Talk:DCnU

Post-Flashpoint DC Universe
This has been an extremely controversial issue on the site recently, so I'm centralizing discussion about it here. Since the end of Flashpoint and the beginning of the DCnU, a lot of people have been arguing about how we should best handle the new versions of the characters, and the site administrators have talked about it a lot. DC has explicitly stated that this is not a reboot, and we are going to continue using the same character pages that we have been doing. We will not use a new naming convention, or create new pages for the characters Post-Flashpoint. Instead, we will be addressing the changes on character pages using the in-universe information given. This has been discussed at length by the administrators, and it is not up for debate, but we are here to answer any questions that people might have regarding the transition. Much of this discussion has gone on in the DC Database chatroom. There are severals reasons why we are handling it this way, and I'm going to try and explain them as eloquently as possible. We're hoping this transition can go as smoothly as possible, but we understand that some sections are going to require more work than others and there might be many more debates that spring up in the future. Users are encouraged to bring any disputes that they might have to the chatroom, as there are usually administrators there in the evening willing to help out with problems.
 * The stories are continued. Even though some characters are rebooting their histories, the DC Universe as a whole is continuing from where it left off. There are many old stories still in continuity, and comics from this month are mentioning stories as late in history as Brightest Day. It would make no sense to have pages for characters that are part of a massive wealth of history, and not have the pages connect to any of that history.
 * We have always made an effort to cover comics from a historical perspective. It's important to remember that people also read comics that came out earlier than this month, and so our pages should reflect the wealth of these characters' histories instead of just whatever's happening this week. The goal of this site is to have depth of information that appeals to old readers, and accessibility that appeals to new readers. That also means not making things confusing for people who pick up a comic book from prior to 2011.
 * Some editors have been concerned that the retcons will be too confusing for new readers, and nobody will be able to understand our character pages because of these changes. It is very easy to have both if you explain it well enough, and it is possible to do this concisely and articulately. Take a look at Batman (Bruce Wayne) for a good example of how this is used for present-day stories, where we are using the Post-Flashpoint template to distinguish the different eras in his history. Superman (Clark Kent) is a good example of how we are reflecting the current changes to talk about characters' origin stories.
 * - Billy Arrowsmith (Talk), 00:27, September 29, 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, as I said I dislike use of the term 'DCnU'. I think referring to it as 'the New 52' or just simply 'the Post-Flashpoint DCU/New Earth' would be a superior nomenclature for it. --HED - HalfElfDragon 02:07, September 30, 2011 (UTC)


 * "We will not use a new naming convention, or create new pages for the characters Post-Flashpoint" -- Yes, I understand that this is not up for debate. And yes, I know that I'm pretty new to this Wikia, without a lot of updates under my proverbial belt. But I do feel the need to step up and say that I think that this is the wrong direction to go in.


 * If the New-52 is to be the direction of the DC Universe from here on out (and no, I don't care for the "DCnU" nomenclature either), it functions in effect as a new timeline. The same universe as the traditional DCU certainly, but a new timeline just the same. It DOES and WILL CONTINUE to diverge from the traditional DCU. And as time goes on and the new origins of characters are revealed, it will increasingly conflict with the established histories already written on character pages and become unwieldy to try to organize.


 * But fear not, I'll not be going off on my own crusade nor rewriting contrary to admin dictates. I just wanted to put it out there that I think this is a bad idea and why I think so. DigiFluid 15:12, October 4, 2011 (UTC)

Naming
Where does the name DCnU come from? Why not just call it the post-Flashpoint universe? DCSarge 07:17, September 19, 2011 (UTC)


 * It is a fan-created term. One I'm not a fan of. I say Post-Flashpoint or New-52, myself.--HED - HalfElfDragon 04:10, September 22, 2011 (UTC)

I absolutely hate the term 'DCnU'. It sounds like a desperate attempt to seem up to date while actually just sounding ludicrous (those who remember the writing style of the sixties Teen Titans series will understand what I mean). Tony ingram 13:56, October 10, 2011 (UTC)

Chronology Direction
Sorry for posting this here: I do see the request that help be requested via the chatroom but my schedule doesn't allow me to be online for that long for the next few days. I have incredibly mixed feelings about the "soft reboot" and how it impacts this database but I will also defer to the wisdom of the site's keepers and follow the direction spelled out above. BUT, I do have questions on how best to proceed with pages regarding time and chronology such as 19th Century. Are we going to make any effort to distinguish the history pre-Flashpoint with that of post-Flashpoint? While I understand the powers-that-be at DC have said that some of DC's history is still intact, those of us dedicated to a more detailed cataloguing of the site know that it isn't true (at least for us). For example, DC could say that the event known as Identity Crisis still happened, but we now know that Wally West didn't play the same role, Firestorm (Ronnie) wasn't killed by the sword of the Golden Age Shining Knight, and the original mind wipe that started the whole thing wasn't caused by the Earth-2/Golden Age Wizard. So while the event may still be in tact, the comics that told the event can't be 100% in tact. And, DC has stated that superheroes (as the world knows them) started 5 years ago, much of the previously published DCU can't be true any longer (All-Star Squadron, JSA, Clark Kent Superboy, Dan Garrett/Ted Kord Blue Beetle, Justice Alliance, Max Mercury, etc.). So even if we don't change the characters, the history pages almost certainly are completely (95% at least) different. So is there any value in starting with a clean slate for history only as provided by New 52 comics and "back populating" previous history only when mentioned in the new series? The only alternative I can see is annotating each and every entry in the current "joint" pages with some reference (i.e. Occurs Pre-COIE, Post-COIE/Pre-Flashpoint, Post-Flashpoint). Thanks for the guidance! Wolford Mnemsis 21:29, January 1, 2012 (UTC)