DCU Concerns...

This isn't going to be a lengthy blog, and it isn't one about anything in particular, just a random collection of thoughts I had while reading Flashpoint #3 and my concerns about the post-FP world and how it will effect certain characters. 

As any one reading comic books knows by now (and as I pondered in an earlier blog (52 Number Ones...), DC is bringing a whole batch of #1's to the buying audience in September following the close of Flashpoint, and starting with a Geoff Johns-penned & Jim Lee-drawn JLA book (hence the image above).  Regardless of my thoughts on putting two paragons of timeliness on your flagship book (that's sarcasm btw), it is a whole lot of exciting craziness going in on the DCU and it is prompting a lot of speculation, the most prominent fear I would say being the potential demise of Superman & Lois Lane's marriage. 

Honestly, about that, I could care less....I'm a Batman guy, have been for a long time now and nothing is going to change that.  I trust in the creative teams behind the various Bat-books to craft a story that doesn't insult the fans like me who have been reading for decades and may bring some new readers to the pages of this character I have come to treasure so much.  With each additional piece of information that is put out there by DC regarding this reboot, reset, restart, or whatever you want to label it, my initial fears of total disregard for history have been mostly assuaged.  And despite that fact that Grant Morrison will NOT be helming a single Bat-Book for the first time since 2006, I think it will still do okay.

It's not the story I worry about, rather it is the fate of a certain batch of characters that I have grown attached to but who have yet to be named in any of the solicits for September's relaunch.  The first:

Batgirl IV aka Stephanie Brown

I think Stephanie Brown has benefited from the post-"Death of Bruce Wayne" world moreso than any character in the entire Bat-Corner of the DCU.  It's been cool as hell to see Dick Grayson step into the cowl but largely he's been the same Dick (laugh it up) that he's always been for the most part.  The Red Robin identity of Tim Drake has been an interesting growth process as he's taken all the best, and some of the worst aspects of Bruce, Dick, & Jason Todd, incorporated them into his own identity. Damian has been an interesting little snot since his debut at the start of Grant's opus and his growth has been one of the high points of the last several years, but I stand by my belief that no character in the Bat-Family has become more beloved (by comparison to where she started) than Stephanie Brown.  Bryan Q. Miller's handling of Steph has evolved her from a character most fans hated, or at least were indifferent about, and turned her into a well-rounded adult who is atypical of any other character in the Cave.  Steph is the only character attempting to have a real life, to go to school and have friends, she still has to lie to her mom, but is now finally being pulled into her "Batman Inc." role hinted at months ago.  No longer is she defined by Tim Drake, or the whole death/resurrection thing, but rather she has grown into her own character capable of carrying a book on her own.  Steph is the star, despite the, basically every issue, appearance of Oracle, or the occassional dip into the pool filled up with the rest of the Family.  Who would have ever thought the Cluemaster's daughter, the friggin' Spoiler would be that character.  Major kudos to Miller for crafting this character and to DC for allowing him the opportunity. 

It is because of all those reason that I worry for Stephanie Brown's future in light of Barbara Gordon's return to the Batgirl tights.  There's no mention of her in any Bat-books, nothing in Birds of Prey, so I hope that all the work put into building her up hasn't all been for naught in the DCnU.  In the vein of Batgirl, my other worry is....

Batgirl III aka Cassandra Cain

...Steph's predecessor as Batgirl, Cassandra Cain.  The formerly mute daughter of the assassin David Cain who became Batgirl following Huntress' failed tenure during "No Man's Land" and who would go on to rock the house in my opinion.  I always thought she was a great character, and one with loads of potential that was only barely tapped when the decision to turn her bad was made.  Buuuut as if that wasn't damaging enough, the decision to then have her be all mind-controlled by Deathstroke only did more damage to Cassie.  Then she became a good guy again after being freed from Deathstroke's mind control, was recruited to The Outsiders by Bruce, disappeared when he "died" but not before passing her costume off to Stephanie, and is only now...after several years off the radar...coming back into the Bat Family.  Retroactively Cassie's whole disapperance was part of Bruce's post-mortem orders, but it was Tim Drake who kept in contact apparently and traveled to Hong Kong to offer her a costume.  In the past couple months, Cassie has adopted the name of Black Bat, begun serving as a Batman Inc. operative, and is now back in Gotham during the "Gates of Gotham" mini-series. 

