So, what does everyone think of DC's Flashpoint announcement.

52 new #1s starting after Flashpoint finishes in August.

I must admit, my first thought was "not again".

However if they do it right this time and really start all the characters again from scratch it may be good. Especially for new readers.

Hopefully it will not turn out like all the previous Crisis events. With some of the characters still remembering old continuity and others not.

Turtlenecks and new origins. Brilliant idea, DC.

There's no getting it right. The problem is that they keep doing this crap and watering down the legacies of their characters.

They got rid of the famous Superman S emblem! The new one kinda resembles a thunderbolt.

It's a little bit sharper than usual, but it's still a very recognizable Superman emblem. I guess its somewhere between normal and the Electric Blue Superman logos.

The thinking seems to be that renumbering to a #1 is an ideal jumping on point, which it is. But if there is a reboot combined with a renumbering then it is also an ideal jumping off point.

If they reboot and renumber all titles, will that include Batman: The Dark Knight? It's only got to #2!

For newer readers, maybe. But the majority of DC's readership are longtime fans who've been following the continuity for years or even decades. What about them? Speaking for myself, as a reader since 1976, I have no interest in reading stories about characters who have the names of the ones I've followed for 35 years but none of their history. I went through it once, 25 years ago. I won't do it again, so that's about £70 a month they'll be losing from September.

What about those of us whose main reason for reading comics no longer exists ?

Barbara Gordon is going to become Batgirl again - that's 20+ years of Oracle history destroyed overnight and means that everything from The Killing Joke onwards never happened.

I don't read comics in general (the only other series I have followed is Buffy season 8), but there was something about Oracle and her storyline which I found very appealing, and which caused me to actively find everything I could featuring her from The Killing Joke onwards to the present day.

As well as the storyline in general, I also appreciated the fact that stories involving her tended to have much more in depth characterisation and back history than I have seen elsewhere in any other comics I happen to have come across.

Goodbye Oracle. You were a very interesting character indeed.

Oh, and there's apparently still going to be a Birds of Prey series.

Just one question: how can you possibly have the Birds of Prey in a universe in which Oracle no longer exists ?

You have a point actually, it's basically the Superman Blue emblem recoloured in the traditional red and yellow. It's about as different to the traditional emblem as the serif S used in the early issues back in the 1930s (and in the 1940s cartoon).

Just looked at the covers on Comic Vine, and issue 1 is dated Jan '11 and issue 2 is dated May '11. Was there some kind of delay or something? Issue 1 has a blurb saying that the comic book is monthly, but it's not even quarterly in practice.
http://www.comicvine.com/batman-the-...ight/49-37880/

In any case, yes, it will be affected.

Don't know what the reason for the delay in Batman: The Dark Knight is, but it's only five months between issues; that's not really trying. I'm thinking now about The Twelve, Gutsville, Miracleman and Camelot 3000.

As for the reboot, I'll wait and see how much it actually changes. Are they really going to say to Grant Morrison "You know all that Batman-Hush-Death-Grayson-Rebirth-International stuff you've been doing for the past few years? Well forget it, we're rebooting!"

And they've just started a limited series (Batman: Gates of Gotham) that won't conclude till after the reboot.

I was looking forward to being around for Detective #1000 and possibly Batman #1000. Ain't gonna happen now

btw does anyone know the end numbers (ie. last issues) for the current DC line. Cos I've some pre-orders in to a bunch of Batman related titles (apart from anything Damien wise or Incorportated wise, yuckyuck), and am wondering if I should be looking for some refunding ?

btw2: is this #1ness all Wonder Womans fault and the recent (?) clammer to jump her number to #'600 to give her some kinda equal status to the other long running titles. Have the ptb decided that reseting everything else would be better than bumping her ?

Fairly certain it has bugger all to do with just Wonder Woman and more to do with a marketing exercise (everyone is talking DC at the moment...).
Renumbering WW to 600 is just in line with what many other comics are doing at both DC and Marvel, in that they renumbered certain comics back to their old systems... shows their heritage and, surprise, it's another marketing gimmick.
See here for more info on the reboot/relaunch/whatever they want to call it;
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/...-date-digital/
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/...e-dc-universe/
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=32563
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=32566

so it's all a ploy to earn them more money.... who'da thunk it.

