Opinion Time

The following opinion is mine and mine alone, it does not represent the thoughts of any of the other people associated with this blog, so if you feel the need to hurl profanities, or commit grievous bodily harm to anyone, make sure it is me.

Tying in to John's post earlier about DC rebooting their comic line, I feel that this is a great move for the company, sure DC has a few things over Marvel, for instance their universe, you actually feel like the world that the heroes reside in is a cohesive place, where something happening in one book, actually affects another book, and a sense of history that Marvel, with their CONSTANT rebooting seems to lack. With that said though, in THIS INSTANCE DC's move is actually a good idea, this isn't rebooting Daredevil after that completely unnecessary 4 issue mini, or starting Cap, and Thor all over again at issue 1 solely because there is a movie coming out, or unnecessarily rebooting the Fantastic Four and giving it a "new name", when it could have easily continued at issue 589 and NOBODY would have cared, most likely to run the new numbering system until they reboot that movie and bring Johnny Storm back. This is a wholesale reboot of the entire universe, a la Crisis On Infinite Earths, and if it is done properly, could be a great thing for the company, because let's face it, they are definitely the #2 publisher in the industry, and something of this magnitude works for them on a number of levels:

Accessibility

Lets face it, as much as I dislike the constant rebooting / renumbering that Marvel does, it really is new reader friendly, as Stan Lee says "Every comic is somebody's first" and seeing 700, 800, or 900 on the cover, can be very off putting for somebody walking into the comic shop for the first time, interested in picking up Batman, because they really liked "The Dark Knight". Even seeing a number as low as 65 next to Green Lantern, can be disheartening. At 12 books a year that is over 5 years of continuity, and, for the more hardcore fan it may seem like nothing, but for the newly interested, or in my case, the newly returned reader, it might be the difference between buying the book, or leaving it on the shelf. Jumping on points in this industry are critical, and this would be the largest possible jumping on point.

Publicity

Take a hard look at the industry right now, take a minute and talk to the proprietor of your local nerdatorium, ask him / her the tough questions, and you will find that the industry as a whole is really hurting. A crap economy, higher prices for everything else we need to purchase, i.e. fuel, food, utilities, insurance all have an effect on our discretionary income. And DC doing us all a solid earlier this year by "drawing the line at $2.99" to quote their poster, was a great idea, but something like this attracts attention, Maybe not from ABC or NBC news, but from a lot of websites, and not just comic related ones. It drives footsteps to the door, gets people thinking "Hey I loved..... (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern etc....) as a kid, maybe I'll hit a comic store and see what's up" as silly as it sounds, if it only helps to create a half dozen more pull files at the local comic shop, that translates into more money for everyone involved, especially when you extrapolate it out to every comic shop in the country, and around the world.

Clean Slate

Odds are that this is probably the biggest reason why DC is doing what their doing, starting over fresh, throwing continuity out the door, giving us fresh and new origins for some of the most beloved characters in the industry, and who knows? maybe they will use one of the other 52 universes created in Infinite Crisis, that would give them the latitude to tweak any of the characters, their origins, and their costumes (a la Star Trek), and still be able to face the rioting hordes of comic book fans, who will inevitably be screaming their collective lungs out. And if you ask me....good.... Superman Earth One, was fantastic (and before I get flamed, yes I know that the Earth One universe is different, but that's not the point) and it was fantastic because it gave us a new and fresh take on a timeless character. There isn't a 5 year old on the planet that doesn't know Superman's origin, hell my grandmother knows Superman's origin, but what Straczynski gave us, were a hell of a lot of tweaks that not only filled in a ton of blanks, but also made the character new and relevant for the 21st century. If this is what DC is hoping to accomplish with all the other characters, than great, I'm all for it.

Or I could be completely wrong on all of this, and it is a huge mistake, only time will tell, but one thing is for sure I have to give Kudos to DC for at least trying something new.