Comics are Awesome III
Re: Comics are Awesome III
Same here. Barely started "All New, All Different" Marvel. Snow storms are predicted for this weekend though. Hopefully, that will give me time to get caught up.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Comics are Awesome III
So bleedingcool.com says that DC Comics will be completely relaunching everything (again) in June, and that they will be trying to make everything more like the TV/Film versions of characters.
Re: Comics are Awesome III
I am currently reading one DC on-going, "Earth 2: Society". After 7 issues, it has barely re-established. If DC derails it again, I doubt it will recover.
Does DC even bother planning more than 6 months in advance at this point? They really need to leave their writers and editors alone for a year so their output will have some direction.
DC's typical pattern for the last decade has been and event, followed by a re-organization (allowing for real possibilities), followed by an event that wrecks the re-organization, followed by another re-organization, which gets wrecked....and on and on and on. I have given up on any follow-up to "Multiversity".
Does DC even bother planning more than 6 months in advance at this point? They really need to leave their writers and editors alone for a year so their output will have some direction.
DC's typical pattern for the last decade has been and event, followed by a re-organization (allowing for real possibilities), followed by an event that wrecks the re-organization, followed by another re-organization, which gets wrecked....and on and on and on. I have given up on any follow-up to "Multiversity".
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JediTricks
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Re: Comics are Awesome III
DC - a new universe every day!
Seriously, that's ridiculous. Arrow, the TV show, has already changed its tone significantly this year. The Flash on tv has had a soft universe reset, and is going to stand in direct conflict with the Flash in the movies, who is even younger and more slight than the TV character. The movie universe hasn't even really launched yet, trying to jump straight to The Avengers mode but already showing their belly by moving the release date up from May to March, it could bomb horribly. Don't aggressively align with this, just slowly incorporate a few similarities. The point of the comics is to create the strong mythos and let the other projects borrow from it in their lesser manner, not the other way around!
Seriously, that's ridiculous. Arrow, the TV show, has already changed its tone significantly this year. The Flash on tv has had a soft universe reset, and is going to stand in direct conflict with the Flash in the movies, who is even younger and more slight than the TV character. The movie universe hasn't even really launched yet, trying to jump straight to The Avengers mode but already showing their belly by moving the release date up from May to March, it could bomb horribly. Don't aggressively align with this, just slowly incorporate a few similarities. The point of the comics is to create the strong mythos and let the other projects borrow from it in their lesser manner, not the other way around!
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
Re: Comics are Awesome III
I think that DC is hoping that the movie and TV audience will feed in to the comics.
The problem is that their movies are (thus far) not strong enough to bring new audiences. And, the comics do noth ave enough direction, let alone credibility among established fans, to lure new readers.
It is an interesting variant of the "moral hazard" (economic theory). The standard procedure to boost sales and draw in new readers has always been to renumber. But, that trick has been over-played to the point where it has to be done well to work at all. (Renumbering needs to accompany a change in tone or direction, generally with a change in creative or editorial staff.) DC used to know how to do this.
If it is a reboot, DC will be pissing away even more of its (rapidly depleting) credibility. Their first formal reboot was 1985. (The division between gold, silver and bronze ages were blurry and never really formalized. Even the post-hoc designations are not wholly consistent.)
-1985 (Crisis on Infinite Earths): The first, and most ambitious. Set the precedent that it could happen.
-1994 (Zero Hour): Just say it was (close enough to) a decade later and move on. The most efficient, if also the most anemic.
-2005 (Infinite Crisis): A decade or so later. Arguably should be listed as "2004-2008" (Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown, Final Crisis). For the sake of this conversation, assume "Multiversity" came out on time. The most meticulous and obsessively planned, but the most unrealized.
2011 (Flashpoint): At most, 6 years after the last reboot (less if one counts from 2008). Little enough planning, terrible execution.
2016 ????????: This would be (actually less than) 5 years since "Flashpoint". And, depending on how one counts "Convergence" (which may have wiped out "Multiversity"), it is only a year.
I can accept a renumbering for "Earth 2: Society". But, I will not accept another derailing. DC needs to get itself in order.
The problem is that their movies are (thus far) not strong enough to bring new audiences. And, the comics do noth ave enough direction, let alone credibility among established fans, to lure new readers.
It is an interesting variant of the "moral hazard" (economic theory). The standard procedure to boost sales and draw in new readers has always been to renumber. But, that trick has been over-played to the point where it has to be done well to work at all. (Renumbering needs to accompany a change in tone or direction, generally with a change in creative or editorial staff.) DC used to know how to do this.
Is this a reboot, or just a renumbering?DC - a new universe every day!
If it is a reboot, DC will be pissing away even more of its (rapidly depleting) credibility. Their first formal reboot was 1985. (The division between gold, silver and bronze ages were blurry and never really formalized. Even the post-hoc designations are not wholly consistent.)
