I got attached to comic books in the early 90s. When I got into DC Comics full swing, Superman was dead, Az-Bats was getting insane by the issue, Kyle Rayner was the last Green Lantern, Wally West was the fastest man alive, I laughed out loud at Bob the Galactic Bum.

To me, the Silver Age and the Golden Age of comics were something that they kept repeating in comics over and over again to establish a sort of back-story to the characters. I literally had no idea who Hal Jordan is, till he confronted Rayner. I did know who Barry Allen was thanks to the TV show only, and thus got super-confused when Wally West was dating Tina McGee. And it took a rental of the Batman 1989 movie to convince me that Bruce was the real Batman.

It wasn’t until over a decade later that I got familiar with the Golden, Silver and even the Bronze Age. Still, the modern age was and still is in full swing. Now, with Flashpoint underway and plans already announced for everything to be rebooted, does this mean that the modern age is over, or is the modern age restarting?

All characters are getting a reboot, and to my understanding a re-imagined origin once again. Sure Joe Chill would still kill Bruce’s parents, or Kal-El’s ship would crash in Smallville Kansas, yet despite every time origins have been rehashed, Flashpoint’s aftermath would choose to create new ones. So what does boggle the mind is that if the modern age is restarting, does that mean that the actual Modern age that happened in the 90s get scrapped.

See, if I had imagined a next age of DC Comics, we’d probably see the mantle move on to the new heirs. Dick Grayson as Batman was evidence of this and a perfect example of how this was done right. He’s evolved from Robin to Nightwing to finally getting to the epitome of the Bat-Family, that it only made sense for him to spear-head the next age of Super-heroes.

Conner Kent could also have moved on as the next Superman, despite the fact that we all know that Clark is practically immortal. It was already established in the DC One Million story line that there would be more Supermen eventually becoming the newest incarnations of the original, so why not Conner? Bart Allen could have resumed the mantle of the Flash and eventually there’d be a new Green Lantern on the horizon, if not Rayner.

My gripe with this theory is that instead of a progression, we’re actually heading back to the Silver Age. Sure Barry Allen & Hal Jordan are the penultimate Flash & GL, but then what happens to Wally West & Kyle Rayner. I’ve seen the plans for Rayner, but where’s Wally? (no pun intended). His role as the flash lasted over a decade and therefore it comes as a shock that he’s now gone.

If DC’s strategy is to attract new fans, then is revisiting the Silver Age of comics the way to do it? The way I see it, a new age should have started post Flashpoint where new bearers of the mantle should have appeared. Think about it... how long is Tim Drake going to remain a Teen Titan? Eventually he’s got to move on as a standalone character.

I know the above may invite a whole lot of flak, but it’s just one opinion to clear out the haze after trying to get a handle on the plans post Flashpoint. I don’t intend any disrespect towards Barry Allen or Jordan etc, but I would have loved it if they would have taken a back-seat and become supporting or even mentoring characters. Remember how Jay Garrick became the mentor to Wally West during the 90s? That’s the kind of role those guys could take up.

So what do we really need? A revisited Silver/Modern age, or was the time ripe for a new age of superheroes?