View From the Phlipside Radio - DC reboot

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

Ok I think I’m about to surprise some long time listeners to this show.  In fact I have to admit I’m having a little trouble grasping what I’m about to say myself.

I’ve spent the last couple years grumping about how I don’t like re-mixes and re-boots and just am generally against people messing around too much with the familiar and iconic.  Well I suddenly find myself on the other side of the fence.  That’s right a major re-boot announcement was made just a couple weeks ago and after careful consideration I’m thinking I might just be in favor of it.

I think I need to sit down, I’ll probably get light headed here soon.

The announcement is from the oldest comic company in these United States DC Comics.  Between August 31 and September 30 they will undertake a complete re-launch of the entire DC universe of comics with some dramatic changes for some of their best known characters.  DC has been around for ever and has some of the best known comic superheroes in the world (can you say Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to mention just a few?) but to be honest the business side has been tough.  Of course this is nothing new in the comic industry.  Even when times are good things can be tough.  DC has already done some ground breaking changes like offering the print version and all the digital versions on the same day at the same price.

But it’s the re-boot of some of the characters that grab me.  Batman and Green Lantern are at the top of DC’s sales charts so they’ll see the least change.  At the other end some series are being shut down and replaced.  But Wonder Woman is being taken much more back to her mythological roots.  And Superman.  Superman is getting taken back to his roots too, to the point that DC will issue a brand new Action #1 almost a thousand issues after the original Action #1.  The description of the new young Clark Kent is as a Bruce Springsteen version.  Superman has desperately needed some way to drag him out of the 1930’s paradigm that has hobbled him for the last couple decades.  Could this be it?

It’s a radical change.  But the time might just be right.  This might just be the re-boot that proves the rule.  Or it could be the end of the oldest comic publisher in America.  Gotta admit it’s gonna make it worth checking out some old familiar books.

Call that the View From the Phlipside