DC's Plans for 2012

[aeka]

Greetings ladies and gents! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend with your friends and families. I certainly did!

But now, more info on DC's plans for their relaunch in 2012. From what I read on their blog, it looks like we can look forward to more changes as their newer universe starts to evolve. And of course, I'm sure you're all well aware of which one *I'm* especially looking forward to. ^_^

From DC's blog:

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

By Bob Harras

And so 2011 draws to a close.

By any definition, it was an incredibly successful year for us here at DC Comics. It was a year of excitement for anyone who loves comics.

Now, not to sound corny — but the most important thing to us is that all of you who love and read DC Comics responded in such an incredibly positive way to The New 52.

We appreciate it. It’s why we do what we do.

But 2011 was just the beginning. Next year will bring even more changes, more action and more surprises. The evolution of the DC Universe will continue and accelerate as events ripple across titles, impacting characters in unexpected ways.

For instance, check out next month’s STORMWATCH, in which a devastating explosion will echo in upcoming issues of both GRIFTER and SUPERMAN, as a major new (yet somehow familiar) threat will be introduced.

And keep an eye on BIRDS OF PREY in the coming months, where Black Canary’s long-held secrets will start to unravel.

And what exactly is Kid Flash’s story? TEEN TITANS will explore that mystery early next year.

All that and more is coming in 2012.

So, best wishes for a Happy New Year from all of us at DC.

See you next year!

– Bob Harras, Editor-in-Chief

Source.

Huh, I'm intrigued about Black Canary's 'long-held secrets.' I am hoping she's still Dinah Drake's daughter though. It just would wouldn't be the same without Mama Canary being a significant part of the character's history.

I DO wish DC would release more info on Power Girl, though. I mean it's been what...two months now since the character last appeared on Mister Terrific, and so far there's been no further info on the character since then. What's more is that Karen's been largely defined by her relationship with the titular character and has been nothing more than second fiddle to him, which IMO is a complete disservice to the character. Still I hope we learn something soon, cause the wait is killing me. More importantly, I do hope she ends up back on Earth-2 with the JSA (where she belongs) and gets her solo title back.

Oh sigh. For legality, have Classic Peege being Classic Peege.

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

I thought that a soft reboot was when you take established continuity, draw a line underneath it and change the status quo, like moving the team to a new city or changing the roster.

The New 52 has rewritten origins and characterisation for many characters

[aeka]

Pretty much this. It would have been easier for them to just say they were starting from scratch.

[stubbleupdate]

With some titles they did. Supergirl is starting from the ground up again and it's pretty bloody good, actually

With the Architects' titles (Green Lantern, Batman), they didn't.

[aeka]

What I'm seeing with a lot of the New 52 titles is that some start at the beginning of a character's career (such is the case with Supergirl and Action Comics), and others right smack in the middle of it. With the ones starting from the beginning, you see the changes right away and with the ones that aren't you notice the changes more gradually.

With the Bat titles alone, I haven't really seen much that has been preserved from the previous continuity other than Bruce still being Batman, Dick, Jason, and Tim were still his Robins (with the former serving as Batman at one point ), Damian is still his son with Talia and the current Robin, and Batman, Inc is still in continuity. Changes I've noticed? The BatCat relationship was retconned entirely, Selina is starting her career from scratch again, the Birds of Prey no longer seem to acknowledge Zinda and Helena as former members, it is especially unknown for certain if Helena is still the post-Crisis version of the character or if she's back to being the Earth-2 version, so far there's been no acknowledgement of Barbara's time as Oracle, it's still unknown if Cassandra and Stephanie were still Batgirls (and Robin in the latter's case), and the list goes on.

So yeah, I'm basically treating this whole reboot as starting from scratch. So far I'm not seeing much of the previous continuity still intact. :/

[stubbleupdate]

If you're a Green Lantern fan, then you won't have missed a beat with the reboot; it just continues from what was happening before Flashpoint.

And having read bits of catwoman, I get the impression that Selina has been Catwoman for a bit.

[aeka]

I will admit I haven't been reading any of the Green Lantern titles so I'll take your word for it.

With Catwoman, from the first four issues I've read she's still early in her career and the more recent issue introduced more characters from her past that shed more light on her past. It's definitely a bit different from what was previously established.

[maxisanacorn]

Essentially if you're male in the Batfamily you're fine. If you're female, good luck. The sexism is glaring.

[icon_uk]

Though Dick has lost five years of age, and both he and Tim's entire previous career(s) with the Titans has been excised with no clear indication what (if anything) replaced it.

[aeka]

I think what maxisanacorn was trying to get at here, is that the male characters in the Batfamily are seeing the *least* amount of changes compared to the ones we're seeing with the some of female characters.

For example, if those are ALL the changes Dick has seen so far, then those hardly amount to what we're seeing with Catwoman right now, who's getting written completely from scratch with NO acknowledgement to any of her previous history whatsoever. An even better excellent case in point is if Helena Bertinelli really does go back to being Helena Wayne, because then that would mean her entire history as Helena B--all 22 years of it--gets erased and she'll be starting from scratch again. This not only means getting her history completely rewritten, but this could lead to changes to her personality (again in her case) as well.

Of course, I *could* be proven wrong later as more of the characters' histories are revealed. But from what's been seen so far, any drastic changes that have been made to the guys have been relatively small compared to the ones we're seeing with some of the ladies.

[icon_uk]

I didn't think Catwoman was being treated as a new player in the field. That IS weird....

And that's not the only change Dicks past appears to be going through. Aside from excising forty years worth as a member of the (New) Teen Titans which seems fairly significant, especially since the Titans are pivotal to his ever becoming Nightwing rather than staying Robin, his background and origin also appear to be in serious flux, since his current storyline appears to have had some sort of pre-destined future as a killer because of some deep-dark secret of the circus.

That, to me, seems to be more or less on a par to the upheaval that, say, Babs has had, and more than Kate Kane. (Though yes, Helena and Selina seem to be going through more)

[aeka]

Yeah the more recent issue of Catwoman established that Selina was taken in by a woman named Lola when she was 16 and one of her closest friends as a teen was another woman named Gwen. It is further stated by the character herself that Lola was also her mentor, basically throwing the Frank Miller origin and all of Selina's development since then out the window.

With regards to Dick, as I mentioned in my earlier comment, with some characters' stories starting right in the middle of their careers, the changes are being revealed more gradually whereas the ones like Catwoman (who are starting from scratch), you notice the changes right away. It's enough to say I'm treating this entire relaunch as starting from scratch since I'm not seeing much of the previous continuity still intact. If Dick's history is also being gradually altered as we further progress into his story, then this just further solidifies my point about this not being much of a 'soft reboot' as they claim.

[icon_uk]

Hadn't the Frank Miller origin been more or less gone for some time? The past she got given even prior to Zero Hour seemed to be a lot less heading towards a career as a sex-worker, more as a basically selfish, but thrill seeking, thief.

[aeka]

Nope. The Frank Miller origin was explored further in her original series (Namely Catwoman: Year One, Catwoman #0, and Her Sister's Keeper), and was even a basis for the Ed Brubaker series which brought her back to the part of Gotham where she worked as a sex worker. Her second series even reintroduced the character of Holly Robinson who was originally introduced in Batman: Year One. So yeah, the Frank Miller origin was pretty much written in stone throughout her post-Crisis history.