Some might say that the fan reactions are what matter most. While I will guess all the screaming and chanting on the internet will change nothing of what DC is planning (remember, you vote with your dollar), it’s important to see what people are saying to the upcoming relaunch.
With that in mind, I put a note on the MC Twitter (@multiversitycom) and tumblr (multiversitycomics.tumblr.com) asking people interested in chatting about the relaunch – with opinions from all spectrums – to talk to me about the changes.
This is that article.
Click beyond the cut for reactions from every day normal comic buying folk.
For starters, we have Joshua Baker. Josh has been reading comics more heavily since about 2005, who is mainly a Marvel reader outside of a few select DC titles. In regards to the DC relaunch, Josh says,
To be honest my gut reaction was annoyance with the whole thing but the more I thought about it the better I think this is. I feel DC has sort of gone off the tracks after Final Crisis, despite my love of Johns and Morrison, and looking at my own situation of getting into reading due to New Avengers 1 I think this restart plan is kinda brilliant. Of course, it all comes down to execution.
A friend of mine told me once, “I don’t reintroduce myself, explain my education experience, and constantly relive a car crash I was in everyday when I see you… I don’t want my comics to do that either.”
Josh essentially feels that the relaunch is fine, as long as it doesn’t end up disrespecting the major events that came before. Josh also noted being interested in the new Justice League book already, saying that if the new books are sufficiently entertaining he’d be willing to go back further.
Next we have Ryan Coons. Ryan is a self described Marvel guy (except for Batman), who is looking forward to being able to read characters he’s not previously familiar with. Ryan writes,
I do think it is a good thing. With a few reservations. The first being the “Start from scratch” problem where they totally throw everything out beforehand. I know from One More Day that wiping years of story off the map will piss pretty much everyone off. The second being the onslaught of “Collectors polly-bagged variant holofoils editions” of the comics to take advantage of the new #1 and tricking non-readers into grabbing them up.
But, if done correctly, it can be a great way to get current readers who are intimidated by the DC continuity to get their toes wet.
While having his reservations, Ryan mainly doesn’t want a “blank slate” mentality to mean the removal of years of character development to any particular character/franchise. As he says, there has to be a reconciliation between the two extremes. Ryan also adds that he is currently not reading Flashpoint, but given the recent announcement is more inclined to take a look. He’ll also be mostly waiting to see what is recommended in the relaunch before buying new titles, but has interest in the Flash, Supergirl, Teen Titans, and wherever Red Robin ends up.
Next we have J. Nicolosi. He is excited for the changes, but hesitant about the “younger/changed origins” element, saying it’s too early to really make a definitive opinion. J. writes,
I read DC more than anything else… And it depends. If it’s the first issue involving characters that creative team is writing then it could be issue #527 for all I care. I look at storyline, creative team, characters, etc. With Green Lantern, I jumped on right after Sinestro Corps War. Was it number one? No. Did a lot of people jump on to see how all the different Lantern Corps turned out after #25? YES. It’s not a matter of issue number. It’s a matter of is this the first time this writer has done these characters?
J. doesn’t take any offense to DC gearing it’s franchises to new readers, saying that’s a misconception more than actuality. As long as good stories are there from creative teams he likes, J. will happily read them.
Continued belowMario A writes to us as well, expressing his concern for the changes.
My biggest concern regarding DC’s upcoming plans is that this is a potential step back. For years I’ve followed Geoff Johns’ work on Green Lantern and Grant Morrison’s work on Batman. Both of those writers have brought both of those franchises to new places and expanded their mythologies. Will all of this development be made as if it never happened? From a business viewpoint, it must have been a very difficult decision to make. DC must know that this decision could potentially alienate long time readers and fans, while bringing in new fans. Superhero movies are very popular and take in lots of money, but they don’t necessarily bring in new readers.
He adds that he’s unsure if it’s worth it to upset modern fans in favor of those who aren’t regularly reading comics. Mario doesn’t want to see continuity stepped on for the sake of a new generation of readers, though he does not believe this will invalidate all the stories he has enjoyed and loved. He’s also unsure if he will be checking out any of the new titles except for Justice League.
