DCNU Week 0
This August 31st marked an astonishing event. I bought new socks.
Also, the entire DC Universe was rebooted. As in, they’re all back to #1. Yep. ALL of them. Right from Action Comics in its 900s to The Dark Knight which was in its second issue or something—they all got sent back to #1.
WTF, right?
But before I get to the reboot itself, let me say my goodbyes to the old DCU. Old DCU, my friend—and sometimes lover (whom I’ve oft cheated on due to my love for Dynamite)—I bid thee adieu. I will miss the consistently pantless Wonder Woman, the red trunks and tights on Superman, the lack of a collar on everybody and the revolving door that was the Robin costume. But we have come to a parting of ways and I must let you go.
What am I saying?! Old DCU, come back!!
Yes, I enjoy my melodrama. So back to the point of my blog—and it is my blog so I get to say what I want, bitches. Please don’t stop reading. And sorry for calling y’all “bitches.”
Yes, the old DCU.
Heard of Flashpoint? It’s the latest hugestest everest epic by DC’s CCO and golden boy, Superboy-Prime. Or Geoff Johns. I get confused between the two. Both only seem to do huge ass epics and have the literal power of changing reality with a punch. Or board meetings—what’s the difference, really?
Anyways, Flashpoint is about the Flash—no shit!—tryina make a point that he is the most powerful superhero in the world ‘cause unlike Superman, he can actually turn back time. See, the title would have made more sense if that was the story. But no, it’s about some time anomaly and only Barry Allen (the one and only second Flash) remembers what the old reality was like—well, so does Booster Gold, but who the hell was so fuckin’ dumb to buy the tie-ins? Aw, man…—and has to revert things to normal.
This whole story took the span of 61 issues and has no real ramifications whatsoever because they’re all deleted by the end of the arc. It’s kinda like every author doing an Elseworlds tale and then forcing them into continuity. Not that they’re all bad, mind you. Batman: Knight of Vengeance, Project: Superman, Frankenstein and the Creature of the Unknown and Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager had some nice character arcs and Oliver Queen is apparently an out-of-the-closet Republican now. Or Nu Republican. What do you call non-Christian Republicans?
So yes, after 61 issues, everything we thought we knew but didn’t know and then were made to know so we would think we knew all there was to know ceased to be known.
Right, so Flashpoint was just an extensively elaborate and indulgent way to basically yell “Universus Rebootus” and that left us with what came next: Justice League #1.
Now, since the time the reboot was announced way back when, I’ve pretty much had my red outterwear up in a bunch over a number of things. Continuity, costumes, logic all seemed to be at risk and almost everything DC was doing to comfort the audience was only making the situation worse. So you can imagine the amount of apprehension with which I began when I started on the brand new first issue of Justice League.
But I liked it. Now, I’m gonna just be clear and make my bias known, it isn’t gonna beat Waid’s JLA: Year One for me. It’s just not possible. This could be a better, more fun story, but it will never beat the Waid version simply because I’ve always loved the concept of the League being created by heroes who forged a team to seek companionship as much as to secure allies.
Johns’ version seems to adhere more to the whole “let’s team up ‘cause we can” thing. Which I don’t entirely get. That being said, there are still 5 issues to this arc and I think it’d be prudent that I let Johns say his piece before I accuse him of giving us a pointless origin story.
That actually brings me to my next point. JL#1 seems to be the last chuckle to the 3-month old joke of the “Flashpointless” punch line now. When I was reading—and enjoying—the issue I realised why I did; it wasn’t any different from the ol’ DCU. Sure, Hal’s wearing shoulder pads and Supes has unnecessary armor, but it was otherwise the same old DCU. If anything, it feels more like they were giving the JL in our current DCU a new origin story. And as unlikely as this may seem, I have a problem with that.
For the past few months we’ve been fearing—and expecting—big change. With Justice League being proclaimed the flagship title of the DCNU, I’d have expected a bigger bite of this brave new cake. Instead, I got my grandfather’s Justice League.
Well, not literally, cause my granddaddy was a WWII soldier and I don’t think he cared much about comics. But you get the point.
In conclusion, Flashpoint was stupidly unnecessary and Justice League #1 was fun. However, I believe we’ve been spared the real impact of the promised changes and we should continue steeling ourselves for it. Incidentally, look out for Action Comics #1 next week, and let’s all hope that the costume was a joke at our expense by Morrison. He’s a funny one, I tell you, writes an arc called “Batman R.I.P.” and then doesn’t kill him…
Oh, wait…