Just like Stephanie, there doesn't appear to be a place for Cassie in this post-FP DC Universe as of yet, and just like Stephanie Brown, I am hoping that is only a short term thing as I fell like she would be a perfect fit for this new "Red Hood & The Outlaws" series.  I want her to remain viable, and visible, not because there has been some tremendous work to make her relevant, but rather because I see so much potential for the character after so much time away from the spotlight.  Cassie Cain hasn't seen monthly appearances in years, she fits the bill perfectly for DC's diversification initiative (a mute asian, female), and is another character who offers up something fresh to the Bat-World.

My next worry isn't just one characters, it's 6...or 7....or 8 depending on the issue...

Gail Simone's "Secret Six"!  I've written about my love for this book in the past (Secret Six Blog) and now with no sign of its survival, I am a sad puppy.  I won't go into the detail I did in the blog (see that's an internal plug right there), but suffice it to say that the characterization, the stories, the interpersonal relationship developed by Simone have done wonders for a lot of characters that were going nowhere, had lost their way, or were just plain useless to most.  New life has been breathed into Bane and Catman, Ragdoll has been turned into an amazingly rich character, as have Scandal Savage and Deadshot, and a fucking Shark has been the highlight of the past year.  He's like Groot for the S6 or something (read the most recent incarnation of "Guardians of the Galaxy" for Groot). 

So while it warms my heart to see a couple of these characters still kicking around in the new "Suicide Squad" book, I am saddened to see that they will not be a unit, and I am hoping that Bane in particular is not relegated once more to just being the guy who broke Batman's back once upon a time.  The relationship between him and Scandal has been a highlight of the run, and I would love to know where Simone was heading, if she even had an idea for the culmination.

And that's probably the thing that hurts the most with the entire new 52 relaunch, all of the unfinished work.  I'm sure it wasn't a terribly difficult thing for a writer to wrap up a short term story in time for the September renumberings, but I'm just as sure that most writers had long term plans for their books that just got squashed by this relaunchbootstart.  Which brings me to my biggest story concern stemming from this....

...the whole concept of Batman Incorporated.  See this was the brainchild baby of Grant Morrison, and the supposed culmination of years of planning.  Well now we've got Grant shifted over to "Action Comics", leaving the Bat-Franchise without him for the first time since he started "Batman & Son" in 2006, and that Batman Inc. title on hiatus until sometime in 2012.  Now to say that putting a Grant Morrison book on hiatus is just begging for it to never be completed would be an understatement given his history of delays, false starts, and never weres, but I hold out hope regardless. 

My concern, given that we've been led to believe Bruce going public still happened & Batman Incorporated is still in existence, is that the whole idea of Batman Inc. will ultimately fall by the wayside.  Aside from the "Batwing" comic (a barely touched on character I just don't get giving a book to considering the amount of time they spent establishing Nightrunner), none of the new books seem to embrace the concept.  Hell, "Batman Inc." is the only one of the current books that really employs the international flavor as it is...well "Red Robin" to a lesser degree, a much lesser degree. Without Grant to explore the idea of corporatizing Batman, where will this leave Batman Inc. as a concept?  I'm hoping it doesn't just fizzle out, especially not before Grant wraps up his Leviathan arc in 2012, and that Scott Snyder & Tony Daniel (I honestly don't give a damn about David Finch) continue to incorporate...Incorporated...into their future.

