Can't blame fans for not wanting to see their favorite characters killed off. But that doesn't necessarily mean the original has to come back. I'll admit that's something I think DC has made a mistake with here lately with the original characters returning. I mean, Barry was "dead" for so long, the Flash I grew up with was actually Wally West. It felt natural for DC to kill off characters and have their sidekicks who had grown up take their place, or new characters to be introduced as it was for Kyle.
Odd to hear that from the guy who was all about "Flash: Rebirth" and "Green Lantern: Rebirth".
And, yes, I will blame the fans for complaining. Even putting aside the possiblity of reprints and flash-back stories, fans need to get the fuck over their damned favourites. Changes should be expected in an ongoing story. Kyle Rayner has been around for nearly 20 years. It is time to kill him and move on to another character.
I give points to DC for writing Wally West out as being the Flash because the books problably not need a hoarde of Flashes running around, each with cosmic speed powers.
You sure they haven’t talked about it? What about the part where they say “The whole universe reset so some things are different now”?
And, Prowl is arguing that "those changes result in a whole new timeline/canon/whatever.
Right, because fans don't want to see the stories with their favorite characters continue. They'll just be happy with the past stories they've already read.
Most of the complaints about "Flashpoint" came down to spoiled fans complaining because something changed their favourite character. Rather than looking at the new comics and seeing what they could have, they pitched fantrums about their old favourites.
I have said this before and will no doubt say it again: No comic fan who got in to DC comics in the mid 80s or later has any right to complain about any of this. Odds are, there favourite iterations of a given character or their favouriter un of a book displaced an earlier favourite or a past (arguably defining) run of a comic. I really like John Byrne's run on "Superman". I am a huge fan of Grant's run on Batman. Dixon's "Robin" books, which defined Tim Drake for fans of my generation actually were really solid comics. Guess what? They are fucking gone now.
Am I complaining? No. Are there things that I wish had carried over from before "Flash Point"? Yes. But, I am not going to whine and bitch and carry one about it because I know that my favourites are not the only, or even most important comics out there. (They really important, or simply good, comics tend to be discussed and read even when they are not counted for purposes of story.) And, more importantly, I know that my favourite runs replaced, and in some cases over-wrote, other people's favourites. John Byrne's run did no favoures to fans of Silver-Age "Superman" comics. Do you want to think about what CoIE did to fans of Barry Allen? Somewhere, there is a fan of Kyle Rayner. They only got their favourite because Hal got written out.
But, comics fans are spoiled, so they want to have it all. They want the original characters *and* the replacements/successors. And, if something happens to change that stasis quo, they pitch fantrums and complain and bitch and whine.....despite the fact that their favourites represented a change for an older fan.
Exactly: There is an in-context explanation for any and all changes to the characters/stories that there are now. You don't need to imagine up *another* in-context explanation.
And, if there is no in-context explanation, it is easier to just assume "editorial directive" and move the hell on.
Second, what reasons for making the changes behind the scenes is completely irrelevant here.
Except for the fact that said "behind the scenese" reasoning is the whole reason that the changes are/were made.
And:
Sparky correcting me about Carol Ferris having been a Sapphire brings up a point, why the hell has DC not released some kind of timeline or some other list of what still counts, even if only vaguely? They did it after CoIE and "Zero Hour". They did it *during* "Infinite Crisis". (The probably answer is that DC has not planned things out that much in advance. But, ya know, that is not an excuse.) All we know and have an in-story reason for is that Earths zero, 13 and 50 ended up collapsing in on each other, resulting in a new timeline. Earth 2's changes are an editorial result of the reboot, but have no in-story explanation. (And, we really do not need one in practical terms.) But, the changes to New Earth should have been planned more carefully.
On a related note: Any word on how "the 52" alternate worlds counts now? Are we even assuming 52 at this point?
Assuming 52 worlds to start, DC has accounted for ~20% of them, and most of them, for good or ill, are in the hands of Grant Morrison.
New Earth/0: The result of pre-"Flashpoint" Earth 0, 13 and 50 merging. That brings the total down to 50.
Earth 1: Johns and MJS "Batman" and "Superman" books.
Earth 2: Accounted for in the "Earth 2" comic.
Earth 4: Charlton characters (albeit replacing Captain Atom with Morrison's much updated version), confirmed for "Multiversity".
Earth 5: Old Fawcett characters (Shazam et al), confirmed for "Multiversity"
Earth 10: Home of Overman, shown in "Final Crisis". Confirmed for "Multiversity".
Earth 23 (?): I am not sure of the numbering. But, this is the home of the Calvin Ellis Superman.
Earth ??: This world never got an official number. But, it was referenced in the same issue of post "Flashpoint" "Action Comics" that Calvin Ellis appeared in.
Earth ??: Somebody, I think it was Didio, said that there was an alternate world that more or less resembled pre-"Flashpoint" Earth 0. (I really forget where I saw this.)
Earth 51: Morrison's grave-yard/limbo world. Home of Kammandi, the Mokkari's Tigermen army, various obscure Silver Age characters. Not confirmed yet, but very likely given how much time Morrison put in to it while initially drawing up "Multiversity" back in '08 or so.
Depending on how "Batman Beyond", other carton series and the new "JSA: Liberty Files" books are counted, more Earths may be accounted for.
And, that assumes that DC abandons the vampire world of "Batman: Red Rain" and foolishness like Earth-3 (home of the Crime Syndicate).
Dom
-or, is DC now assuming more alternates, rather than a cap of 52?
