Speculation has been flying since the announcement of what fans have affectionately dubbed the “DCNu.” Who is going to be writing Batman? Who will be illustrating Action Comics? Are they the best fit? What seems to be forgotten by the casual fan, though, is the role or editorial in all of this. What “rules” are there going to be for the DCNu? Even more importantly, what rules should there be? In my opinion, there’s only one rule that needs to be set, but I steadfastly believe that it’s a necessity. Of course, you’ll have to follow the cut to see what it is.
Back when DC first announced their relaunch – and before that, when the idea was just a rumor – all sorts of ideas were circling around, such as the possibility that DC was performing a flat-out reboot, completely starting their universe over. Fans were outraged at this prospect, claiming it to be disrespectful to the stories that came before. Since then, of course, DC has been quick to emphasize that this is a relaunch, not a reboot. Nevertheless, this marks the first point that needs to be made: no matter whether or not a certain great story is canon, continually referenced, or anything else like that, it will still continue to be a great story. This is nothing new, and plenty of other people have said it before me, but there remain plenty of people out there who don’t understand this. Write this down, we’ll be coming back to it later.
Now, probably the number one reason a lot of my friends are hesitant to get into mainstream superhero comics (from either DC or Marvel, really) is the lengthy history behind each universe. I’m sure everyone has heard that reasoning before, and let’s be honest: it’s completely understandable. When I look at the decades of history and the multiple intertwining titles behind every major superhero, it make me wonder how drunk I had to be when I decided “yeah, I can deal with this.” Sure, many fans will be quick to point out “Oh, but we have sites like Wikipedia now, so it’s easy to just do a bit of research and then pick up whatever title you like.” Which, admittedly, is true. However, there’s no reason why anyone should have to do that sort of research. There are many writers who are good about this: they make sure to give you everything that you need, so that – so long as you follow their whole run – you should be able to understand what’s going on, even if you’ve never read a cape comic before in your life. Unfortunately, there are just as many writers who rely on the audience’s prior knowledge in order to make their stories “work,” and that’s just bad for business.
This is why a full-fledged reboot really wouldn’t have been a bad idea. By starting from scratch, DC could ignore the messy tangles of continuity and start with a blank slate, thus insuring that the new readers that their host of #1s that will hopefully attract new readers would keep them (providing, of course, that the stories were good enough). Rather than a reboot, though, it looks like Flashpoint‘s effect on the DCU will be similar to that of Crisis on Infinite Earths or Zero Hour, in that it will pick up where DC left off, with some things being changed around. And that’s fine, too, but it does create some problems. Since these two reality-altering events, plenty of comics have had to be described in a manner similar to the following: “Well, to fully get it what’s going on, you should read this Justice League comic from the 70s. Only, remember that Wonder Woman wasn’t actually on the team at that time, even though she’s in that comic. Oh, and that alien was from a different planet from the one he says he’s from. Got it?” No wonder new readers are scared of picking up a new comic, eh?
So, that one rule I mentioned earlier? Simple. Editors: the moment that a writer puts anything in their comic that requires reading anything prior to the relaunch, you say “no.” I’m not saying, of course, that the past can’t be referenced, but if the writer needs to rely on a previous story for what they’re doing, then they have to provide enough information within that comic so that someone who jumped on at the relaunch will be able to get it just fine. If they can’t do it, then they can’t write that story. It’s that simple. A last page cliffhanger that only has emotional resonance if you read that one mini from 1995 that explored a certain two characters’ relationship? No way. If DC comics once again go back to the way things were, they’re going to lose the fans that this relaunch should hopefully bring in, and as a fan of the DCU, I don’t want to see that happen. And I’m not just talking about the first three years of the DCNu. This needs to be how things are from now on.
Remember: the moment that DC allows writers to go back to the lazy storytelling method of relying on fan familiarity is the day that the DC relaunch fails.
