How much does the past matter, really?
Do the events in your past shape your life, or is it the way you interpret the events in your past that shape the way you live today?
In comic book terms, do you need to have read More Fun Comics #1-899 to understand issue #900?
As we found out last week, DC will relaunch its entire superhero line with 52 brand-new #1 issues in September, perhaps breaking ties with its own past to reach out to the audience of today. But is that what’s really going on? Do the old stories still matter? Have they ever really mattered to begin with?
The DC press releases (and clarifications from DC Sales VP Bob Wayne) indicate that the new #1 issues represent a relaunch, not a reboot. A reboot would imply a new start, untethered from past continuity, like we saw with the J. J. Abrams Star Trek or the Joe Carnahan A-Team. The DC relaunch images show a much younger-looking Superman, redesigned costumes for many characters, and some of the solicitations talk about characters who are substantially changed from what we know, yet DC insists it’s not a reboot.
It’s a streamlining, with changes.
I haven’t seen it clarified in quite this way, but from what I understand, and what I know about DC Comics and the people involved in the relaunch—namely, the way Geoff Johns thinks of these superheroes and wants Hollywood and every potential new reader to think of these characters—the New DCU will not so much redefine the past of the superheroes as it will clarify who they are and what they are all about.
Can you describe the current role of Aquaman in the DCU in terms of why anyone should be interested in stories about him? How about Hawkman? How about Wonder Woman? Probably not. Those characters, as iconic as they are, have floundered when it comes to defining themselves through their stories.
Green Lantern? Not so much. He’s clearly defined: space cop who protects the universe through his magic ring, powered by strength of will. And the Green Lantern family of titles is undergoing far less creative change than the other comics announced so far. No surprise.
In streamlining the DCU characters who are not as clearly-defined as Green Lantern, the relaunch will cause some changes to be made, surely. There’s no way DC is sticking with the current J. Michael Straczynski continuity where Wonder Woman fights crime in the streets because her island blew up and all of a sudden she’s never met Superman before. That continuity can’t be boiled down into a character concept that even makes sense to hardcore readers, never mind the general public. The same is true for Aquaman, Hawkman, and dozens of other DC characters who will no doubt play a role in the relaunch.
Because some readers fear these changes, they have hit the comic book message boards (or shouted loudly in the back corners of local comic shops) and said things like “I will never buy a DC Comic again,” and “it’s incredibly disrespectful,” and “none of the old stories will matter any more.”
Meanwhile, other readers, and even some creators, have scoffed at these reactions. The two sides basically boil down to this conversation:
- “This sucks. Now my comic book collection is worthless to me, because all these stories in these boxes no longer count.”
- “Are they good stories? Then enjoy them! If they’re not good, then don’t worry about it! They’re ALL just made-up stories anyway. None of them really happened.”
The thing is, I can see both points. It has to do with the perspective on the past rather than the actual events of the past.
Reader #1, who argues that his or her comics no longer matter is a reader not of individual comics or individual creators, but of the Grand Narrative. For that reader, the DCU is one big story that has been going on for decades, and every comic is a piece of that overall story, even if the reader hasn’t read the comic, or even if the reader purposefully ignores comics he or she doesn’t think should fit into the Grand Narrative.
I’ve never met a Grand Narrative reader who has read every single comic ever published by DC throughout its history, and I’ve never even met one who admits that every comic her or she has read must fit perfectly into continuity. Yet the Grand Narrative reader wants things to fit, basically, into the overall, decades-long story.
Reader #2, reacting to Reader #1, can’t understand the idea of the Grand Narrative, because this second type of reader is a believer in isolated stories. Runs by particular creators or eras. Maybe individual stand-out issues. These things matter far more than the Grand Narrative. The Individual reader is not superior to the Grand Narrative reader, but just happens to have a different perspective about whether the superhero comics game is one of short-form storytelling or large-scale, multi-generational storytelling.
Honestly, DC has always seemed to want to be all things to both kinds of readers. They pander to Grand Narrative readers by hyping major changes to the status quo and making those kinds of readers feel that certain comics are more important to the Grand Narrative than others. And DC targets the Individual readers by promoting particular creative teams, and talking about comic book runs in terms of who was involved with the writing and drawing rather than what happened in the issues.
Fundamentally, the two different kinds of readers are different in buying habits, attitude, and critical perspective. They are looking for different things from the DC relaunch. And in neither case do the old issues of a series really matter as much as the reader memory of those older issues. Grand Narrative readers will ignore contradictions in the large-scale of story as long as they like where the story ends up going.
So when they say, “those old stories no longer count,” they’re really saying, “sure, I want these old comics to count, but as long as you don’t completely contradict everything, and as long as you head in an improved direction, I’m okay with it.” And the Individual readers really mean, “yeah, I like it when comics fit together smoothly with other comics I like, even though I mostly buy comics just because of certain writers or artists.”
If DC handles the relaunch right, and emphasizes clarity of character and concept without purposefully denying or radically removing the essential details of a superhero’s past, they shouldn’t have any problems satisfying current Grand Narrative readers. As long as the creative teams are strong enough, they will keep Individual readers around, too.
Then again, the relaunch is really poised to interest that mythical third audience: the New reader. And that is a wild and mysterious beast that few have ever seen in their lifetime.
Maybe the New DCU is just what they’ve been waiting for.
Tim Callahan is a Reader #2 who tries really hard to be a Reader #1, when no one is looking. He hasn’t been a New reader since at least Atari Force #1.
I’m a member of that mythical third audience: a New Reader. I collect Marvel titles, and have read them faithfully since I was twelve. But DC? DC was my Dad’s comic book collection. Batman made sense since I knew the story from the movies, but picking up a random issue was an exercise in confusion. Who was Solomon Grundy? Was he even alive? Was Catwoman a girlfriend or a girl-foe?
I’m counting down the days until September, my jumping-in point. I’m daydreaming about the characters that looked interesting but were rendered inscrutable by complex back stories. (I’m looking at you, Green Arrow.)
So for me, reboot, relaunch, re-release, it doesn’t matter as long as the stories are accessible to a complete newb.
As a “#2-type” reader, my hope (probably forlorn) is that they take the opportunity to allow the new books to develop into significant creator-driven runs, without derailing them with crossovers, switching writers every few issues, or pulling the rug out from under creators (e.g., McDuffie’s JLA). I understand that the grand corporate narrative needs to be maintained (and I agree this aspect is part of what makes big-2 comics interesting), but a commitment to that narrative requires better planning than DC’s editorial people have shown over the last few years…
Or you know, they could just end all these thousands of contradicting stories and endless rehashed characters and plotlines and actually come up with some geniunely new characters, material, and story concepts…but I speak blasphemey no self respecting comic writer would ever stoops so low as to delve into the original.
I’m a long time comic book fan and reader and even though I know about some of the complex continuity, I wish some of it wasn’t there, like Hawkman’s endless reincarnations and so on. Some misteps were made, and other writers who come after have done their best and tried to tell good stories. They are not shackled anymore, they can ignore the bad, focus on the good and press on.
wcarter4 – To be fair, there are a dozen or so other comic book publishers out there that are producing amazing new characters, material, story concepts, and Vertigo (the mature line from DC) have consistently produced some of the most interesting and challenging comic book series from some of the best talent in the business. The majority of DC comics I read nowadays come from Vertigo.
DC comics core business is superhero comics, iconic characters that are known the world over, which is why they are launching 52 new series and are no doubt hoping some of them attain a new level of status. so that they might spin out into other projects, TV shows, animated shows, movies even.
52 new lines. Do I see a promotional deck of cards offering in that?
Someone had to say it.
Glad this article was not yet another “Continity should never matter and anybody who thinks it should is stupid. ThAT i have seen elsewhere. That’s a fine way to think but I defy anybody to read six random issuses of the old Jimmy Olsen comic and not get pissed off that he ALWAYS drinks whatever’s in a lab, on a spaceship what have you…
A good description of those two camps I think. However, I think I don’t quite fit into either. I want the continuity, but I don’t need everyone to be related. I hate the idea of tie-ins. If I want to know more about the Green Lantern, I shouldn’t have to dig out every Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, whatever to find the story. I want to know about the Green Lantern, not them! From other things I’ve seen, a lot of people have a similar frustration with tie-ins, and a strong liking for continuity.
For me, it’s like trying to flesh out how Captain Kirk deals with Battlestar Galactica in the Star Wars universe while helping Doctor Who and the Sliders right what once went wrong. If you don’t like all of those universes, but someone keeps mashing them together AND telling you to read you need to know the history of all to follow the only ones you care about you get tired pretty quick.
Some Star Trek SPOILERS below.
Also I disagree with your Star Trek reboot. One of the (quite a few) reasons I did not care for the Star Trek reboot is that it is entirely tethered to the past continuity (via Spock) and destroys the universe (Kirk’s history/personality) as the premise-Much like what I hear they are trying to do with this “not reboot” for DC.
I know DC has said “Oh we haven’t done this since Crisis,” but really, every summer is Yet Another “everything you thought is wrong/ will be different” Crisis. I guess I tend to a more reader #1 approach, of the two choices offered, but I think there should be a third “I haven’t been able to relate to any ongoing superhero comics for years, since every death, reboot, reinvention, massive crossover is hyped as the end-all-be-all, but really will just be a shiny new version that will revert/be altered yet again within a few years.” This, I imagine, will be about as permanent as Byrne’s re-launch or any of the multiverse-re-shufflings.
