Probably made a miscalculation on this one. Have stayed up through the night (though that was a given- by necessity I am a vampire now. Like, a cool one.) so I could go pick up my books right when my comic book store opens, then come home and go to bed. As opposed to sleeping, getting up, then going to pick them up, but get slowed down by sudden torrential rain and hail, then power outage, then major intersection with no working street lights (effected by power outage I guess)--
wait, this was crazy. Drivers were nearly killing themselves at this wild west intersection, and a block away there were two cops (unless it was just one and my eyes played a trick on me) standing at a bit of road construction with already clearly marked pylons and stuff.
Whatbutwhat- GUYS! Right down there! The lights, the danger!!
Anyway, I got to my store, and it looks like they closed up shop early. There goes my ten percent discount for arriving on the Wednesday. Ah well. I bought myself some blueberries.
So instead of reading or going to the gym (I toyed with the idea of going this morning to increase my chances of running into that girl that signed me up for the place) but I'm just way too tired at this time of day, it's not working people.
I spent the night discovering a) Penny Arcade has a forum (I was already AWARE of this fact, but I didn't KNOW it, as I do now) and b) Penny Arcade has a pretty dedicated mainstream comics forum.
So I've been reading opinions on the announced DC comics reboot ("don't call it a reboot!" they say. Hmm, no, I think I'll call a reboot a reboot.) for September. One guy posted this amazing video that I've since thrown onto other peoples facebook page due to hilarity. I wish my speakers worked so I could here it, but I can already imagine what it sounds like: unintelligible german (unintelligble german to ME that is) that kinda sorta synchs up with the subtitles.
You've gotta check it out:
Alright, well, I haven't really gotten my thoughts in order on the subject, but I guess I'm here now, so lets jump in and talk about this.
Ah, wait, I guess I'll speak to the uninformed and start at the beginning, while also being generic. Maybe I'll use 'X' and 'Y' as placeholder variables as I like to do sometimes!
So in the 30's comics started, and stories kinda built on each other, but everything was pretty loose because, hey, comics are junk entertainment for kids.
Then the 50's happened, and this guy Frederic Wertham convinced people that comics were immoral and would make kids immoral. This led to a lot of self imposed restrictions on comics (the Comics Code Authority), and it's generally agreed upon that these restrictions, coupled with the passing of the Nazis as a relevant and easily identifiable punching bag ("Hey, so what should we have on this cover?" "How about X punching out Hitler?" "That's swell, Harv, but he's been dead for like five years now.")... actually, I should say, coupled with the growing complexity of the world- it's not so much that they lost the nazis, but that no other group moved in to visibly take its place, but with that air of dread remaining.
Anyways, the super hero comics market SHRANK. As far as I'm aware only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman made it through this period.
(Huh, I wonder if The Spirit counts as a super hero, and whether he made it. It seems likely that Eisner may have simply moved on by that time, I find it hard to believe that The Spirit wouldn't always be published so long as Eisner wanted to publish it. But then again, that's coming froma guy that is ever amazed by Eisner's story telling ability, even though I've read relatively little of his work.)
I'm afraid I can't think of the spark that started this next bit, but the powers that be wanted to make a new Flash comic, but they didn't want to have the same old guy from the 30's-40's, they made a character that spoke to modern sensibilites.
Was this a "reboot" or "relaunch" of the Flash series? Definitely not- they kept the same numbering, and referenced the original Flash as having been a fictional comic that this new, hip Flash himself read... before something like twenty issues passed and Flash travelled through dimensions to find out those old comic stories WERE true.
Stories happened, building on each other, and a tapestry is woven.
Finally in 1985 "Crisis On Infinite Earths" happened. In story, universes were destroyed, history was re-written, and again characters were re-introduced as hip and with appeal to modern sensibilites. Superman even got renumbered- a brand new #1 issue.
So THIS was a reboot/relaunch, right?
It's treated as such, and it's easiest to describe it as such, but that's not really true. Much of the characters histories remained intact, with consequences still being felt in future comics from the events of countdown AND previous single stories. The NEW Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths was a character ever intertwined with his pre-crisis predecessor. Certain characters even specifically mention the previous universe (the Psycho Pirate- one of the best named characters ever). As much as certain creators and editors wanted a fresh start, all the stories still existed on a continuum.
This editorial assertion is important, because it keeps popping back up.
The methodology behind the changes during Crisis on Infinite Earths, reboot or no, deserves a mention here.
If it bristled readers that Supergirl died and was no longer appearing in the comic stories (at least, as the Maid of Might, Cousin from Krypton) at least they got to see her go out BIG. I don't think any of the characters that "died" during Crisis went out as anything other than inspirational heroes- even throw away, "created-for-the-purpose-of-dying-during-Crisis" Kole got an heroic end, such that I seem to remember reading the writer regretting that she had to leave at all!
That, and given the impending "reboot" (I'll use the term for simplicities sake) Alan Moore was allowed to write a "final" Superman story. As a farewell to all that had happened in comics to that point (of course by now I do mean DC Comics) it allowed an era to end with dignity and perhaps few regrets.
The acclaim of Crisis On Infinite Earths has solidified it as THE principal turning point in how comics are produced today- where stand alone stories had been the norm, the "event" book was now the comic companies rule, not the exception.
Aping the success of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marvel produced "The Secret Wars", and "Secret Wars II", and this past decade I think one was called "Secret War" (I'm being harsh, Marvel's got a bunch that have neither "Secret" nor "War" in their title)
DC had Invasion, Zero Hour, Armageddon 2001 (think that was made in 1991 to talk about the distant future of 2001), Our Worlds At War, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis (plus, yes, others besides).
Everything is geared toward the long form story, raising the stakes of the game: with previous methodology if one issue performed poorly, what of it? Next month we'll do better. But a long form event means a months long commitment.
Hmm I really like that last paragarph, but it doesn't seem to fit in with the point I'm getting at, no matter how I turn things around in my head. It's a fair point, but if this were a professional essay I'd definitely have to erase it. Seeing as this ISN'T a professional essay, please do mentally jump that paragraph (and this paragraph explaining the whole thing) and we'll see if I can get back on track.
Started a sentence here, but I am beginning to get tired, I may have to leave this as a to be continued thing...
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