DC reboots again... #1's for everyone!

[The Toyroom]

Could very well be....change the characters so much from the "Action" #1 stuff that they basically become new characters unto themselves. But really the only things that are from #1 are Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. No Jimmy Olsen, No Perry White, No Lex Luthor, No Krypton, No Kryptonite, No Jor-El, No Daily Planet, etc. Most of the "good" stuff came later over a long period of time. So if anything they'd be trying to distance themselves from the iconic costume and some of the powers, but even the majority of those came later.

[thunderbolt]

Do you think this redo has it's origins in the Shuster lawsuit?

I think it has its origins in DC's idiotic faith in 90's superstar Jim Lee. A lot of these redesigns have his stink on them. Seems like the backlash over Wonder Woman would have got them to rethink this a bit.

[johnnystorm]

I'm guessing that by 2013 we'll be revisiting a Superman reboot once again...He'll be 75 and we'll see how the whole copyright thing plays out by then, no?

Do you think this redo has it's origins in the Shuster lawsuit?

[The Toyroom]

To kneel before ZOD!!!!

[johnnystorm]

The redesign of Superman's costume is about as appealing as a mullet or an electric blue suit.

It looks like he forgot his underwear.
But the boots and belt are even worse. Man that's some crap. Why would a being who is virtually invulnerable need knee guards.

To kneel before ZOD!!!!

[The Toyroom]

Do you think we'll see a spike in sales for DC's "Showcase Presents" and "Archive" volumes?

[The Toyroom]

I'm guessing that by 2013 we'll be revisiting a Superman reboot once again...He'll be 75 and we'll see how the whole copyright thing plays out by then, no?

[johnnystorm]

Oh, I forgot to say how much I hate that redesign of Harley Quinn!!!

They took what was cute & sexy about Dini's design and she looks like a tramp!

[madmarva]

The redesign of Superman's costume is about as appealing as a mullet or an electric blue suit.

It looks like he forgot his underwear.
But the boots and belt are even worse. Man that's some crap. Why would a being who is virtually invulnerable need knee guards.

[The Toyroom]

There should be a moratorium on titles like "Doom Patrol", "Suicide Squad", "Blue Beetle"...like 6-7 years. How many times can you go back to the same dry well and expect to find the Fountain of Youth?

[The Toyroom]

I wonder what DC's contingency plan is if this all blows up in their face? It is a LOT of new #1s and new directions not to mention a LOT of these books have failed recently or have "fail" written all over them.

[The Toyroom]

Some of the artwork on these covers is just atrocious IMO....Ugh!

[The Toyroom]

Boy, at first I was pretty negative about the reboot, then I got a little pumped up as it became more of a relaunch less of a reboot. But now I'm swinging neg again, as it looks like there's an abundance of inconsistencies already.

I hear ya...the pendulum keeps swinging back and forth I feel like Vinnie Barbarino...."I'm soooooo confused!"

[johnnystorm]

Boy, at first I was pretty negative about the reboot, then I got a little pumped up as it became more of a relaunch less of a reboot. But now I'm swinging neg again, as it looks like there's an abundance of inconsistencies already.

First there's the totally unnecessary redone Superman & Supergirl costumes, the bizarre edict that legs on female heroines need covered (but lowcut cleavage & pushup bras are still ok it seems). Then we see odd costume redos such as Red Robin (yeah, he's named after Robin Hood, not the bird like Chris said).

The Teen Titans all appear to have new origins, so I guess Cassie gets the Donna Troy treatment as all Wonder Girls must do. I haven't seen any sign of Donna either, which is not a good thing. Superboy appears "new & improved" as well.

I believe that DC's goal here is to flood the stands with new titles and overpower Marvel through sheer numbers, a ploy Marvel used to some limited advantage in the past. Unfortuneatly, that strategy leads to a quick short-term gain then a fizzle. The losers end up being the retailers who windup with long boxes of unsold back issues. look at the quarter boxes for how many copies of stuff like Mystique, Nightcrawler, and other X-Titles from the mid 90s are still there.

And while I'm glad to see DC bringing back such favorites of mine like Resurrection Man and Swamp Thing, I have to say that there's a lot of cannon fodder in that 52 issue list so far, with a few more to follow. Blue Beetle has failed twice as a ongoing & a backup. There's been what 4-5 Suicide Squad titles? JLA Dark is Shadowpact. A covert ops version of Blackhawk=Checkmate. Sgt Rock's grandson? Really. That DiDio /Giffen OMAC looks terrible.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not seeing a lot of staying power here. A LOT of these books look to me to have marginalized audiences. I...Vampire is aimed a totally different group than All-Star Western or Sgt Rock.

Plus there's the cost of trying out the relaunch, DC is asking me to invest a minimum of $160 in first issues to try the new versions. All within the first month. I'm certainly not going to like or continue buying more of some of them, and obviously I probably won't buy all of the first issues either. But I can't see customers dumping Marvel X-titles to pickup Animal Man or Legion Lost. I'm not going to pass up The Walking Dead to try a new Nightwing.

I'm thinking there's going to be mass cancellations within a year, and hopefully heads will roll. I give books like Hawk & Dove, Mr. Terrific, Batwing, Sgt Rock, Blackhawk, OMAC, and Static less than that.

Not trying to be the voice of doom here, not being overly negative because iof the change, it's just that a majority of these books have tried & failed before, some more than once. It's like Doom Patrol- they're great guest-stars, but after about 5-6 issues the idea wears thin. Many of these titles would be very good mini-series or graphic novels. And maybe that's what they are, and DC isn't saying that just yet. Maybe we're going to see DC do mini-series as ongoings, a tactic companies such as Dark Horse has done with characters like Hellboy, BPRD, and Conan. IDW does it with GI JOE & others. That might not be a bad tactic, get in -get out, put out the trade & on to the next. It's not been DC's style though, but who knows?

I think with all the media hype DC is trying to generate, they're hoping that they'll entice non-readers to hop onto the digital versions and therefore the books will be a success. I really don't see that happening in the numbers they expect. I'd be surprised, particularly since they've announced all this months prior to it actually happening, and it'll be old news when it does.

[The Toyroom]

Very sorry to see Secret Six end, as it's probably DC's best-written title.

BK won't be happy about this...