DCU Post-Flashpoint: A Personal Reaction
Jun. 12th, 2011 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewlineSo. The word's been out for a week or two now: DC's decided to reboot their line of titles, and officially they're telling everyone to not call it a reboot.
To which, as a reader-customer, I reply with "I call 'em as I see 'em." So this is "Grand Reboot IV". Especially seeing as a lot of stuff is being started over from scratch or cast aside altogether from the looks of it.
Most of you reading this know I've got a lot of investment in the DCU as it's evolved over the last three decades in particular. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths by Wolfman and Perez got me hooked. While it's been through some permutations thanks to the three previous "Grand Reboots" - starting with Crisis in 1985, and twice more in 1994 and 2005 - and a few add-ons here and there such as the characters from Charlton, Wildstorm, Milestone and the THUNDER Agents cast, it still worked out as mostly what I came to the party for.
Until now.
It looks like the Justice Society is getting tossed, ditto for Barbara Gordon's post-Batgirl career as Oracle, possibly the Lois-Clark marriage into the bargain as well.
To be fair to DC, they have to answer to Warner Bros. on a lot of things, and seeing as they do make a bit of coin converting the comics properties into TV or movie projects, Warner's rightly stepped up their interest in what I hope is seeing DC do well in its own right. I don't even have much of an issue with the Comixology digital distribution arrangement, although preferring paper editions for my comics reading wherever possible. There are possible eco-effects to consider in making that particular change, though, so it may be unfair to complain, however rational the complaint.
But again: my investment - multiple meanings of the noun in play here - is in the collection of characters, and stories that have been building up since 1985. And that now seems to have largely been deemed a corporate and/or creative Achilles heel. And so the reboot.
Extreme emotional discomfort is the result. Inevitable.
An admission: I am considering dropping the bulk of the DC line of titles come September.
I did this when Marvel made their "One More Day/Brand New Day" decision to retcon away Spider-Man's marriage a couple of years back. That editorial decision constituted a jump not merely over the shark, but rather down the shark's gullet. Sales reports collected from The Beat weblog seem to have been bearing that out over the past two years or more since then.
I fear similar consequences for DC here. I would prefer to continue reading the "DCU v.3.0" that I've been enjoying up to now, although I accept and respect that there are those who see the coming "DCU v.4.0" as something worthy of their time and money, and that creators whose work I've enjoyed and respected up to now have work tied into the new version of things. I don't want to see them lose honest work.
So...there it is.
What to do?
To which, as a reader-customer, I reply with "I call 'em as I see 'em." So this is "Grand Reboot IV". Especially seeing as a lot of stuff is being started over from scratch or cast aside altogether from the looks of it.
Most of you reading this know I've got a lot of investment in the DCU as it's evolved over the last three decades in particular. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths by Wolfman and Perez got me hooked. While it's been through some permutations thanks to the three previous "Grand Reboots" - starting with Crisis in 1985, and twice more in 1994 and 2005 - and a few add-ons here and there such as the characters from Charlton, Wildstorm, Milestone and the THUNDER Agents cast, it still worked out as mostly what I came to the party for.
Until now.
It looks like the Justice Society is getting tossed, ditto for Barbara Gordon's post-Batgirl career as Oracle, possibly the Lois-Clark marriage into the bargain as well.
To be fair to DC, they have to answer to Warner Bros. on a lot of things, and seeing as they do make a bit of coin converting the comics properties into TV or movie projects, Warner's rightly stepped up their interest in what I hope is seeing DC do well in its own right. I don't even have much of an issue with the Comixology digital distribution arrangement, although preferring paper editions for my comics reading wherever possible. There are possible eco-effects to consider in making that particular change, though, so it may be unfair to complain, however rational the complaint.
But again: my investment - multiple meanings of the noun in play here - is in the collection of characters, and stories that have been building up since 1985. And that now seems to have largely been deemed a corporate and/or creative Achilles heel. And so the reboot.
Extreme emotional discomfort is the result. Inevitable.
An admission: I am considering dropping the bulk of the DC line of titles come September.
I did this when Marvel made their "One More Day/Brand New Day" decision to retcon away Spider-Man's marriage a couple of years back. That editorial decision constituted a jump not merely over the shark, but rather down the shark's gullet. Sales reports collected from The Beat weblog seem to have been bearing that out over the past two years or more since then.
I fear similar consequences for DC here. I would prefer to continue reading the "DCU v.3.0" that I've been enjoying up to now, although I accept and respect that there are those who see the coming "DCU v.4.0" as something worthy of their time and money, and that creators whose work I've enjoyed and respected up to now have work tied into the new version of things. I don't want to see them lose honest work.
So...there it is.
What to do?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 01:32 pm (UTC)Buy the stories you like. If you can't find them among the Big Two, look elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 01:44 pm (UTC)By way of explanation:
Date: 2011-06-12 01:47 pm (UTC)DC Universe v.2 - 1956 to 1985
DC Universe v.3 - 1985 to 2011
DC Universe v.4 - 2011 to...?
We can probably further break down v.3 into "update versions".
Re: By way of explanation:
Date: 2011-06-12 02:01 pm (UTC)Re: By way of explanation:
Date: 2011-06-12 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 02:24 pm (UTC)So I think this will effectively be DCU v5.0.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-13 03:42 pm (UTC)Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this whole point. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 08:27 pm (UTC)i think of it this way: if all the new movies, etc, that's being put out there are mainly dipping into stories from the past, then I may as well stick to reading those original comics as well.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 09:31 pm (UTC)