Thoughts on DC's New 52

[kybearfuzz]

While I was working out Sunday, I looked over to my bookcase and saw my copy of "The DC Comics Encyclopedia". It was a Christmas gift a few years back from my sister. I realized that the book is now outdated with DC's "New 52" reboot/revamp. I think it was right then that I came to the conclusion of why I dislike the "New 52."

The history of DC Comics is gone.

Comparing the "New 52" to the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" or "Infinite Crisis" events is not correct. They are apples and an orange. When the first "Crisis" redid the DC Universe, the history was modified, but largely was left intact. All past events still happened, even with a few rebooted characters like Wonder Woman. When it was "undone" by the Infinite Crisis some years later, the history was still relatively the same. The Jay Garrick Flash was still around, along with most of the heroes that were made famous in the 1940's.

In the 1960's, when the new generation of heroes of "Earth 1" were created, the past heroes of the JSA still existed. The JLA heroes were just added to the universe and eventually interacted with them. Lately I've been re-reading the "Crisis on Multiple Earth" trades, which compiles the Justice League/Justice Society team-ups from my youth and before. I'm anxiously awaiting Volume 6 in June.

However, in the "New 52" universe, these heroes just don't exist anymore. It's that simple. In one moment, everything changed, all history was removed and the comic book company just started at time zero. The Justice Society of the 1940's and all incarnations forward were no more. No JLA/JSA team-ups ever occurred. The stories I read about in the trades are not in the continuity. While the new DC is re-creating the JSA, they're all new too.

For someone brand new to comics, this might seem like no big deal. To a collector of comics of 35 years like me, it's amazingly disappointing.

I suspect the number of "new" comics that's being discontinued shows that a lot of readers aren't overly impressed by the changes either. I wonder how long this experiment is going to last.

Comments

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

I thought it was terrible after the FIRST Crisis back in 1985 or so.

DC basically merged ALL Earths into one.

They said it was to avoid confusion.

The idea of multiple Earths and an infinite
number of possibilities never confused me.

I have lived with the concept of parallel universes since I was 4 or 5.

DC killed off Supergirl, which upset me greatly.

They changed too much.

One of my favorite books, ALL STAR SQUADRON
was badly damaged by the 1985 Crisis.

It was canceled because too many heroes from
the 1940's never existed after Crisis.

I quit ALL the comics I was reading by 1989, and Crisis was just one of the reasons.

A sharp decline in the quality of art & stories were other factors.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I never agreed with the given reasons for the First Crisis. I grew up reading about the parallel worlds idea and never got confused, like you.

I wasn't a big fan of the changes at first, but I grew to accept them. I admit, I LOVED the artwork in "Crisis" (George Perez).

And All-Star Squadron was probably the book hardest hit. I do love Jerry Ordway's artwork in that comic and it helped introduce me to lots of 1940's heroes I'd not heard of.

When "Infinite Crisis" popped up, I was pretty happy, especially for a chance to see the Golden Age Superman and Wonder Woman again.

The "New 52" does away with all that and I despise it.