On recent happenings
Jun. 1st, 2011 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficSo the big news now is that DC is rebooting their universe--kinda?--and if you were looking for "I can't believe they went there" proof of most comic writers Silver Age fetishism/mid-life crisis, look no further than an event that looks to have the Silver Age heroes not only be the best at their job (reducing their successors to cheerleading fanboys), but now be younger and hipper as well. Which, in comic books where the characters are literally ageless, is really belaboring the point. Maybe they all can have a threesome with Zinda and Huntress.
And, of course, this is coming from the same regime that just finished a long series of comic book events with the goal of setting down a new continuity in stone. So there's my justification for the next two paragraphs: They're pretty much doing it anyway, only in a shitty, half-assed way.
The thing is, I actually think comics should reboot every 5-10 years. That's how long most TV shows last, and they're the closer relation to comics in terms of serial storytelling (there's fanfiction, of course, but I don't know if comics should be that self-indulgent). The important thing is closure, ending the last universe in a fulfilling way before starting on a new one. To take a well-known failure of this principle, say you're ending the Marvel universe. You say Peter and Mary-Jane are settling down for good, and the last page of the comic is them celebrating the birth of a new child. So, although you don't necessarily want to write Peter as a father and family man, that's the Happily Ever After for that incarnation of the character. And, now that you've finished that story without negating it or saying fuck-you to fans of the pairing, you can move on to a new universe and explore other storytelling possibilities, like Peter being younger and less experienced, a different endgame like Peter/Felicia or Peter/Gwen, and bringing back characters whose stories ended conclusively like Harry Osborn.
This also spares the reader of some of the "don't these people ever learn?" frustration. I mean, how many times are Norman Osborn or Lex Luthor going to gain the public's trust only to be exposed as vicious murderers? And to borrow the X-Men's central metaphor, do you ever think America would approve gay marriage and have movies with gay leads topping the box office, then the next morning decide to have giant robots put gay people in camps? Yet, that's usually what we're supposed to accept. And character deaths would mean something. If Tim Drake dies, everyone knows that the death won't be forever, but for this "season" of the DC universe? He could very well stay dead for the entire five-year stretch, only to pop back up again in the next universe... thus giving his death some real drama instead of "ah, man, now I'm gonna miss out on Tim Drake stories for the next three years."
And, of course, this is coming from the same regime that just finished a long series of comic book events with the goal of setting down a new continuity in stone. So there's my justification for the next two paragraphs: They're pretty much doing it anyway, only in a shitty, half-assed way.
The thing is, I actually think comics should reboot every 5-10 years. That's how long most TV shows last, and they're the closer relation to comics in terms of serial storytelling (there's fanfiction, of course, but I don't know if comics should be that self-indulgent). The important thing is closure, ending the last universe in a fulfilling way before starting on a new one. To take a well-known failure of this principle, say you're ending the Marvel universe. You say Peter and Mary-Jane are settling down for good, and the last page of the comic is them celebrating the birth of a new child. So, although you don't necessarily want to write Peter as a father and family man, that's the Happily Ever After for that incarnation of the character. And, now that you've finished that story without negating it or saying fuck-you to fans of the pairing, you can move on to a new universe and explore other storytelling possibilities, like Peter being younger and less experienced, a different endgame like Peter/Felicia or Peter/Gwen, and bringing back characters whose stories ended conclusively like Harry Osborn.
This also spares the reader of some of the "don't these people ever learn?" frustration. I mean, how many times are Norman Osborn or Lex Luthor going to gain the public's trust only to be exposed as vicious murderers? And to borrow the X-Men's central metaphor, do you ever think America would approve gay marriage and have movies with gay leads topping the box office, then the next morning decide to have giant robots put gay people in camps? Yet, that's usually what we're supposed to accept. And character deaths would mean something. If Tim Drake dies, everyone knows that the death won't be forever, but for this "season" of the DC universe? He could very well stay dead for the entire five-year stretch, only to pop back up again in the next universe... thus giving his death some real drama instead of "ah, man, now I'm gonna miss out on Tim Drake stories for the next three years."
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 07:17 pm (UTC)Also, when are gay people and ethnic minorities going to be able to shoot lazers out of their eyes or have claws pop out of their fists? Because as a black guy in a dorm, I am really tired of looking for knives all the time.
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Date: 2011-06-04 03:20 am (UTC)Charecter death is something that has long been an issue in all superhero stories and this cycle fix would take care of that. It would also give them a free ticket to kill people...constantly. Every arc could end with a charecter death. It would (yet again) take the impact away. I mean after Tim Drake dies for the fifth time won't long time readers simply shrug and move along?
What about loong-term charecter growth? Not that continuality is perfect but for example: Huntress has grown from Cry For Blood to No Mans Land and even further to Of Like Minds and further since. Dixon, Rucka and Simone have all shaped her over YEARS of story and its all going to dissapear or be rewritten every few years?
Yeah its going to give new readers a TON of jumping on points, but what about long-time and loyal readers who have followed the charecters and read the comics through thick and thin, through Crises and regime changes?
To close on a good note, though...I like the idea of expanding the genres that DC will be working in. New charecters in new worlds, or even familiar charecters in new settings. I would LOVE to see a "new" Gotham Central styled book and this may be the sort of enviroment that would help create one.
All in all, I think we as fans can only wait, watch and hope for the best.
Sorry I geeked out on your LJ so hard....my bad.