DC Comics, once known as Detective Comics, slowly came to life and prosperity in the late 1930s and early 1940s. While moderately successful in its early days, it wasn’t until the rises of Batman and Superman that the company really took off. Skip ahead over 75 years, and DC Comics is one of the “big two,” along with Marvel. Now, they’re about to completely reboot their entire line of comics… again.
After the marginal success of their last reboot, the company aims to refocus on the core of what makes their characters so special. This reboot’s called Rebirth, and as DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns explained in an announcement trailer, “The whole point of Rebirth for all of us is to get back to the essence of the characters.” Because sweeps like this don’t happen very often, this week we’re looking at Batman, Superman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern. Do they mark a bold new direction for the company? Or should readers steer clear?
at The Creators Project has the low down on all the new rebirths – Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow.
I’m always mystified at these reboots and rewritings of history of the characters -- can’t they just logically progress over the years? After all, they’re superheroes, I doubt they age the same as the rest of us…
The only one they have an actual reason to reboot is Superman, because he’s dead.
@ 1. rq
The superheroes do naturally progress over the years, but the problem is that the weight of all that story becomes cumbersome. It limits readership to those who have been reading for years or decades, because new fans can’t get into a story with so many back references and such a huge supporting cast.
So they do a reboot every few years to wipe away all that complexity so that they can more easily attract new readers, and start the cycle again!
Drascus:
I think it has to do with relevance, too. Sometimes the story has gone on for so long, the roots of it simply aren’t relevant to current times. Doing a reboot is a simple way to bring characters into current times without worrying over much over canon.
I really enjoyed Gaiman’s 1602 simply because it placed known characters in a different time, with very different concerns and attitudes.