Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Don't read too much into the "New" 52.

After all, the COIE to Flashpoint era was called New Earth, and that name never changed. In 2011, it was still "New" Earth despite being 25 years old at that point.

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/New_Earth

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Did I hear that each new 52 title has 4 issues that month?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

You heard incorrectly.

Some titles such as Batman, Superman, Detective Comics, and Action Comics are getting four issues.

Some titles such as Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, and Swamp Thing are getting fewer.

Some titles such as Batgirl, Nightwing, and Animal Man are getting no issues at all.

I have heard that it still adds up to 52 comics (instead of 52 x 4 = 208 comics) but I haven't bothered counting them myself to see if that's true. All of them are however getting that 3D gimmick cover.

A full list of the Villains Month issues can be seen here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villain...onth.22_titles

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

That is very interesting speculation.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Not really.

DC barely plans ahead one year, let alone 4.33 years (i.e. 52 months).

If the zero issue month last year messes with his theory, then Villains Month blows it open even more. Some titles are getting four issues for Villains Month, while some titles are getting one or two or three issues instead, and some titles aren't getting an issue at all.

Also as I pointed out earlier, the term "new" doesn't really mean much considering "New" Earth was the name of the COIE to Flashpoint continuity for the entirety of its 25 year run.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

It could be that 52 months of 52 monthly issues is the extent of their planning.

Firstly, it isn't "my" theory. It's one I heard that made sense to me. As far as the numbering goes, notice that the books shipping multiple issues are 23.1, 23.2, etc., rather than 23, 24, etc. That still allows them to eventually publish issue #52 the 52nd month of this run (depending on what they do about the #0 issues, anyway).

The theory I've cited doesn't conflict with that point. On the contrary, I see
"The New 52" being the formal designation for this continuity - the applicability of "new" not being particularly relevant.

Again, though, I've pretty much given up trying to guess along with DC at this point. Speculate away.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

But like I said before, they didn't even plan one year of the New 52, let alone 52 months. By that I mean there have lots of retcons already because the whole thing was just sloppily planned.

Like for example, Batman #1 and Teen Titans #1 both clearly said Tim Drake used to be Robin. Then a year later in Teen Titans #0 they decide that hey Tim was never Robin at all.

Or the whole current thing with Lobo having already appeared in some of the early issues, and now they are retconning that to being an imposter, and that new slim Lobo redesign in the actual real Lobo.

There have been lots of retcons like that already, which clearly shows DC didn't have a long term plan for any of this.


These "point" issues mess up the scheduling like the zero issues did.

Aug 2012 were issues #11.
Sept 2012 were the zero issues.
Oct 2012 were issues #12.

Aug 2013 were issues #23.
Sept 2013 is the #23.1, 23.2, 23.3, etc issues.
Oct 2013 will be issues #24.

In both cases, the normal schedule was delayed a month. If DC keeps that precedent, they will likely repeat it next year as well. Since September is the "anniversary" of the New 52, they may use it as the springboard for annual gimmicks like that for the foreseeable future at least.


New 52 is the formal designation of this continuity just like New Earth was the formal designation of the previous continuity, sure, but I don't see why that means 52 = 52 months. That's really stretching the logic there. The New 52 could just as easily last 25 years just as New Earth did. DC has just had a fixation on 52 since Infinite Crisis and the whole 52 Earths multiverse thing. The New 52 is just a reference to that, the multiverse.

Another thing I just considered is that Scott Snyder is doing his 11-issue Batman origin currently. If DC planned to only do 52 issues of this continuity, do you really think they would want Snyder spending 11 of those issues on a new origin? That would be over 20% of the run. Plus why would they just now get to Batman's new origin this late in the run when its almost half over if they only plan 52 issues?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I wonder how the new 11-issue origin for Batman will compare to Frank Miller's 4-issue origin, or Bob Kane's original 1 page origin.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

This. Even if there was some master plan to go 52 months they'd be stupid to just blindly pick that as the point of reset(considering the current state of editorial, though, you can't rule anything out). What if the comics were selling gangbusters at that point? What if they completely failed a few years earlier?

This is the same company where editors do rewrites as the pages are being copied for the printers. This is the company who swore they were planning this new 52 thing way in advance yet none of the old series really wrapped up nicely, and there's no way it was anything but tacked onto the end of Flashpoint.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I also remember back in 2008 when Final Crisis was coming out, people were asking if it would be a reboot similar to COIE. DC swore up and down that they had no plans for a reboot. Well, then 3 years later, guess what... Flashpoint reboot...

