Reboots

Let’s say you’re working along at work, you’re on your computer, and suddenly it stops working properly.  What do you do?  Call your IT Department?  Nope.  Ask the cute techie girl across the office that’s always helping everyone else?  That’s a dumb idea (or in my case, I am the cute techie girl across the office).  Oh, wait!  You have that one friend that knows everything, call him!  Wait, no, you don’t want to look stupid.  You’ve got to fix this yourself.  Here’s a pro-tip for you: When your computer (or phone or tablet or whatever) is not working as it should, the first thing you should try is turning it off and back on, or (to use a slightly more technical term) reboot it.  It’s quick and easy and 99% of the time is the fix for your problem.

Now, let’s say you’re a movie studio head or producer of some sort.  You have the rights to a film franchise that has sucked hardcore underperformed in recent years.  What do you do?  Do a crossover with another waning franchise (hello, Freddy vs. Jason)?  Only if you want to get fired.  Make another sequel (but it worked for Transformers! #sarcasm)?  That’s a genius way to blow a bunch of money and get fired.  Apply the same logic from the first scenario and reboot!

New movie, new cast, new (for the most part) story.  It’s a simple formula with pretty good results.  Star Trek did it.  James Bond did it.  Batman did it.  Just this past year had two movies from franchise reboots (Godzilla and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) that I thought were great movies.  Admittedly, there were some that were not as great (what’s up, 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!).  Next year has a slew more that I’m hopeful for like Terminator Genisys.

Daenerys, Arnold, and The Doctor? YES.

It’s Hollywood’s cash cow now, it would seem.  Take something that was cool 25, 30, or 50 years ago and re-envision it in a modern light.  It keeps things fresh, it gets new eyes on the product, and it helps prevent the use of phrases like “genre fatigue”.  So, if you can imagine audiences tiring of something like Star Trek after ten movies over the course of 20+ years, imagine how difficult of a time the comic book industry has with sustaining readership when an average of between 10 and 15 comics per week are produced 52 weeks out of the year for (in the case of DC and Marvel Comics) 81 and 54 years, respectively.  That’s a lot of stories.

When you have a massive shared universe, much like the DC and Marvel Universes, it’s quite a task to coordinate all of the writers and artists on each title and even more difficult to make these stories published in 2015 jive with those published in, say, 1956.  Even more so than that, though, it’s creatively stifling.  Some writers, like Grant Morrison, are great at taking the concept of “hey, remember that D-list villain from Batman #156 (June 1963)?  He’s now the deadliest enemy The Dark Knight has ever faced!”  Morrison consistently mines continuity to tell present day stories highlighting the legacy of characters like Batman, Superman, and the X-Men.  Morrison’s newest DC Comic, Multiversity, is chock full of these types of plot lines.  Another writer, Geoff Johns is known for taking characters that have lost some of their luster and bringing them back to the forefront.  Just in the last 10 to 12 years, Johns has done that for Green Lantern in epic fashion and Aquaman, killing a lot of the “you just talk to fish” jokes and making DC’s King of Atlantis a legitimate badass.

Johns' New 52 Aquaman #1

But even with writers such as these, problems of negative interpretations of characters, lack of sales, and creative burn out still persist.  If Superman is the most powerful being in existence (as he is depicted at times) and he’s married to Lois Lane, what other stories can be told?  Moreover, in the comic world at least, there’s the thought new readers have of “well, I’ve missed #699 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, why would I buy #700?”  Entry points, from a story telling perspective, as well as from a sales perspective, are a necessity.  Sometimes, you just need a fresh start to get you back to square one.  Sometimes, you just need a reboot.