Of course, the continuity I prefer is pre-Crisis, so I’m a dinosaur, anyway. :-)
“…it’s like trying to flesh out how Captain Kirk deals with Battlestar Galactica in the Star Wars universe while helping Doctor Who and the Sliders right what once went wrong. If you don’t like all of those universes, but someone keeps mashing them together AND telling you to read you need to know the history of all to follow the only ones you care about you get tired pretty quick.”
Well put, Fuzzix!
Dc for years has wanted two things that do not work well togather “WE want to be Marvel under Roy Thomas ” (everything is in one universe and there’s politics everywhere. But we also need contant homages to Mark waid’s childhood favrote stories”
I can see both sides, but I’d probably fall into the “why God why?” camp if I had to choose. Funnily, the two licensed properties I’ve invested the most into (currently, anyway) are Star Wars and Transformers, which reflect both positions pretty well.
The great thing about the Star Wars universe is that it is all one big story; the comics, video games, cartoons, novels, and movies all fit together into a (more or less) cohesive whole. If SW ever rebooted, I’m not sure I’d care about it anymore; my love isn’t for the characters or even really the stories, but more for the psuedo-history of this wholly-created, huge, sprawling universe. I’d still love the old stuff (just because it’s been replaced doesn’t mean it’s worthless) but would I care about the new stuff? It’s possible, but it’d feel almost like “cheating”, you know?
Transformers is something else entirely. Contrary to popular belief, the TF franchise has long been more than just the 80s cartoons and (now) the Michael Bay films. The Transformers Wiki has classified at least 7 individual “continuity families”, each made up of countless distinct-but-related continuities; for at least a decade now, the franchise has been comfortable with disparate stories and toylines occupying parallel universes (and indeed, once had an entire subline devoted to the idea.) It wasn’t always that way: the original “G1” continuity family established in the 80s was the only one up until the turn of the century, but even before then, the 80s cartoon was irreconcileable with the Marvel comics and (often) the stories on the backs of the toy boxes. (And the comic came out first, so it’s the right version. :p ) In TF’s case, I love the variety: I love that there’s a G1 cartoon Optimus Prime, and a G1 comic Optimus Prime, not to mention a RiD Optimus Prime, a Bayverse Optimus Prime, an Armada/Energon/Cybertron Optimus Prime, a Shattered Glass Optimus Prime, and that they can all coexist in the Transformers multiverse. But they haven’t stopped telling G1 stories all this time, either.
The new Star Trek film didn’t bug me for the same reason: it’s just another new continuity in a history of them. (Says the guy who prefers the old TOS novels—incompatible with many of the later shows, and with many of themselves—to any of the other stuff.)
Back to DC, I’d liken it more to SW than to TFs, as it’s been (mostly? I’ve always been a Marvel guy) a single story going on for decades and decades. I’d be pretty upset, too, if all that got rebooted away. Even this “soft” reboot that it sounds like they’re trying to sell would be too much for me. I wouldn’t begrudge DC for trying it out, they’re a business after all; but I also can’t see it as anything other than just another gimmick that will lose hold after a year or three.
Good Article. I’m not sure where I really fit in. I do follow creators, but I also like the overall history and story of each title I read. I’m a little indifferent to the relaunch/reboot. The way DC has been releasing the new titles in “families” I’m all for, as long as, those “families” continuity stays in the “family.” I say this since all the released titles seem to have their own niche worlds.
I worry that this won’t be the case, and soon enough there will be the mandatory crossover of all titles. If all the bat-stories take place only in the bat books. I’m okay with that. As in, the only heroes in the world, in the bat books, are the bat family. Same with the magic, war, western, and superman “families.”
DC is trying to get some diversity in it’s readership, which is good. I just can’t see the new Stormwatch title fitting in the same world where the JLA live too. (This is thinking that the new Stormwatch, with Apollo and Midnighter, have the same character traits.
P.S. I still think DC would have been better off slowly ramping up their line of books over the last few months of 2011.
I, like Rachel, am part of the mythical third group. I’ve always been interested by comics, but due to the convoluted web of crossovers, backstories, and alternate continuities, I’ve never felt I had a good point to start reading, so I didn’t. With this new reboot (or “restart,” if you prefer), DC has made an excellent choice, in my opinion. It’s impossible to bring in new readers if they can’t tell what’s going on, and the New 52 has made clear exactly where everyone stands. They also chose an excellent mix of famous (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern) and more obscure (Swamp Thing, Animal Man) characters and titles, so a new reader can sample some of each before settling into their niche.