Crisis On Infinite Something Or Others

Another comic book nerd asked me what I think of the big reboot DC Comics has planned for September.

Honestly? It's been there done that.

This "reboot" sounds like what the original plan for CRISIS ON INFINTITE EARTHS was back in 1985. Before CRISIS, DC had multiple universes, and books took place mainly in one universe called Earth One, but some took plance on Earth Two, and there were tons of other universes and they'd cross over, etc. Then CRISIS wiped the slate, destroying all but one universe, and reset everything to the beginning. A fresh start, with all new #1 issues for the entire line, rebooted back to the beginning. That was the concept at least. Except, after CRISIS some titles kept their original numbering, and a lot of people both fan and creator were unsure of what was still in continuity and what wasn't. Given this statement...

"We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling.

Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once."

... it won't surprise me in the least to see the same thing that happened with CRISIS happen again here.

All the confusion over what was in or out of continuity led to books contridicting each other. In the mid-90's DC put out the ZERO HOUR mini-series to try to correct some things. This just made things worse. After that they pretty much left things alone until the last few years where we've seen attempts to undo CRISIS. There was INFINITE CRISIS, which was the biggest. That restored the multiverse concept, and acknowledged the original DC universe(s).

Of course, Superman, who was cleanly rebooted in 1986 with MAN OF STEEL, has had multiple contridictory origin reboots since then. In the last few years, his origin was retooled with the BIRTHRIGHT miniseries in 2003, before that version was tossed aside for the SECRET ORIGIN version in 2009.

This whole thing seems like DC going for their own version of Marvel's Ultimate line, which was an attempt at clean, fresh continuity with the characters restored to their basics. The difference is Marvel didn't supplant their original continuity with the Ultimate line. It was a side universe. One they've managed to mis-manage and run into the ground after a strong start, but that's a whole other issue.

I can't muster much nerd rage over this whole thing. Mainly because I've seen it before. Eventually, some creator who grew up on the post-CRISIS version of the characters will come into power and restore things. Just like the guys running DC now, who grew up in the pre-CRISIS era, were hellbent on returning the DCU to it's pre-CRISIS status quo (Barry Allen as the Flash, the Multiverse, etc) before deciding to re-re-re-reboot the whole thing.

Plus, aside from a few titles (some of the BATMAN line, SECRET SIX, TEEN TITANS), I don't read much of DC superhero books these days. Most of the stuff I read from them is from their Vertigo line. With those sorts of titles you mostly only have to worry about cancellation from low sales. A good chunk of the line is creator owned, and even on the DC-owned titles, you generally don't have to worry about another writer coming along and wiping out x amount of years worth of stories.

One big mis-step though, is by announcing this, DC are essentially telling you that the next few months worth of comics coming out from them probably aren't worth buying. After all, anything that happens between now and September won't have any sort of impact when the slate gets wiped in September, they won't really matter.

Ultimately, it's very simple. Don't like what they're doing? Just don't buy it. Or wait for the next reboot. No changes in super hero comics stick forever.

I do have to give DC a nod for being smart enough to move to day and date for their digital offerings. It's nice to see a company moving forward in that sense. Not sure what the pricing is. If it's as much or more than the printed comics, I think it's a mistake. If they can offer digital titles for $1 or less that's brilliant. After all, no printing costs, shipping costs (maybe bandwidth), storage costs (aside from hard drive) or retailer markup should make for a less expensive product. If they're charging the same amount (or more as a "premium") then that's a bit of a rip-off, at least in my opinion.

(Cross-posted with Mike's Box Of Awesome)