Starting in September, DC will reboot 52 titles and start at #1 again.
When I first heard the news from my friend, I was confused. Many questions came to my mind: Are they losing creativity, will all of the previous stories matter, will Bruce Wayne’s parents die (just joking on the last one).
DC’s reasoning behind the move is to introduce new readers to the universe. I guess it’s hard to get into the stories if you don’t know their backstories..or you can just check out wikipedia and problem solved!
Megastar Jim Lee and Geoff Johns will collaborate for a JLA title and introduce somewhat new costumes, personas. The backstory will still be the same but it’ll just have little tweaks here and there.
DC will also release their digital copies the same day as the comic release, a first in comics. Last year when I was in WonderCon Jim Lee said that the future is in digital comics, does that mean comic stores will be gone soon? I hope not, I still like to read REAL comics. It just feels weird reading it in a damn monitor.
I’m not a big fan of this reboot because how many new readers will really buy all 52 titles so they can know the backstory. This is just another marketing ploy from the comics industry.
Here’s what DC had to say about the event:
“A LETTER ON THE DC UNIVERSE AND SEPTEMBER 2011
To our comics retail partners,
In the time I’ve worked at DC Comics, I’ve witnessed any number of industry defining moments. But today, I bring you what is perhaps the biggest news to date.
Many of you have heard rumors that DC Comics has been working on a big publishing initiative for later this year. This is indeed an historic time for us as, come this September, we are relaunching the entire DC Universe line of comic books with all new first issues. 52 of them to be exact.
In addition, the new #1s 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.
This epic event will kick off on Wednesday, August 31st with the debut of a brand new JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, which pairs Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, together for the first time. (Yes, this is the same week as FLASHPOINT #5.)
We think our current fans will be excited by this evolution, and that it will make jumping into the story extremely accessible to first-time readers – giving them a chance to discover DC’s characters and stories.
We are positioning ourselves to tell the most innovative stories with our characters to allow fans to see them from a new angle. We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling.
Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. 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.
Dan DiDio, Bob Harras and Eddie Berganza have been working diligently to pull together some of the best creative teams in the industry. Over 50 new costumes will debut in September, many updated and designed by artist Jim Lee, ensuring that the updated images appeal to the current generation of readers.
The publication of JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 will also launch digital day-and-date for all ongoing superhero comic book titles – an industry first.
On Wednesday, June 1st, this initiative is expected to be announced in a nationwide feature article, and we’re hopeful the news will be picked up by media outlets around the world. Throughout the month we’ll reveal more details of our plans with articles in both the mainstream and comics press and on June 13th the Diamond catalog solicitations for all of the September titles will be released, followed by the June 29th street date of the print version of Previews.
DC Comics will support this initiative with an innovative mix of publicity, promotional efforts and retailer incentives designed to maximize your opportunity to increase your DC sales. We will discuss additional details of these incentives when we get closer to solicitation later in June.
We’ll be updating you more through email as September nears. But today, I hope your share our enthusiasm for this historic news!
Sincerely,
Bob Wayne
SVP, Sales
DC Entertainment”
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Paladin
Jun 2, 2011 -
Oh boy! It’s absolutely for publicity, it could also be that these comic book guys are so full of themselves that they want to take all the classic characters and make them the way they want to.
I guess it’s acceptable if they change origins for all of the minor characters, but if they change anything about Batman and Superman they’ll go bankrupt and we all know that people draw and write comics for the money, not artistic passion, so I’m guessing that Bruce Wayne’s parents will still be killed by Joe Chill and Superman will crash land on earth in a small rocket and be raised by the Kent’s.
So, when you get Superman and Batman #1 do a good review and fill it with spoilers and photos, OK.