DC to REBOOT???

[Myasishchev]

This has nothing to do with the relaunch but I didn't want to create a new thread when there isn't much information in this article. Grant Morrison talks about his long awaited "Wonder Woman" project with artist Ethan Van Sciver that maybe be finally coming out soon. He hinted at SDCC that along with the continuation of Batman, Inc and Multiversity that he has another project yet to be announced. This could be it.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/08/21/grant-morrison-plans-to-bring-the-sex-back-to-wonder-woman/

I wonder if he'll write her as Lord Fanny, Ragged Robin, or an as-yet-undiscovered third Morrison female character.

 

[shivkala]

Except in, maybe, 20-25 years when the 80s/90s/00s readers become the head writers and executives of DC and want to bring back when they liked growing up. I'm already getting ready for Crisis Point!

"As the universe nears collapse, an unlikely quartet of heroes -- Connor Hawke, Wally West, Augustus Freeman, and Jean-Paul Valley -- must arise to defeat the multiversal menace of Geoff Lee Didio!"

Throw in Bloodwynd and I'll be first in line to buy it!

 

[Admiral_Young]

Geoff Lee DiDio being the new guise of Superman Prime Ultraaaaaaaa!!!!

 

[Admiral_Young]

Geoff Lee DiDio being the new guise of Superman Prime Ultraaaaaaaa!!!!

 

[theenglish]

Another side issue gripe about Countdown to Final Crisis. That series had a redemption story arc for Jason Todd that was completely ignored in Battle for the Cowl. BftC was the much better story, but why even bother with Countdown if most of what it established was treated as if it had never happened?

 

[Admiral_Young]

That's okay I've enjoyed Jason as the uber-bad ass Red Hood. His costume has been depicted as wearing a red stylized Bat symbol on his chest so it appears that he was indeed the one talking with Bruce in secret in The Return.

 

[DarKush]

My biggest problem with the new League is similar to a problem that I have with the whole DC Universe following Infinite Crisis.

There was this big deal made that the Justice League was being rebooted and returned to some classic status. This was started in the beginning with the Red Tornado storyline and Vixen finding her power. Then suddenly the line up changed; all the major leaguers left and then it changed again and again so there was never any sense of continuity with respect to who was actually in the League.

Following Infinite Crisis there was supposed to be this big shake up in the DCU through Final Crisis. Everything started out neat with the OYL books and 52, but then Countdown and the Death of the Gods series couldn't even fit properly with Final Crisis and ultimately that whole three year period was much ado about nothing. This entire revamp seems like DC acknowledging that they couldn't get their act together and deliver on all the implied promises of that fiasco.

After reading about the problems McDuffie had with DC regarding the League's roster, it got me thinking why not just have the Justice League book be in a separate or quasi-separate continuity. I mean, one of the major selling points of the JLA is having all of your major heroes in one book, especially if you can't afford to buy their individual books. But by tying the JLA so closely into continuity, or attempting, with the other DC books, I could see why McDuffie was so frustrated when he couldn't use some of the bigger characters. Though I wound up thinking the ones he got to use had the potential to be an interesting team. But the problem could've been avoided if DC had just divorced the major characters from continuity obligations. That also could've freed them up for Robinson if he felt inclined to use them.

 

[theenglish]

My biggest problem with the new League is similar to a problem that I have with the whole DC Universe following Infinite Crisis.

There was this big deal made that the Justice League was being rebooted and returned to some classic status. This was started in the beginning with the Red Tornado storyline and Vixen finding her power. Then suddenly the line up changed; all the major leaguers left and then it changed again and again so there was never any sense of continuity with respect to who was actually in the League.

Following Infinite Crisis there was supposed to be this big shake up in the DCU through Final Crisis. Everything started out neat with the OYL books and 52, but then Countdown and the Death of the Gods series couldn't even fit properly with Final Crisis and ultimately that whole three year period was much ado about nothing. This entire revamp seems like DC acknowledging that they couldn't get their act together and deliver on all the implied promises of that fiasco.

After reading about the problems McDuffie had with DC regarding the League's roster, it got me thinking why not just have the Justice League book be in a separate or quasi-separate continuity. I mean, one of the major selling points of the JLA is having all of your major heroes in one book, especially if you can't afford to buy their individual books. But by tying the JLA so closely into continuity, or attempting, with the other DC books, I could see why McDuffie was so frustrated when he couldn't use some of the bigger characters. Though I wound up thinking the ones he got to use had the potential to be an interesting team. But the problem could've been avoided if DC had just divorced the major characters from continuity obligations. That also could've freed them up for Robinson if he felt inclined to use them.

Yes, but this is just another example of poor editing and management over the past five years or so. During Infinite Crisis, Didio kept writing all this s**t about bringing the multiverse back the right way. The whole IC and 52 was supposed to integrate the DCU more completely. Unfortunately, there was nobody competent at the helm to do this properly.

 

[C_Miller]

Agree with all here. DC has been such a mess since Infinite Crisis. 90% of DC properties have been relatively directionless and even if they have a direction, it doesn't seem like it in so many cases. The only two franchises that have really done well in a Post-IC world and have shown direction are Green Lantern through sweeping epic event after sweeping epic event, while in many cases it may not be coherent, there's not enough breathing room for it to matter. The other one that's had direction is the Bat-Franchise through the guiding hand of Grant Morrison. It may not be for everyone, but I don't think anyone can argue that the books haven't been fresh and have been working towards some end game. That's why I'm so excited for the reboot. This could be the chance to do something interesting with the books and give them all at least some type of vague direction and also some type of individual voice. Something I feel so many books lost in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown, Final Crisis, event riddled DC.

