(no subject)

[thelostmaximoff]

It's become apparent that I should give my thoughts on the DC reboot thing that's going down in September.


To be fair, I don't read that many mainstream DC books. Off the top of my head, I only read Secret Six, Red Robin, Zatanna, and Batman:Streets of Gotham. I'm going to get back into Teen Titans once the trade comes out where they start having the good team again. So that's four books of DC I actually read with an extra one that I will pick up soon. So what are my thoughts on the DC relaunch coming in September?

First off, if you're looking for me to talk about Flashpoint or how I think it will end, stop reading. I don't read Flash, I don't follow Flash, I really don't care about Flash. I care about Flash even less now that we have Barry Allan back for absolutely no reason and whoever introduced time-travel into the Flash mythos is a person I want to punch in the face. So no, I have no clue what's going on with Flashpoint and how it will cause this gigantic reboot of the entire DCU.

From a company standpoint, I guess this had to be done. To be honest, I'd like to see DC go for a good length of time without hitting the reset button. I know they said they were done with Crisis stuff but Flashpoint just looks like a way to cheat that. However, Marvel could maybe take a lesson from their Distinguished Competition and maybe do their own universal reboot. It really comes down to this for me. On the DC hand, you have a universe where nothing ever really changes because they just stretch the rubber-band and then snap it back into place after a few years. On the Marvel hand, you have a company taking risks with their continuity and their characters but I don't think it's had any really positive outcomes. So it's the company that never really changes against the one that seemingly always changes for the worst. You decide.

So far, I'm not liking what I'm seeing of this relaunch/reboot. Hal Jordan will probably continue being Green Lantern, I'm sure Barry will be our Flash, and it looks like the new Batgirl is Barbara Gordon. Anybody noticing a trend here? Yes, it seems that everything is going back to "normal" in the DCU. Now that's fine because it means I get Bruce Wayne as Batman again and I don't have to deal with this Batman Inc. nonsense but what about everything else? I don't really want to revisit the Silver Age, DC. I wasn't even born then and I have no emotional attachment to those characters. Geoff Johns, I love you but I don't give a crap about Hal Jordan and Barry Allan. I know you and the rest of the folks at DC think they're super-freakin'-awesome but I don't. I don't want Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl. This is not the Silver Age anymore, DC. This is twenty-freakin'-eleven and yet it feels like you just want to erase the last ten or fifteen years of your company. Where's Tim Drake? Where's Cass Cain? Where's Kon-El or Cassie Sandsmark or Bart Allan? Are they going to be the Teen Titans or are we going to have Dick, Roy, Donna, and whoever else squish themselves into their old gear, get the band back together, and party like it's the Wolfman/Perez run all over again? If you didn't like stuff about your continuity then why let those things happen in the first place? Why screw everything up only to "fix" it a year or two later?

And on a final note, for the love of God keep Secret Six going and keep Gail Simone on that book. Seriously, DC, don't fuck this up.

Comments

[angel-gidget.livejournal.com]

So apparently... good news is that Tim, Kon, Cassie, and Bart are all gonna be the main characters in the rebooted Teen Titans book. The bad news is their entire history is gonna get re-written with new frickin' origin stories of how they even met. The weird news... is that they all get new costumes that make them look like they're in a 90's punk band.

So... yeah.

[thelostmaximoff.livejournal.com]

Okay I just googled it and found the cover. Tim and Bart look pretty cool (I especially love Tim's cape) and Kon looks okay. Cassie looks kinda terrible though. I assume the girl made out of the black stuff is Raven and I don't know who/what the other character is. Ugh, this looks like a really bad idea. I'm both tempted and afraid to go find out the status of Secret Six now.

[angel-gidget.livejournal.com]

I can handle the costumes. I think, for the most part, they actually look pretty cool (if not entirely true to character--I think the only one that succeeds at that is Kon's). But the blurb that goes with the cover disturbs me. Tim being a tech geek (not bad in itself, but he' so much more.), Cassie being a rogue, Kon's involvement not even being mentioned... Bart apparently, is the one with his personality most intact and yet, he looks like Wally.

I keep thinking "Oh, this is kind of like that one storyline--World Without Young Justice. Cool." And then I remember that it' all supposed to be permanent. -__-

[thelostmaximoff.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it feels like they kinda just erased the past ten or fifteen years of continuity. Now that could be good because there are definitely things I would like to forget (like Tim losing pretty much every person he's ever cared about, for example) but is that really necessary? To me it feels like this is Spider-Man: Brand New Day only for the entire universe instead of just a small corner of it. I don't think BND was very successful and I think this will be even less successful.

[angel-gidget.livejournal.com]

Thing is, I got used to the tragedy and I enjoyed the angst. I liked the people the YJ crew had grown into. I love current Tim who can be so hard to contact and yet gives ridiculously long hugs because he's just so grateful his friends are alive. I love Cassie who is so determined, but is a very vulnerable leader who questions herself from time to time. I love how Bart is still a little zany, but houses the entire San Francisco library in his head and tries to be smart about trapping the bad guys as best he can. I love how Kon still makes smart remarks, but on the whole, has become a very kind and supportive friend, obsessed with making lists that compare Superman-like things with Lex Luthor-like things.

And I love the relationships that have developed as result. I completely adored that four-way Marcus To-drawn group hug from Teen Titans. I was really, really looking forward to more of that. At least, the possibility of it. And now...

I know I'll survive, but it's just so incredibly frustrating. I know DC MUST have put a ton of thought into this, but it really doesn't feel like they did.