DC Reboot!!

[Geekyfanboy]

DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
By Lucas Siegel, Newsarama Editor


A fully revamped DC Universe for a "more modern and diverse 21st century", over 50 new #1 issues, a Geoff Johns-Jim Lee Justice League, and the first of the major comic book publishers to fully embrace "same-day" digital distribution...

That is the breaking news DC Entertainment Tuesday afternoon, finally and officially breaking their silence about their post-Flashpoint plans for their flagship line of comic book titles.

The center of intense rumor and speculation for months now, DC confirmed today that the fictional shared universe of Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lanterm and more will undergo a revamp of their oft-rewritten 76 year-plus history of shared continuity.

Geoff Johns promised USA Today "a focus on the interpersonal relationships within DC's trademark superteam." "What's the human aspect behind all these costumes?" he tells the publication. "That's what I wanted to explore."

The revamp will reportedly involve "introducing readers to stories that are grounded in each character's specific legend but also reflect today's real-world themes and events."

Jim Lee reportedly "spearheaded" the redesign of more than 50 costumes to make characters "more identifiable and accessible to comic fans new and old."

"We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line," added co-publisher Dan DiDio. "This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience."

Along with the revamp, and sure to cause uproar among those who buy comic books as collectibles, all DC Universe titles will also be renumbered with new #1 issues, including the industry's two longest-running titles - Action Comics, the birthplace of Superman - and Detective Comics, the home of Batman and namesake of the publisher - the former of which recently published its 900th issue, with the latter in the 880s.

The first officially announced title and creative team of the new era was revealed as well. DC Entertainment co-publisher Jim Lee and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns will be teaming as artist and writer, respectively, on Justice League #1, launching August 31st and starring Batman, Superman,Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman.

Finally, DC also announced they plan to make all of their titles available for sale in digital format on the same day as their publlished counterparts, starting with Justice League #1. While the decision could probably be described as inevitable, the announcement will still likely be poorly received among some segments of "Direct Market" comic book retailers, whose stores account for the current backbone of monthly comic book sales.

DC has previously taken steps to ease the eventual move to fully same-day digital distribution, announcng in March a partnership with digital distributor comiXology allowing individual retailers to sell digital editions of DC comics through their websites, for a share of the online retail price.

The publisher also sent a letter directly to direct market retailers addressing their announcement. In it, SVP, Sales, DC Entertainment Bob Wayne told retailers, "DC Comics will support this initiative with an innovative mix of publicity, promotional efforts and retailer incentives designed to maximize your opportunity to increase your DC sales. We will discuss additional details of these incentives when we get closer to solicitation later in June."

"We're allowing people who have never bought a comic book in their lives to download them on portable media devices and take a look," Lee said. "Having the ability to give people access to these comics with one button click means we're going to get a lot of new readers."

Lee told USA Today what makes this plan so ambitious is that it's not just about changes in characters or costumes but setting the stage for how comic books will be consumed in the future.

"We're trying to set the table for the DC Universe's future success and health."

More information, including other creative teams, titles, and character changes, is expected with September 2011 solicitations, which should be released Monday June 13, 2011.

Reached for any immediate reaction to DC's new digital publication policy, Marvel Comics declined to comment Tuesday afternoon.

[Rico]

I can certainly see why they are doing this, but I would certainly have preferred they went the Marvel route and just created a new line of "Ultimate" style comics and did the reboots there.  It's a bit unclear what they might be leaving in tact and what they are changing.  Actually comics have done this sort of thing for years now with cycles happening every decade or so.  I'm more interested to learn how this same day digital distribution thing pans out, how much the digital comics will cost on release day and so forth.  Again, I see why they are doing this but it will be a very sad thing if this (in part) drives comic book shops under.

[Jobydrone]

At least it's not part of a year long "event" where you have to buy every freaking book in their catalogue to know what the heck is going on.  Frankly I'm glad theyre not going the "ultimate" route.  IMO it's too confusing to have multiple histories and origins of the same characters running concurrently.  The Marvel Ultimate universe suffered because of that, I think.  The X books in particular were so disjointed I had no idea who was who alot of the time. 

