Why exactly is DC rebooting their titles?

[phantom1592]

Well, I don't necessarily agree with this position, but I can see where one could say that what they should be doing is making lots of money by telling good solid stories that are good because of the interesting plots and strong characterization. Not trying to make lots of money by counting on stunts or crossovers or #1's or whatever. It seems like a stretch, it suggests that having Superman and Flash race isn't a natural extention of the characters, but something forced on them just to get Superman readers to pick up an issue of Flash.

If one is taking this position, one is generally counting on the idea that there are "right" reasons and "wrong" reasons to want to read a comic. I don't necessarily subscribe to that notion, but I can see where someone might hold it.

I would disgree on the flash races... or Crossovers in general. Back in ye old silver age,... (and Golden Age for that matter). Kids WANTED crossovers. Converstions like 'who's stronger... superman or Captain Marvel, or who's faster Flash or Superman dominated the playgrounds...

Heck they STILL dominate the Forums ;)

Sooooo Giving the customers the team-up THEY demanded isn't just a money grab...

Multiple covers, holagrams, prestige paper, death of the week, etc.. THAT is a money grab no doubt! But I know when I was a kid, I wanted as many Heroes in a book as possible!! It's why things like JSA and JLA became so popular.

[glennsim]

That's a TERRIBLE idea. Readers live off of the continuity, because of the history and the background of the characters. That's what makes the DC Universe come alive.

Nobody likes one-shot story issues. Those get real old after awhile. Readers are smart enough to know what's going on, just do some research, it's not that hard.

Then why is this board constantly getting posters saying "Hey, I'd like to try out so-and-so but I don't know which of the following 20 TPB's I should read and in which order." Which is followed by 100 posts offering different answers? And these are the people who are smart enough and care enough to find a site called "Comic Book Resources" and sign up for the message boards to get an answer.

[GiantRaven]

Nobody likes one-shot story issues. Those get real old after awhile. Readers are smart enough to know what's going on, just do some research, it's not that hard.

Don't take your own feelings on comics and assume you speak for everybody. I, for one, love one-shot story issues.

[glennsim]

I would disgree on the flash races... or Crossovers in general. Back in ye old silver age,... (and Golden Age for that matter). Kids WANTED crossovers. Converstions like 'who's stronger... superman or Captain Marvel, or who's faster Flash or Superman dominated the playgrounds...

Heck they STILL dominate the Forums ;)

Well, (and just to keep playing the game), some could argue that those reasons are in and of themselves juvenile and that the comics shouldn't be produced with juvenile motivations.

Superman and Flash in the same comic shouldn't be at all exciting or desireable unless it's a really good story featuring Superman and Flash in the same comic and the reasons for Superman and Flash being in the same comic are tied heavily to and built off of their previous characterizations, and serves to grow the characters in some way.

(Wow, being pretentious is fun!)

[glennsim]

Don't take your own feelings on comics and assume you speak for everybody. I, for one, love one-shot story issues.

I'm not disagreeing with you on the point in question, just using your comment as a jumping off point to ask a question:

I wonder if the possibility of one-issue stories has been reduced drastically by the lowered page count to 20? I know Jonah Hex is doing it, but I wonder how attractive that option is in general? I'd expect most new stories to be 2 issues at the shortest.

[phantom1592]

Then why is this board constantly getting posters saying "Hey, I'd like to try out so-and-so but I don't know which of the following 20 TPB's I should read and in which order." Which is followed by 100 posts offering different answers? And these are the people who are smart enough and care enough to find a site called "Comic Book Resources" and sign up for the message boards to get an answer.

Rebooting won't STOP those questions... if anything, Rebooting the universe CAUSES those questions.

Which GL origin should I read?? Emerald dawn? Secret Origin? The original Showcase presents trade?? What still counts?

Adding a whole new 'reboot' won't SOLVE the questions... especially if Batman and GL aren't getting affected, people will ALWAYS ask which trades they should read...

Well, (and just to keep playing the game), some could argue that those reasons are in and of themselves juvenile and that the comics shouldn't be produced with juvenile motivations.

Superman and Flash in the same comic shouldn't be at all exciting or desireable unless it's a really good story featuring Superman and Flash in the same comic and the reasons for Superman and Flash being in the same comic are tied heavily to and built off of their previous characterizations, and serves to grow the characters in some way.

(Wow, being pretentious is fun!)