Well that ended up a lot longer than I thought it would be....not really shocking given how wordy I tend to be.  Anyway, I guess in September we will begin to see what the future holds for our favorite imaginary friends...and Batman too.  He's real.

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52 Number Ones... With A Bullet

Between the initial article in USA Today, the letter from Bob Wayne, and the follow-up information also on Comic Book Resources, the internet is abuzz with the news of DC Comic's impending massive reboot of, apparently, 52 titles.  From Superman to Wonder Woman to Teen Titans, it appears nearly every corner of the DCU is going to be affected by this Flashpoint-induced change. 

With only a few details leaking out, it looks like Grant Morrison will helm a Superman book, Birds of Prey will go on without Gail Simone, Geoff Johns will still own the Green Lanter-verse while simultaneously helming a JLA book with Jim Lee on art, while Hawkman & Aquaman will get their own titles once again.  And that's not even all of the details out at this moment...Teen Titans, JSA, & Wonder Woman were all also on the list for new #1's. 

Never before has something on this scale been attempted by either of The Big Two.  Once upon a time, following the 13-issue "Heroes Reborn" maxi-series, Marvel, under the "Heroes Return" banner, started Captain America, Thor, The Fanatastic Four, Iron Man, and The Avengers back at issue #1 with resounding success sales-wise (at least for the first issue).  They did the same with Marvel Knights titles like Punisher & Daredevil, with Amazing Spider-Man, and are also slated to do it once again with Captain America, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, & Punisher in the next couple months.  A brand new Moon Knight started with #1 once again just recently which marks perhaps the 6th volume of a series bearing his name.  The new Punisher series might just be the 7th or 8th volume of a book bearing that name...quite ridiculous considering it has essentially been one on-going series since 1987.

Now in the case of ASM, Daredevil, and the Heroes Return comics, all of them eventually resumed their original numbering (usually as they approached a milestone issue) after several months, if not years, of using BOTH numbers on the front cover.  Talk about confusing when you're reading issue 30 of Daredevil and it also has a 410 in the corner box. 

I recall lots of outcry at the time to resume the original numbering, which is what led to Marvel first double numbering and eventually just going back to the original numbers.  I can easily see the exact same thing happening after a few years of a new DD comic, especially considering DD morphed into Black Panther: Man Without Fear in Matt Murdock's absence.  Why not give Panther the new #1 (it would have been his 5th volume) and move DD back into his proper book?  Why restart Moon Knight or Punisher or Ghost Rider? 

The argument would probably be that it's a new status quo to go along with the new number one but really that can be done within the context of an exisiting numbering sequence.  It's a sales thing, plain and simple...nothing to do with status quo or reboots or whatever label gets attached to it.  It is proven to make money, and ultimately, comic book fandom be damned, Marvel & DC & every other company is looking to make money.  Especially in a market that has drastically fallen when comparing sales figures from just a few years ago to today.

I can't fault the companies for finding ways to make money, especially if they can find ways to make it work within the context of whatever story arc is going on.  What better way to push reset on the entire DC Universe than as a results of a story that is dealing with time travel &  its effects?  So my issue isn't so much with the renumbering, although it would be heartbreaking to see Detective Comics & Action Comics get reset, it is with the following quote from DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio...

"This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience."

...and these from DC's Senior Vice President-Sales Bob Wayne explaining that the new No. 1 issues "will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character's legend -- but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph...Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes," he wrote. "Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once."

So now I'm scared....and the image at the top of this little rant plays directly into those fears.  I know I'm being presumptious and guessing at what the future will entail (as I'm sure most of the internet is doing as well), but those are two of DC's top guys essentially saying that things like age will change, and that new origins may emerge! Buzz words like modern & diverse, catch phrases like "real world situations", these all make my brain scream of the marketing for Marvel's Ultimate line all those years ago.

