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Emery Calame
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 7:35am | IP Logged | 1  

As long as DC's goal doesn't involve me spending $2.99 + (or whatever the current issue price is) on any of this project I guess everybody can be happy.

Edited by Emery Calame on 17 May 2011 at 7:37am
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John Byrne
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 7:37am | IP Logged | 2  

Remember what Oscar Wilde said!

(For those who don't: "The only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about.")

And, no, this is not a cue for a reprise of the MONTY PYTHON "Oscar Wilde Sketch", thank you very much!

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Greg Woronchak
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 7:55am | IP Logged | 3  

When I first read about Flashpoint, I thought it was yet another gimmick to justify multiple issues to tell a story (alternate universe) that's been done to death. Reviews of the first issue haven't dissuaded me from this opinion.

That being said, I like the idea that only Professor Zoom can change the past. I also don't mind the idea of rebooting the DC line, hopefully they'll weed out many of the titles that are crowding the stands, barely selling.

I was mulling over how convoluted DC continuity has become, and realized that 'reboots' shouldn't be necessary, if writers would simply focus on telling stories that respect the basic premise of a given character, and not refer to past history unless it helps tell a good story.

JB's Fantastic Four run is a strong example of how to do it right, IMO.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 9:01am | IP Logged | 4  

I also don't mind the idea of rebooting the DC line, hopefully they'll weed out many of the titles that are crowding the stands, barely selling.

••

Just like CRISIS did!

Oh, wait. . .

Simple fact of the matter, here, is that whether or not DC are actually planning some kind of company-wide "reboot" really doesn't alter one thing: REBOOTS DON'T WORK.

And, yes, I include the ones I have worked on.

See, if you have Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko, and maybe a few others, and this small, compact group are handling the entire "universe", you can produced a pretty cohesive package. Not entirely so, mind you! The occasional "Bob Banner" will slip thru from time to time. But -- especially if there is essentially one set of eyes overseeing the whole thing -- you have a better chance of keeping it all in one place.

Break that up into the kinds of structures we have at modern companies, and you end up with, well, CRISIS. CRISIS and all it's spawn, at BOTH companies. Because there are too many EGOS involved. Too many instances of Person A doing something in the reboot of the book he's working on, and Person B doing something somewhere else that totally contradicts it. (Within what seemed like minutes of MAN OF STEEL coming out, DC published a story that featured the ghost of Kara, the Supergirl of the "previous universe". LEGION OF SUPERHEROES showed us a hall of statues honoring their dead, and there was Superboy, front and center. And THAT book was written by the guy who was IN CHARGE of DC!!)

Marvel has been all about egos for a long time. Since long before I finally left in disgust. "Editorial comments" were all over the place, one writer slipping into his title a snarky little shot at another writer's book or character. Unbelievable!

And reboots only bring out the worst of this. They require EVERYBODY to PLAY THE SAME GAME -- but far too many people think it should be THEIR game that's being played!

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Brad Hague
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 9:16am | IP Logged | 5  

What was the longest and most consistent DC Universe?  I am thinking to myself it was probably from the beginning of the Silver Age around 1956 to Crisis in 1986. 

That was the one I was introduced to and miss.  They seriously lost me after that.  I tried the reboots of Superman (I actually LOVED Man of Steel) and Wonder Woman but after a couple years when it appeared the powers that were were going to change it up again, I left, never to return.

Unfortunately, what made Marvel distinct in this regard is also now gone as Marvel has rebooted several titles and created "alternate universes" to try to get around it.

Sigh.

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Kevin Brown
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 9:32am | IP Logged | 6  

JB, I disagree with you to a point:  PARTIAL reboots do not work, which what DC has done in the recent past.  In 1957 they did a total reboot.  IF they do that now, it might work.  Heavy emphasis on the "might".  If they do a partial or soft reboot like in 1986, it'll fail once again.

 

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Emery Calame
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:10am | IP Logged | 7  

I remember what Oscar Meyer said:  " Best if enjoyed before ----"

I think (for me at least) DC and ^^***** are both well past ----.  I guess at this point the plan is that if they stink even more maybe they'll gather a few more flies and maybe a buzzard will circle overhead.

DC stands for "dog crap" as far as I'm concerned. I just watch the animated stuff now and sigh a lot.
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Martin Redmond
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:12am | IP Logged | 8  

What does a reboot matter to new readers anyway? I don't read any DC or Avengers titles and so on, I don't know what's happening, what do I care if they're rebooted or not?
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Mike Farley
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:26am | IP Logged | 9  

How is 1957 DC a total reboot if SUPERMAN, BATMAN, and WONDER WOMAN--DC's biggest titles-continued on unaffected?


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Martin Redmond
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:28am | IP Logged | 10  

Surely, someone will answer our tough questions.
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Emery Calame
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:32am | IP Logged | 11  

I propose that the first issue of the new Superman comic has him wearing a hoodie and flipping off Wonder Woman because she's such a weird stuck up bitch who fights crime in a swim suit and a tiara and carries a lariat. Superman can be an exile from the dystopian star-city of Kandor because they get rid of any children who can't easily be mind controlled by their caretaker AI Braniac. His parents mind wipe him and teleport him to Earth at the age of five after he fails the test. As punishment for their disobedience Braniac dumps the parents on the dead airless ruined world of Krypton that Kandor orbits where they rapidly die as their air runs out, surrounded by the space-suited corpses of many other discarded heretics. Braniac himself was created to guide and watch over the last remnant of the Kyptonian civlization after they rather thoughtlessly destroyed their own world. Braniac interprets this guidance as a mandate to endless torment and repress the survivors for the crimes of the ancestors against Krypton. He's pretty much an AM-lite sort of character. 

Batman can be a hardcore tweaker who never sleeps and has OCD that drives him to solve puzzles.

Green Lantern can change his name to Verdelux and be controlled by his ring and addicted to it.

Aquaman can start out as a genetically engineered fish/squid creature created by a government experiment. He mindlessly eats a dorwned criminal (Art "the killer" Curry) who escaped from a prison surrounded by ocean. He somehow internalizes his meals DNA to metamorphose into a more humanoid form with a more human-like brain. He uses his new found sentience to fight crime because he learned all about crime and cruelty from the criminal he ate and decides that he's against it. Eventually he finds out that the government lab that created him used some mysterious DNA that they recovered from an ancient underwater tomb complex in the Atlantic ocean implying that there are Atlanteans out there somewhere that might be similar to him in some way.

Hawkman can be an android.

Green Arrow can be a woman pretending to be a man.

The new Martian Manhunter should be from one of Saturn's moons. 

The Atom can be a guy from a subatomic universe who's power is actually growing to normal human size so he can visit our universe. 

I really just don't care any more.


Edited by Emery Calame on 17 May 2011 at 10:53am
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Martin Redmond
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Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:34am | IP Logged | 12  

The animation in the first episode of Young Justice was pretty kewl, you should watch that.
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