This summer powerhouses Geoff Johns and Jim Lee are looking to take DC Comics all the way to the top…by starting over.
Click the Image to Blow Sh!t Up
DC will be re-numbering all of their titles and revamping their characters for a more 21st century feel, beginning with Justice League #1 by Johns and Lee. The new Justice League title will reunite Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman and will explore the interpersonal relationships that go hand in hand with being part of a superhero team.
Beginning in September DC will re-launch 51 other titles with No. 1 issues that are firmly grounded in each character’s specific origins, but updated to give them a more contemporary feel as they face today’s real life themes and events.
“We really want to inject new life in our characters and line,” says Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC with Lee. “This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today’s audience.”
Probably the biggest news to this re-vamp of the DCU is the beginning of a new digital distribution system that will go into effect with this new era of titles. Each issue will be available digitally through apps and the DC Comics website the same day that the issue hits shelves.
[The Shakedown]
I see a lot of good in this announcement. As much as I love my comic books, each massive event that comes along reshapes the world these characters reside in over and over again. New storylines are constantly re-writing the rules and basically undoing the work of the event that came before it. It’s kind of unfair to those of us that invest a lot of time in the storytelling. Purists out there are going to gripe, but the leg-up that Marvel has had over DC for a long time is the “realistic” character angle. The tale is an old one. “Peter Parker is a lot more relatable than Bruce Wayne. How can I ever sympathize with a Billionaire who builds all kinds of gadgets?”
Well, for starters, you could focus on the fact that he is a deeply, emotionally broken individual who can only find solace in trying to protect others from the same trauma that befell him as a young boy. But I won’t go far down that dark and twisty path, lest I lead you all into madness.
Another great bit about this is news of an aggressive digital distribution strategy. Marvel has been kicking in the teeth of the competition thus far as the most progressive of the publishers on the digital front. I’m kinda mad that DC is just getting with the program, but as they say: better late than never.
What do you guys think? Is this revamp a good thing? Sound off in the comments below.
Justice League #1 hits stores (and devices) August 31st.
[Source] USA Today
