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| Batgirl #1, cover art by Adam Hughes |
DC Entertainment continues to be the subject of much online chatter, due to the announcements regarding the company's impending revamp being revealed through the official blog The Source. I tend to be lean towards the very skeptical view of things, as I doubt the effectiveness of DC's top-down approach over a more gradual, creator-driven, process. But more importantly, I don't think DC (and Marvel) is doing much that strikes me as a move to reach the much wider mainstream audience, as opposed to just another refurbishing of their convoluted shared-universe. The move into same-day digital releases has been a long time coming, and the line-wide revamp feels like a tactic to capitalize on this. But if the content proves to be just as impenetrable or unappealing to the uninitiated (i.e. those who don't give a damn about Geoff Johns fan wank, the Silver Age, or Earth-2) as it always has, then I don't think this will have the desired net positive effect. We shall see in the coming months. But for now, they're at least doing a good job of drumming up anticipation for their initiatives.
Anyway, here's the 52 #1 titles coming in September,
And here's a roundup of web reactions for this week:
Analysis from Sean T. Collins, Alex Boney, SeeBelow, Kevin Melrose, Sean T. Collins, Tucker Stone,
JK Parkin,
Joe Belski supplies a view from the perspective of retailers.
Andy Khouri reports on the news that Barbara Gordon will return to her original role as Batgirl. This has divided the fan community into those who love the retcon, and those who prefer Barbara in her role as Oracle.
J. Caleb Mozzocco just hates all the Batman-related news from DC.
Gail Simone wants to put superheroes in culottes. How manly!
The younger Superman that Grant Morrison always wanted to write about.
J. Caleb Mozzocco explains why Jim Lee (and others) still don't get the Wonder Woman costume.
Chris Sims narrates the history of DC's universe-wide reboots. My takeaway from the article is that DC's repeated inability to simplify their own continuity only underlies the basic futility of the exercise itself - each attempt only leading to greater narrative confusion and more unnecessary bloodshed. The "infinite earths existing within infinite parallel universes" from the sixties was actually more straightforward than the more recent "52 earths nestled inside an inverted pyramid within a giant blender" nonsense.
12 titles DC forgot to reboot.
Flashpoint thrashed by Fear Itself.
