DC to REBOOT???

[KB24]

I finally caught up on this, and overall I think it stinks. Renumbering back to Issue 1 to create a psychological starting point in a grab for new readers, I suppose I could deal with that.

However, in addition to that big shocker, in the fine print they say how they are 'tweaking' storylines, characters, and designs with a '21st Century' mentality? What the hell does THAT mean? Every comic book is starting over with modern 18 year olds? What the hell?

DC must seriously be bleeding at the gills to attempt this. Long time hardcore readers who have stuck with the company thru thick and thin will seriously walk away over this. You can't just erase 60 years for nothing! Unless they were desperate to obtain a refresher audience, they wouldn't possibly have considered this, this, sacrilege!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I've always heard Chicago for Gotham - although, in reality, Gotham is part of New York.

Metropolis is nothing like DC - Metropolis is a generic American big city with skyscrapers, usually modeled at least somewhat on the New York skyline. Washington, DC, has no skyline - there are strict building height limits within the city and not a single real skyscraper. Nothing over about twelve stories. The downtown area is comprised mainly of official buildings, most in a greco-roman style, and museums. There is no nightlife to speak of in the central, Federal area of DC.

DC must seriously be bleeding at the gills to attempt this. Long time hardcore readers who have stuck with the company thru thick and thin will seriously walk away over this. You can't just erase 60 years for nothing! Unless they were desperate to obtain a refresher audience, they wouldn't possibly have considered this, this, sacrilege!

"Overreaction" doesn't begin to cover this.

DC couldn't "erase 60 years" if they wanted to - they'd have to erase the ten years that erased the twenty-five years that erased the previous forty.

Nor is the reinvention exactly hidden in the "fine print" - it's been front-and-center of almost all the reporting, almost edging out the really interesting business aspects of this.

As someone who started reading DC back in the late 1950s, I'm all for this.

 

[Jetfire]

Spread out...monuments...I dunno.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well hoping that the aging audience they have now will last for ever isn't exactly the best plan either.

Both DC and Marvel did this before in the 1960s when they relaunched their superhero lines. Neither one was hoping to attract the people who read the comics in the 40s and early 50s.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Here is a roundup of all of Bleeding Cool's relaunch stories.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/02/dc-relaunch-roundup-dont-call-it-a-comeback/

I will say this for Bleeding Cool...Rich deciding to reveal this has probably created boat loads of traffic for his website. I know I never really went there before all of this came down.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Exactly - and they're still covering it in more detail than the sites that are being oh-so-respectful of the hand that feeds them, reproducing the entirety of DC's letters to retailers, etc rather than quoting and summarizing them and pretending that's "reporting" as opposed to paraphrasing a sales handout

 

[theenglish]

There may actually be room to interpret this as Industrial Espionage.

How did they come across the information to post?

Has it interferred with their Marketing Plans?

Now, sure, if there's a criminal action being reported, all bets are off, no problem, but, if they're reporting Confidential information, that can be proven to cause a Business Interuption

Just like the journalist who blew the whole smoking causes cancer scandal. What a dick he was!

 

[TemporalFlux]

I swear years ago I heard someone say that Gotham was based on Chicago and Metropolis was New York, but I've never found anything about it online and I don't remember where I heard it.

I seem to recall a Secret Files from the late 90's that gave a map of the U.S. showing where Gotham, Metropolis, etc. were. It didn't list states, but Gotham was positioned about where Ohio would be (making you think Chicago but still keeping it closer to New York). My memory is a little foggy on the whole thing, though.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There were stories in the 50s and 60s where you could go from Gotham to Metropolis by crossing a bridge. I guess that makes Gotham Oakland and Metropolis San Francisco.

 

[TemporalFlux]

I still like Kurt Busiek's explanation in the JLA / Avengers crossover about 10 years ago. In order to accommodate the different geography, it was explained that the DC Universe Earth was literally a bigger planet than the Marvel Universe Earth.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I still like Kurt Busiek's explanation in the JLA / Avengers crossover about 10 years ago. In order to accommodate the different geography, it was explained that the DC Universe Earth was literally a bigger planet than the Marvel Universe Earth.

I was just about to mention that.

 

[Takeru]

Long time hardcore readers who have stuck with the company thru thick and thin will seriously walk away over this.

