Entry tags:

char: batman/bruce wayne, char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson, char: two-face/harvey dent, creator: dennis o'neil, creator: irv novick, title: batman

From here;

Here are a few samples from a retailer who attended the DC Retail launch on Friday

Why the change?
Dan started out explaining why DC was doing this. DC had taken a look at the comics industry as a whole and felt that the industry needed a shot in the arm. They felt that the stories had gotten stale and too talky. Dan recounted a book he read recently from ‘another publisher’ that had 15 pages of 9 panels of exposition. He felt comics used to be able to do stories that movies couldn’t. Lately, comic book movies have been doing comics better than comics have. Dan felt that DC needed to work harder across the board to improve the product. DC wants to publish books that are fresh and exciting that can compete with the level of action that fans are finding on TV, in movies and video games and elsewhere.

The end of "Writing for Trade"
Another change DC is making is that they won’t be ‘writing for the trade’ anymore. Writers have been told to write the story they want to write and not worry about the trade collecting. If they can tell a well-paced story in 4 issues, they’ve been told not to pad it to make it 6 issues. Editorial can worry about how it’s going to be collected.

If it ain't broke...
DC realized that some things were working fine. Based on sales, critical response and fan comments, they knew that Green Lantern and Batman weren’t ‘broken’. In approaching the re-launch, DC didn’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. They knew some things needed to be changed, but they didn’t want to lose the excitement behind what was working. Instead of a re-boot, they opted for a sliding re-launch. Continuity would be preserved and only where things weren’t working would there be changes. As such, there are are little to no changes in the Batman and Green Lantern books.

There are sections for all the various sub-categories on the link- Superman, Dark, Edge etc, here are a couple of the items of interest to us here;

Batman Family
Batgirl- Barbara Gordon is back as Batgirl. The events of Killing Joke and her tenure as Oracle have occurred and this title addresses her return to the role.

Birds of Prey- Barbara Gordon will still be part of the book.

Justice League Family
Justice League- The flagship title of the New 52. Jim Lee joked that if Geoff Johns had been there, Geoff would have said that he had always wanted to work with Jim. The three keywords here are Heart, Humor and Heroics. The first arc of this book takes place 5 years in the past and serves as a Year One story for the Justice League. In story, up until this point, there have been no ‘super-heroes’, just super powered individuals who have sometimes been viewed with suspicion. By banding together, the Justice League wants to show the world that they are deserving the moniker of super-hero.


Young Justice Family
Teen Titans- All four Robins star or co-star in a book. (I know, what about Stephanie Brown? It was hinted that we would see her in Batman Incorporated. Dan Didio said she worked better as Spoiler.) This book is Tim Drake’s showcase. There will be some synergy between this and Superboy.

And for legality, a reason why working for Two-Face might have it's little perks when you've just rendered Gotham's finest unconscious...



To borrow one of my favourite Xander quotes from Buffy "Hands! Hands in NEW PLACES!"