DC reboots their comics...again

[rocklobster]

Yep, it's another Zero Hour, Crisis, or whatever. So you know what that means: DC's rebooted again. I don't like this. Continuity is a necessary evil in comics. If they really want to keep us reading, they need to give us less crossovers. I think crossovers should really be rare.
Your thoughts?

[Atria35]

You can have continuity in crossovers! I just don't think comic books do it well (don't have continuity at all when it comes to crossovers). But I don't even bother at this point. There's so much backstory and retcons that go on that I'm tired of attempting to keep up with it all.

[rocklobster]

Crossovers used to be a rare thing. When DC did Crisis on Infinite Earths, they didn't do another crossover until a few years later, when they did Legends. There wasn't a big earth-shattering story until Superman "died". (and even that one only took place in the Superman books. The rest of the universe commented on it, but that's it.) Then Zero Hour came and rebooted all the continuity snarls left behind in Crisis.
Marvel was the same way. Then the 90s came along and both companies realized that crossovers made lots of money and did them without caring much about what we thought of the changes.
I'm with you, Atria. That's why I like DC's Vertigo imprint. No crossovers or retcons. Just great stories.

[Nate]

You kind of can't have a comics universe without crossovers. Seriously, Superman is kind of a big deal, y'know? There's no way that Superman isn't going to be well-known in the DC Universe. Same with most high-profile heroes.

Crossovers used to be a rare thing.

You don't read comics much do you? The Brave and the Bold, one of the most popular and famous crossover series, was published regularly for almost 30 years, from 1955 to 1983. That's not to mention the Justice League which started in 1960, and the Titans which started in 1964. Plus all the OTHER teams which are scattered. And this is just the DC universe, you've got Marvel's Avengers as well as stuff like X-Force for them.

[rocklobster]

By Crossover, I meant "earth-shattering event". Brave and the Bold never changed much, and I don't count teams of superheroes who had their own comics as "crossovers". Anyway, here's what Linkara said about the reboot. I totally agree with him:

And I guess what I'm most ticked off about is that this whole thing is, yet again, being done to capture this elusive "new reader" that they always want to get, despite them pulling this crap at least twice before now and FAILING AT IT.

When I was 12 or 13 years old, I had read some Nightwing comics my brother had because he was a fan of Nightwing from the Batman animated series. In one issue, he had a flashback to when he was a member of a team called the Teen Titans. I had never heard of this team before, but it intrigued me and made me want to learn more. When I was at a comic book store, looking for material to read on a trip up to a camp up in the woods for a four-day retreat made by my school, I saw "JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative." Since I wanted to know more about the Titans, I picked that up and that's how I started regularly reading comics. The book has tons and tons of heroes I had never heard of before and it was glorious because it made me want to learn more about them, to learn more about a history I had never thought existed.

THAT is the new reader you want to get, DC. You don't get new readers by pretending that nothing ever happened before. You get new readers by telling good stories and making them want to know more about the history. You EMBRACE your history, use it as the platform to tell good stories. You have it even easier these days with the internet and its bottomless pit of information about characters and storylines that anyone can look up and read more about.

[Psycho Molos]

What about Armageddon 2001? haven't seen that mentioned

[rocklobster]

Want to know something really sad? Action Comics, the first comic to feature Superman, was nearing its 1000th issue! That would've definitely become an instant collector's item, if only for the record books.

[SincerelyAnomymous]

They're copying the Ultimate Marvel comics in my opinion. The whole Ultimate Marvel comics gets rebooted, a month later, DC announce something similar.

[Cognitive Gear]

I'm wondering how much this has to do with the outcome of a certain legal battle over Superman.

DC has lost the rights to the iconic Superman costume, as well as his origin story. Looking at the new costume though, it doesn't seem as different as I would expect. I would have loved a well thought out redesign, as long as it avoided the grim-dark stereotypes that are so abundant these days.

[rocklobster]

Oh, so that's what's up? "We've lost Superman, sir! We must reboot!" Good thing Marvel employed Stan Lee. Hate to see them lose Spider-man.

[GrubbTheFragger]

They're copying the Ultimate Marvel comics in my opinion. The whole Ultimate Marvel comics gets rebooted, a month later, DC announce something similar.

After Ultimatum it needed it really bad.

[uc pseudonym]

The thing is, this is a soft reboot. Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Killing Joke, recent things like the Black Lanterns - all of that is still canon. It's not an Ultimates universe that will build new continuity. As far as I'm concerned, this makes it completely pointless. It won't make anything more accessible to new readers and changes like this don't do much for the average long term reader. Other than give them something else to discuss.

There's a reason the huge crossover events are becoming more and more common: they sell. The trade comic industry in the US is dying and so they keep repeating the tricks that work best.

[rocklobster]

And besides, Ultimate Marvel is a separate entity. It's there for people who don't want to get involved with the main continuity.