Cons of the DC Reboot

[DemonHunterCole]

DemonHunterCole here... I almost did this as a post to my blog, but decided to post it here for two reasons: 1) More people can/will reply; and, 2) I forgot the e-mail/password associated with my blog. Opps!

I may (or someone else can) create a thread for the Pros of the DC Reboot (Jason Todd/Roy Harper ;D), but at last, this is solely for the cons!

Barbara Gordon
Let's start with Barbara Gordon's role being shifted from Oracle to Batgirl. Now, please don't get me wrong. I think that she should have been healed a long time ago. BUT, since they (DC) are doing it as if she's been able to walk all along, think of all the good Babs has done that will be reversed. I mean there is just the list of girls that took up the mantle of Batgirl since Babs left it. Does this mean that the Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Blackbat Cassandra Cain Wayne (will she still be a Wayne???), BATGIRL (Stephanie Brown), Misfit (Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe), or Proxy (Wendy Harris) or won't exist anymore because they didn't have to fill in or help the mantle of Batgirl? I know that some of you are only found of a few of these characters, but I for one am fond of all of them. I could see the story possibly working out if they (DC) suddenly found a way to fix Oracle, but that's not the way that they are doing it. In addition to her sudden rewrite, DC is also lowering the age of all of their characters. This was the final wrench that pissed me off as the newer characters that have been introduced over the past 10 or under years are my favorites as I grew up with them. Now, the realistic side of me realizes that DC will just make some of these characters dissaper. I wish that wasn't the case, but let's face it, DC just doesn't know what the eff they are doing. Okay, I could go on forever, but I'll stop ranting about Babs for now.

Wait, I lied. The ultimate sin for me is placing Babs as Batgirl. I mean, even with the age adjustment, she's no longer a girl. So why the eff is she Batgirl and not Batwoman. I mean I know that there is already a Batwoman, DC is okay with rewriting several other characters backgrounds rather than just the single character by renaming Babs as Batwoman.

Richard Grayson
WTF! They are demoting him back to Nightwing. I for one think that Dick EARNED his place as Batman. And what's worse is that instead of giving Nightwing a new badass costume, they give him is old costume back but change it from blue to red. WTF? Is it a Bat Family Rule that all non-Batman costumes be Black & Red? Batwoman, Nightwing, Red Robin are just the three that come to mind.

As I stated earlier, I could go on but will stop for fear falling asleep at keyboard.

[X]

Here's the weird part of the DC Reboot, Cole... I've been hearing rumblings that the Babs Batgirl series may actually be set in the past... Which would mean that she's still Oracle... Maybe? I guess?? Seriously though, why the hell would DC dump the current, really good Batgirl comic for a Batgirl comic set in the past, starring Babs? It's so confusing... And yeah, Dick going back down to Nightwing? That's a huge demotion. It's especially annoying because he did such a great job as Batman...

As for the ages, that's another weird part of the reboot... On one hand you have a character like Bruce Wayne, who still has gone through at least four Robins(Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian), AND has a son! I've read interviews that say that the Bat-family stuff is barely gonna be touched at all, and that all the changes(Dick back to Nightwing, Babs supposedly walking again, etc), will be explained in story, meaning the current Bat stuff will simply continue. On the other hand, you have a character like Superboy, who is being completely changed, which you'd think would affect a character like Tim Drake... It seems that DC is just cherry picking certain series/characters, and retooling those, without thinking about the farther reaching consequences.

For me, the bottom line here is that this entire reboot/retooling is all to try to re-reintroduce Barry Allen as the Flash. The first attempt was so poorly done, that I honestly feel Johns and Didio are simply doing this to solidify Saint Barry's spot as the lone Flash. If they actually create their own continuity, where Barry never stopped being the Flash, and Wally West(and Bart Allen) never took up the mantle, there'd be no huge discrepancies with the Flash character... I seriously feel the bottom line is that this is all an effort to continue to JAM Saint Barry down the throats of the DC fans, and nothing more. Watch, in two years time, most of the changes that happen in September will have been reconned, while all the Flash stuff will remain in continuity. That's my feelings about it at least.

