I know there are already a few threads devoted to the upcoming DC reboot-that's-not-a-reboot-but-actually-is. But anyone who knows me from my usual AFi hunting ground(aka, Mattel-All) knows that I take beating a dead horse to an entirely whole new level(i.e. my endless supply of JLU Holiday Hal Jordan action figure rants, raves, and threads)

So I had to vent in a thread all my own.

DC Comics has lost me as a customer. Or, more to the point, they will lose me. On the day when the New 52 renumbered titles hit comic shops and online outlets, I will be finished. As it is right now, I only buy and read a whopping five comic titles: Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, The Flash, and Flashpoint. I used to buy Star Wars: Legacy, but Dark Horse ended it. I don't read Marvel any longer(a rant for another day, perhaps) I don't read what passes for independent comics either. Years and years of buying, collecting, reading, and enjoying comic books has been distilled down to these five or so titles I collect and enjoy. I have a lifelong love of all comics in general. I can pretty much recite Marvel's and DC's entire fictional histories as if I had lived the stories instead of reading them. I really do love it all.

In the last few years I've evolved(or de-evolved, depending on your personal point of view) into a 'DC Guy'. So, when this 'reboot' was announced, I was initially indifferent. Renumbered issues? Meh. Seen that, been there. But the more I think about it, the more it's been irking me. It's a media attention grabbing move, a money grab, and a gigantic arbitrary shake-up of unprecedented proportions.

It's New Coke all over again.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, go look it up. DC, why mess with a good thing? Slapping a '#1' on an issue of Green Lantern(for example) is a stunt, with no meaning or motive other than to say to Customer X, 'Hey, it's a first issue. Buy me!' And Geoff Johns should really know better. Here's a guy who happens to have earned the title of 'Howard the Duck's all-time favorite comic book writer', and he's pretty much responsible for cherry picking the entirety of DC's comic book history for the sake of new number ones and retcons. Have you read his work on Green Lantern? Or his Flash? Justice Society? They're fantastic. He's taken into account ALL of their collective past stories, good and bad, and managed to spin gold from sometimes lesser materials. On top of this, he did so without throwing away or ignoring or cherry picking previously established continuity.

This is no longer the case. Sure, I can be 'going off' without a clue here. And yes, I haven't read a single page of the relaunched titles, so how can I judge them? But see, here's the thing: Check back with the DCU a year after the relaunch/reboot/retcon has taken place, and the DCU as we all know it will be in a shambles. Titles will have been cancelled left and right when they don't hit certain sales criteria. Entire character histories will have been neatly trimmed and thrown away, while other characters will no longer exist. I'll have a chance to actually buy the first twelve issues of 'Detective Comics' from a comic book retailer for a mere pittance of what it would cost me to buy them as of this writing. I should never be able to purchase a copy of Detective Comics #1. Follow me? I didn't invest my time and interest in DC Comics and it's characters for decades just to hit the year 2011 and have it all chewed up, spit out, and reconstituted into 'Ultimate DC Comics'.

One year from the start of it all, we'll all be looking back, wanting to read and enjoy a DC Universe that was never tampered with. A DC Universe that wasn't infested with artificial degenerate mish-mashed cloned shades of what once was.

We will all want our original classic Coca-Cola back, after drinking the swill that was New Coke. DC's reboot is New Coke, and this time around, I won't even taste a drop of it.

We will all want our original classic DC Universe back, after reading the needless and unnecessary reconstituted product that was the DC Reboot/Relaunch.

Maybe.

Or it could be very successful. All I know is they actually have me buying a few more books than I was before. Some good is coming from this. Nightwing back, Aquaman in his own title, most of the Big 7 back in the Justice League, and Barbara back as the one and only Batgirl, for example.

I'm actually kinda excited about this.

Either way, I think you are right in that a year or so, we'll know whether it was a success or a flop.

I'm in the minority in general cause I don't see the soft reboot as being that big a deal. Will the stories be good or not? Some will, some won't--just like every other era of DC comics. I'm not saying this publicity stunt is gonna work out for DC (it sure seems like it's alienated the majority of DC fans), but I think the general negative reaction to it is way too premature. I'm actually excited to read a bunch of the new titles, and what if the creative teams do a really good job on most of the books? There could be some great stories.

And Howard, your particular rant makes even less sense to me than some of the others I've read because of this:

You mainly just read GL titles, and the GL universe isn't being rebooted. So you're going to drop the books you like because they changed some DC continuity in other books you weren't reading anyway? It just doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't seem like you should be worked up at all--just keep reading your GL books, and now there will be 4 of them instead of 3.

