The DC Reboot: My (Belated) Thoughts

On August 31st, DC finally ended their 75+ year continuity and started anew. Every character was redesigned, some given a new back story, and all of them given collars.

Even Wonder Woman, somehow.

While some saw this as a radical step, I was curious to see where this went. There is no debating the fact that DC's continuity is almost impenetrable to the casual reader, but was it necessary to just wipe the slate totally clean? More importantly, are the new stories worthy of the DC name? Read on to find out!

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before, since I don't really follow comics on the internet, but a massive reboot of the DC universe is not unprecedented.

Precedent.

But this was different. DC was starting completely new, changing histories, back stories, and some events that happened. This is what has most fans so riled up; the idea that everything they've read so far "doesn't count" anymore, that none of it happened. This is the same problem Star Trek fans had with the 2009 film. 

But it's not like the DC secret police are going from comic shop to comic shop burning all of the pre-reboot comics. They are still all there, on the shelves, ready to be read. To say that the reboot invalidates decades of story is absurd. Nothing will ever erase the stories that have already come before it. 

That said, DC's approach to the reboot has not been the best. In their attempt to sell everyone on the fact that this new universe has less baggage and is therefore easier to get into, DC has neglected to give a straightforward response on what actually did and didn't happen in this new timeline. It's actually a little harder for long time readers to get into this new universe than new readers because we have to now sort out what we remember happened before the reboot and stayed from what happened but is now changed, and from what never happened at all.

Here is a good example. Green Lantern picks up EXACTLY where it left off before the reboot, meaning that everything that happened with the Sinestro Corp, the new Lanterns, Blackest Night, and the Green Lantern Corp War must have all happened in the reboot timeline as well. In Green Lantern: New Guardians, we also see that the Guardians of the Universe were still wiped out by Parallax, so Hal Must have gone crazy, died, and was reborn at one point. Over in the Batman universe, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again, although she was still shot and had to be in a wheelchair for a few years. Keep in mind all of this has supposedly only happened in the past 5 years.

What I think DC needs to do is release some kind of companion or miniseries that details the history of this new universe. Something like the recent miniseries DC Universe: Legacies comes to mind, which told the story of the DC universe from start to present day in 10 issues. It doesn't have to be detailed, which would limit creative freedom, but should lay out some basic history, maybe in some kind of narrative format. 

Or, perhaps a simple flowchart.

But what do I think about the stories, the whole reason I read comics? Overall, I think they're pretty good. Weird choices for ongoing series' aside (Voodoo? Red Lanterns? NO BOOSTER GOLD?!), I've been pretty pleased with most of the series I've picked up. 

Ah, I guess this will have to do. You know, for a character called Booster GOLD,
there isn't much gold on his new costume....

I was going to post some of my favorites here, but this post is getting rather long, so I'll save it for another day. Suffice it to say, as was before the reboot, there are series you are going to like, series you are going to hate, and some you won't care about. But as I said before, most of the stories are pretty good, and I haven't been this excited about Wednesdays in a long time. 

I guess why I'm so accepting of the reboot is because I only started getting into comics about 5 years ago. I still remember what it was like, as a new reader, trying to penetrate such an established universe with so many years of history. At first, I stuck mainly with Marvel, as their history wasn't as complex, and I still read their stuff today. As I delved deeper into the rich history of DC though, I found it to be more rewarding, and today I prefer it over Marvel. All I can hope DC does is remember their past, but look to the future, and create a new, but equally rich history. 

Was the reboot necessary? Perhaps. Comic sales are nowhere near where they were in the 90's, and I'd rather have a rebooted universe than no universe at all. Could they have launched their own "Ultimate" universe, a la Marvel? Again, maybe, but that doesn't really address the problems they had with the complex continuity in the first place. Besides, they already did try that with the "All-Star" line, but I guess it didn't really take off.

Amazing how one line could be both horribly out of character,
and yet perfectly fitting at the same time.

In the end, I guess it depends on how open-minded you are. They are still the characters you know and love, just modified and updated. You still get the same quality stories by the same writers that have been creating the DC universe for years. Having 52 new series means you have plenty of different stories, even though half of them (Ok, only 11) may be Batman titles. I say give it a try, pick up a book you wouldn't normally read, and see where it takes you. You may even come to like this new universe better.

From now on, I'll try to do comic related posts on Wednesdays, be it recommendations on books out this week, thoughts on past stories, or comics news in general. Stay tuned for later this week, though, as John and I will be attending New York Comic Con. We'll post daily thoughts and photos on whats going on in comics, gaming, television, and movies. See you then!