[alien]

For me there is no problem with Dick being Nightwing again because he STILL can be Dick no matter what clothes wear, but with Oracle feels different, like going backwards

[DemonHunterCole]

WTF, have the comic be back in the past? This just sounds completely horrible!

You want to know why DC is doing this stupid reboot. It's all about the money. They realize that they will make more money using the Golden/Silver Age characters that everyone knows of instead of using the newer characters. And, they realize that some of their writers have made complete and utterly horrible mistakes during these last 2 years that they now want to reverse (Lian Harper dying, Roy Harper using heroin, the death of Temptest, anything that happened in Blackest Night/Brightest Day, etc.) And, by doing this so called reboot, they will allow themselves to fix these continuality errors that have been popping up in the last 5 or so years because someone was too lazy to do their research on a character (aka Jason Todd's being alive or his hair color). These issues would not have happened if the appropriate people had done their effing research!

[X]

That's what JT told me. He actually linked me an article from some newspaper that said something to the effect that two or three DC comics were set in the past, including Batgirl... If I could find that link I'd post it for ya. Hopefully JT will read this and knows where the link is, and he'll post it!

Will they REALLY make more money if they use their Golden/Silver Age characters though? I find it hard to believe that doing this reboot will suddenly bring Flash fans who quit reading DC 30 years ago because Saint Barry died back. I mean if you stick a Grant Morrison on the Flash book, and have Bart Allen as the lead, it's gonna sell, simply because a Morrison-caliber writer is on the title. Stick some unknown on the same book, and it'll bomb. DC needs to figure out that consistently good, non-contradictory stories will win them more fans than resetting their company every couple of years.

I agree 1,000,000% with what you said about the reboot being an easy fix for editorial though. DC's in-house research department must really sucks... On top of that, they must have some WEAK editors... Instead of sticking with a new direction, DC constantly seems to get cold feet and reverse themselves, especially if one of their "top" writers want to do something(see Wally West, Bart Allen, Connor Hawke, Kyle Rayner, Wonder Woman, etc).

And agreed again about it all coming down to money. #1's always sell well, so what better way to make a temporary windfall then releasing 52 #1's? I'm sure Marvel is already expecting DC to beat them for September(although I bet the #1 selling book of that month will be Fear Itself #6), the problem is that I doubt DC will be able to keep up the momentum come October, November, etc. If anything, they may wind up shooting themselves in the foot if they end up NOT getting new fans to stick around and lose disgruntled older fans.

[JT]

I didn't say it WAS in the past, I said it COULD be one of the three series that takes place in the past. Apparently there are a few that take place in the past and BG may be one of them....

[X]

Ah... So X am misunderstood... X am bad...

[alien]

for what i reed in newsarama, the ones that are set in the past are Action Comics and Justice League...

[X]

Wait, Justice League is set in the past?! So DC's main superhero team book is simply going to tell stories from the past?! Huh... Action makes sense from what little I've seen, and Etrigan's book is obviously set in the past, so maybe those are the three?

[alien]

i guess only the first arcs, to put on the table the new origins or to explain why is Cyborg in the team

[X]

Ah, I gotcha. I guess that kind of makes sense... In a way... I'm still a bit baffled by Cyborg's involvement in the League, but whatever I guess...

[JT]

Ahem... Token...Black...Guy.

[X]

HA!!! You said it, not me! I'd still say there are better choices(Steel, John Stewart, Vixen), but since Steel and John probably wouldn't work, I guess they went with Cyborg, although Vixen would fit better imo...

[JT]

I also would've used Vixen, hell use Terrific since you guys wanna give him a damn series...

[X]

Great point on Terrific... I mean he could easily take the "brains" spot on the team that I'm guessing Cyborg is gonna get. Hell, he's WAY smarter than Cyborg anyway. I wonder what made DC decide that Cyborg was going to be their major black character...