My current take on all of this:

Some posters to this forum have said in the past that they hoped that Disney would step in and force Marvel clean up their act. Better books might result from a more kid-oriented, Disney-esque approach. Others feared such a mandate would be handed down, destroying all that the House of Ideas had built since the days it decided eight-year-old readers were purely mythical constructs.

If this reboot is, in fact, an edict from on high at Time/ Warner that DC retool its product line to make its books attractive and accessible as downloadable content, then I begin to feel some hesitant stirrings of optimism.

Relaunching the books at the same time Time/ Warner pushes them as on-line content suggests, and I'll admit this is a leap, that the books, while not restarting from zero, will begin at a baseline point every potential customer can understand: Issue One. If someone is standing in line at the supermarket or waiting for a bus and decides to bring up the latest issue of Superman on their iPhone (Unlikely as that is, yes, I know) and enjoys what they read, how far back do they have to go to get the "whole story?" Only as far back as this reboot, theoretically.

It would be wise for editors, writers, everyone to treat this as blank slate. The Rainbow Corps are apparently still around (Johns is spearheading this, so of course the Rainbow Corps is still around...) but the comics featuring them should start from here, provide enough exposition to explain who they are, why they're in the space patrol business, and go no further than that. If they fall into the trap of referencing the Sinestro Wars and Blackest Night, predicating future stories on those specific events, "new" readers, the ones this relaunch is designed to attract, will be hopelessly lost. Unless DC includes special "Sinestro War" download packs for them to access, they will have no way of navigating these weirdo "comicbook" thingies they're looking at.

If DC keeps in mind that each book must be readable and open to newcomers, there's a chance, however slim, that Time/ Warner's efforts to turn the comics industry into a downloadable app might succeed. The price point is still too high. You can get major novels for your Kindle and Nook for what these comics cost. I have no idea how Time/Warner plans to promote this idea. They may initially rely upon web chatter and good wishes, but that will not go far, I suspect. Actually promoting their comics line as something old/ something new to fans of the movies & adult readers in places like Yahoo.com and USA Today Online might draw some awareness. Will kids think comics are cool if they can access them via their phones? Who knows? Probably not... but there is some hope that it could occur.

With the driving focus behind this relaunch being the web applications rather than the comic stores, I don't know that DC cares very much that the fans want their Damian Wayne/ Batman Inc. fix to keep coming. It would seem that their sights are elsewhere.

And here's where my cautious optimism goes off the rails: These same writers and editors haven't had the ability to produce comprehensible, stand-alone works for decades now. Writing for the App will likely prove an entirely different science than Writing for the Trade, and DC is being told to learn that science overnight. The current crop of cranky, bottle-fed superstars, with their hothouse flower temperments and "Do you want it fast or do you want it good?" sneers towards the customer base are not DC's best bet for success in this endeavor.

Still, if what's expected of them is as I posit above, and those expectations are made clear, the professional ones might rise to the occasion. As has become a popular saying around my house since the "Angels In the Outfield" remake, "It could happen."

If the stories that result from this are good, and readers get onboard, then everything works out. If not, well... Time/Warner gets to say they tried, as they padlock and chain the DC offices shut a final time...

It's a full on reboot. They're starting everything over, the marriage is OMD'd. And nothing's really getting an ending unless they found a way to get it done by July. Wondering why Batman Inc's had all the delays? Cause Grant's rewriting everything to do his best to wrap it all up by July, cause the book's not continuing!

The orders came from above Didio/Johns/Lee. The 3 of them plus Morrison have been trying to stop this for months but to no avail. I have no idea if Diane Nelson also came up with it, but I'm tending to think she did.

As to why this is happening?: Apparently the higher ups are sick of seeing Marvel constantly take the market share every month from DC and they're convinced this is how they're going to take the lead. There's talk of if this doesn't work TW going to more drastic measures but that's really a leap at this time so I won't repeat them yet.

But TW knows they're going to lose a lot of long time readers over this and they've got Didio and Johns unfortunately doing damage control that neither of them really want to do. There's already been other writers and artists who really don't want to be a part of this "movement" either so we'll see who all the people are doing these new books."

Terrible news if true but not really shocking

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Jason, do you have link to where you got this statement from?

If this article is true, does it mean that DC is going to try and reach a wider all ages readership?

And here's where my cautious optimism goes off the rails: These same writers and editors haven't had the ability to produce comprehensible, stand-alone works for decades now.

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That's one of the biggest keys right there, Brian. That's what might, just might, actually (if it ever happened) get me to consider trying new comics from Marvel or DC again. Why? Because all I want (besides good quality of story and art of course) is to be able to be the one thing that they no longer cater to: a casual reader. I'll never be a "full-time" comics reader again. No time, not that much spare money, too many other things to do. But I love comics and would love to be able to pick up an issue or two WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT, just like I go to the movies when I feel like it or read a novel whe I feel like it. And that's the only way they'll ever attract all these "new readers" they keep talking about too, by making the product accesible in a way where no reader is FORCED to buy more than they want. Even when the powers that be at DC or Marvel are talking about all these new readers they'll supposedly get from this event or that reboot or this "jumping on point" (I realy HATE that term), they still make it sound like they expect every one of these new readers to become a member of the hardcore comics readership with a room full of longboxes and a weekly pull list at the LCS and all that jazz that some of us no longer have any desire for. I just want to read a few of the things when the mood strikes and I bet there are others who feel the way I do or would feel that way if it were possible to do that again.   

I hope this reboot does fix a lot of the issues that seem to plague the
DC Universe these days. It would be nice if they went to a more all
ages format for there line.

The good news is, as best as I can tell, there cutting about twenty
books from the DC line.

Adam Hutchinson wrote: I think I'll wait to see if the stories sound interesting and then decide, and not paint the whole thing with a wide, dismissive brush. As it stands; JLA, JLI, GL and Hawkman sound intriguing

I'm glad you have the energy.  After years of reboots, retooling, restarts and guarantees too numerous to count that this time things will change for the better, I'm afraid I just can't do it.  Both Marvel and DC have lost my trust.  100%.  They're going to have to do a lot more than issue a press release that sounds like more of the same.

Yay. Grifter #1.

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"Rumor site."

Take it for what it's worth.

Here's the updated Superman costume, better view: