DC COMICS PRESENTS REBIRTH - WHATEVER NEXT? - Comic Book and Movie Reviews

Within recent years I've often compared DC's New 52 brand of books to a hormonal middle-aged divorcee, out on the prowl. In my eyes this breed of person would constantly lie about their age and try to make themselves look younger than they actually are. On top of that, on occasion they'd also change their own history, saying that x did y to z, when deep down they know it was z who did y to x.

So with a modicum of skepticism that is why I would now like to welcome in DC's new brand of books, tentatively entitled Rebirth. Not much skepticism mind you. Just a bit. As from the looks of it DC have learnt from their past mistakes and are currently trying to make the mistakes of the future more palatable. So, to help them on their way with this, I thought it would be a good idea to give them a couple of suggestions. Here, check this out and tell me what you think.

AGE MATTERS: For some strange reason DC have got it into their heads that the younger you are, the better you are. No. Not in my book, Boy-O. If they spent some time looking at their own back-catalog, perusing such titles as the Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, quite often they'd find that the older characters have resonated more with the general public.

To me, heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, among others, will always be in their mid to late thirties, each of them having the maturity of age that'll make people want to look up to them, whilst having that leniency in age for them to also make mistakes. That's the key to good drama after all -- diversity and an association someone can relate to.

LEGACY: Following on from my last point, something else DC failed to acknowledge whilst chartering the course of the New 52, was their concept of legacy. I mean, for crying out loud look at what they did to the Justice Society!!! Once upon a time they were a band of noble and proud heroes who tried to usher in the next generation of mystery-men. Now, though, they are a band of misplaced miscreants who fight among themselves more than they do anyone else. So come on DC, bring back the original Justice Society of America, wrinkles and all, and try to make them stand for what they once were.

TEN-FOUR, DC, BACK-UP REQUIRED: During the Golden age of Hollywood the studio system would hire what we would now call 'character actors' to support the main lead. Now in comic book terms this role has been filled by such characters as James Gordon, Lois Lane, Alfred Pennyworth, and Jimmy Olsen, to name but a few.

Thing is, this type of support has been fairly neglected in the New 52, merely standing around on the side-lines waiting for something to happen. Admittedly, to a certain degree James, Alfred, and Lois are the exceptions to the rule. But what about the rest, eh? What about the Flash's supporting cast? What about the array of colorful aliens in Green Lantern? Come on, where are they hiding, and when will DC bring them out to play?

THE LAND OF THE PRETTY PEOPLE: In the nineteen seventies Oliver Queen was a rugged no-nonsense liberal who said what he meant, and meant what he said. Recently, however, he has transformed into some sort of poster boy for the new Arrow television series. Now I must admit, Benjamin Percy has tried to make him into the man we all once knew, especially since the return of his goatee. But we also need much more than this. We need the brash character. We need the constant philandering. And most importantly of them all, we need characters that are more than style over substance, cashing in on a trend despite its popularity.

Being an old school Green Arrow fan I sometimes find it hard to come to terms with how Ollie has evolved over the years. In my eyes he will always be more like Errol Flynn than Stephen Amell. No offence to Stephen, of course, but Errol was the original archetype Ollie was based on, much like Bruce Wayne was with Howard Hughes, so to me, I'd like to preserve this level of legacy as much as possible, regardless of trends.

BRING BACK WALLY WEST: Yes. The title of this section says it all. Bring back the third Flash -- the original Wally West -- and don't give me that crap about his new version being a worthy successor. Back in the day Wally was one of the only sidekicks that took on the mantel of his mentor and made it stand for something more than what it was before. Whilst Dick jumped to Nightwing, Garth swam to Tempest, and Roy took a shot at Arsenal, Wally, in that silly way of his, proved to everyone that he was worthy of filling in for Barry while he was... coff-coff... missing in action.

CAN WE HAVE SOME FUN PLEASE: I can remember the days when comic books were fun. Whatever happened, eh? Whatever happened to those jovial adventures where Blue and Gold would Bwa-ha-ha with the best of them? I tell you what happened, dear reader, what happened is that DC got serious on us. So much so that creators like DeMatteis, Giffen, or Waid were relegated to fringe books that may or may not work in today's overtly melodramatic environment. In addition to this, the focus of each book had more to do with 'world building' or 'joining the dots' rather than telling a jolly tale full of mirth, gags, and joviality. When will DC realize that one part of the phrase 'comic book' has the word 'comic' in it?

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Anyway. That's my two cents worth. They can take it or leave it. Although, by looking at some of the titles they are going to publish post Rebirth, it seems like they are going to take some of what I say on board. Here is what the DC Universe will start to look like come June.