The main difference being that Ultimate was, from day one, a totally seperate Universe in which younger, hipper, less continuity laden, blah blah blah....versions of our Marvel faves got to play.  In theory they didn't come with all the baggage of the 616-Marvel proper version and thus could come off more like the movie versions without pissing off the core fanbase; you know the ones that buy the books through thick & thin.  Great in theory, and Bendis put out great material with Ultimate Spidey, especially compared to Ultimate X-Men, but it all degenerated into "I wonder what Ultimate (insert name here) looks like" stories.  Hell, the Ultimate Universe required a story like "Ultimatum" (as awful as it was) to try and bring the concept back to what it was intended to be.  So now I don't read a single Ultimate book....

Now, what does any of that have to do with DC's new initiative?  My fear is that the outcome of "Flashpoint" that leads into this #1-Fest is essentially an "Ultimatum", or to keep it company consistent, another "Crisis on Infinite Earths".  Has DC reached a point once again where they've decided that all the rich history that has made Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. cultural icons is in fact baggage?  Is their too much backstory for your average reader? 

Honestly, I'm probably not the best person to judge that because I've been reading Batman for 15 years and have 20 years worth of back isssues.  It's impossible for me to pick up a book and NOT know what the backstory is.  I know the nuances of every character, of their relationships with Batman, and I know why they are they way they are.  I can see how someone would pick up an issue of R.I.P and wonder why the Joker is slitting his tongue in two, why he doesn't seem like the Jack Nicholson, Mark Hammil, or Heath Ledger takes on the character. 




Instead of the layers of story wrapped up in this one scene, it appears (based on the image above), that we will be greeted in September with a gaggle of characters who are younger than their pre-Flashpoint iterations.  In particular the Superman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman in that Jim Lee piece look young to mine eye by comparison to their current depictions.  So it leaves me to wonder several things:

1) Is this a short term story line point where the characters have to correct the ramifications of Flashpoint & return the world to status quo? (All signs point to no)

2) Are we going to get retold origin tales a la Frank Miller's Batman: Year One or John Byrne's Superman: Man of Steel? (Could be interesting)

3) Will Action Comics & Detective Comics get the #1 treatment? (I hope not)

4) Can Grant Morrison write if he can't dredge up ancient continuity points? (I kid, I kid)

I know I need to take a wait & see approach with this whole situation, but I figured I may as well get my initial gut reaction down on e-paper while it was still fresh in my head.  As a long-term fan of Batman, I am a bit scared of the idea of restarting the world & how it will impact Bruce and family.   And as a fan of everything Geoff Johns has done with GL in recent years, I really hope that the majority of that sticks (I'm hopeful since Johns seems to be the architect of this endeavor).  I don't want to see, and this is my fanboy nature at its most paranoid, Tim Drake & Stephanie Brown disappear from continuity in favor of bringing back Dick as Robin & Barb as Batgirl. 

I don't want to see a Lois & Clark who aren't married (had enough of that with Brand New Day) or a cocky, arrogant Hal Jordan circa Emerald Dawn.  I appreciate that characters have grown, matured, and evolved over the course of my readership.  I mean it's not as if anyone of my generation started following Batman with 'Tec #27 or Superman with Action Comics #1, but we have managed just fine.

So, I will head into this new endeavor with those fears, but also with hopes.  Hopes for something great from the Johns/Lee collaboration on JLA, for a return to greatness for the JSA & Wonder Woman, and definitely high hopes for the Morrison Superman project (maybe he'll get to do something like Superman 2000 finally....oh wait Spider-Man ripped it off already, and All Star Supes was kind of that anyway).  I am intrigued to see what other news will come on this subject in the ensuing weeks...it's only June after all and this party doesn't start until September!

Please DC Comics, Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns, and whomever else is spearheading this....please prove me wrong.  And be prepared for the deluge of letters, e-mails, tweets, and what not pestering you with questions about what is still considered continuity if this things goes all Crisis-like.  And be prepared for Grant Morrison to ignore all of it as he dredges up some random incident from 53 years ago and turns it into a key ingredient in the life of Superman....

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