DC Comics 'Reboot' Adventure

Dear George,

This particular letter to you probably won't interest you in the slightest.  it will, however, serve as a reminder to myself of how i feel right now.  There are changes afoot.  Things won't be the same and i'm afraid of what may happen and how i'll deal with strange new time ahead.  I'm talking of course about the "DC reboot".

I'm an avid comic book fan and collector.  My humble collection spans the last 25 years and contains mostly Batman and Superman titles.  Now, Batman and Superman belong to DC comics, they are part of the DC universe (DCU)... i think it's easier to think of the comic book worlds as universes... Superman, Wonder woman, Green Lantern live in the DC Universe while Spiderman, Iron man and the X-men live in the Marvel Universe.  As i'm sure you can imagine there are a fuck ton of different DC comic titles.  All of which have been running monthly for years.  Action comics, the birthplace of Superman - and Detective comics, the home of Batman have recently published their 900th and 880th issue respectively.

Come September All the major DC comic titles, of which there are 52, are to start over at issue 1*.  There will be new back stories, new outfits and new time lines.  It's all been making my head spin.  They are doing this as a way "to make characters more modern and accessible".  I can't say i'm not 100% happy about this... i guess it'd be like if next week Eastenders started again from the beginning, with all the same characters but now played by younger actors, and all the same story lines from over the years remade with modern twists... i hope that helps you understand the struggle i'm going through.

I don't know maybe it is a good thing... It means that all readers will be on a level playing field.  I have to admit there are massive holes in my knowledge of past events with regard to Batman's history, with time reset as it were, we all get to start the adventure again.  i found a wonderful quote i found on a blog discussing the DC reboot that chimes nicely with my thoughts on the subject:

Continuity is a platform of moral superiority for many fans.  Knowing more than other readers is seen by many as a status symbol.

And let’s face it, it’s also selfish.

It’s selfish in that continuity can grow to be so large and so vast that it builds a wall around the medium making it difficult for others to come in and access it.

Part of the reason I feel this way is something on the Greg Fitzsimmons podcast about nostalgia and the fact that nostalgia is exclusionary.  -Noah Kuttler

I'll be sure to keep you right up to date with this story!

Perhaps on a more interesting note, last night on the train home, i could not help over hear a group of actors and other such theatre folk chatting about what had gone wrong that night in their respective shows.  It is a typical conversation on the train i get home since most theatre folk all finish at the same time.  The "West End Express" we call it.  Last night i had to chuckle though, one of the girls, a dancer i believe,was chatting away talked about her impending joblessness and was pleading with the others if they knew of any jobs around Town.  She was keen to mention that she had stage crew experience and would turn her hand at anything... as an aside here, in my experience, the majority of actors who do other theatre jobs are a nightmare, but i think that might be a blog entry all to itself... the chap sat next to her gave her the name of his wardrobe Mistress and said that they'd always need dressers, she replied:

"Hmmm...I don't have experience as a dresser... but i've had bad dressers, so i'll know what not to do"

There you go folks, it's as easy as that.

Take care buddy,
Yours,
Little Dave