A New Era? Maybe. September 1, 2011
Posted by Bill in Books.Tags: Comics
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Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.
— Michael Corleone
In my youth, I was an avid comic collector. I read (and collected) tons of the stuff. In fact, I still have my old X-Men comics (including X-Men #1 from 1963) squirreled away. Times have changed, and I’m an old geezer now. Every now and then, I’ve picked up an odd issue but have been unimpressed with what passes for comic stories in the 21st century. Now, DC is once again tempting me; they’re rebooting their entire line of comics including tried and true characters like Superman and Batman. Additionally, they’re going to be delivering the new comics digitally at the same time as the print versions. This is significant for me, since I now do all of my reading on my iPad. As a result, I’m once again dipping my toe into the world of super heroes and shiny costumes.
DC’s first submission was Justice League #1. It’s interesting that they dropped the “of America” from the name. I guess they don’t want to limit the group’s domain, though they are also resurrecting the old Justice League International as another of their reboots. Still, it’s been ages since the group limited themselves to what was happening in a single nation. The story, as far as it went, presented the (new) first meeting of Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman. It was, to say the least, very interesting to see how these three characters were presented. I especially liked the cockiness of GL played against the suspiciousness of Batman. The new costumes also have an up to date feel to them that I liked.
At this point, I’m thinking “So far, so good”. Next week will see the first full week’s results, including Action #1. I’ll be able to dig deeper then, to see how welcome the coming changes will be.
I’m still skeptical that this will “take”. DC has tried several different “reboots” over the years, and none of them have worked out well. Ultimately, there was some messiness left over from the past that had to be somehow cleaned up, or the temptation was too great to do some other “event” that just further messed up their universe. I’m going to be looking to see what happens next year when the silly season says it’s time for another comic book “event”.