[Rico]

I don't really agree Joby.  Multiple titles and crossovers can be a problem to follow, but the Ultimate line is a separate Marvel universe.  That makes it easy to jump in.  If DC really dumps decades of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern history down the toilet it's going to drive away a lot more people than it's going to bring in. 

[X]

I don't really agree Joby.  Multiple titles and crossovers can be a problem to follow, but the Ultimate line is a separate Marvel universe.  That makes it easy to jump in.  If DC really dumps decades of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern history down the toilet it's going to drive away a lot more people than it's going to bring in. 

I think that DC dumping decades worth of stuff would actually work. They did it with Crisis and it worked well. This is pretty much the same thing, but not everyone will be rewritten completely. Some are only going to be tweaked. The fact that it will also have same day digital release will more than likely draw in even more customers.

This also isn't DC's second go at this. Crisis, Zero Hour, and 52 have all rewritten DC history. It's par for the course with them. Where Marvel has Marvel Time ... which is this strange thing where time flows with the characters and there is no more than 13 years between the current issue and when the person / team became known to the public. This is to keep most of their character young and how we remember the icons.

Dc does the reverse and lets their characters grow and age until they do a reset and start the process all over again.

Given the people involved, I think that this will work great.

[Jobydrone]

I wonder if this is all an elaborate misdirection to distract from the fact that Superman is about to undergo some radical changes due to that lawsuit from the creator's family that didn't go DC's way.  I don't completely understand the ramifications of that lawsuit, does anyone else know what kinds of changes DC has to legally make to that character?

[Jobydrone]

I don't really agree Joby.  Multiple titles and crossovers can be a problem to follow, but the Ultimate line is a separate Marvel universe.  That makes it easy to jump in.  If DC really dumps decades of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern history down the toilet it's going to drive away a lot more people than it's going to bring in. 

I see your point, and don't misunderstand, I really enjoyed some of the Ultimate books, mostly the Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Spiderman, which I am still enjoying now.  It's mostly the X books I don't get. 

After loving the X Men in the 80s, I missed so much history in the "real" Marvel universe, because I stopped reading comics for fifteen years or so.  When I tried to pick up again in the 21st century, I had no idea who was who, or what happened to my beloved characters.  I still can't figure out what happened to Professor X and why he seems to be thought of as a villain or something.  Then throw in the Ultimate books, where all the characters have different origins and relationships, and the Astonishing books, which seem to exist in a universe all their own, and it's just too much to really care about anymore.

[Rico]

The way I handle "multiple" versions or universes is to normally pick one and stick with it.  I generally don't try to follow all the various "versions."

This isn't a huge deal to me since I've always been much more a Marvel fan than DC.  Actually the only DC book that is important to me right now is Batman. 

If you want to get a feel for what's been selling, check this listing out.  Marvel has been dominating DC for quite some time now.  So, maybe this will help them.

http://drhiphop85.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/top-50-selling-comics-for-january-march/

[WillEagle]

I'm looking foward to a couple of titles on the relaunch. The 2 Justice league titles. I like the team books because I just cant afford all the seperate titles. I only got back into comics besides Star treks when the new Avengers title started and then I got into a few more. I have got a lot of graphic novels from the library to catch up on some of the storylines I missed and with that bargain box store I have picked up quite a few.

[Dangelus]

I wonder if this is all an elaborate misdirection to distract from the fact that Superman is about to undergo some radical changes due to that lawsuit from the creator's family that didn't go DC's way.  I don't completely understand the ramifications of that lawsuit, does anyone else know what kinds of changes DC has to legally make to that character?

Looks like it's a bit of a mess.

From: Cosmicbooknews.com:

Have you been following the super lawsuit that sees the heirs of Superman creators Siegel and Shuster pitted against the goliath known as DC Comics?

The case has been going back and forth for a few years over the rights returning to the creators, based on the Copyright Act of 1976. The Act basically states after a certain period, creators can reclaim the rights to their creations, albeit with certain stipulations.