( Aug31 - life as we know it ends..... well maybe that's going a little overboard..... just a tad. )

( so my "let Damien just die" plea to the cosmos has a real chance of coming true, what with some characters no longer existing in this #1era - rock on!! )

"The other seismic shakeup that remains unconfirmed is whether long-standing titles "Action Comics" and "Detective Comics" would also renumber with brand new first issues. However, at this time, CBR has found no confirmation one way or the other on the fate of those titles. DC Comics offered no comment on the above information."

-> maybe I will live to see #1000 after all.

"DC Relaunch: Detective Comics #1 and Batman #1"

-> maybe not

but the covers do look cracking, maybe it won't be so bad after all.

new Batgirl #1 and Nightwing #1

-> so it's byebye Stephanie aka Spoiler aka Robin (for a wee while) and hello Ms Gordon.
-> Dick now Nightwing so Bruce is back as Batman (and not just oversees Batman). Yay to that.

So all Grant Morrisons work with the "kill batman" storyline is being done away with - kinda like Coke, their New Coke promotion and their swift Original Coke backpeddling.

Hope this reboot thing isn't (for me) like the Friday 13th 2009 Movie reboot/re-envisioning thing. I went from a huge fan of the 11 movie series and pleased as punch to be getting a new movie, to someone who'll never watch a new F13 movie ever, such was the vile / bile unducing nature of the reboot/redo/rehash.

So all the storylines I've loved, the earthquake, no-mans land, various plagues, bruce wayne murderer, hush (love that art), bane and more, all those happenings(?) which went into moulding the Batman character, all these things are just being forgotten about, thrown away with this #1 restart. We're not allowed to swear here, right ?!



( though come Aug31 I'll be clicking away at my comic book ordering form )

Oh come on, you just know that next year, when sales are down, there'll be an Infinite Flashpoint Crisis of Multiple Earth Primes' or something, where characters from the old reality will emerge and take over or something like that.

^amen to that. Throughout the F13 movie I was praying for MY Jason to burst through the forest and hack that pale imitation to shreds with a big machete.

( btw that's the last time I'll mention a movie in the comic thread )

As long as that brings back Oracle (the real Oracle, not some pale imitation with no backstory), I don't really care how they do it.

What I don't understand is how DC are going to bring in enough new readers to replace the ones they are going to alienate by wiping out, overnight, a history those readers really care about.

I assume there's going to be a massive advertising campaign in non-traditional (for comics) media, otherwise how do you make the average person on the street care enough about the new universe in order to try it out ?

The people who would normally start reading comics will still do so as a result of normal advertising or word of mouth. DC will pick up some new readers as a result of the issues been reset to #1, but will they pick up enough and will they still be readers around, say, issue #4 ?

I've seen some reports around the Internet that this reboot is actually been forced by some license issues with the Superman character and that the current reader numbers are a secondary issue. Is there any truth to that ?

Hitler reacts to the DC Comics reboot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpUh_Yl49l4

The copyright issues surrounding Superman basically relate only to what was established in Action Comics #1, essentially the name, the costume and Clark Kent. They have nothing to do with any other character or title, or even any part of the Superman mythos established later, like Luthor or the Daily Planet.

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

BTW, I wonder how the comic shops are reacting to the reboot ?

(As my nearest comic shops are a train journey away I haven't been able to ask them myself yet.)

^ I comicbookstored for ~10years until I discovered the marvel that is eBay and their numerous eBaycomicstores and their lovely (1) cheaper prices and (2) free p+p

Me too. Damn that bank holiday, it means this weeks purchases won't come till Monday.

Only thing about ebaying comics was them being sent in an A4 size envelope - what with me having a thin letterbox (council flat damn you). That was quickly fixed with a hacksaw and drill so now no weekly trek to the delivery office for me. (oops going a tad off topic there ).

Guess my 'store' will be getting a bumper order from me come September time as I go #1 crazy.

When I was building up my Oracle collection, I did make heavy use of the various specialist online stores and dealers. However, I didn't realise that eBay P&P was free as I don't use eBay, so I was just buying current stuff from the local store every couple of months when I was in Leeds anyway.

So thanks a lot for that information; I will keep it in mind for future reference.

^of course not ALL do it, just the two I mostly used to fill in the gaps when I gave up on my comicstore do it for me and way eBaying ~30.