# New DC Universe = New Coke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897 "2011-05-31T21:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/61 "2011-06-02T19:47:33Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > This. Hasn’t rebooting the entire DC universe become pretty much an annual event? Maybe they should try porting it to Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/62 "2011-06-02T19:48:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How would you like to become a fan again, with _no_ upfront cost? I know where you can read all the current books, from cover to cover, and find just what you are looking for. Illegal torrents? > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Nope-the real thing. You can even take it home with you. Armed robbery? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/63 "2011-06-02T19:50:36Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Illegal torrents? > Armed robbery? Nope and nope. This source is available in most areas, and is still legal. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/64 "2011-06-02T20:12:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Nope and nope. > This source is available in most areas, and is still legal. I’m interested. Spill it! ETA: Public Library? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/65 "2011-06-02T20:16:15Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > I’m interested. Spill it! > > ETA: Public Library? Damn right! The graphic book collections in a lot of libraries is ginormous and pretty current. You can catch up on all your old favorites while checking out all the newbies. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/66 "2011-06-02T20:43:50Z")
Ah yes, the libary. I read most of Lee Falk’s _Phantom_ from that source. I am not against spending money, if the story is good. In the last year I’ve spent around $2000 on books and movies. I love Amazon! I just don’t care to read mountains of crud to find the one gem anymore. I still re-read my favorites though. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/67 "2011-06-02T23:49:18Z")
DC is doomed unless they change their pricing. I just checked out the DC online comic store and the prices are crazy for e-comics. I looked at 52, a recent (about 5 years old) series I loved. Most issues of 52 are priced at $2.00, a few are priced at $3.00. That’s slightly less (.50c) than cover price. To get the whole series that’d cost about $110.00. For e-comics. Or, I can go to Amazon, and get the four trade paperbacks that collect the same exact issues–for $13.60 apiece. Or $55.00. Half of what they’re charging for the online editions. And there’s no copy protection on the dead-tree editions, so 10 years down the road from now when Kindles and iPads are forgotten, I’ll still be able to read the dead-tree editions\*. Those prices are nuts and if that’s the idea/pricepoint that DC is going with for e-comics, DC’ll be gone in a few years: the brick-and-mortar stores are barely surviving as it is and this (IMO) will tip most of them over the edge. And when this idea fails spectacularly, there’ll be nowhere to go to put the dead-tree editions back. When DC and Marvel went to direct-sales only in the early '80s, it was the first nail in the coffin of the medium of monthly comic books. Without newsstands, supermarkets, convenience stores, the supply of new readers who’d be intrigued by a cover and had an extra $1.00 to blow would buy and get hooked…and _then_ they’d look for a comic store to get the back issues and would be brought in by the convenience of hold/pull boxes. Comic sales (and younger/newer demographics) have been declining steadily since direct-only. I think the idea of downloadable e-comics is a great one. But not the way DC seems to be doing it. Currently new e-comics are being sold at exactly the same price as dead-tree comics and that’s just too expensive for new readers. $3.00 will get you one (1) comic or 3 Angry Birds add-ons. Which is a better value? Which will give you more hours of entertainment? \*Actually, I don’t know if the comiXology files are just in cbr or cbz format–if so, then I retract this part of the above. But I’ll bet they’re tied to the specific comiXology reader. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/68 "2011-06-03T17:30:55Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Maybe they should try porting it to Linux. Can you imagine? A kernel of continuity, fifty-two universes of fan fiction, and some guy telling me that I don’t NEED to run Kara Zor-El in my distribution because the Matrix Supergirl works just as well. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/69 "2011-06-03T19:43:03Z")
