DC should just reboot totally

[anarky]

As I mentioned in another thread, I just watched Justice League: The New Frontier. And it made me think of this.

Marvel has the pretense of a long history. DC has been constantly revising backstories since the first Crisis, and the current mess of Infinite Crisis of the Countdown to the Neverending 52 Crossovers is just a joke. They seem to be trying to recapture the 1970s, stupid Luthor battle armor and all.

And try to figure out the backstory of Aquaman, Hawkman, or even Green Lantern. I dare you.

So, after seeing a total alternate universe story told so well, here's my proposal:

The DC Universe as we know it ends. Period. Boom. Whatever.

DC Comics takes a full month off from publishing superhero titles (minus anything like adaptations of cartoons, or whatever).

And then, slowly, one or a few at a time, they start putting out new books. One book per character, at least at first. Yes, it would require cancelling some of the longest running books in history, but it could ultimately be worth it.

Set up most of the new books so that, though the current stories are taking place in the present, each hero isn't necessarily new to it. Have some set 20, 40, 60 years in the past. Create a wealth of history as you go along, mixing up generations in ways that haven't been tried before. Like maybe have Wonder Woman active in the 1940s. Or make Azrael older than Batman. Maybe someone like Green Lantern or the Flash is the longest operating of the current generation. Or Batman, so the book could start with his entire "family" already in place.

For characters who have, in the new universe, been around for a while, eventually make a second series (if warranted--Batman would certainly have one, for instance) telling their earlier adventures.

Keep the basics intact. Superman is Kal-El of Krypton, raised in Smallville by the Kents. Batman is Bruce Wayne, and his parents were murdered by a street thug when he was a kid. Update historical references if necessary (for instance, Hal would probably not be a test pilot, at least not working on the planes he was flying in the original 1950's story).

Aside from the really iconic locales, like Gotham and Metropolis, eliminate all the fictional cities. No Fawcett City, no Central City, no Coast City.

Hire top-notch teams and set them loose. They'll be given the guidelines that, though they can introduce totally new characters, the preference is to mine the rich history of the previous DCU and bring in new characters in totally fresh ways, free of baggage.

Sure, fanboys would bitch. But it's probably the only way to make DC continuity make any sense. And imagine the fun of totally "rediscovering" characters as they're introduced into the new continuity.

[jjreason]

If they're too chicken, they could also do this under a similar guise to Marvel's Ultimate universe. I think lots of people would jump on, just like they did at Marvel, if (like you posted, Chux) they use top deck creators and had the characters interacting in a believable fashion right from the beginning.

That's why Marvel is better - the 616 universe was created with cohesiveness by basically 3 people (I'm giving Steve Ditko a spot here) who KNEW the characters were going to interact. DC is a mish-mash of a bazillion sepErate universes that many hundreds of creators have attempted to sew together roughly over the course of many, many years. It's not possible that it could be as seamless without a restart..... but they tried that with Crisis and apparently have fucked it all up in the intervening 20-odd years.

[anarky]

I thought about a side universe, too, at first. But I honestly think the original is so incredibly fucked up now that it probably would be better to start over. A second universe on the side could likely work better, though, since it wouldn't piss off fanboys.

I don't mean the All-Star serieses, which don't even seem to be in the same universe as each other.

I love a lot of DC heroes, and I think a lot of them are shit. Batman and Superman are the ideals, period. And there are a lot who could potentially be great if they weren't bogged down with decades of contradictory details and shit. Like Martian Manhunter. We have the last survivor of an alien race (who, unlike Superman, actually knew the other Martians), trapped on earth, pretending to be a police detective, and who has abilities like telepathy and shapeshifting? Seriously, man, I'm not kidding when I ask this: Why has there never been a successful book about this guy? That is one of the best superhero concepts ever.

[jjreason]

He was very well handled when JLA started up in the 1990s - but the writing was really, really good all around. Was that Grant Morrison that was writing that? I have the first 23 or 24 issues somewhere, but then dropped it pretty much for no reason (other than it was DC, and I'm allergic). I really didn't know anything about Martian Manhunter, but he was easily one of the most interesting characters in that book.

[anarky]

Yeah, he was handled extremely well in that book from what I can remember, and he's just as good in the Justice League TV show. But neither of those ever explored his "human" alter ego, John Jones. (The cartoon totally eliminated it, in fact.) The idea of a shapeshifting detective with mental powers, especially when he's really a morose alien, is just one that's so awesomely good that it's odd no one has done much with it.

[Zero]

HIS BOOK FAILS BECAUSE HE HAS THE SINGLE MOST INSIPID NAME IN COMICS.


MARTIAN MANHUNTER?



PEOPLE ARE FICKLE.

[Zero]

OH... AND UH...


I FICKLED YOUR MOM.



YEAH.

[jjreason]

Hmmmmmm.

[vynsane]

HAHA nice find...

[anarky]

If this had been planned instead of tossed together, and if Jim Lee didn't re-design costumes for Bob Harras and Fabian Nicieza to write, it might work better.

This is just transforming DC into 1992 Marvel.

[Rollo Tomassi]

If DC is gonna steal your shit, they should steal ALL of it and not just cherry pick stuff like "cancel the long running titles".

Here's one way they could've done it. String their different characters out along a realistic timeline between The Golden Age JSA and today

The JSA and other GA heroes were active in the 30s and 40s until they stepped down because HUAC.

Captain Marvel shows up in the 50s and 60s. (a more innocent 'silver age')

The Charlton characters (Blue Beetle, The Question, Capt. Atom, etc) were active in the 60s and 70s.

Baby Kal arrived in the early 80s.

The Wildstorm stuff happened in the late 80s and early 90s.

And the "Modern Age" started in the last five years.

And so any 'Legacy' heroes (like Vic Sage and Renee Montoya) could be in different eras without compromising the timeline. Also, heroes could have ENDINGS like proper heroes do. King Authur. Robin Hood. Sgt Rock. Proper deaths so that being a "Legacy" actually means something.