As far as Justice League with big characters, it doesn't really matter to me. I liked Morrison's version and the JLI pretty much equally. I will say it's a bit annoying that the latest Justice League was heralded as a return to form, yet soon the big characters had all but disappeared. But in all honesty, I find the younger heroes a hell of a lot more interesting than their mentors and older counterparts (unless we're talking JSA). So if James Robinson actually was doing good work, I would have been all over the title, but I don't think he's suited for Justice League type books.

 

[JD]

Have we heard anything about what the reboot villain's will be like? I don't remember anything coming out about characters like Joker, or Lex Luthor.

 

[JoeZhang]

Just seen this on a link somewhere else - Morrison interview with rolling stone:

Was this done in consultation with a bunch of people?

DC came to me in March and said they're relaunching all this stuff, and did I want to do Superman, and I didn't, but then when he said, "Would you do Action Comics #1?" I said, 'This is a nice ending to Supergods," so I agreed, and I was quite surprised that they let me do everything and let me change it so radically.

DC is relaunching its entire line – is there some desperation there?

There's always going to be a bit of that because comics sales are so low, people are willing to try anything these days. It's just plummeting. It's really bad from month to month. May was the first time in a long time that no comic sold over 100,000 copies, so there's a decline

and

Do you think this is the death spiral?

Yeah. I kind of do, but again, you can always be wrong. There's a real feeling of things just going off the rails, to be honest. Superhero comics. The concept is quite a ruthless concept, and it's moved on, and it's kind of abandoned, the first-stage rocket.

lots of other stuff (including his views on Identity Crisis) at:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grant-morrison-on-the-death-of-comics-20110822

 

[C_Miller]

Everytime I read a Grant Morrison interview, he rises on my list of people I want to have a beer with. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and relatively down to earth, despite his reputation as a crazy wiccan comic book writer.

 

[Admiral_Young]

@JD...Broc brought up Lex a few pages ago. He's supposed to be a government consultant and a "good guy" I think the snippet stated. Joker is his usual crazy self and Greg Capullo's sample art reminds me of the Killing Joke cover art. It seems they've gotten rid of his scar from when he was shot in the head during Morrison's run.

 

[Myasishchev]

lots of other stuff (including his views on Identity Crisis) at:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grant-morrison-on-the-death-of-comics-20110822

OK, so it is, then what? What are you going to do about it, college kid? My book wasn't academic. I can't take on those Comics Journal guys, they flattened me, as they did, it's just defensive, smartass kids.

This is what I'm into, and here's how, through my eyes, it's exalted. You may look at the same thing and just see trash, toilet paper, I'm looking at this and seeing William Blake angels.

No, see, this is fine, because namedropping William Blake is the mark of a smartass college adult.

I pick it up and there are fucking two rapes in it and I suddenly think how many times has somebody been raped in an Alan Moore story? And I couldn't find a single one where someone wasn't raped except for Tom Strong, which I believe was a pastiche. We know Alan Moore isn't a misogynist but fuck, he's obsessed with rape. I managed to do thirty years in comics without any rape!

This is, actually, spot on. I think he might be right about that.

P.S. I want comic book groupies.
P.P.S.: People have to stop asking him about Millar. Or he has to stop responding to those questions. Or he just needs to blurt out what happened instead of being coy, because the details he have given make it sound like what Millar did wasn't so terrible as to warrant Morrison's apparently unremitting vengeance. "Destroyed my faith in human fucking nature" (that being from another interview) is the response to someone punching your wife in the nose, not because they were chafing in a role as your protege and wanted to distance themselves from you.

 

[scnj]

Apparently Millar was very ill at one point, so Morrison filled in for him on several issues of some series. Millar then later went on to say that it never happened and that Morrison was basically full of shit.

No idea of how true the story is. Maybe someone else can confirm or deny?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Suffice it to say that there is bad blood between the two of them...at least on Grant's part. The "destroyed my faith in human fucking nature" quote is one my favorite all time Morrison quotes. Millar as mentioned above I think has generally denied any wrong doing or avoided answering questions about Morrison.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Well I'm ready for this now that I can get the Comixology apps on my Nook.

 

[shivkala]

After reading about the problems McDuffie had with DC regarding the League's roster, it got me thinking why not just have the Justice League book be in a separate or quasi-separate continuity. I mean, one of the major selling points of the JLA is having all of your major heroes in one book, especially if you can't afford to buy their individual books. But by tying the JLA so closely into continuity, or attempting, with the other DC books, I could see why McDuffie was so frustrated when he couldn't use some of the bigger characters. Though I wound up thinking the ones he got to use had the potential to be an interesting team. But the problem could've been avoided if DC had just divorced the major characters from continuity obligations. That also could've freed them up for Robinson if he felt inclined to use them.

McDuffie wrote about his problems with continuity here and his ideas here.

 

[Myasishchev]

Well I'm ready for this now that I can get the Comixology apps on my Nook.

Looks like I'll be missing out. No money, no comics.

Let me know how it goes, guys.

 

[God Magnus]

I've decided not to be a total close minded guy and actually asked my comic shop to pull several of the Issue #1's (about ten or so). I figured I'd give this an objective look before dismissing it. It still goes against the grain a bit. I think having Norm Breyfogle illustrating one of the Retroactives softened me up a bit.