Editor's Note: We have a wide range of emotions coming from everyone here at TheBatmanUniverse.net. Take a look at some thoughts and tune in tomorrow for Dustin's thoughts on this entire situation. We posed the same questions to a number of the staff to see what they thought about DC's announcement.
How does this news of DC rebooting the entire line make you feel?
Words cannot describe the white hot rage that is boiling within me as I write this, my laptop is melting beneath my fingers as I stab at the keys with venom, relishing every last syllable I type that undermines whoever thought that this was a good idea. As I said above, I just pray that I have blown this way out of proportion, there is a very good chance that this is all a gimmick to obtain new readers and promote the new day of release digital release comics. There are 3 ways that this may manifest itself and I hope for the sake of DC fans everywhere that it is one of them. 1) This is all set in an alternate Earth and after a few months it will be revealed and everything will be back to normal. 2) This event will be so universally hated that DC will have to return to the old continuity. Or 3) and I only just thought of this but thought it was an interesting idea, it also relates to a certain banned tweet by Scott Snyder. Do we know for sure that this is an ongoing thing? Perhaps, these 52 issues which are supposedly set for release over 5 weeks, which just so happens to be the amount of Wednesdays in September, perhaps this will all only last one month. Perhaps each of these 52 issues de-age the characters and alter their costumes because they are simply re-telling origins cut down to a one issue story- simply to introduce new readers to all of the DC characters. If this is true it has rendered my rant pointless, but I would rather that than have to rebuild the Batman mythos, in any case, it felt good to get it off my chest! However, if this is a total reboot of the DCU then it means that every issue we read up until ‘Justice League’ #1 is absolutely pointless and will have no effect, it will practically mean that ‘Detective Comics’ was an 881 issue long Elseworlds tale. Joe Jinks-TBU Staff Writer
At first I was thinking Zero Hour 2.0, or maybe something akin to the “revamp” of the X-Universe with Age of Apocalypse, and no matter what, due to various reasons (see Post Crisis Wonder Woman and Hawkman titles for example) would slide back into being a convoluted mess.
One thing has me intrigued though, and yes as the Digital Comics Correspondent I suppose it would, but the entire new line is going to be same day as print. Makes me wonder what changes are going to be occurring with DC’s store at Comixology.com. Specifically with the continued cataloging of back issues, as well as the price points. I could understand keeping same print price points when only a couple of series a month were being released, but now everything is same day as print? $2.99 might be a bit steep for essentially the collected edition version of an ongoing comic book. Steve Rogers-TBU Contributing Writer
There are so many emotions to choose from, but overall, I'm scared! DC has been providing 'safety blankets' for me! 'Safety blankets' that protect me from bad comics, bad stories, and badly developed characters. Now it seems like my 'safety blankets', especially a book like Batgirl, are going to go away. I'm scared that characters that I have grown to love may not exist! I'm scared that characters that have grown soooo much throughout the past 25-40 years will lose all of their progression and we readers will be left with an empty shell; back to zero.
DC says that this is a way for new readers to jump in. OK, I suppose starting everything over is a good way to do that, but one has to also think about the current reader, the reader that has been reading comics for 25 years, the reader that has been reading comics for 40 years. Where will this put them? When I started reading comics regularly in the 2000s, I came in during an intense time. Identity Crisis had just happened and Infinite Crisis was currently going on. Yes, it was tough to just drop into series like that. But dropping into something that has already been going on forces you to become interested in many different characters all at the same time. Your lack of knowledge pushes you to become knowledgeable. What are we to do when we already know everything about a character and we are all starting off on page 1? Will we be excited…or bored? Stella Bowman-TBU Partner Site Senior Editor
This whole idea of an entire reboot of the DC Universe does not fill me with confidence. I feel like the entire DC Universe right now has a lot of interesting things going; on right now, Green Lantern, although not as great as it was during Blackest Night, is a group of comics that I'm quite enjoying right now. And, as shocked as I am to say it, I quite like Damian Wayne, and frankly, this reboot is feeling like DC grasping at straws in an attempt to get one up on Marvel. Marvel created a new universe called "The Ultimate Universe" so DC responds, ten or so years later with the new DC Universe. I'm not feeling confident about this reboot, as I quite like what is going on with the characters right now, and frankly I may take this opportunity just to drop entire sections of the DC Universe. The belief is, a new #1 is a great jumping on point. I have never met anyone who started reading a comic at #1. Want to know where I started reading Batman monthly? Batman #666. The issue with Damian as Batman in the future. I was dropped in at the deep end, and didn't really notice, or care. To sum up, rebooting the DC Universe, means to me, that I will likely care a little less about the DC Universe. Austen Beattie-TBU Contributing Writer
Disappointed, I can understand them needing to reboot failing comic sales but why must everything be rebooted? I want more details. Nick Wheatley-TBU Staff Editor/Writer
It makes me feel both worried and excited. This is a drastic change to everyone, DC-wide. Some characters may not even be included in the reboot. It's entirely possible. They really want to go back to square one, but keep all the big-leaguers. This is a bold move on their part, but DC is about doing things on a grand scale. This is no different. Chris Gering-TBU Contributing Writer
What do you think the effect of this will be on the Batman universe?
