and its the nerds who will pay $3/book that would also complain about the lackluster quality of a 99cent book. prometheus has already read them and hates them!

i think distribution is by far the more critical factor. and if DC continues to push the digital reach, as promised, well then we have a game. getting comics every wednesday on your iphone or android or tablet or PC is a fuckload more appealing than trying to find comic book guy's location (only to have the popular books already sold out).

theoretically, a larger digital distribution could also make the books more cost effective (no printing, no shipping, etc.) so its possible we'll see both problems resolved simultaneously.

that's not a fair statement - cyborg is the only b-lister in that group, which otherwise contains superman, wonder woman, batman, GL, the flash, and aquaman. who is a more appropriate 7th? martian manhunter is no more a-list; perhaps even less so, with cyborg featuring so prominently on a number of recent toons / shows, with a much wider appeal than any book hero.

i also think most of the characters got a nice little visual "kick". ww's costume, though classic, was unarguably outdated, and this one steps it up without seeming too cliche. superman got a few tweaks here and there, including a revised symbol, bigger collar, and maybe no red undies. and it could be the image, but he also appears to be smallville-aged, early 20s. batman finally looks to be going the dark knight / arkham asylum route, etc.



crossovers are annoying, but i think we can all agree they're typically only done for sales purposes. if DC can bring in new readers with new distribution and new approachable characters / stories, that could fix itself.

I do agree that digital distribution should bring that price down without printing/shipping costs tacked on. On the other hand, I don't see anyone outside of the existing comic nerdom paying $3 or more for about thirty pages. Magazines offer hundreds of pages in that glossy print for just a few dollars more, and they're dying out as well. Yes, nerds may whine about lower print quality; but, just as you said about their bitching about the current changes, they'll still buy the books. More likely, they'd wind up buying more all the while bitching about it. The lower price point, as I was point out, is how you get newer, younger audiences. I can see a world where Vertigo was printing $3 books on glossy and selling in comic shop only for the more mature readers while, at the same time, kids are picking up 99 cent a pop newsprint comics out of convince store or supermarket checkouts. With uber tech nerds such as yourself and many here just downloading the latest issues from the web every week without ever having to get out into the sun.

G-man just believes that Cyborg got in on Affirmative Action, that's why he's so pissed.

To clarify my point: In order to be more "diverse," DC has four choices: (a) create new minority characters from scratch; (b) replace existing heroes with minority characters in the same role (for example, what was attempted with Aqualad, the Atom and the Question); (c) retcon icons to be minorities; (d) hype the existing minority characters who are currently considered "b list."

Jeff thinks it might mean (b) or (c). I think it may mean (d). I base that on the fact that, instead of giving us a picture of the League with (for example) a John Stewart GL (argubly DC's most successful minority character due to JLU) or (for hypothetical example) a new, Asian, Aquaman we get Cyborg in the "Black Vulcan/Samarai/Apache Chief Superfriends slot."

Maybe I'll be wrong. However, very recent attempts at (b) didn't really succeed and the pic shows all of the icons as still be white so I don't except (c) [there's also the fact that DC would probably be hyping that more if if it were the case].

That leaves either creating new characters or hyping existing ones. Based on forty-plus years of comic book reading, my gut tells me that, between (a) and (d), (d) is more likely, especially in a world where most completely new characters tend to be creator-owned.





But the crossovers tend to appeal, not to the new reader, but to the fanboy market (which as you said is the market DC needs to stand up to make this work). And while those crossovers might gin up sales on some titles during the event, the overall sales of comic books continues to decline in the era of the crossover.

Oh, and I just bet that this "new" Cyborg won't sound black enough.

How black do you think he should sound?



Oh...

















Raccist!

I'll miss Secret Six and Batmorrison. Otherwise this is good.

I don't get most of the nerdrage, because most of the comics being published today have almost no relation to the ones from 15 years ago anyway, just like those had almost no relation to the ones that came out in 1980. They've been periodically rebooting these things since the 60's and they should keep doing it forever, even if doing so invalidates your erotic Nightwing fanfic.

How much are digital comics usually worth? Legal ones, I mean.

magazines offer more, but they're also bloated with ads. and their medium is dying because they can no longer sell the ads to keep up with their costs (to outpace the shrinking distribution because of the intrewebs ruling the earf).

$3 is only a 50% increase from where they were 20 years ago. i'd pay $3 for a morrison batman and robin, but not a brightest day issue, regardless of pages. i just don't think price is that large of a gamechanger, overall.

but i do agree the occasional cheap issue, or cheap title, could help pull in a different audience -- DC's 10 cent books (i believe that was bruce wayne fugitive kickoff?) sold a brazillion copies. hell, maybe all these new relaunches should feature a $1 first issue. a sampler platter! let audiences see the many varieties, then pay more for the ones that they like and want to stick with.

Which led to a crossover/multi-issue arc and few, if any, new readers sticking around(getting back to my point about how the crossovers are the biggest problem).

but the claim wasn't just for "diverse", it was to "modern[ize]". that's why i mentioned the core three; superman, batman, and wondie, all getting revised looks. also, "diverse" didn't just have to mean "make people different color", you rascist.



i don't disagree - the crossovers are spikes; an effort to bandaid the problem. my argument is that if DC is working on actually addressing the problem, they wont need the bandaids.

stop it. wait your turn.

yar. outside of renumbering, this is really no different than any of the previous reworks -- three of which just took place in the past 5 years or so. comics reinvent themselves by definition, almost as soon as a new writing team takes over. for all the gruff geoff johns gets, i actually like the way he takes all these cluttering past elements and streamlines them into something. maybe not something beautiful, or not always something well received -- but something.




typically similarly priced to the printed books. 99, 1.99, and 2.99. i've seen some in marvel land for 3.99, but that is poo. the digital stores (through iTunes / Comixology) also do occasional sales, like making all GL books 99 cents on earth day (cuz it's green, get it?!).

they're JUST starting to drop books on the same day they're available in print, too. usually only one or two, but its so cool to see.

and now, they're also adding more legacy books to the available library - even beyond the DKR and year one collections from the 80s, you can now get the first 25 issues of the 1940s batman

Hahaha. I was considering buying a lot of the upcoming #1s, but not if they're that expensive. This same-day revolution won't do much good if they don't drop those prices by at least half.

The only good reboot I can think of at the moment is to reboot the DC team into one that discontinues the annual/semi-annual reboots, period. Until then, I'm sticking to archives and back issues.

actually, i shouldn't have said that, because i don't really know what the printed books cost. i just assumed. here's some of this week's books and prices:

authority volume 2, #4 - 1.99
batman 13 - batman 25; 1.99
batman and robin 16 - 1.99
batman arkham city 2 - 0.99
brightest day 21 - 1.99
birds of prey 121 - 1.99
flash 12 - 1.99
gotham central - 1.99
preacher 50 - 2.99
super 8 #1 - free
superboy 74 - 1.99
tomorrow stories 10 - 0.99