User blog:Hatebunny/DC Relaunch: Worries resolved, Worries remaining.

For the last two days, I've been doing news-sweeps during my lunch-hour at work about the DC Relaunch, in hopes of finding some answers, and not sounding like an ass when I make sweeping speculations about it when it's already been refuted or confirmed, etc.

So, if you've read my last few blog posts (all but one of them has been about the relaunch, because I'm kind of obsessed), you'll have read some of my worries and my sweeping speculations. Today, I stumbled upon a number of Newsrama interviews with people who will be writing the new books, and it answered a lot of questions that made me feel a lot less apprehensive about the changes.

Let's start by covering a few of my worries that have been resolved.

Worries Resolved

 * How are the changes being implemented? Are things just changing out of the blue?
 * Resolution: Detective Comics Vol 1 writer Scott Snyder has stated outright that "the rich past of the DCU isn't being completely erased, and big changes are being explained in story." Of course, Scott's statements are primarily with reference to all of the Batman Family books that will be released, and not necessarily the whole DCU. Even so, Flashpoint is ostensibly the basis for all of these changes. Presumably, all of Flash's alternate universe hopping results in some kind of amalgamation of confused timelines, just like Zero Hour and the other Crises did.


 * That said, is this relaunch set on a different earth, or is it all still the New Earth we've been on since Crisis on Infinite Earths
 * Resolution: In an interview with Eddie Berganza and Bob Harras, confirmed that the relaunch is still set on New Earth. Berganza said, "It's not Earth Prime or any other earth. It's not Earth-One or anything." Harras added, "Yeah, this is the whole of our DC characters. These are the stories of Superman, Batman and all our characters. This is the story of the DC Comics cast of characters."


 * What about beloved stories that are firmly entrenched in a character's history? Are they gone? Where does continuity stand? What are the limits to the changes?
 * Resolution: Apparently, the DC editorial team put together a timeline which included all of the details of the DCU's history that they felt were integral or important. Likewise, writers and editorial staff came up with similar timelines detailing which events were key to each characters' histories (despite the fact that the sliding scale of comic book time has put us back to being 5 years into each hero's career). It's been confirmed officially that Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Identity Crisis, Batman: A Death in the Family, and Batman: The Killing Joke are all still canon.

Eddie Berganza spoke about continuity saying, "We respect continuity, but I think even the fans will admit that once you get too mired in continuity, you start getting away from what's essential, which is character. If you look at what Geoff Johns has done with each time he relaunches a book, you see that it becomes very focused on character, and you don't get into questions about whether the Green Lantern fought this menace or this other menace, or where did evil start or the Starlings. You get more into the core of the character. And I think people have reacted very well to that. I think that's a fine model, where it doesn't get mired in continuity.


 * What about characters who don't seem to have books yet? Are the 52 titles launched in September all we get? Is there no chance of seeing other books later on?
 * Resolution: The news that Superman would be the first superhero is worrisome to fans of the Justice Society of America and its Golden Age heroes. Bob Harras stated that "Nothing is cut and dry. That is something that you have to keep reading to see what happens." That's not exactly a relief, but it's hope. Meanwhile, several additional books have already been confirmed for 2012, and even as early as October. Batman Beyond is strongly rumoured to return, Batman Inc. is confirmed for 2012, a book called "My Greatest Adventure" has been teased. Characters I worried about disappearing are appearing elsewhere. Zatanna is appearing in Justice League Dark, Harley Quinn is going to be in Suicide Squad (albeit, in the worst costume redesign I've seen thus far). With respect to plans after September, Berganza said "September is only the beginning," while Harras added "It's a start of a grand epic, and there are a lot of plans for a lot of characters going forward."


 * How is the new Justice League being handled? How are they handling the origins of teams and characters, given the changes to history and sliding time scale?
 * Resolution: Newsrama claims that both Action Comics and Justice League are set at the "dawning of the age of superheroes," DC said. (But that dawn doesn't appear to be too long ago, since it's being reported that they will take place only five years in the past.) Meanwhile, all the other titles for September are going to be taking place in the present unless it's a period piece.


 * How about characters and what some would consider character derailment, following the reboot?
 * Resolution: A lot of people are concerned about Barbara Gordon's "return" to being Batgirl - or more accurately, her miraculous return to mobility after being stuck in a wheelchair for 25 years. First, there's a pretty decent article on Newsrama in which a woman with muscular dystrophy interviews Batgirl (and frequent Birds of Prey writer) Gail Simone about the changes to Barbara, and specifically, her ability to walk and what it means. She couldn't be very revealing about how Barbara gets walking again, but it's worth a read, and it shows her motivation in taking on the book.