I'm a huge fan of continuity, and Character development. The better the stories the happier I am...

However, (I'm not saying YOU are...but...) I will NEVER support the need for comics to become too mature and 'grown up'

I BELIEVE in the need for Juvenile motivations. At it's heart we're STILL talking about Space cops with Magic rings... men dressed like giant birds... fighting crime...

The more 'SERIOUS' people try to make things, the more they tend to crumble under the scrutiny. I absolutely HATE that Batman wears kevlar and armor now.... HATE it...

[protonik]

Oh, I forgot: Bob Harras is in the mix here, too. Harras can put "former E-i-C of Marvel" on his resume, sure, but let's not forget that under his watch, Marvel fell into a creative rut that took years to escape from. He focused so heavily on kissing the asses of his "superstar" artists to the exclusion of everything else, like writers, story fundamentals, entertainment value, etc. Again, not somebody in whose hands I'd put the company's future.

Demonstrably not true as Harras wasn't EIC when Marvel went into bankruptcy but was running the X-office, the only group at Marvel at the time that was making money and continuing to sell. When Harras took over as EIC he also took over just as Heroes Reborn was being finalized. He was pivotal in the recreation of Marvel following Heroes Reborn which had an emphasis on writers with the right artists like Busiek/Perez, Busiek/Chen, Lobdell/Davis and Waid/Garney. Under Harras Marvel came out of bankruptcy as well. Many of the early successes of the Jemas/Quesada era, like Avengers/JLA were started by Harras.

[MajorHoy]

You could also argue that maybe they'd have more market share if they'd just put out better comics. The major problem with this new relaunch is that Dan Didio still apparently has some sort of say into what happens. There is nothing in his track record so far at DC that gives me any confidence that this will wind up as anything but a big, ugly mess. Obviously, we'll see once the books come out, but there are a lot of changes that seem arbitrary and pointless (Martian Manhunter NOT a founding member of the JLA? Why? What compelling reason is there to change that? No JSA? No Golden Age heroes? Again, why?). Yeah, it seems they're going to pick and choose some established stories as being still in continuity, but again, there is nothing, and I mean, nothing, in their prior handling of DCU continuity that suggests they are capable of doing that in a way that'll make an iota of sense.

Do we know for sure yet that Martian Manhunter was never a founding member of the JLA, or are people assuming that because he's not with the new one, but is a part of Stormwatch? (And why does that name sound like the Weather department at a local TV news station?)

[lazlo_toth]

Demonstrably not true as Harras wasn't EIC when Marvel went into bankruptcy but was running the X-office, the only group at Marvel at the time that was making money and continuing to sell. When Harras took over as EIC he also took over just as Heroes Reborn was being finalized. He was pivotal in the recreation of Marvel following Heroes Reborn which had an emphasis on writers with the right artists like Busiek/Perez, Busiek/Chen, Lobdell/Davis and Waid/Garney. Under Harras Marvel came out of bankruptcy as well. Many of the early successes of the Jemas/Quesada era, like Avengers/JLA were started by Harras.

Really? Then why would Mark Waid go on record as saying that Harras "did as much to help destroy the comic book industry during the 1990s than any other single human being alive...I’d even let Ron Perlman out of Hell before I’d pardon Bob. For years and years and years, the editorial philosophy at Marvel was to make each and every comic book as labyrinthine and confusing as creatively possible." Demonstrably not true, my a$$...

[MajorHoy]

Well, (and just to keep playing the game), some could argue that those reasons are in and of themselves juvenile and that the comics shouldn't be produced with juvenile motivations.

Superman and Flash in the same comic shouldn't be at all exciting or desireable unless it's a really good story featuring Superman and Flash in the same comic and the reasons for Superman and Flash being in the same comic are tied heavily to and built off of their previous characterizations, and serves to grow the characters in some way.

(Wow, being pretentious is fun!)

Uh, shouldn't DC being doing more to encourage juveniles to read their books?!? Reaching out to grab the next generation of future consumers?!?

. . .Many of the early successes of the Jemas/Quesada era, like Avengers/JLA were started by Harras.

Was he involved in starting the Avengers/JLA crossover, or more in finally getting it in to print? That thing was talked about in the 1980's and 90's!

[Fire Knight]

I hate these new costume, they looks like cheap toys
seriously why the hell man of steel wearing armor??

it's like heroes reborn and i'm sure when they fail which will happened, their continuity will revert back to normal