I think the drawing is pretty unspecific in regard to all that. Artistic license.
DC to REBOOT???
- Thread starter Professor Zoom
- Start date
- Status
Will there even be a Power Girl after Flashpoint?
Who knows? Apparently, we'll have a Barbara Gordon Batgirl again, which suggests that the Batverse is getting heavily revamped.
As regards Power Girl, I doubt that many characters will be explicitly retired as a result of all of this.
If anything, the simplest approach to a "soft reboot," IMAO, is for the writers to just not mention people, places and things from older continuity unless and until they're interested in them.
If anything, the simplest approach to a "soft reboot," IMAO, is for the writers to just not mention people, places and things from older continuity unless and until they're interested in them.
We seem to be getting mixed messages in regards to the Batman books.
It's not about that. It's about laying the groundwork for shifting the epicenter of periodical publishing from print to digital.
I agree. And, besides, I haven't been seeing to many 14 year-olds at the comic book shop. Mostly, it's folks in their 20's ans older.
As for Power Girl, they've stated they want the line to be more diverse and PG is now at a stage where she's one of a relatively small number of female characters who's demonstrated the ability to anchor a series and sell reasonably well, so she'll definitely still be around. I don't think the edict for female characters to cover up will last for long, though.
Well, ultimately it's a question for the publishers as to whether they're willing to follow their long-time audience to the grave.
There is no "gradual" approach to making these changes that will work. At some point the folks who are in business have to just yank out the sore tooth and hope that the moments of pain are succeeded by relief. We just saw that with the necessary and overdue rebooting of Star Trek, and we'll see it again and again in the years to come.
It's somewhat startling to realize that the properties that are leviathans of popular culture - Star Trek/Wars, characters like Superman, Spider-Man, movie franchises like James Bond - track their origins back thirty to seventy years. The stuff you youngsters pay big bucks to watch was largely invented to sell disposably to us Baby Boomers for a dime a pop.
Best exception I can think of to this, of course, is Harry Potter - it's probably not coincidental that the franchise most directly conceived for and introduced to modern kids is the most successful of all.
There is no "gradual" approach to making these changes that will work. At some point the folks who are in business have to just yank out the sore tooth and hope that the moments of pain are succeeded by relief. We just saw that with the necessary and overdue rebooting of Star Trek, and we'll see it again and again in the years to come.
It's somewhat startling to realize that the properties that are leviathans of popular culture - Star Trek/Wars, characters like Superman, Spider-Man, movie franchises like James Bond - track their origins back thirty to seventy years. The stuff you youngsters pay big bucks to watch was largely invented to sell disposably to us Baby Boomers for a dime a pop.
Best exception I can think of to this, of course, is Harry Potter - it's probably not coincidental that the franchise most directly conceived for and introduced to modern kids is the most successful of all.
Who is that for, though? It's not the collector, they want hard copies.
The sorta maybe fan? How many of those are there?
To win back old readers? Maybe.
To bring in young readers? Maybe...
Moving into the digital market is the right thing, I agree, but, still, I'm wondering if there's a new audience they are aiming at, and if so, who is it?
Well, one thing would be to try to recapture something of the "impulse buyer" market.
Think about it - I read at www.cnn.com that today's newly-published Superman features a hook-up between him and everyone's favorite pneumatic Amazon.
I click through the link to www.dccomics.com and make a one-click purchase for two bucks.
Just like that. Teh Intarnets!
Once the price point on tablets drop and they become ubiquitous devices, daily and periodical publishing will shift overwhelmingly to digital. That'll give even greater opportunities for click-through marketing of digital comics. For instance, you could have a comics section in Time Warner digital magazines and newspapers with click-through to DC's Comixology section.
I get that it will be easy. But, the thing is, you're already a comic reader, or were... So, it's not a stretch to see you returning. You're still involved in the world.
But, new casual readers? I don't know. Sure, they might here or read an article, but will they buy to find out more? I don't know. And will they stick around? That's important.
Were there upticks of new readers when the X-men movies came out? Or Batman? I'm curious.
While I am not surprised, I am saddened by the relaunch of Batgirl. Batgirl is currently the only title I read monthly. No real reason why other that it's fun. Stephanie Brown if a fun character (even if she was written as Babs-light). Another odd thing about this reboot is that Bryan Miller relatively recently was interviewed about the series and he claimed that he had at least 3 years of story currently planned out. Why would he plan 3 years of story when he probably knew before beginning (and, definitely by the time of the interview) that the series would be cut off at the end of 2 years?
Interesting side story, I was at my local comic shop when the current issue of Batgirl came out. The shop owner asked me what was I going to do when the series ended. Perplexed, I asked him if the series was on the chopping block (at this point, I thought sales were stable enough to keep going). He then quickly retracted and said he was just asking to ask (since he knows that this was the only series I buy). I wonder this was a coincidence or if shop owners were, for some reason, partially in the know (I suspect the former). Next time I go into the shop, I'll have to ask him.
Maybe he didn't know... Is that possible? I wonder when the powers that be told those who follow about this reboot...
And what was the reaction?
I asked the owner of my LCS today about what he thought of DC going same-day digital and he said that he thought that it was "a dick move" but that he didn't think it would affect his business at all.
The answer to that question is going to determine whether the comic book industry thrives, merely survives or ends up severely contracting and a shadow of its former self.
There was a major uptick in sales for the Batman comics in '89. More recent comic book movies have greatly increased the sales of books like Sin City, 300, Watchmen, and Scott Pilgrim (proving that even a relative box office failure can lead to dividends for the comic book it's based on), while most of the more straightforward superhero movies in recent years haven't increased the sales of their respective comics all that much.
QFT. I was not-entirely-enthusiastic about Batgirl when it started, for a completely selfish reason -- Steph is one of the DC characters I most want to write, and I had a very specific idea of what should be done with Steph.
I don't know.
Sales have actually gone up on Batgirl over the last six months.
Coincidence. Speaking as someone inside the industry, yesterday's announcements by DC blindsided the industry.He then quickly retracted and said he was just asking to ask (since he knows that this was the only series I buy). I wonder this was a coincidence or if shop owners were, for some reason, partially in the know (I suspect the former). Next time I go into the shop, I'll have to ask him.
- Status
Similar threads
