The following is a simulblog. You can read about the DC Genesis from Fat-Train here, and from Caveman-Go here.
Something happened this last Wednesday. You may not have realized it, and I bet that most citizens might never know. But last Wednesday, August 31, 2011, was the ending of roughly 73 years of a truly American institution – the DC comics universe. For 73 years, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and many others, have existed more or less in the same, recognizable fashion that they always have. There were always a few tweaks here and there, but yesterday, with a comic called Flashpoint #5, that all ended.
*********Spoilers to follow: Ye have been warned.************
Flashpoint #5 is the culmination of a comic mini-series that has been taking place in DC comics. Essentially the Flash, a super-fast hero with a connection 
to the mystical speed-force, went back in time to prevent a great injustice, and in the process altered time so that our greatest heroes all took very different paths. For example, Superman was captured by the government, rather than Ma and Pa Kent. Bruce Wayne was killed instead of his parents in that dark Gotham alleyway, and Thomas Wayne became Batman instead. Wonder Woman has led an all-out assault on man’s world.
In order to stop this, Flash enlists the heroes he can to help this new world. Realizing that his selfishness has brought this all about, he engages in a brutally difficult and selfless decision to go back in time once more, and prevent his other self from saving his mother. Not all went as intended, however. We learn that the universe has been fractured somehow, and the Flash’s undoing of reality provides a window for a mysterious entity to re-unite the shattered universe. As a result, all that came before was wiped out, and on the last few pages of Flashpoint #5, we are given a glimpse of a new world, brand new, but familiar. That leads me to Justice League #1.
Allow me to get meta-textual for a second. Comic sales have been slipping. For a long time. The average age of the comic book junkie is now 30+, and that trend shows no sign of reversing. Also, while the characters might apeal to younger kids, these characters who once stood alone as the heroes of youngsters, now have to compete with “heroes” from every other form of media and a never ending stream of narratives from infinite kids shows and cartoons. The superheroes just aren’t keeping up, largely due to a pandering to older readers, set in their ways about who and what their heroes should be. Starting with Flashpoint, DC set out to change that. They relaunched their entire universe. Read this quote from DC’s website for more context,
“The average age of comic book readers is the highest it has ever been, and that’s not a coincidence. If comics are to survive – be it superheroes or creator-owned work – younger readers need to get hooked. That’s the point of DC’s September initiative; it’s not to alienate longtime readers, as some fans seem to think. I said it on last week’s IGN Comics podcast, and I’ll say it here; hardcore comic fans need to take one for the team in hopes that our favorite medium can grow. I’m not saying you can’t be vocal about your dislikes, just make sure you give a shoutout to the positives as well. It’s something we do far less often than we should as comic fanboys and girls. I know there’s a lot of apprehension about the relaunch, but there are a lot of positives too.”
Image via Wikipedia
So, with that in mind, all of DC’s monthly books were cancelled. All of them. ALL OF THEM. Even the longest running comics in history, Action Comics and Detective Comics. replacing them are 52 new #1 books starting in September. Justice League #1 is the opening volley in a Brave and Bold attempt to renegotiate and re-translate these beloved heroes for a much more broad audience. Did it work?
How the heck should I know? I am not part of the broad audience. I am one of those 30+ people that DC has always pandered to. But I am proud of them. It worked for me.
Justice League #1 starts off a slow-burn, by focusing not on the whole team (which will eventually be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg), but only chronicles the meeting of the first two. Green Lantern meets Batman in his home city of Gotham, and the first line of dialogue between them tells you that you aren’t in your comfortable universe anymore. Green Lantern’s first words were, “Batman? You’re real?” This is a universe where 
anything goes. These heroes haven’t worked together before and no one knows how or if they will get along. The action continues, and there is a lot of cool set up for what is to come. We get a backstory for Cyborg, who for the last several decades has been nothing but a support character to the Teen Titans, who is now coming into his own as what appears to be DC’s preeminent black superhero. And at the end, we get a glimpse of Superman. Who is wearing a costume that once again makes us realize that we aren’t in Kansas anymore. Smallville, Kansas that is.
Geoff Johns and Jim Lee are two of my favorite comic creators on Earth. Seeing them on a book together is a dream come true. And judging by the number of people that showed up for the midnight release of this book at my local shop, and by the fact that this issue sold out, although the orders were doubled to over 200,000 copies, I am confident that we are seeing new readers.
I’ll be back next week, along with my cohorts, to review the first batch of DC’s new 52. Until then, may your nerdery be savage.
DC Genesis review @ Fat-Train here, and @ Caveman-Go here.
But will it stick. How many times have Marvel and DC ‘re-booted’, ‘blown-up’ or ‘re-vamped’ their universes?
Last time DC rebooted, they did it by having Superboy punch the universe. My goodness.
Amanda, I agree with you completely. This is only noteworthy and important if DC sticks with it. If they chicken out and go back to the way things were as if this new universe was never meant to be for the long haul I will probably be done with DC.
If you are going to do something that is meant to be this big of a deal, STICK WITH IT!
I’m glad that you gave some background. I didn’t read Flashpoint, so that’s kind of some cool stuff to know. I picked up Justice League #1 at a comic store here called Goldmine and they had Flashpoint and Justice League next to one another instead of alphabetical order. I was probably the tenth person who couldn’t find Justice League, so they changed it for me. Now I know why they were together. That quote from DCU was kind of inspiring. It’s a risk that needs to be taken, and we adults have to be adults about it. Also, I love that you inserted “Brave and Bold.” Very clever, my friend.
Amanda: Marvel tried a reboot with Heroes Reborn and it was crappy. They did a reboot with the Ultimate Universe, but they kept it as a parallel universe rather than a replacement universe. It hasn’t always been great, but it has been consistent with itself and Bendis’s work is some of the most recognized in current comic books. As for the other DC reboots, they’ve only seemed to be edits relying on the stories that have come before. This one is technically different. Instead of deciding back and forth between whether or not Batman hunts down Joe Cool, they’re retelling the entire timeline. Josh is right though. It’s only going to be any good if they stick with it. But that depends on how many people buy the comics. Our way of making sure they stick with this story is by buying comics.
Honestly, I would hate it, but I don’t know that I could fault DC for reverting things back if they simply were not making money. I would rather see a revert than lose the characters entirely. Still, they went all in this time. There was nothing that they held onto arbitrarily, and they didn’t give themselves an out.
update before my blog hits this weekend: Batgirl is a great feminine superhero. Well written, smart, classy, and heartfelt.
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