-1985 (Crisis on Infinite Earths): The first, and most ambitious. Set the precedent that it could happen.
-1994 (Zero Hour): Just say it was (close enough to) a decade later and move on. The most efficient, if also the most anemic.
-2005 (Infinite Crisis): A decade or so later. Arguably should be listed as "2004-2008" (Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown, Final Crisis). For the sake of this conversation, assume "Multiversity" came out on time. The most meticulous and obsessively planned, but the most unrealized.
2011 (Flashpoint): At most, 6 years after the last reboot (less if one counts from 2008). Little enough planning, terrible execution.
2016 ????????: This would be (actually less than) 5 years since "Flashpoint". And, depending on how one counts "Convergence" (which may have wiped out "Multiversity"), it is only a year.
I can accept a renumbering for "Earth 2: Society". But, I will not accept another derailing. DC needs to get itself in order.
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JediTricks
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Re: Comics are Awesome III
Based on how that read to me, a soft reboot but a reboot none the less. Everything's back to #1 again and realigning with the movies and tv shows, so they probably won't do a big event to reset their universe yet again, but they'll basically take everything in New 52 then turn it on its head and shake most of it out.
Well, maybe it'll be a hard reboot after all, DiDio and Jim Lee both pushed "Rebirth" on their Twitter accounts: http://www.polygon.com/comics/2016/1/25 ... cs-rebirth
I'm starting to feel exceptionally embarrassed by growing up in a DC Comics household.
Well, maybe it'll be a hard reboot after all, DiDio and Jim Lee both pushed "Rebirth" on their Twitter accounts: http://www.polygon.com/comics/2016/1/25 ... cs-rebirth
I'm starting to feel exceptionally embarrassed by growing up in a DC Comics household.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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andersonh1
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Re: Comics are Awesome III
DC used to publish some really good comics. At some point in the last decade (or possibly a little further back) they went off the rails, and have yet to find their footing. I can't do much except blame whoever is running the company right now for one bad decision after another. And it looks like the next one is right around the corner...JediTricks wrote:I'm starting to feel exceptionally embarrassed by growing up in a DC Comics household.
From the article you linked:
They threw away 25 years of storytelling the last time they made a drastic move. Five years is nothing. And has there really been any storytelling in the New 52 worth writing home about?It's possible that DC would use the opportunity to reassert the pre-New 52 continuity, but this writer, at least, remains skeptical that the company would throw away nearly five years of storytelling in the New 52 timeline.
Re: Comics are Awesome III
DC did a reset in 2006. That effectively undid "Crisis on Infinite Earths". "Flashpoint" was not the first reset since "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
There have been some good things to come out of "New 52". "Captain Atom" was the best Captain Atom content I have seen in years. "BlackHawks" was good. "Earth 2" and "Team 7" had potential.
"Injustice" has been consistently good.
But, the bright spots have been few and far between. ("Multiversity" does not count, as it should have been out several years earlier.)
There have been some good things to come out of "New 52". "Captain Atom" was the best Captain Atom content I have seen in years. "BlackHawks" was good. "Earth 2" and "Team 7" had potential.
"Injustice" has been consistently good.
But, the bright spots have been few and far between. ("Multiversity" does not count, as it should have been out several years earlier.)
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JediTricks
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Re: Comics are Awesome III
Yeah, I know they used to be quite a thing to see, but the name now means "Crisis on Infinite Reboots", and cramming 75 years of Batman stories into 5 years of in-universe realigned retellings, and #1s over and over.
The problem is that New 52 seems to be what they're basing their TV and Cinematic universes off of, more or less (less, but enough to be that touchstone), so throwing that out for pre-Flashpoint would make a very satisfying comics experience for classic readers, but useless for new readers and for aligning with the new TV and Movie universes.
The problem is that New 52 seems to be what they're basing their TV and Cinematic universes off of, more or less (less, but enough to be that touchstone), so throwing that out for pre-Flashpoint would make a very satisfying comics experience for classic readers, but useless for new readers and for aligning with the new TV and Movie universes.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Comics are Awesome III
Not really... Infinite Crisis may have brought back the multiverse (to a limited capacity) and made some changes to the characters history yet again, but it was also very much structured as a follow-up to the original CoIE story, so it still counted when Infinite Crisis concluded, despite those changes. It was "Convergence" that undid CoIE, although we have yet to really see what impact that's had for the DC universe.Dominic wrote:DC did a reset in 2006. That effectively undid "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
Anyway, if DC is rebooting everything again this year, it's way too soon. As Dom said earlier, they just need to let the writers and editors alone to tell their stories for a while. With all these events disrupting the titles, and DC being so quick to pull the plug on some titles (some due to low sales, others seemingly with out reason), it makes it hard to stay invested in the stories. I can maybe see doing a little house cleaning every decade or two, but it's getting to the point that DC is relying on reboots to boost sales, and that's not how they should be handling it.