Wish DC would focus on Storytelling rather than Rebooting
By Jordanstine 3 Comments
Storytelling is what makes these characters tick for the last 70 years, not rebooting them
My personal take on the DC Universe relaunching in August.
Honestly, I was never fond of reboots, as seen from my history of criticizing Crisis of Infinite Earths and even Brand New Day, because it basically just throws out all the years of stories ever told about that character as if it was nothing. We the fans spent years and years following these characters. To just simply erased those stories out of thin air is not a nice feeling. Reboots are simply the easy way out.
I joked initially when this was first being speculated that DC, even calling it: "Final Crisis of Infinite Flashpoint Earths - Birthright of Secret Origins 52".
But unlike all the other reboots, this one is in such a massive scale that long time readers may not be able to find themselves able to relate to new personalities, and the new personas of the characters they grew to love and follow for years and years.
I'm 26 now, but have been reading comics since my Mom bought me my first Superman issue when I was just in grade school:
I've had my disappointments of DC never-ending reboots of Superman's origins: from Man of Steel, to Birthright, to Secret Origins, but this new relaunch of all the DCU is unnerving.
I find it like reading let's just say Amazing Spider-Man, and then the following month you pick up the same book, but yet it reads like Ultimate Spider-Man #1. It has the same characters, the same powers, but the personality is just so different. I could even use the Uncanny X-Men and Ultimate X-Men as well; same characters, but VERY DIFFERENT personality.
Imagine reading Detective Comics and the next issue happens to be All-Star Batman & Robin #1. It's tough to digest.
I understand that this is a business, and that bringing in new audiences are important to generate the cash flow.
I also understand the concept of bringing new life to characters that have been around for 70 years. But that's just it - these characters have evolved over time for the last 70 years. Why the need to reboot them now and start them from scratch? Why not have them evolve over the decades like they've been doing all the way since? These characters have enticed every generation without having a major overhaul, so why start now?
Last time DC thought of doing something similar to a partial character reboot, this little number happened:
X-Men #1 by Jim Lee himself sold over 8,000,000 copies in 1991 and holds the record still today! That wasn't because they rebooted the characters, it was because they wrote a much better story around the characters everyone already knew and loved. It also helps that the artwork was awesome too.
Instead of rebooting the characters, why not just write better stories? The stories for these superheroes are what evolved over those 70 years that attract us fans of all ages. It's not the costume design, it's not the fact that the heroes are in their 30's and should be teenagers. No, it's the evolution of the stories from the 40's all the way to today, that's garnered the generation of audiences.
Only time will tell, but I really wish DC would rather put more time in the storytelling rather than simply go the easy way out and erasing the time they've put into developing these marvelous and magnificent characters we all grew up loving.
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