Hopefully minimal but I doubt it, if my last prediction was correct then it shouldn’t have that big of an effect and so many of the writers seem to have plans for their titles stretched out for years. We get hints about some things like Blackest Night which apparently plays into the post-Flashpoint Universe continuity but perhaps that is only concerning the characters that have been brought back to life. This is largely a wait and see thing, I’m keeping my eyes on the Source for any updates. Joe Jinks
Well, clearly Justice League of America, featuring Dick Grayson is going by the boards, despite James Robinson’s best laid plans and Grant Morrison is moving on to Superman, so I’m figuring we are going back to Bruce being the one and only Batman but I don’t see them getting rid of Damian or reverting Tim back to where he was before RIP. The Birds of Prey are coming back, sans Simone, so I see Babs still being Oracle with the whole “Death” story being junked. I can see the scale back that Josh wrote about wanting to see happen with everything being junked except for a very few handful of “core” titles. Steve Rogers
I think it is wrong to say that The Batman Universe will not be affected. Batman is a HUGE character, and he has a HUGE family across the universe, and I'm not just speaking of Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl. We have to also think about the Villains and other associates of Batman! If the ages of the heroes will be brought down to make them more…relate-able…some ages will either have to be 'fudged' a little OR characters will be de-aged into non-existence. What will happen to all the Robins that we know? Dick, Jason (yes, he's still around), Tim, and Damian? Will the amazing progress of the Batgirl character (pushed forward by people like Babs, Cassandra, and Steph) revert back to the Batgirl from Detective Comics #371?
It appears like this restructuring is a way to get back to pure, undiluted comics. If this is the case, then Bruce Wayne is Batman, Dick Grayson is Nightwing (if we stretch this a little), Tim Drake is Robin, and Barbara Gordon is Batgirl. I expect to see some villains disappear from existence, and origins of all characters slightly tweaked. I don't know how, but this seems more convoluted than the Crises! Stella Bowman
I think Damian and Jason Todd are going to be wiped out. Jason may not have much room to move, because DC doesn't really know what to do with Jason, which to me, is simple. Make him your version of the Punisher, and like Nightwing, send him to his own city away from Batman and let him go nuts. Damian, is a character that is still new to the DCU and really, he's got a lot of room to move around. He's still technically a kid, a kid who's a killer, but a kid, he's still got to deal with his Dad's return, puberty, finally respecting Tim Drake and finally, finding his own voice in the DC Universe. Damian is about twelve years old. That means Bruce has been Batman for at least 13 years, because Damian is the grandson of Ra's Al Ghul, who Bruce didn't meet till he was Batman for several years. Sure, DC can pull the rug out from under us and say "Damian is just a test tube baby grown up really fast!!" But I don't want that either. I want to see where Grant Morrison's Batman Inc is going, I want to see Dick Grayson as Batman, I want to see Damian as Robin, I want to see Commissioner Gordon being a bad ass. But with this reboot, I think we may lose all of these things. Austen Beattie
Batman is the one DC character doing great business. Why reboot him? Does this mean that Detective Comics goes back to a number 1? Blasphemy! It may streamline the amount of series but I hope this doesn't change too much. Does this mean the last few years of continuity mean nothing? Nick Wheatley
The effect on the Batman Universe…well what couldn't happen at this point. It's not going to be Bruce Wayne. And since this will be one of their big hitters for regular issues, that will really need to sell fans. Because we need to believe that someone else could become the Dark Knight. I think that the potential of Batman Beyond proved that this is something we're OK with. Fans accepted Dick Grayson becoming Batman in Bruce's stead. They accepted Batman, Inc. Why can't we accept a new Bats? Hell, he's been played by so many people on film, and admittedly everyone has their favorites, so we've been accepting a new Batman for a long time. The importance needs to be paid to the darker aspects of the character. Chris Gering
If you were to change anything related to the continuity of the Batman universe what would you tweak, since they are saying that origins, age and look are likely to be changed?
The only things that I would like to see changed are little continuity errors that need to be fixed, thing like if Barbara Gordon is Commissioner Gordon’s niece or daughter, just small stuff like that but the large scale implications of an event like this are far too much to justify in my eyes. Joe Jinks
You know, I’m kind of digging the idea of going back to the Zero Hour concept of making the Wayne murder still a cold case all these years later. Bruce could be face to face with a grizzled old thug and always wondering “is this the punk?” Steve Rogers
I don't really like the idea of two Batmen. I would actually be fine with Bruce being the sole Batman, but I do not want Dick Grayson to go back to being Robin. So I think Dick should go back to the Nightwing persona. If a Robin has to disappear, it will probably be Damian (as much as the character has grown). It would be a shame to lose Tim Drake, so I hope that he goes back to being Robin. I'd love to see Steph retain the Batgirl name, but it does not seem realistic. If Babs is Batgirl again, how can we expect to see Cassandra or Steph? Babs and Dick should be college age and Babs will never have known the bullet of the Joker. Stella Bowman
I would make it clear that Damian is Bruce's son. All we have to go on, so far is a throwaway line during RIP. I want them to clear this up, I love that character, but it makes Bruce look like he's at least in his mid-thirties, so clear this up, and tell us where Damian comes from. I would also make Jason Todd's death linked to Lazarus pit, like the animated movie of Under the Red Hood implied. It makes a lot more sense when someone says "I thought the Joker killed him?" and you respond "Yeah….but Superboy from a parallel universe saw something bad in time, and punched reality, changing things and then Jason came back to life months after his death from beyond the grave…" it'd be a lot simpler to say "Oh, Ra's found him and nursed him back to health" "The baddie from Batman Begins?" "Yeah" "Makes sense." Austen Beattie
Bring back Nightwing. Nick Wheatley
I think it would be interesting to see this become something in the same vein as The Phantom: passing down a responsibility from one generation to the next. Not necessarily a family, but a master who seeks a new student. That would be very interesting. That would pay homage to the fact that this new Batman is, in essence, being passed the torch. After all, it seems they're retiring Bruce. (Lame!) But fresh, nevertheless. Chris Gering
