On 31 May 2011, the day after I closed my comic store, DC Entertainment announced that they would be rebooting the entirety of the DC Universe, beginning on 31 August, with JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 — that comic will be written by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. This would be a result of the events that take place in this summer’s FLASHPOINT event, which sees the Reverse Flash travel back in time and change history.
It was also announced that beginning with JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, DC will make their comics available online for digital sales on the same day-and-date as physical copies.
Over 50 new character designs will debut in September 2011, most of which were handled by Superstar Artist Jim Lee. From the preview image released, the designs are more to streamline the outfits for a more modern appearance – For example, Superman’s red undies are gone, but he otherwise looks the same.
I can’t help but look at this from three different sets of eyes: As a fan, as a comics analyst, and as a retailer. So here are all three takes:
AS AN ANALYST:
This leaves a lot of nitpicky questions from comics fans about what it means for their favorite characters and storylines that came before this reboot. But here’s my take:
In five years, this will not matter.
I don’t mean to be one of those comic book cynics who goes around nay-saying the importance of comic storylines. But all this is doing is providing a jumping-on point for a potentially huge audience. And by the time all of these comics hit issue #50, we’ll be back to the status quo, which is that the creators will be coming up with the best stories they can to make sure that every DC fan is getting the most out of their $2.99 per issue.
All of the stories that happened before still happened, but they happened in a separate timeline. If you liked BLACKEST NIGHT, then you can continue to like it. If you liked THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS… well, that may or may not have been in continuity, anyways. And there’s my point.
DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is considered one of the greatest Batman stories of all time. But it never happened, according to the mainstream DC timeline. It MAY happen in the future, but it HAS NOT YET HAPPENED. The same can be said for KINGDOM COME. Heck, the entirety of the BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES did not happen in DC comic books! But that doesn’t matter, because they’re good stories.
A good story is a good story, regardless of whether it’s in continuity or not. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN may or may not be in continuity, depending upon whom you ask. But it’s still a damn good book.
And in five years, you’ll still have guys like Geoff Johns, J. Michael Straczynski, Chris Roberson, and Gail Simone writing great stories that will be illustrated by the likes of Jim Lee, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, and Ed Benes.
Plus, with the digital distribution deal, it will be easier than ever to keep up with your favorite DC characters. Disregarding the preference of a physical copy over monitor (because that’s a whole other argument that I don’t ever want to have again), if you just want to READ the stories, you’ll always be able to have access to them. Considering there are only 500 comic stores in the United States (15 of which are in the Phoenix, Arizona area… leaving less than 10 per every other state), this will open up an access channel to THOUSANDS of people who previously couldn’t read DC comics and participate in discussions about events as they happen.
Starting everything over with a #1 will make it even easier for the new audience. The sentence I would hear the absolute most with people who came into my store about beginning a new series was always, “I’m weird, and like to start each story from the very beginning” (let’s leave aside the fact that, seriously, 95% of the time, the words “I’m weird” were included, thus contradicting the definition of “weird.” But, I digress…). Hey, if you want to start at the beginning, it rarely gets much more beginning-ier than #1!
AS A RETAILER:
Man, this is a huge risk for DC, and I am SO GLAD I do not have to deal with it. Fifty-Two #1 issues all debuting within five weeks of each other. Even with their “Drawing the line at $2.99″ initiative, to collect the entire line would cost nearly $200 per month. Very few comics fans are willing to go that far with their collections. But, very few readers buy the entire line, so, fair enough.
But NO retailer wants to hear about fifty new #1s in a month. How do you even begin to order that? Well, we know JUSTICE LEAGUE has Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, two guys who guarantee a lot of sales, so order high on that one. And BATMAN usually sells pretty well, as does SUPERMAN. GREEN LANTERN has been selling very well, and has the movie coming out, so that title’s another safe bet. THE FLASH, WONDER WOMAN, and TEEN TITANS will probably be pretty safe to order kind of high on, too, for being amongst DC’s most recognizable properties.
But we don’t actually know what’s being released. I presume that there will be a new AQUAMAN title from this reboot, because he’s one of DC’s most recognizable characters, and he hasn’t had his own comic in over FIVE YEARS. What about ACTION COMICS and DETECTIVE COMICS? I’d say they were sure bets, but considering how long each had been running as an ancilliary title to Superman and Batman, respectively, anyways? Do they come back for the sake of tradition? Or do they just get the axe, even though they were both around issue 900?
And who’s to say that some creative team won’t totally take off on some lower-tier book. Maybe BOOSTER GOLD will suddenly become super-popular. Will CYBORG get his own title, now that he’s on the Justice League, and being positioned as a major player? Could J.H. Williams III’s BATWOMAN series finally come out, and will that be as awesome as the run Batwoman had in DETECTIVE COMICS? How about a title we haven’t really seen much of in a while, like the DOOM PATROL, or the METAL MEN? Might POWER GIRL get a resurgence as good as the Palmiotti/Gray/Conner run from last year? Will ANY of the books I just mentioned even exist? And if you’re a retailer, how do you prepare for ANY of this?
How will day-and-date digital sales affect comic stores? Will some of DC’s more tech-saavy readers consider this a good jumping-off point for the physical copies of their comics, to reduce clutter?
I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about this. And I’m sorry for all the comic retailers who do.
AS A FAN:
The term “MARVEL ZOMBIE” may best describe my comic-reading habits. While I’m not exclusively a Marvel reader, they do make up the majority of the comic titles I collect, monthly. In fact, it was only the #700 anniversary issues of BATMAN and SUPERMAN, as well as the #600 issue of WONDER WOMAN that got me on board with those books. FLASH #1 from last year gave me a reason to get in on that action, and I’m collecting Geoff Johns’ run on GREEN LANTERN in hardcover collections. Otherwise, the only DC books I collected were the 2009-2010 runs of POWER GIRL and BATWOMAN IN DETECTIVE COMICS. So there’s a part of me that figures this is a good way to get out before I get in any deeper.
But then there’s the part of me that realizes digital comics distribution absolutely is the way of the future. And if DC is going to make it this obvious to tell me where I should start reading their material, I almost may as well get on board at the same time as everybody else. A new start to a universe with characters I’m already semi-familiar with intrigues me greatly, and being able to check out 10-14 comics a month without even leaving my house is pretty appealing.
I do prefer to have physical copies, but I already have 10 longboxes full of comics. So going entirely digital sounds really good to me. And, again…A very well-defined jumping-on point makes it even more appealing to me.
DC’s September solicitations are scheduled to be released on June 15th, so I’ll take a look at what’s happening in a couple of weeks.
No matter what angle I’m looking at this from, though? It’s a VERY interesting story.