Even though I don't read a good many DC titles, I'm worried for the ones that I do read. I always saw the DC Universe as a whole, not multiple little windows into the same universe. If you start to pull threads out of a sweater, sooner or later the entire sweater will unravel. Past continuity does mean a lot to me, and I fear that even the Green Lantern titles will 'suffer' because of it all.

Well, the only way to know that will be to read them and see what happens. (I guess you're saying you're already convinced that you won't like what they come up with--I think there are lots of people that feel the same way, I'm just gonna wait until I read the books).

This is SO right on the money it needs to be repeated.
Green Lantern and Batman stories are not being rebooted.
I would also bet that Flash moves forward from Flash Rebirth and the current Flash series.
And then there is Aquaman. Geoff Johns set up the basis for this series in Brightest Day. I doubt he is going to throw away his plans for Aquaman that he laid out so carefully.

I don't think that the Bat books will be untouched by the revamp. After all, Dick's gonna be Nightwing again and some how Barbara ends up at Batgirl again (really curious how that happens, probably something lame like Flash undoing everything Reverse Flash did and deciding to do a few extra good deeds like stopping Joker that night).

If there's one aspect of the reboot that I don't like and agree with the negative reaction/pre-judgement, it's the Barbara Gordon stuff. The Oracle character just seems too important to me for them to pull a switcheroo on. It also seems to work against their stated goals for diversity. And since they are saying that the Killing Joke story did happen, it's probably going to take something goofy or silly to make her Batgirl again.

I like Oracle, but I like the original Batgirl more. There's nothing that prevents her from doing all the Oracle stuff and then going out there and kicking ass when she needs to.

And as far as fixing her, it's a non-issue. With all the tech floating around in the DCU, you can't tell me STAR labs or Waynetech can't devise a solution for a spinal injury.

Considering that Bane DID break Bruce Wayne's back and all he had to do was convalesce for a few weeks, I think Barbara could go back to being Batgirl.

The point isn't that comics can't play fast and loose with major changes, the point is that Oracle had a rich and unique characterization, that was pretty widely enjoyed. Oracle was a major character with a very specific back story, and yes, at any point that could have been changed, but they chose not to, for a long time, for a reason--she was a great character with some depth. Making Superman younger is a change, but changing Barbara Gordon from one physical state to another is something else. At least that's my take. And it's certainly true that as Oracle she was a very unique hero, and I've already read comments by people in wheelchairs who found some inspiration in the Oracle character.

When it comes down to it the reason it bugs me is because I really liked what they did with her as Oracle, and I feel connected to that version of Barbara Gordon. It's OK though, cause there are plenty of Oracle stories I can still re-read, or read for the first time if I need an Oracle fix.

Here's the part of the Oracle thing that bothers me ....

If the ENTIRE DCU is going back to a younger, earlier, less experienced version of itself, how in the hell is Barbara keeping her history intact and is now back in the guise of Batgirl due to rehab and physical therapy?!?!?!?!?!?!?

So, we're starting #1 off with a big huge continuity flub and that is the selling point?!?!

...

That's a good point! How can the entire DCU have selective rebooting? Sure, JLA and something else I don't remember are set 'in the past as it were, but how can DC embrace it's established history while rejecting a lot of it at the same time?

I'm not a fan of this. I am however interested in the Vertigo/ DC Universe intergration and like seeing John Constantine back in the mainstream DC Universe. My one gripe and this is superficial but I can't help it... I want the classic Wonder Woman costume back! I want Superman's costume back... a reboot is something I can handle... DC is all about changing up their universe but I have to look at these characters and like most superhero costumes, you can change a thing or two but Wonder Woman's change too much. Wasn't even a fan of the temporal crisis in her book that is about to wrap up by JMS.

My issue is I like Babs as Oracle as Batgirl, I liked the secret six-- I liked Gotham City Sirens-- until they just killed the whole vibe of the comic the last 3 issues.. I liked Red Robin, I liked Dick as batman, and I was even starting to like Damian as Robin. I like the Birds of Prey-

Everything I liked and read in the DC UNiverse, is going to be completed changed and cast away-- and that is why I am dumping the books when they start up- I liked having 800 issues of batman stories and characterization (well except for Grant Morrison (I could deal with Batman INC. (as a concept mind you) the rest of his stuff is crap)..-

Maybe Ill read them a year from now when they hit the dollar bins-- but they have lost me as a paying monthly reader... I dont need to start all over-- its just a point I can go Cold Turkey (or at least dont buy them until a year later,secondhand)-- just like when IDW got GI Joe, or when EXcalibur was ended,-- I dont need comics I got plenty of other stuff to read. My only other question is what is happening with the KIDS DC titles-- since those are some of their better books out there..