When I first heard that DC Comics was going to reboot and revamp their entire universe. The comic book world was about to be rocked. Major news outlets picked up the story as DC Comics was going to change origins, scuttle long favored titles and reboot what might be comic books most consistent title. (Action Comics was going to end their current numbering system and begin with a #1) Writers and artists would be assigned to all 52 books. Titles would not be solicited until work was submitted for each title. And the crème de la crème was announced…co publisher Jim Lee and creative officer and writer extraordinaire Geoff Johns would be handling the flagship title Justice League. This would be a total rebooting of the League, with all the major JLA characters meeting for the first time under one single threat and their existence to the public only being 5 years old. (Yeah, Superman has been flying around Metropolis and Batman stalking the streets of Gotham for only the past 5 years) For the last 3 months, DC Comics has been riding the #1 spot in sales and market share, dethroning Marvel Comics from the top perch for the first time since Jesus walked on water. (Well it seems that long any way, more like since 2002) Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today and a bevy of news organizations covered this momentous event. The WB guys and gals must have been high fiveing up and down the office corridors. And why shouldn’t they? They deserved it, right? Everybody pulled together and did the unthinkable. So here we are, January 2012, four/five months in and Marvel has reclaimed the top spot in sales and market share, creative teams have been let go on several titles (Mr. Terrific, Superman, Static Shock) and the co publisher Jim Lee is coming off the Justice League book with issue #7. (Official word is his departure is temporary and was planned. He’s taking a break and will return in the future) You see, this is a perfect example of what is truly plaguing the DC Universe…not enough good writing. The crew there at DC probably had good intentions. Everything in life could use a good polishing from time to time. But the true crux of the problem is not that the company needed a major shake up, it needs better writers. Do you really think that changing a costume or changing a characters origin or having them wear hoodies means anything to the reader? The reader wants good stories. Gimmicks are great from time to time (Death Of Superman, Batman Knightfall) but give a reader good story telling and you have them hooked! It seems that both major companies have been feeding the “Frenzy Machine” the past several years. Fans have complained in the past about “to many deaths” and “to many event books”. When we here at Metamachine.net recently caught up with Co Publisher Dan DiDio at this years NYCC, (watch here…https://www.metalmachine.net/blog/2011/10/14/dan-didio-exclusive-from-the-floor-of-nycc/) Dan seemed to be genuinely excited and happy that this “relaunch” was pulled off. It seems like he felt that this would be a new era at DC Comics and the company was finally getting a foothold on their characters and streamlining them to appeal to a wider, younger audience. But as we are starting to see, some of that shine is starting to come off. Now, this isn’t to say that there wasn’t bound to be changes with an undertaking this enormous. I give the company some credit for trying to pull this massive reboot. I just don’t think it was needed. I have been reading comics for a long time (Won’t date myself) and I will say as a long time reader, what this change felt like to me was that I had invested so much time in reading some of these stories, especially in recent times (Blackest Night, Countdown, 52, War of The Green Lanterns) that I know feel as it was for naught. Why give us all that retelling of the Lanterns and the Oans just to say “Na, didn’t happen!” Why erase the rich history of The Teen Titans just to have Starfire be a dumb whore broad and Cyborg never being a Titan? What would be the purpose of that? Appealing to a new demographic is one thing…rebooting for the sake of rebooting is quite another.
George Perez and Marv Wolfman recently reunited after 20 years to finish the New Teen Titans graphic novel “Games”. This book published an untold story from the heyday of the DC Universe ,and featured the core team at its finest… and you know what, it was awesome. You know why it was awesome? Cause it was good writing. If DC Comics can find its way to hiring and recruiting more top notch writers besides Geoff Johns, then they can get this ship righted. Some have tired a bit on Grant Morrison. And Rob Liefeld? Well I’ll leave that one alone. Their is a ray of light on the horizon with talent like Jeff Lemire, Scott Snyder and Nick Spencer. Not to forget J.T. Krul. And Watchmen 2, or prequel or whatever you want to call it, really? I see things some what going back to the way they were in about 6 to 8 months. Marvel killing DC on the charts (not that really matters, except to the bean counters) titles being cancelled and an event book being announced. I mean really, did anyone really think that Jim Lee would actually be able to pull off 12 consecutive issues of Justice League?
