Geek Beat: Your Guide to the DC Comics Reboot

A few weeks ago we discussed how DC Comics was taking the drastic step of “rebooting” its comic book universe after the current Flashpoint event concludes. Since that time, DC has announced the titles and creative teams for the 52 new books that make up its new line. Some are probably no-brainers: If you’re a fan of Batman, Superman, or Green Lantern, you’ll find even more options than you had previously. However, there are also a lot of surprising characters getting their own books. There are definitely some cool new creative teams and interesting ideas. At the same time, fans of many current DC characters have been complaining about the apparent absence of their favorites. As speculation runs rampant, we thought this would be a good time to bring you up to speed on the new direction for one of the two major comic book publishers.

 

The Big Names

The two headline books announced were most likely Justice League of America and Action Comics. In comparison to what Marvel has been able to do with their lead superhero team in the Avengers books, DC has kept its big characters out of Justice League in recent years for reasons known only to themselves. No more. Geoff Johns and megastar artist Jim Lee will work together on an all-star JLA book that will include the all-star team: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, and… Cyborg. But the main people are there! Meanwhile, Grant Morrison wrote what a lot of people consider to be the greatest Superman story of the past fifteen years with the out-of-continuity All-Star Superman. Now he returns to the character in his flagship book, along with artist Rags Morales.

 

Returning Favorites

For me the biggest character news to come out of this whole thing is the return of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. Paralyzed many years ago after being shot by the Joker, she became the Oracle. However, she appears in costume, apparently cured, on the cover of a new Batgirl written by Gail Simone. The reboot also incorporates characters from other superhero “universes” into the main DC world: the Wildstorm line may have ended, but the announcements include a new Stormwatch book featuring the superpowered gay couple of Apollo and Midnighter, along with… Martian Manhunter! Also featured are Vertigo characters returning to the DCU after years away: Swamp Thing will be getting a new ongoing book from current Batman writer Scott Snyder and John Constantine will be joining Zatanna and other DC magical characters in the very-cool looking team book Justice League Dark written by Peter Milligan. There’s even a revival of the old Grant Morrison cult favorite Animal Man written by the critically-acclaimed Jeff Lemire (currently working on Sweet Tooth and Superboy).

 

Canceled Favorites

However, for every cool new title there’s a current one that’s disappearing, and some of the casualties are fan favorites. I might make the argument that my two favorite current DC superhero books are Judd Winick’s Power Girl and Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl (starring Stephanie Brown in the title role). Unfortunately, DC brass have been quoted in interviews as saying they’re target demo is men 18-34, and they don’t think they can sell these books to those people. I could write an entire article on how that’s an awful idea on many levels, but I’ll stick with saying that I’ll miss these characters, neither of whom has yet been seen in any of the new DC books. Miller doesn’t even appear to work for the company anymore! Also canceled? Gail Simone’s cult “villains as heroes” book Secret Six (partly replaced by a Suicide Squad book starring Harley Quinn). The very fun Booster Gold solo title, though the character will still appear in the revived Justice League International. To be honest, these were all niche titles at best. The biggest surprise omissions were most likely the Justice Society of America, popularly revived in recent years by Geoff Johns, the current “Chief Creative Officer” of DC himself, and Superman/Batman, which is the sort of awesome team-up book that one would think speaks for itself.

 

Surprises

Considering some of the characters that were left out, some of the characters getting their own ongoing titles feel like major surprises. One of the first new titles announced by DC was a book called The Fury of Firestorm, written by Gail Simone and drawn by Green Lantern vet Ethan van Sciver. Also getting new titles? How about Mister Terrific, Captain Atom, and The Savage Hawkman. DC chief Dan DiDio could have picked any book he wanted, but he’s chosen to write a revived version of O.M.A.C. with Keith Giffen! There’s a Hawk & Dove ongoing drawn by, yes, Rob Liefeld (and, yes, the cover they released does have some awful-looking feet). There’s even an ongoing based around a Wildstorm character named Grifter. I could list more of these kinds of things, but you get the idea.

 

Diversity

Right now, there are VERY few DC or Marvel solo books headlined by a minority character. Luke Cage, Black Panther, and Storm are pretty much the only high-profile people of color (if that color is not green, blue, or orange) in the main Marvel universe, and DC has had even fewer. However, it does look like DC is taking steps to change that. Firestorm and Mister Terrific are both African-American characters taking over roles originally held by white guys. Also announced was a revived Static Shock book (remember that cool cartoon?). There’s even a book featuring a new character called Batwing, described in the press release as “The Batman of Africa.” Also included is a new ongoing for the current version of Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. All this at least appears to be an attempt at a step forward in at least one arena, and maybe will help draw in some new readers.

 

New (and old) kinds of Stories

Sure, superheroes are the bread and butter for the Big Two and that’s unlikely to change any time soon. But DC has made some interesting inclusions of non-super books on their list. The Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray writing team will be on All-Star Western, featuring Jonah Hex stories with other back-ups (for those who saw the awful movie, Hex has actually been the star of some pretty cool comics over the years). Also included were two classic DC properties dating back to World War II, when, you guessed it, war stories were popular, Blackhawks and Sgt. Rock and the Men of War. With America fighting multiple wars overseas, these actually could be pretty relevant to both kids and adults today if done right. And of course in the current zeitgeist it was probably inevitable that the list include a new vampire title, Josh Fialkov & Andrea Sorrentino’s I, Vampire. Also included is a book called Demon Knights, described as “superheroes in medieval Europe,” from Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell.

 

The Verdict

Here’s the thing. As a big comics fan, I see plenty of books here I would like to try. Many of the other titles feel like unknown quantities, and I’m sure that some of them will be good and some will be bad. But the point of this reboot isn’t to appeal to me. They’ve got me. They want to get some of those people who go see the movies. I’m not sure that’s going to work with this line-up. Grant Morrison writing Superman is a big deal for those of us who are already reading comics, but for non-comics people does it really mean that much? Though there are some fun new ideas (Jeff Lemire’s Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. looks amazing), as a whole this feels very insider-y. What DC needed to do was put a pile of money in front of somebody famous, either a Neil Gaiman or Brian K. Vaughan or a non-comics person such as George R.R. Martin or Kelly Link or, hell, Stephenie Meyer, and tell them they could do anything they wanted. I realize it’s a random idea, but Kelly Link could get a Zatanna book onto the front page at Salon.com and into USA Today. There’s very little here other than the idea of a reboot itself to make non-comics people sit up and take notice.

Not only that, the focus on men 18-34 is short-sighted and stupid. Yes, that is most of your audience now. Because that’s all you cater to. At least one female comics fan has told me she’s not going to read DC books anymore, and honestly I can’t blame her. It’s not just the characters, either, it’s the creative teams. The only female writer in 52 books is Gail Simone. Kelly Sue DeConnick says DC offered her a book and she had to turn it down for scheduling reasons. I don’t know if that’s true for other female writers, but I’m sure there are plenty of exciting female creators out there who would love to work on comics instead of giving us more Rob Liefeld. The focus on minority characters is good but I wonder if it will be enough.

Honestly I hope they do succeed in bringing more readers to comics because I like comics and want to keep having them to read. However, while there are few steps in that direction here, I don’t feel like they do what they need to do to get new readers. It’s unlikely the reboot will hurt DC significantly, and it may help in the short run because with all these new titles current readers will sample a large number before they figure out what’s good and what isn’t. That sense of discovery will most likely be exciting for a little while. And I love the idea of digital day-and-date, but that’s almost a separate issue. Long term, is this going to do much for the health of the comics industry? Unless DC’s got something different up its sleeve for down the line, I doubt it.