Betsy Brunnig contacts us as a generally new comic reader (three months old!) who is mainly reading DC, with emphasis on the Batfamily and some younger titles. She reads very few Marvel titles. Betsy writes,
I’ve got a certain measure of optimism – the idea of a clean slate is good, and I’d like to hope that they’ll take this and do some really great things with it. But at the same time, even though I’m new I’ve seen enough to determine that when DC wants to do dramatic deaths, they tend to pick female characters or characters or color, and I’m worried that they’ll do that again, considering that the vast majority of my favorite characters fall under one of those two umbrellas. I’d like to be a lot more optimistic than I am, but they’ve already set up a Justice League composed almost entirely of white males, with what it feels like is a token black character and a token female character. I’m especially worried about people like Cassandra Cain, who already got tossed aside for a while and has only just been brought back. I’m worried that they’ll retcon it so that Stephanie Brown was never Robin.
Betsy worries about DC’s track record with regressive storytelling and would rather that DC focuses on their more diverse cast as opposed to the regular staples that pander to the audiences of yesteryear.
Our next bit comes from Brian Salvatore, hope of the Enthusiast (of which myself and Mocle have appeared on before). Brian is exclusively a DC reader, only keeping up with Marvel via write-ups on the internet, noting budgetary constraints resulting in him only really reading the comics he loves. Brian writes,
I think it is a good idea if the goal is to bring in new readers. I know when i started re-reading comics a few years ago, i felt it was easier to pick up a series that only had a few collected trades, so i could “catch up.” (Even though i know it is ridiculous to think that just because Green Lantern #1 came out last decade i wasn’t still missing out on 50+ years of continuity). However, for readers like myself who purchase a good amount of titles already, it feels like certain books re-launching is just going to undo what i have invested time and money into. For instance, i am reading and enjoying Birds of Prey. Apparently Gail Simone is off that book – does that mean that the “Death of Oracle” story, which just wrapped, will be rendered useless? If so, why did i drop close to 15 bucks on that arc, only to have it un-matter a few months later?
He also clarifies that he doesn’t like Elseworlds-type stories, and what he wants is for stories to have impacts on the future, adding “What I love about comics is that when I started reading in 1987 (when I was 5), I picked up a story already in progress that will continue on (presumably) long after I’m dead. I like being along for that ride. If Oracle is suddenly re-introduced as the info guru for the DCU, I will feel like the stories I read have little to no meaning in the grand scheme of things.” He wants good stories as the main element, but doesn’t want already good stories to be replaced for a “new reader friendly” mentality. Brian notes that he wants continuity to remain in tact, even if there are some minor redesign changes as different writers and artists come on board. He also says that having websites perpetrate rumors (us included!) doesn’t necessarily help anything.
Continued belowYou can check out Brian’s podcast right here.
The next bit comes from webcomic aficionado and Multiversity favorite, Caanan Grail. Caanan notes that he is not a regular DC reader, but he’s still rather put off by all the changes. He writes,
We’ve seen one thing after another since the creation of DC Entertainment, focusing on streamlining, and elevating whichever character they think could star in the next Dark Knight. The focus has always seemed since the very emergence of this new entity, ‘How can we make comics into other media that MATTERS?’ That is to say, I think comics matter, of course. That’s not me. It’s just the impression that I get from the powers that be. If they’re not spinning movie/tv/merchandising money out of this supremely creative, yet marginalized, world of comics, then I fail to see the point for them. For Warner Brothers, I mean. Not DC. I’m sure the people in charge at DC love comics, and want to do their best, but they too have to answer to a higher power, and all this seems like that’s where it’s coming from. Spinning those merchandising wheels in perpetuity. It could be a good thing. It could be terrible. I’m certainly not one of those ‘Well that’s it. I give up on comics forever now.’ extremists I’ve seen all over the place already. I’ll be waiting and seeing before jumping up and down. It conserves energy that way.
I welcome change… But for change’s sake? Maybe not so much.
He hopes that at least a few of these relaunched titles will just be minis, rather than trying to make 52 new ongoings to oversaturate the market more than necessary. Canaan adds that he does like the Day-And-Date digital part of the announcement, although if the digital comics are still $2.99 then it’s kind of pointless.