Yeah, DC definitely doesn't do long term planning. All the sloppy continuity, retcons, last-minute changes, etc clearly demonstrate that.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Bill Finger. :mad:

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I wonder if DC or Marvel could succeed by pretty much bagging the whole concept of continuity between titles. Too busy to flesh this idea out right now, maybe later. I'm sure it's been discussed in places or even here before.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

The people reading Marvel and DC these days like continuity. I don't think their current business models work without large, interconnected lines of titles.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Where did you get that idea from? I just read Teen Titans #0 last night, and Tim clearly donned the Robin costume at the end of the story to become Red Robin. Are you making a distinction between Robin and Red Robin?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

At the beginning of the New 52, Tim Drake was still one of the Robins (along with Dick Grayson, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne). They mention it in Batman #1 and Teen Titans #1. Fans started asking "How can Batman be around for only 5 years (based on New 52 continuity) and go through 4 Robins already?" So when the #0 issues hit a year later, Tim Drake's whole existence as Robin was wiped away. Heck, he wasn't even "Tim Drake" anymore. He has always been RED Robin.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Red Robin =/= Robin

Teen Titans #0 very clearly says he was never Robin, only ever Red Robin.

Also, the tpb release of the first Teen Titans arc was changed to reflect this. Yes, DC actually edited out all the mentions of Tim being Robin in the tpb.

Check it out:

Scan from Teen Titans #1 that calls him Robin:


Pic of the trade edit that changed it to Red Robin:


Source: Retconning Robin out of Teen Titans

Yeah, that was far more offensive than the whole "never Robin" thing. Tim Drake is the name given to him by Witness Protection. His real name was never revealed.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

And this was the editorial change made while the book was at the printers that I alluded to earlier:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=41229

By the way for those that read Teen Titans, were there ever any storylines or mysteries revealed concerning this?

As to the continuity thing: I think that if you were truly going to target new readers, you'd keep a unified universe but keep the crossovers and whatnot to a minimum, which is what DC started out doing. But then you alienate fans, who want the winkwink/nodnod to the past and the interconnected universe. Which makes it impenetrable to new fans.

Here's the problem with the superhero industry: there are a handful of characters and groups who will sell by name alone. You can tell who they are because there are multiple books with their name headlining it, and they're on multiple teams. Nobody (I mean readers) tries anything new, unless there's massive critical acclaim or something, and even that takes time to build up. Creative teams in general don't stay on books long enough to get a fan following (though Marvel has been much better about this). Crossovers, gimmick covers, etc kinda force people to buy the smaller titles and maybe get hooked on the characters or the writing or the art. If you go back to standalone stories, where there's not at least an illusion of big changes, the masses will avoid it. That's one of the reasons standalone OGNs tend to not do so well.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I find the 52 speculation interesting. Some at DC have this hard-on for the number. I wonder if it means anything long-term. I mean: it's got to mean something, right?

But maybe not, as I remember Dan Didio telling Kevin Smith on "Fatman on Batman" that the post-Flashpoint launch was 48 titles and Jim Lee talked him into doing four more books, so they'd have 52.

(^^^I will say I do not follow the comics press, so apologies if that statement was later disproved; just going with what Didio said...)

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Well, as far as I know 52 started with the weekly series called 52 (obviously that the number of weeks in a year), and when they reintroduced the multiverse after Infinite Crisis, that was the number of alternate realities there were.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I mainly resisted, so far. Went to my local shop this morning and they had 12 of the 3D covers available. I almost bought them all, then almost decided to quit on the new 52 completely. After waffling back and forth on those options for a few minutes, and listening to the owner talk about the messed up system, I finally decided on a compromise and just bought a couple titles, ones that I would buy normally if I go back to buying monthlies. The covers look pretty cool in person I must admit.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I have to say, I'm not sure I've ever seen a line that long in my local comic shop outside of FCBD in the decade or so I've been going there. Everyone seemed to have at least one 'villain' book in their hands, including the 2D covers, so it's not purely a cover gimmick thing. The owner was talking about one guy who stood out in front of the shop before they opened, trying to beat the rush, even though just about all of the lenticular covers were already spoken for by subscribers.

I saw Darkseid and Joker on the racks with the lenticular covers...everything else looked to be 2D, but I only gave things a quick skim. It's not an event for me (I did hold true with my jumping off point stance!), but it definitely does look to be popular.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I shudder to imagine what kind of forced-scarcity gimmick Marvel is concocting.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Comics that self-destruct 30 seconds after you finish reading?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Anyone read any of it yet, particularly the actual Forever Evil book?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide