If you were entirely in charge of DC, what changes would you make?

[hunter_peterson]

3.) If Earth 2 is successful start a line of alternate Earth titles.

And call it ELSEWORLDS? It'd fit with THE DARK, THE EDGE, JUSTICE LEAGUE and YOUNG JUSTICE lines. And I'd bet that we'll see this in the Third Wave. I agree with this one- Ame-Comi Girls, when it's in print, would have to fall under that umbrella.

I'd fire Rob Liefield, becaue he's atrocious.

I'd also reorganize the Green Lantern franchise so that each human Lantern fills a different niche, to be most easily marketed. I'm thinking keep Green Lantern the same, with Sinestro and Hal, Blue Lantern starring Kyle Rayner, Red Lantern starring Guy Gardener and Green Lantern Corps starring John Stewart in a federal role, working across GL sectors.

Detective Comics would become a sort of Batman Presents book, reintroducing Spoiler as the daughter of the Riddler, combining his character with Cluemaster's. I see that as a bonus for both characters. This would be followed by an Alfred arc, in which we learn that he's gay, because it makes sense, is a positive statement about the raising of children by gay people and would piss off all the right people to ensure enormous sales.

Amanda Waller would get fat, slowly.

After a while, an Earth 2 Presents book would be launched. Also, the Freedom Fighter characters already introduced would be revealed to be the government-sponsored team on Earth 2. James Robinson would act as "showrunner" on these books, and be basically allowed to do as he pleases, because that's the best way to coax greatness from him. If fan interest is maintained, I'd try to get an Earth 2 anime in the works, as it seems like it would hit a lot of the right notes for one of those and would help expand the market.

Supergirl would join the Teen Titans, led by Redbird/Tim Drake. Superboy's powers would actually be tactile, and just using generic telekinesis would be forbidden.

The next artist on Justice League would be stuart Immonen, whose lead time combined with his generally high output would result in each issue being 30 pages of story, at no extra cost to the reader. I'd generally encourage shorter, faster stories tying into a larger narrative, like in The Flash, where that's working exceptionally well. The Justice League needs to be punchy.

Ben Caldwell would be given the chance to do his Wonder Woman manga, but I'd bring in Amy Reeder to do whichever character she wants, as well as others. Marcio Takara, maybe? Make a thing of it. Absolute creative freedom given, too. It's an alternate world, so why interfere with the creators? I suppose this would have to fall under the ELSEWORLDS umbrella.

No event books, but some interrelation between the books. Also keep the line at 52, minus minis and one-shots, as that's proven to be a nice number.

I'm going to stop now, because this topic is clearly prone to rambling.

[vampiric_cannibal]

I'd start with several summits. All the writers would meet, all the editors, all the pencillers, all the colorists and all the interns.

1) Writers would reboot the universe, but would restart in media res. Properly, in media res. All important characters would be accounted for during that time to fix continuity, and would fit in the various stories and legacies. Continuity, both forwards and backwards in time will be strict. Flashback stories would be permitted, and prior to the reboot, various minis and GNs would be made to account for the time past. However, for the first 18 months post reboot, no other publications of the past will be made, to ensure everyone is attached to the present. The prequel stories would lead into present day storylines through various plot threads.
2) Everyone would decide what the purpose of their line would be.
3) Everyone would be forced to learn and practice making distinct face and body structures. I've no problem with 50 million blonde bombshell superheroines, but they should be distinctly hot in different ways.
4) Each book should have distinct colouring related to its tone and theme. By colouring alone, books should be distinct. And each line should be able to be distinguished by colouring. It can be done. I can already pretty much tell Marvel from DC and Ultimate Marvel from Marvel and X-Men from other Marvel from colouring.
5) Interns would be instructed in correct tea-making. They would be expected to adhere to George Orwell's essay on the subject.

[glennsim]

3) Everyone would be forced to learn and practice making distinct face and body structures. I've no problem with 50 million blonde bombshell superheroines, but they should be distinctly hot in different ways.

I like this. In my version, I'll add that I would hire live models for every character. Photos would be taken from every angle, including body type and lots of headshots. Then artists would use these as a guide for the body type and facial characteristics for that character forever. That would somewhat force them to draw based on a unified model. Literally.

[Perfection/Emma 2]

Marry Geoff Joh... I tease

Less death, more fleshed out character back stories. More unique villains, revealing costume for both men and women

Wonder Woman would focus more saving civilians from everyday troubles and only every now and then deal with greek mythology

Birds of Prey would be a team a felame suerpheroes who are too mentally unstable to be apart of an organize superhero team. A lot of catty and bitchyness from the females, but they get the job done. Fight mobsters, gangster, corrupt cops, metahuma drug lords, etc

Teen Titans would go back to being a less serious book with angry teens. They will have their issues, short comings and etc, but for the most part the Teen Titans would be the more jolly team within the DCU

Gen 13: Caitlin still as leader, but with more members. Grudge, Freefall, Burnout, Rainmaker, Voodoo Doll, Twenty Man Tommy, and Impulse

Starfure: Starfire will have a Dejah Thoris type book.

[tony ingram]

Undo the reboot, fire Didio, Lee and Johns and trim the line down to a couple of dozen regular titles with the rest of each months output being revolving limited series'. In order to keep as many popular characters in print regularly as possible, though, I'd bring back the oversized anthology titles: Superboy, the Legion and Supergirl in Adventure Comics, The JSA, Hawkman and somebody else in All-Star Comics...that kind of setup. Oh, and restore Vertigo to its core principles of being all about creator owned books.

And the JSA would definitely be the originals, on the original Earth Two.

[Superboy Sr]

First of all I wouldn't change any of the Dark or Edge books plus Aquaman would be safe top things I would change are:
1.Earth 2:It would be very similar to the pre Crisis Earth 2 especially to show the difference in Worlds' Finest.
2.Doom Patrol gets their own book with the Geoff Johns & Grant Morrison rosters
3.There will be a Stormwatch team on each earth
4.A Planetary series featuring Ambrose Chase,Donna Troy,and the Drummer as the FIELD TEAM. Elijah Snow will be in charge and Challengers of the Unknown would be the research team.

I could go but it would start sounding like a psychopathic tirade.

[Buried Alien]

DC must *never* put me in charge, because I'd immediately revert everything to the status quo of 1978.

I personally loved the setup of the DCU at that time, but 1978 was not a good year for DC Comics (a phenomenally successful SUPERMAN movie notwithstanding). If there were ever a year that DC Comics was in danger of folding, 1978 was that year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[SteveGus]

Every DC comic gets a synopsis and cast page to explain who the characters are and what has happened before in the arc.

No major story arc must be longer than six issues.

I'd remove Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and Dial H to a separate imprint and rename Justice League Dark to Justice League Magic. I'd replace them in the DCU lineup with Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, Captain Carrot and His Zoo Crew, and a new title that would be high fantasy in genre and shojo in style.

Vertigo needs more diversity of mood. I'd start new series over there patterned after Cherry Poptart, Mara of the Celts, and Karate Girl. If I brought any Vertigo writers into the DC universe, it would only from this new section.

[Bo-Man]

Reverse Alan Scott's sexuality.

I totally agree!

[Bo-Man]

I think the only real change I would have made would have been to have pulled the trigger and used FlashPoint to completely re-set the DCU, as opposed to trying to keep some elements intact.

You got that right! I love the Batman stories and Court of Owls, but keeping the same elements does't make sense in the DCNu timeline! Batman needed to be totally reset!

[Namtab]

moar cats, less death, less grimdark

Maybe some ponies too? Ponies could work.

[tony ingram]

DC must *never* put me in charge, because I'd immediately revert everything to the status quo of 1978.

I personally loved the setup of the DCU at that time, but 1978 was not a good year for DC Comics (a phenomenally successful SUPERMAN movie notwithstanding). If there were ever a year that DC Comics was in danger of folding, 1978 was that year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

The DC Implosion was largely the fault of circumstances beyond DC's control, not any problem with their creative direction. That was a great year to be a fan. They were publishing some great books prior to the Implosion-All-Star, Freedom Fighters, Kamandi, SSOSV...fantastic books!

[TJKernan]

First change I would make is piss a lot of people off.

I'd have DCnu explode in a big fiery crossover, and split the whole thing Into separate Universes

-DC Prime. This is where all your main DC heroes would stay, Heavy editorial-handed, focused on the big characters, thinking all about making comics geared towards the populace and making those dollars in merchandising and movie rights

-Wildstorm. DC has bungled how they have handled these characters so far. Reboot this universe with top-notch creators, less editorial control, more super-hero innovation. Gail Simone and Rebekkah Isaacs would be tapped for a new DV8 series ASAP.

-Milestone. Similar vein to Wildstorm reboot, grittier and less heavy-handed editorial mandates, focusing on characters and properties primarily geared towards Urban sensibilities. Also eyeing the prize here of making viable movie and television properties.

-More Fun Comics. This is a line for people who harken to the age when comics were fun and you could hand an issue to a kid to get them into loving comics, both boys and girls. Plastic Man would go here, as would Shazam, Captain Carrot and The Zoo Crew, Superfriends. This universe would read like a cartoon, with an eye on properties to sell as cartoon series and merchandising.

-Also, I would revamp Charlton characters like they should have used the idea they did for 'Before Watchman'-Give a handful of top-notch creators free reign over a Captain Atom, The Question, Blue Beetle, and a LAW series (with Nightshade, Peacemaker, and Judomaster) and see what they can do for me.

There, that is a start...

[Buried Alien]

The DC Implosion was largely the fault of circumstances beyond DC's control, not any problem with their creative direction. That was a great year to be a fan. They were publishing some great books prior to the Implosion-All-Star, Freedom Fighters, Kamandi, SSOSV...fantastic books!

History shows the late 1970s as a tough time financially for the comics industry, including DC and Marvel. It didn't show, though: both companies were putting out great books during the late Seventies despite the economic hardships they were facing. Who knows - maybe the dire financial straits compelled them into putting out better product in a bid for survival.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)