DC Comics ‘Cyber Age’ - Mobile Edition

Cult Favorite
DC Comics ‘Cyber Age’
By Philip Schweier
June 14, 2011 - 14:12

Two nuclear men? PLUS Captain Atom? DC's nothing if not redundant

With the recent announcement that DC Comics’ plans to offer same-day digital versions of its comics, comic book fans no doubt are wondering what this means for the forthcoming “Cyber Age.” Many fans are concerned for the company’s plans to re-set all its titles to new #1s, but as news has slowly trickled out, readers now know what to expect.

Naturally, some titles have been canceled (Doc Savage being my personal disappointment du jour). Others have been revamped extensively, some less so. Some just make me scratch my head. I mean, do we really need Captain Atom AND Firestorm the Nuclear Man?

Personally I believe a line-wide revamp is a great idea. Years ago, longtime DC Comics editor Julie Schwartz said that every 15 years or so, comics need an enema. Weak characters should be given a facelift, and long-running titles should be updated in some way to reflect the changing times and ever-evolving readership.

This September, Judd Winick introduces a never-before-seen black version of Batman

Of course no one is privy to many of the plans DC Comics management has in mind, so it’s impossible to accurately measure its potential. But the company is sitting on close to 75 years of modern mythology. That’s a long time, permitting growth in every direction. The time has come when small amount of pruning is no longer viable, and drastic measures should be taken.

One complaint I have with comics in general is the notion many publishers have that if one is good, more is better. This has led to all sorts of “family” titles of Superman, X-Men, Batman and Avengers. Does a team book really need multiple variations of itself?

I would like to see characters boiled down to the basics, with many of the redundant versions – Batmen, Robins, Green Lanterns and Flashes – reduced to a manageable number. Not every character needs to be franchised to the point where the parts diminish the whole.

Another issue (pun intended) I have had is when a title will go

BUT WAIT! Is that a proto-Batwing from 1973's Batman #250?

through a number of re-sets for little or no reason other than a new creative team. Beginning in 2001, Green Arrow ran for 75 issues, then was retitled Green Arrow/Black Canary and launched with a new #1, running for 29 issues. Then it was returned to just Green Arrow with yet another new #1; August will see #15. Now DC wants to go back to a new #1.

Marvel has done the same thing with Wolverine. Whenever this happens, I feel like the publisher is telling us, "Okay, we made a mistake. Do-over." If it's the same character, just leave it alone. Creative teams come and go, so that's no reason to re-number a book, in my opinion.

The final issue of Superman, 1986...

It's one thing to re-launch a comic book when there is a major change, such as when Kyle Rayner became the new Green Lantern. So I will grant DC Comics the option to reset all of its titles. But I’m hoping it will be the last time.

In the mid-1980s, perhaps following the announcement that Schwartz would be retiring from DC Comics, the powers that be decided to close the book on what could be called “the Curt Swan era” of Superman. Swan had been drawing Superman since the 1950s, and perhaps a new creative team was needed to make the lagging Superman titles more successful.

Longtime Marvel artist John Byrne took over the character, giving him a massive facelift. Shortly thereafter Frank Miller did the same for Batman with his tale, Batman: Year One. Wonder Woman, written and drawn by George Perez, soon followed.

...followed by John Byrne's Superman #1

With so many interpersonal relationships in the DC Universe, it’s impossible to reinvent one character without it impacting another. For instance, there has been a creative edict that Superman and Batman are perpetually 28 years old. Yet former Boy Wonder Nightwing is in his early 20s. If he first became Robin at the age of, say, 10, that would mean Bruce Wayne first became Batman in his teens.

And lets not even get into the whole Legion of Super-Heroes debacle. John Byrne did away with the idea of Superboy, thereby negating the Legion.

I had always believed that if DC Comics had intended to extensively re-invent so many of its A- and B-list characters, it had missed a prime opportunity. In the mid-1980s writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez created DC Comics’ Crisis on the Infinite Earths. Originally, they merely wanted to tell a story involving every DC Comics character.

But the story took on a life of its own, leading to a 12-issue epic in which the Multiple Earths of the DC Universe were destroyed, and numerous characters died or significantly evolved in some way. The DC Universe could have been completely destroyed during the Crisis, then rebuilt from the ground up, title by title.

With DC Comics’ recent announcement, it would appear another enema is upon us. In September, all its titles would be re-set to #1 and there will be significant overhauls to come.

But we were promised a new DC Universe a few years ago, when DC Comics wrapped up its Final Crisis series. The multiple Earths returned and the DC Universe was restored to its pre-1985 state. Fans were promised an even broader canvas for more entertaining stories. But despite all the promises that writers such as Grant Morrison were going to deliver great things, we’ve yet to see any of it.

I anticipate too many aborted plans would lead a number of frustrated readers to abandon the DC Universe. Yet this may very well happen. Just as Geoff Johns and George Perez restored the DC Universe to its pre-1985 status, my expectation is that within 10 years, a new editorial regime will come in and for the sake of nostalgia restore the DC Universe to its pre-September, 2011 state.

Or as I've come to think of it, 09/11.