THE NEW 52 -- THE MOST RADICAL THING DC HAS DONE SINCE -- THE LAST 5 TIMES THEY DID IT

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   By Barry Dutter

   
   
   
   
   DC Comics has gotten a lot of attention lately for starting their universe over from scratch.
   It has been called a daring development for a company with a  70+ year history, and it would be -- but for the fact that DC has already done this same thing 3 or 4 times before.
   The first time they did it was in 1956, when they introduced all-new versions of many of their most beloved heroes from the Golden Age.
   It was in SHOWCASE #4 that we first met Barry Allen, the new Flash, followed not long after by Hal Jordan as the new Green Lantern.
   Those heroes heralded the dawn of the Silver Age. If you were a fan who grew up reading DC‘s Golden Age books, you were essentially being kicked to the curb to make way for an all-new generation of readers.
   The DC Silver Age heroes had a good long run -- about thirty years, in fact. It was in 1985, during the CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, that their time came to an end. The CRISIS was an attempt by DC to simplify their universe, to ditch all the alternate worlds that had popped up over the previous 30 years, and streamline all their heroes onto one cohesive world.
   It was during the CRISIS that Barry Allen died, paving the way for Wally West to become the new Flash. Not long after, Hal Jordan died and was replaced by Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern.
   In 1986, DC made the radical move of hiring Marvel’s most popular artist, John Byrne, to start Superman’s series over with #1. Similarly, Frank Miller was brought in to conceive the story of Batman: Year One. George Perez took the reigns of Wonder Woman, starting her book over at #1, as well.
   Not every DC hero had a new number one in the late 80s, but the majority of the big guns did. (And, in retrospect, Batman probably should have had a new number one to go along with those of  Superman and Wonder Woman.)
   A scant nine years after the crisis, in 1994, DC was ready to do it again, with the publication of ZERO HOUR, a series that reset the clock and brought all the DC heroes back to the beginning of their careers. To commemorate the occasion, DC published #0 issues off all their super-hero comics. (Not number ones, true, but about as close as you can get!)
   
   

   

   Now, just 17 years later, DC has once again relaunched their universe. This is the first time the company has restarted every book in their line over at number one, but in essence, this is the same thing they have done several times before.
   At DC, the feeling has always been, “Our stories are so complicated and our universe so complex, that we need to start over every decade or two just to give new readers a chance to jump aboard and not feel hopelessly lost.”
   Over at Marvel, the opposite is true. Their universe has  continued unabated since 1961. While the Golden Age Marvel stories are pretty much ignored, everything that’s happened since 1961 is technically part of the official canon.
   The Marvel Universe is like a continuous wave, ever sweeping forwards. Everything that has ever happened in every Marvel Comic has been part of the same ongoing saga.
   This means that many of the long-term Marvel heroes have 50-year+ histories, though the characters have only aged a few years, at most, during that time.
   It gets a little ridiculous if you ever try to read the complete history of an iconic Marvel hero like Spider-Man. There is no way any hero could have had hundreds (in some cases, thousands) of adventures in only a few short years. It requires a huge suspension of disbelief, and a willingness to forget most of the stories that have gone before.
   But Marvel readers have always enjoyed learning the fascinating histories of the characters. The depth of those histories is part of what makes the Marvel heroes so interesting.
   One of the biggest strengths of the Marvel Universe has always been its sense of history. (Most of the big Marvel titles have started over at number one at some point, only to return to their original numbering somewhere down the line.) The DC Universe no longer has this history. With this latest relaunch, they seem to have once again discarded all the stories that have gone before.
   I always thought it was odd that DC just seemed to hit the "restart" button every 20 years or so. But the company never shows any remorse. They never seem to feel, it was a mistake. (Though it does seem worth nothing that all the DC heroes who died in the 80s (Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen) and were replaced by younger heroes were eventually brought back to replace the heroes that had replaced them. I guess the lesson there is that while the original Golden Age heroes are mostly gone and forgotten, the Silver Age DC heroes will just keep popping up no matter how many times you try to replace them.
   Fans remain loyal to DC's heroes -- even if DC doesn't.
   DC has enjoyed great success with the New 52 launch. The question is, how long can it last? First issues  generally sell well, especially for established heroes like Superman and Batman. But we will have to see what happens with numbers 2, 3, 4 and beyond.
   

   

   And if history has taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t get too attached to the heroes of the New 52. It’s pretty much a given that at some point, DC will cancel all these tiles and start over again.
   My prediction is that by the year 2020, we’ll be seeing the end of the new 52 and the beginning of a bold new line of DC heroes.
   Maybe their slogan should be: "DC Comics -- you'll love our characters. Just don't get too attached!"