Caanan also adds a very great idea to how to deal with all of this:
What I would love to see, is both Marvel and DC switching to, say, a Hellboy, or Atomic Robo, model of doing things – where they release mini-series after mini-series of #1’s with subtitles to them. That’d be kind of cool, and also more trade/bookstore friendly. Building them up until there’s a huge library of stand alone graphic novels that could be read in any order, and could interconnect once in a while for fun’s sake.
Looking at that on such a grandiose scale as Marvel and DC has is certainly an intriguing possibility of potential, and it’s one that Marvel and DC do occasionally take advantage of, if not very frequently.
For more of Caanan, please check out Max Overacts at Occasional Comics Disorder.
Our final bit comes from the eponymous Rokk of ComicBookRevolution.net, whose real name I will withhold. Rokk is a long time fan of comics who is focusing mainly on books that don’t belong to the Marvel and DC, with a lot of focus outside of the super hero genre and buying trades/hardcovers/digital comic books. Rokk writes,
There are two ways to view DC’s bombshell today. One, through a pure business perspective. From that viewpoint, DC is making the right decision. They have been drowning for years. Their sales numbers have been pathetic. Marvel has routinely pounded them in sales for years. The average age of comic book readers continually increases with each year. None of those are positive signs for long term growth and health of the company.
So, rebooting the DCU certainly would make every single title and their continuity very new reader friendly. This would also give DC the opportunity to inject more diversity and a more modern sensibility into their titles and characters. It would also open the door for DC to possibly make many of their titles more All Ages in order to draw in more younger readers. After all, for DC to survive over the long haul they absolutely must start pulling in younger readers and newer readers.
The decision to launch 52 #1 issues is a pure sales gimmick. But, the fact is that it is a sales gimmick that works. Does it work over the long haul? No. It only provides for a temporary sales boost. By the fourth issue, sales numbers usually regress back to where they were before the renumbering. But, this renumbering is different. It is also coming with a brand new DCU continuity. So, these #1 issues are a huge signal to new readers and younger readers that this is a brand new DC and this is the perfect time to jump aboard their comics.
The same day digital comics release is absolutely brilliant. I cannot praise DC enough for this bold move. I do believe that digital comics are the future. The iPad is a monster seller and soon Android tablets from other companies will eventually start selling well, too. With the proliferation of tablets, it only makes sense that publishers view digital comics as the format of the future. Digital comics afford DC to eliminate the middle man in Diamond Comics. Digital comics also eliminate printing costs as well. Cutting costs and eliminating the middle man means that DC can pass the savings on to the reader while still retaining a nice profit.
Of course, for these business moves to truly work for DC they probably need to go ahead and make an effort to put their comics back into convenience stores, grocery stores, newsstands, etc. Only selling their issues in speciality Local Comic Shops has seriously limited their reach and ability to connect to young readers and new readers.
Now, the second way to view DC’s news is from the perspective of a long-time DC reader. When looking at it from this viewpoint, I hate that DC is going to completely junk their continuity. I lived through Crisis on Infinite Earths back in the mid 1980’s. It sucked to see massive chunks of continuity discarded. The fact is that I just do not think that I can go through this a second time. Personally, I’m done with DC comics. I have no desire to have to suffer through yet another massive carpet bombing retcon.
I know it is stupid and silly to become attached to certain characters and stories. I know it is absolutely irrational and idiotic to become attached to continuity. But, I am a continuity fan. And I am attached to certain characters and stories. And nostalgia is a powerful force in comics. At least it is for me. So, do I relish seeing continuity that I love unceremoniously junked for the hope of newer readers? No. Not at all. And I realize that it is pathetic of me to say that. But, it is a completely irrational and visceral emotional response that I have to the news of DC junking their continuity. Again.
Now, the fact is that DC probably should not be focusing on me the older and long-time DC comics reader. They should be more concerned with younger readers and newer readers. If DC loses a few older and long-time readers like me but gains a ton of younger and newer readers then they made the right decision. I don’t have to like it. It is what it is. DC is betting on a future full of newer and younger readers. This is a bold, if not desperate, move by DC. It will either pay off royally for them or flame out spectacularly. We shall see.
If you participated in this article and feel that I have misrepresented you in any way with your quote, please e-mail me and let me know.