In 2011, DC Comics announced that they were cancelling their entire publishing line and beginning anew.  This meant that long standing titles like Detective Comics (at #811), Action Comics (#904), Superman (#714), and Batman (#713) would all be renumbered to #1 in September 2011.  This initiative was aptly called “The New 52”, as the DC Universe would be overhauled and 52 separate comic book titles would be published on a monthly basis.  Initially, The New 52 saw great success, with the #1 issue of each title selling out its original publishing run.  Justice League, the flagship title of The New 52, went on to sell out four printing editions.  Over the past three and a half years, a handful of New 52 titles have come and gone, but the core of the original 52 stayed firm.

Alex Ross maintaining his awesomeness.

Many will disagree, but I’m convinced that Marvel Comics has finally decided to follow DC’s lead and reboot their universe and will do so with the recently announced event “Secret Wars”, set to debut in May.  Marvel has an even worse case of “new reader alienation” than DC did prior to September 2011.

Yes, that's my personal copy.

Thirty years ago, DC had its first of these giant crossover, “soft reboot” (getting rid of the bad and keeping the good, rather that losing the baby with the bathwater like a full reboot would) events.  Titled Crisis on Infinite Earths, the universe wide crossover featured all the heroes of the DC Universe battling a villain named the Anti-Monitor, who was hell bent on wiping out their existence.  Ultimately, the heroes were victorious (as they almost always are), but it came at the cost of the lives of certain characters… Like those whose books weren’t selling well.  Now, on the 30^th anniversary of COIE, DC has announced what’s being called “a love letter to the DC Universe and its fans”.  Convergence will be a 9-part series that will serve to end this era of the DC Universe and mark the beginning of a new era.  Half of DC’s current titles will end in March and April as part of another “soft reboot”.  Those titles performing well and are on creative upswing will remain and in June, 24 (so far announced) new titles will launch.  These are a few of those that I’m most looking forward to/intrigued by:

Gorgeous.

Justice League of America.  Written and drawn by Bryan Hitch, a guy best known for his work with Marvel Comics on the Ultimate Avengers.  This book looks to feature the original seven members of the Justice League: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter Cyborg.  I’m more excited about this book than any of the others.

So, Damian has new pet..?

Robin, Son of Batman.  Essentially, this is just replacing the long running Batman & Robin series, but with a larger focus on the Boy Wonder.  Artist on B&R, Pat Gleason will remain and take over writing duties as well.

A street gang of sidekicks maybe?  Okay.  I guess.

We Are Robin.  I have no clue what this title is or what it’s about, but I’m looking forward to it quite a bit.  More Batman centric titles can’t be a bad thing, right?

Or, as she's been nicknamed by Tumblr-ites, Bitch Canary.

Black Canary.  Spinning out of the pages of Batgirl, this book will be written by one of the writers of that title, Brenden Fletcher.

Starfire.  Another spin-off title, this book (along with Red Hood/Arsenal) will take the place of the cancelled title Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Just a sketch, but it's Ivan Reis artwork, so it'll be awesome.

Cyborg.  33 months after The New 52 reboot, one of the original seven of the Justice League will star in his own monthly series.

Other new series include: Batman Beyond, Bat-Mite, Bizarro, Constantine: The Hellblazer, Dark Universe, Green Lantern: Lost Army, Doomed, Earth 2: Society, Dr. Fate, Harley Quinn/Power Girl, Justice League 3001, Martian Manhunter, Midnighter, Mystic U (tentative title), Omega Men, Prez, Red Hood/Arsenal, and Section Eight.

The remaining ongoing titles are: Action Comics, Aquaman, Batgirl, Batman, Detective Comics, Batman/Superman, Catwoman, Deathstroke, The Flash, Gotham Academy, Gotham By Midnight, Grayson, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn, Justice League, Justice League United, Lobo, Secret Six, Sinestro, New Suicide Squad, Superman, Superman/Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, and Wonder Woman.

With the count of ongoing titles down to 49, DC has finally dropped “The New 52” branding that has been on the cover of all of their books since September 2011.

Check back on Thursday for my review of this week’s episodes of The Flash and Arrow!

Thanks for reading!

-Josh 

Sources: excerpts from primary source interviews; Wikipedia; dccomics.com

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