DC Comics’ Co-Publisher Dan DiDio and Jim Lee have posted an open letter over at The Source, that claims they don’t like secrets, but still does not reveal everything…
If you know us, you know we both hate secrets. In fact, you might’ve seen one (or both) of us have a grin or two on a convention panel recently. Why? Because it’s hard to keep a secret as big as the news we shared yesterday.
DC Comics will be making history this September. We’ll be renumbering the entire DC Universe line of comic books with 52 first issues. We’re publishing innovative storylines featuring our most iconic characters helmed by some of the most creative minds within the industry.
Not only will this initiative be compelling for existing readers, it’ll give new readers a precise entry point into our titles. And on top of that, all of these titles will be released digital day-and-date across the board.
Yesterday was just the beginning. After all, we don’t want to spoil the many surprises we have up our sleeves. It’s so important to us to make sure you maintain those feelings of excitement and unexpectedness when you pick up a new issue of our books.
We’re energized and looking forward to have you come on this journey with us as we make history this September.
–Jim Lee & Dan DiDio, DC Comics Co-Publishers
11 Comments
Though my reaction was muddled, then a bit angry, now just to sit back and watch for smoke, I think the only way I’d great real excited would be to see a new number one issue of either KAMANDI, or OMAC. I could get behind them to. Maybe with Dave Gibbon’s writing.
“…looking forward to have you come on this journey with us as we make history this September” Yeah, and I will let you cross that rickity old bridge first, seeing how things hold up.
There is no way this is going to be interesting. 52 new titles, that is just unbelievable. I was going threw the top 300 comics, trying to identify a top selling DC comic. They have already announced a few number 1’s, and big deal. But it occurred to me, that they might do a Superman 1 on Earth 1, and then Earth 2 and then Earth 3. So a few Superman 1’s come out, but on different earths. Do this with Batman, GL, Wonder Woman, and you can get to 52 titles. Sort of a choose your adventure comic, pick the superhero storyline that you like, and then DC will know which continuity to actually pour money into. But it also occurred to me that they could relaunch some Vertigo titles, so that they come into the main DC universe, that happens, and ignore it all. The other publishers have to be loving this, knowing that the more details that come out, and the more the fans talk about, the more it seems like a bad idea. Dark Horse doesn’t do this crap, and they have been making great stories for 20 years.
Justin–it won’t be hard to publish 52 titles in a month when in June they published 56 (not including the Retro titles)… it actually means they are publishing LESS titles.
They could publish a hundo titles a month if they wanted, but I was talking about the comics that sell in the top 300 by Diamond Charts. The list gets really small, as you make it down, and DC only has a few titles that jump out. You have GL titles at the top, followed by Batman titles, then comes Supeman titles, trailed by Wonder Woman. Im sure more will come later, but I just cant think of 52 important enough superheroes that you need to have a number one issue for. I just dont think there are even 10 characters that are important enough to merit a new number 1 issue. Read your Hellboy, and your Atomic Robo kids, they dont reboot, those creators have a continuity that is like a bible, and is followed when a new mini series is started. I cant grasp why Marvel and DC just dont do the same.
Hellboy and Atomic Robo haven’t been around for as long as most of DC’s major heroes. When they’re both 50 year old franchises with over 10 other comics at any given time which interact with their world, then you can compare them to DC.
Uh, Ok. I could have used Cerebus as an example. What I was trying to get across was to use/create a superhero that has a start and end to their life. Dont mess with the continuity. DC is rebooting their universe so it has more in common with today’s readers than it did before. So we’ll see superheroes with cell phones, and facebook accounts, and tweeting each other instead of talking. What is wrong with a superhero that ages and retires. Is it so hard to let a franchise die, and think of a new one?
I’ll wait until the final product comes out to see if I like it but damn if all this doesn’t feel really forced. I mean, it hasn’t been that long since “Final Crisis/52” and then “Blackest Day/Brightest Night” and now we’re looking at a “retro/reboot” that’s not a “retro/reboot”. Which really would be frustrating due to the effect on story-lines and arcs that some of us find interesting. What’s the status of the JSA following “Flashpoint”? All of the work Morrison’s done on the “Batman” characters? I would hate to see the end of “Batman, Inc.” The other “lantern corps”? Barry Allen’s “family”? And in that promo shot of the old JLA’ers and Cyborg is that actually a different costume design for Superman? The only positive I see out of this is having Cyborg move up to the “A” team finally after a couple of years of it being teased.
I understand this from a business standpoint. There are a crapload of movies coming out that they hope will draw more readers to comics. Thus this move by DC and the “.5” issues in Marvel along with the sudden mainstreaming of the long-time comic-fan term “jumping on point”. Plus the direct to digital. However, I hope that DC will not make the mistake of throwing all of it’s characters and the long, long history of those characters as well as the work that writers have put into them in the last couple of years into an effort of making a company-wide “jumping on” point.
It is incredibly frustrating for a long time (since 1969 kids!) comic book fan to just get used to the new status quo and to begin getting interested in the Batman Family, the “second generation” JLA, the Monument Point arc in JSA and others to have everything go back “a few years” and “reset”. Of course, complaining about it would be as productive as fussing over the unseasonably hot weather we’re having here right now…not worth a damn. So, I guess I’ll read my titles through the summer and hope for the best come fall.
If they’re gonna reset (and, dammit, they’ve proved repeatedly that they are), I prefer that they call a spade a shovel and just RESET, already. Crisis On Infinite Earths was in 1986, and since then we’ve had minor course correction after minor course correction after Legends after History of the DC Universe after Zero Hour after Infinite Crisis.
It’s a shame that promising books are rebooting, yeah. But I’d rather see that than watch those promising books die on the vine because the Big 7 characters have rebooted and their promising corner of the DCU is no longer viable. I’ve always been a fan of chutzpah, and this is a daring move on DC’s part.
The bottom line is: If you’re not interested, it’s a great jumping-off point. As for me, I’m gonna see what the brave (and the bold) new world has to offer.
I picked up T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents based on your review. Their restarting the Flash after 12 issues, is their any reason to think that any titles would be left alone?
hWell, here’s the thing about T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. It’s a licensed title (I think?) and there has been no indication that I can think of right off the top of my head that says that it takes place in the mainstream DCU… That said, I don’t think anything is safe….
You go Jim Lee! Has any one else noticed too that nothing I have seen that calls the Johns/Lee creation ” Justice League of America”? Everything I have seen from D.C. Just says ” Justice League”. An omitted detail or intentional??