From what I gather, only part of the Superman mythos would be returned to the family, and the "modern" aspects of Big Blue would stay with DC.

Variety reports that a recent article in the Columbia Law Journal, by Anthony Cheng, puts forth the notion that the Superman issue could be resolved similarly to the "Spawn vs. Medieval Spawn" case of Todd McFarlane vs. Neil Gaiman. It was ruled each character was different enough to warrant a separate trademark, as the two characters were "sufficiently distinct."

Cheng writes this could be the basis for the decision to let both sides in the Superman lawsuit continue to use Superman. As stated above, the DC Comics version would uitlize the "modern" aspects, and the Siegel and Shuster heirs the more "original" -- giving us two versions of Superman.

Furthermore, Variety states that this reclaiming of the trademark would only be applicable in the U.S., and DC would still own the international rights.

Beginning to sound a bit ridiculous?

The Siegel and Shuster family would have a "Superman" they could only use in the U.S., who couldn't fly, no Lex Luthor and company - but they would have the costume (wonder if JMS will be on board? [sarcasm]).

Meanwhile, DC would have a "Superman" that could fly, with Lex and company - but would need a new origin and costume (hmmm...now the story in Action Comics #900 where Superman renounces his American citizenzhip is beginning to make sense [sarasm - sorta]).

The status of the case is currently up in the air, as the attorney for the family is appealing to try to get a ruling to determine who owns what.

The obvious question is: Why hasn't there been some sort of settlement? That's up in the air as well, as DC is suing the attorney representing Siegel and Shuster on the basis of interference.

The feud over the rights is also the basis for the upcoming Man of Steel movie from Zack Snyder, as it was ruled Warner Bros. must begin filming a new Superman movie by 2011 or the family could sue to recover damages based on filming rights.

Obviously, there is a whole lot going on here which would take a series of articles, but do we need a split Superman...again? Hopefully, this gets settled.

Edit: looks like it's been resolved and you ay be right about it coinciding with the reboot:

http://playeraffinity.com/comic-news/the-superman-lawsuit-the-outcome.html

[X]

As a writer, I think that the families have been milking that cow for far too long. They had nothing to do with the process, but are suing all the time for money. Were it not for DC's lawyers going after Faucet for Shazam, Superman would have been eclipsed and a foot note in history long ago.

I think that if you do a job and get paid for that job, then that's that. If they want to pay you afterwards, fine. Have that in your contract, but it shouldn't pass to your nieces and cousins after you die.

[Jobydrone]

As a writer, I think that the families have been milking that cow for far too long. They had nothing to do with the process, but are suing all the time for money. Were it not for DC's lawyers going after Faucet for Shazam, Superman would have been eclipsed and a foot note in history long ago.

I think that if you do a job and get paid for that job, then that's that. If they want to pay you afterwards, fine. Have that in your contract, but it shouldn't pass to your nieces and cousins after you die.

Pretty surprising stance on the issue considering you're a writer and creator of original IP yourself, aren't you?

[X]

As a writer, I think that the families have been milking that cow for far too long. They had nothing to do with the process, but are suing all the time for money. Were it not for DC's lawyers going after Faucet for Shazam, Superman would have been eclipsed and a foot note in history long ago.

I think that if you do a job and get paid for that job, then that's that. If they want to pay you afterwards, fine. Have that in your contract, but it shouldn't pass to your nieces and cousins after you die.

Pretty surprising stance on the issue considering you're a writer and creator of original IP yourself, aren't you?

Yep. I firmly hope and wish that my cousins and their kids don't profit from my work when I die. If I want them to have a piece of my pie, then I would have given it to them. Also, that being said, I don't expect anyone including myself to get paid and have their children paid in perpetuity from something that I do on my work for hire writing gig.

I just see the irony in that families are suing for royalties claiming that it wasn't created by the company when they had nothing at all to do with the creation of the characters in question. At least DC is putting out money to make new product. They aren't even doing that, they just want a check, but if it wasn't for DC, there wouldn't be any interest in Superman. He's still around because of the work the company put into him and he's not the Kal-L that we first saw in Action Comics.