There are a couple of things that come to mind upon hearing this news:
1. This only compounds the impression that the DC New 52 relaunch was poorly conceived and poorly planned. Why bother resetting your universe with a "crisis" event in the first place, then make this announcement much later?
2. Continuity is a straightjacket that the publisher still can't untangle.
3. The whole "shared universe" experience is something DC and Marvel continue to hold on to, and hardcore fans care about. To everyone else, it's of no real interest.
4. Preceding a relaunch with a universe-wide crisis event has run its course, creatively speaking. Each attempt results in dwindling returns. Call it tradition, or inertia. It certainly isn't imagination.
5. Following from #2 and #3, do we still need all of the intellectual properties to always cohabit the same fictional space? Why insist that Batman and Wonder Woman work and live in the same universe when you can write some stories where they interact regularly, and others where they function as completely independent entites? The relaunch could have been used as a pretense to move in a truly different direction, instead of a a way to reset the timeline of some of their titles.
6. Partially answering my own question, a lot of the Big 2's storytelling tropes are reflected in their real-world dependence on the monthly serial pamphlet. It's the engine that still drives the direct market. and from what I understand, the New 52 relaunch has been a financial success for many comic book stores. How much of that may just be a temporary sales spike that can't be sustained long-term is quite another thing. But for now, the status quo is being maintained.
7. How long before DC decides to stage another crisis event, now that they've apparently whitewashed them out of existence?
(originally posted on Google+)