This appears, more and more, to be working like Zero Hour in terms of continuity. Most continuity will continue unchanged, a few characters will be tweaked, and another few totally revamped. The Green Lantern solicits released today seem to bear this out. As far as their digital plan, [it could be better](http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/02/dc-comics-to-publish-historic-first-comic-book-combo-pack-including-justice-league-1-comic-book-and-digital-copy/). The way it will apparently work is that you can get the comic on the same day as the comic store for the same price, or you can wait a month and the price will drop by $1. They’re also offering bundled deals for Justice League (at least on #1) where $5 (cover price on that oversized issue is $4) gets you the print edition, and a code to download the digital version. Solicitation for first 11 “Justice League” group titles : [http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/02/the-new-justice/](http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/02/the-new-justice/) And for the four Green Lantern titles announced today : [http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/03/green-lantern-1s/](http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/03/green-lantern-1s/) ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/70 "2011-06-03T20:12:52Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > They have rebooted (and even then, only partial) exactly once. 25 years ago. … Yes, BUT, the original intention was to start completely fresh, with some advocating that every series go back to #1. I’ll never forget a single-panel cartoon in a slickzine, probably _Amazing Heroes_. Young lad is holding a back-issue comic mag. “Omigosh! This copy of _Batman_, starring Ace the Bathound… It’s vanishing in my hand!” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/71 "2011-06-03T20:34:01Z")
> [@Trans Fat Og](#): > > Yes, BUT, the original intention was to start completely fresh, with some advocating that every series go back to #1. That was what Wolfman wanted to do, yes, but since he was only the writer, not editorial or marketing, it was never what was actually going to happen. (Oddly, three of the characters who got significant revamps - Superman, Wonder Woman, and Robin - were among the ones you’d have expected to not. On the other hand, none of them changed in ways that you’d really notice without reading - in fact, one of the changes that has recently become controversial for Robin, his hair colour, moved him closer to what a non-reader would recognize as ‘Robin’ - so, the people who could follow the changes got them, the people who would respond with ‘This isn’t my Superman!’ wouldn’t notice - until non-comics media started picking up on these changes.) ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/72 "2011-06-04T06:43:38Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > And as more information emerges, it’s looking more and more like a halfboot - sorry, the rainbow lantern corps are still there, and getting their own title - but on the other hands, Barbara Gordon’s going to be Batgirl again, wiping The Killing Joke from continuity. It is looking like the books that are currently successful – the Green Lantern books, and Morrison’s Batman books – will continue with their continuity largely unchanged. Speculation is that Barbara Gordon will be a “virtual” Batgirl/Oracle… much as depicted on the cover of the last Batman Inc. And, heck, with multiple Batmans, Robin & Red Robin, there’s probably room for a few Batgirls alongside Batwoman, too. I’m hoping there’ll be _some_ form of the LSH. And that it’ll escape the traditional borking from DC reboots. But I’ll probably stick with the GL and Batfamily books. _Maybe_ Superman _if_ the rumors of Morrison writing turn out true. Although Clark and Lois no longer being married would be annoying if that’s the case. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/73 "2011-06-05T14:56:51Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Comics and tablets are a great fit, but there are already great readers for cbr and cbz files. DC should use single-use codes and barcodes printed in the physical comics so the buyer can have a quick, no nonsense portable backup. As a reader, that would be awesome. But it would be economic suicide for DC - they’d have much higher costs to print the comics, and would devalue their digital offerings by making them “free” in that context. We’re already looking at really low print runs for most “mainstream” comics, and digital is a great alternative with little to no cost to scale. A much better strategy would be to decrease the cost of digital versions, to drive higher sales volumes, and allow for a subscription model in digital purchases. The comics reading experience on my iPad is excellent, and the dedicated readers are better than cbr/cbz files, but the store experience is crap. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/74 "2011-06-06T11:28:38Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > That was what Wolfman wanted to do, yes, but since he was only the writer, not editorial or marketing, it was never what was actually going to happen. Especially since, at the time, the single biggest title saleswise that DC had (by, IIRC, like a 2-1 margin) was Teen Titans. If everyone reboots with a number one and the first issues of Superman and Batman are their first appearance in the new universe, it would mean that, at earliest, Robin couldn’t appear for at least a year or two and the other sidekicks later after that. They weren’t going to put their best-selling book on hiatus for 3 years for storytelling purposes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/75 "2011-06-06T14:02:09Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > I’m hoping there’ll be _some_ form of the LSH. And that it’ll escape the traditional borking from DC reboots. But I’ll probably stick with the GL and Batfamily books. _Maybe_ Superman _if_ the rumors of Morrison writing turn out true. Although Clark and Lois no longer being married would be annoying if that’s the case. There’s been a Legion title confirmed - “Legion Lost”. No solicitation text released though. Scuttlebutt is suggesting that the revamps to Superman may be targeted on eliminating the things that the Siegel and Shuster families own about the character - Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and the Planet Krypton. We won’t know for sure until there’s a press release.. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/76 "2011-06-06T14:13:32Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > A Smallville comic doesn’t draw anyone who doesn’t already read Action Comics. I don’t currently read comic books. I’m interested in this reboot, because it might give me an entry point. I grew up on the Batman cartoon, and I like the Batman movies, but I never got into the comics because they’re so damn baroque and I didn’t want to have to get up to speed on 50+ years of continuity to understand what was going on. As things currently stand, comic book continuities are bafflingly complex, with decades of baggage. It doesn’t invite new readers, and if comic books want to survive, they have to bring in new readers. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/77 "2011-06-06T15:10:21Z")
The problem with rebooting to remove complex continuity is that it’s a neverending problem. Marvel found that with their Ultimates – it swiftly developed just as much baroque backstory as the main Marvel continuity. And when DC pared down all the extraneous baggage after Crisis/Zero Hour, writers got busy adding back in all the stuff that had been deleted. They could write minimal-continuity storylines; some of the comics targeted at younger readers do that. But that alienates their core audience – the steady comic readers _want_ the convoluted continuity. So, drop continuity and lose the dwindling customers that’ve been sustaining them in the hopes of picking up even more new customers, or continue bleeding sales. Either choice is poor, which is why they’re not choosing either, exclusively. The strong sellers like the Green Lantern and Batman books will continue on. The poor sellers are going to get overhauled (poor Wonder Woman…). And we’ll be getting some writers’ favorite obscure characters, that’ll probably gain a following, but not enough to sustain a book long-term. > [@CandidGamera](#): > > There’s been a Legion title confirmed - “Legion Lost”. No solicitation text released though. Huh. I’d thought that was just the trade release of the many-years-ago “Legion Lost” storyline. (the Abnett LSH, I think) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/78 "2011-06-06T15:16:40Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Huh. I’d thought that was just the trade release of the many-years-ago “Legion Lost” storyline. (the Abnett LSH, I think) It’s both, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/79 "2011-06-06T16:20:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are there any others that need trimming? Are there any that don’t? > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Wow! When did Wonder Woman get a shield? _snicker_ > [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Dear God, Rob Liefeld was the worst. What the hell is going on with Captain America’s chest? My exact original reaction. But then, look at his torso, and his pants. Notice how his legs are centered below his body if his chest is normal. That means the real problem is that his shoulders and head are sitting behind the rest of his body. :eek:😕 > [@Fenris](#): > > What’s better, is that’s a drawing from halfway through the series when someone pointed out “Um, dude? Why does Captain-freakin’-America have a Nazi [waffenampt](http://www.pistole38.nl/manufacturers/manufacturers.html%22) on his forehead?” (Answer: Because it looked kewl. So what if it was a Nazi symbol?") I don’t think that link goes where you think it goes. I don’t see anything that looks like the thing on his helmet. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897/80 "2011-06-06T17:38:23Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I don’t think that link goes where you think it goes. I don’t see anything that looks like the thing on his helmet. Let’s…try that again. 😃 [http://www.pistole38.nl/manufacturers/manufacturers.html](http://www.pistole38.nl/manufacturers/manufacturers.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-dc-universe-new-coke/583897.md?page=5)