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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Reactions To DC Comics

With DC Comics announcement, some people are excited, some people are clearly not and then there are those who are simply asking why?

Here is one such person,

What's nU with me?  What's nU with you?
by Sean Kasper

When DC comics announced that there would be a 'DCnU' most fans seemed to embrace it with open arms.  I am sure that long term fans of the company are use to the idea of 'rebooting' continuity since they have done it several times since the first try with 'Infinite Crisis' back in 1986.  

Back then, the Crisis was used to 'clean up' DC's cluttered universe of multiple realities and basically muddled history.  I am sure it was 'controversial' back in the day but, for the most part, it was a very successful venture both commercially and artistically.  Then there were several other reboots… all of which were used to 'fix' continuity…
Now comes 'DCnU'… after Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Return of Bruce Wayne, and Flashpoint it seems DC Comics is going to 'fix' things again… My question is why is there a need to 'fix' things?  Do the editors feel that continuity is muddled again?  Are things so unapproachable for 'new' fans that they feel its time to scrap everything and start over again?  

DC comics is the original super hero company… their characters (well two of them) are the most recognizable super heroes in the world… You can literally go to a deep dark jungle on Skull Island and King Kong would recognize the Superman 'S'.  So why is it, that the writers and editors of this great character feel that his story has become so un recognizable that they have to re-boot every year?

I understand that money is a factor and being a big capitalist myself I am all for doing what you can to make your company/product better and more marketable… but is this really what they are doing?  The artist in my soul looks at the images being presented and it can't help but scratch its head.  Wasn't 'Team Batman' or whatever it was called doing well?  Wasn't Superman's Walk a critical success even it wasn't liked by fan boys didn't the elite critics like it?  What about the dusting off of the 90's Hulk…er… Doomsday?  Weren't these things selling?

I have been told that the Green Lantern story lines are fantastic.  Why then is it necessary to hit the reset button?  I know some things are keeping the 'history' but really is this making things more accessible?

Or is this really about something else?  Is it really about the complete break down of attention span in the main stream comics industry?  When Marvel abandoned decades of continuity it seemed like no big never-mind to fans… I mean, they were telling 'good stories' right?  Who cares if the comics you have invested in for years no longer matter right?  But the reality is that it does matter.  When important events happen to the characters the you love they have an impact on the reader as well as the character and characters around them… To go back suddenly, and with a slash of the pen, erase those events makes collecting comics feel like a very un-fulfilling hobby.  I mean, you don't see this in novels do you?  JRR Tolkien didn't go back fifteen times and re-boot Frodo and Samwise did he?  Did he create a team of Aragorns all with different powers and weapons to 'spice things up' in his second book?  No.  He created his piece and that was that.

Its amazing how Grant Morrison was able to make Superman's beginnings so simple again.  It was done in one page with three panels… Why is it important to have every minute detail of what color costume Jor-El was wearing when he launched little Kal-El into space?  I know, I know inquiring Fans what to know right? But when there four or five different versions of Supes' origin presented in one years span it makes it seem like someone, some where isn't too confident in the character.  

At their essence superhero comics are a vehicle for telling the fantastic and creating a sense of escapism for the reader.  In fact the superhero has very humble beginnings… why not go back to the simplicity that made them so popular to begin with?  I highly doubt that the uber-fanboy is so sophisticated that they would put down all their comics if DC or Marvel decided to recognize their comics for what they are…

At the end of all this, DCnU will be a success… but I highly doubt it will be made a success by the new fan, the 8 or 9 year old… It will be made a success by the same fans who un-questioningly buy the seventeen issues of the 'crisis/crossover of the month' every Wednesday and then go home to their computers and bash the changes that were made on line, only to go back the following week and obediently purchase the next issue.

George Orwell once said 'As with the Christian Religion, the worst advertisement for socialism is its adherents' I think the same can be said for the comic book fan… 

In a field of infinite possibilities and limited only to the imagination it seems that the DC (and Marvel) universe seems to be stuck in a continual revolving door where the need for change is only allowed for the length of time it takes to get back to where you started from.  

I believe that, if this continues, it will have an effect on the rest of the genre.  Its time to get out of the box and break the mold.

No more 'nU'… try something NEW.

Sean Kasper is a writer and self publisher. Check out his blog and facebook
 

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