That said, Scott Snyder's earlier comment that it would all be explained in story, and the confirmation that the Killing Joke is still canon, and that it will have a significant influence on the upcoming story arcs are an indicator that this is being handled appropriately, and further that it is being handled in a way that doesn't just snap its fingers and make her walk again. Meanwhile, I think I respect Gail enough as a writer to know that she wouldn't have agreed to work on the book if it hadn't been respectful and believable. I was also concerned about Green Arrow (a personal favourite), and his return to being a billionaire globetrotter. Fortunately, an interview with writer J.T. Krul indicated that things wouldn't change much: "I don't think anyone needs to worry about that. For me, that agent of social change component is a core aspect of who Green Arrow is. He's driven to fight for the little guy — to stand up against what's wrong with the world. He may not always have the solution to the world's problems, but that won't stop him from calling them out bluntly. It's not always going to be at the very forefront of what he's doing, but it's a foundation of his character." Likewise, Judd Winick made encouraging statements about Catwoman's personality, Scott Snyder was obviously very reverential toward Bruce Wayne as Batman, (as opposed to Dick Grayson, who he has written for), and Jeff Lemire's Animal Man sounds like it is in the same spirit as the book started by Grant Morrison, and handed down from writer to writer, with big changes every time.

This isn't really a worry I had, but in the course of reading, I thought it was worth mentioning: Scott Snyder made a big deal about how Gotham's untold history - pre-Batman - would be very important to his new book, and to his current book Gates of Gotham. That led me to recall that Jonah Hex's new book is set in Gotham. Perhaps his presence in pre-Batman Gotham will be significant?

Okay, here are some worries that remain.

Worries Remaining

 * Where are the characters and books that I love that nobody has confirmed?!
 * Remainder: Where are Power Girl, Wally West, and the JSA? Well, let's start with Wally. Newsrama reported that "Geoff Johns, who is guiding Barry Allen's return, promised fans earlier this year that DC was launching a second Flash series called "Speed Force." Wally West fans were hoping their favorite speedster might headline the new comic. But DC's new #1's don't include anything called Speed Force, nor any mention of Wally."

Now, Powergirl had her own book which Judd Winnick was working on. He didn't mention it. Nobody mentioned it. Nobody mentioned her. I have a lot of concerns about this. a) She's technically from Earth-Two, so without some shuffling, and especially if Infinite Crisis is non-Canon, she may not have a place in this relaunch. b) She's cheesecake. Everybody knows she's cheesecake. DC's recent redesigns have essentially eliminated everything appealing about most of their cheesecakey heroines. Supergirl is skirtless (and looks remarkably like Powergirl), Wonder Woman has pants on, Black Canary's fishnets are ON TOP OF PANTS, and Zatanna's bodice has been replaced by a boustier and low-rise leather pants (and no iconic tophat). Point is, much of Powergirl's identity comes from her cheesecakey cleave-window. I could go on and on about her championing feminism and such, but that's a whole 'nother blog post (and this one is pretty long at that). Finally, the JSA... Well, I know I said up there that Bob Harras and Eddie Berganza weren't dismissive, but Dan DiDio (that guy I love to hate) made a statement on his facebook page saying ""As for JSA, we have decided to rest this concept while we devote our attention on the launch of the three new Justice League series." Now, that doesn't rule out a return for the golden age heroes. It DOES however, indicate that they are not going to be around for a while. It seems likely to me, at least, that they will return. Perhaps the story of their first meeting with the JLA will be retold for a new generation.


 * What if the editorial staff gets too carried away with changes, and eschews too much of the continuity-rich character development, etc that we love?
 * Remainder: While comparing the relaunch to One Year Later, Berganza stated "Where I think it wasn't as successful was when there were, in other storylines, still threads from past books that continued, so it wasn't so clean-cut. What we're doing here is saying, right here, this is it. You seriously don't have to read anything before this." What worries me about this response is that I like conceptual continuity. I like things to link up and make reference to past events. I don't like it to be a Grant Morrison-esque continuity mess, but I can't imagine what Teen Titans would be like if they ignored the death of Donna Troy or the relationships between characters. Meanwhile, I understand the impulse to launch titles where you don't have to read anything before it to understand it. But that means one of two things: either the stories will be watered down until a new continuity is built up, or every first issue will have pages and pages of exposition and flashbacks. I expect it to be a combination of both, sadly.


 * What about CONFIRMED character derailment?
 * So, it's looking a heck of a lot like they're going to find a way to make it so that Superman and Lois Lane aren't married. I can understand why they might want to undo that, but I worry about what they'll do with it. Either we'll end up with another bunch of rehashed "oh no, what if Lois finds out my identity?" stories, Clark-Lois-Superman love-triangle stories, and stories where Superman makes the sex with a bunch of other women. The Superman-Lois dynamic only works in two ways: in progression towards a relationship where she knows his identity, and they're happy, OR when they are already married and progressing towards having children and dealing with questions about that. Without one of those two ways, there IS NO DYNAMIC. Without those two ways, Lois might as well be erased from continuity. We've SEEN both ways done. I don't want to see the no-dynamic version done.

Okay, that took me like two and a half hours to write, and it probably wasn't worth the trouble. The moral is basically "wait and see." Refusing to pick up a formerly favourite book because it has changed, or refusing to pick up another book because your favourite book is on hiatus is kind of childish. You only deprive yourself the joys of more comic book stories. These writers are some of the best we've ever seen. It's ridiculous to assume they'd throw out years of THEIR OWN WORK just because Dan DiDio had an idea while he was sitting on the toilet sometime last January.