Some of them probably will, but who cares? Long time hardcore readers are not important, they're just a few thousand people. Monthly comics are a dying business, there are no successful monthly superhero comics left, just unsuccessful and less unsuccessful ones.
They have to find ways to make the comics available and accessible to the masses, even if that means ditching the direct market and butthurt hardcore fans walking away.

I think DC should sell the online versions much cheaper than the print versions from day one, I wouldn't charge more than 99 cents and I would throw free comics at everyone, buy four one year subcriptions and get a fifth for free, buy ten and get three more for free. Subscribe to all 52 comics and only pay 25 bucks per month.
I would give 2 free comics of their choice per month to everyone who creates an account, even if that's all they read and they never buy a single issue.

I wouldn't even try to make tons of money by selling the monthly comics, I would treat them as advertisement for the graphic novels, movies, cartoons and the merchandise. The most important thing is to get as many people as possible (preferably kids, screw long time fans) to know and like the characters and that's not going to happen as long as the comics are hidden in dinky, nerdy comic shops.

 

[JRS]

The most important thing is to get as many people as possible (preferably kids, screw long time fans) to know and like the characters and that's not going to happen as long as the comics are hidden in dinky, nerdy comic shops.

In Finland comic books,
like Spider-Man or X-Men, have been sold for a long time alongside newspapers plus other magazines in supermarkets, kiosks and department stores.
Not sure why dont they do it like this in the US? (at least for selected titles)

 

[Sindatur]

There may actually be room to interpret this as Industrial Espionage.

How did they come across the information to post?

Has it interferred with their Marketing Plans?

Now, sure, if there's a criminal action being reported, all bets are off, no problem, but, if they're reporting Confidential information, that can be proven to cause a Business Interuption

Just like the journalist who blew the whole smoking causes cancer scandal. What a dick he was!

Gosh, I'm ashamed now, I totally missed the part of the reveal that exposed the health risk if DC had been allowed to release this a week later as they planned.

Could I trouble you to quote that part for me, I still can't locate it.

Seriously, I don't see Entertainment News as Real Journalism, be it Hollywood, Music Industry, Sports, Comics, Novels, etc. Perhaps this view really is related to how in the pocket most Entertainment reporters are to the Industry they report on, so you may have a point there). I just can't see exposing this story in the same light as exposing Cigarettes cause cancer

 

[sojourner]

The most important thing is to get as many people as possible (preferably kids, screw long time fans) to know and like the characters and that's not going to happen as long as the comics are hidden in dinky, nerdy comic shops.

In Finland comic books,
like Spider-Man or X-Men, have been sold for a long time alongside newspapers plus other magazines in supermarkets, kiosks and department stores.
Not sure why dont they do it like this in the US? (at least for selected titles)

They used to, but I guess sales were to slow and the comics were replaced by faster moving items.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Four Green Lantern titles in September:

Green Lantern #1 by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy.

Green Lantern Corps #1 starring Guy Gardner, John Stewart and moreby Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna.

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #1, a team made up of Rage, Avarice, Fear, Will, Hope, Compassion and Love under the leadership of Kyle Rayner by Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham and Batt.

Red Lanterns #1 - Previously announced, Atrocitus and the Red Lantern Corps in their own series by Peter Milligan, Ed Benes and Rob Hunter.

Johns talked to the AP about his upcoming Lantern work, saying “It’s building off the Green Lantern stories I’ve done since ‘Rebirth, taking it in a very new direction that we’ve never seen in Green Lantern before. Green Lantern #1 picks up a few months later in a very different space than we are now,” Johns said. “When you see the cover you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Link

 

[Icemizer]

Cant see Red Lanterns lasting very long, maybe 9 issues before its light is extinguished.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Cant see Red Lanterns lasting very long, maybe 9 issues before its light is extinguished.

I think DC is in for the long haul. They're trying to establish a new universe, so the old rules don't necessarily apply, and I wouldn't expect to see any title run less than a year, even if by ordinary standards they're hemorrhaging readers and money.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Depends largely on who becomes the main character in the book, over time.

 

[ToddKent]

Depends largely on who becomes the main character in the book, over time.

It should be that Red Lantern cat (whatever his name is). I'd read that.