DC Gets Rebooted in September
While there is still major Flashpoint (and Superman) related news coming on June 11th, today DC Comics confirmed one of the big rumors. Starting in September their books will all be restarted with brand new first issues. Justice League will kick things off and will be written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee. Many of the characters will receive new costumes (and origins), and DC is explaining this as a way for people to easily get into the books.
However, there may be another motive here. DC (through Warner Brothers) is still going through a legal nightmare with the heirs of Siegel and Shuster. Recently a judge awarded the heirs the rights to certain elements of Superman, specifically the ones from Action Comics #1 in 1938. In 2013, the heirs will own the rights to the classic costume, the Kryptonian origins, Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and Superman’s ability to jump buildings in a single bound. DC retains his ability to fly and the most famous villains such as Lex Luthor. This reboot could be DC’s way of shedding the elements that they will no longer hold the rights to.
On June 11th in Los Angeles, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee will reveal some major news and it’s expected to deal with Superman so expect a lot more then.
“This reboot could be DC’s way of shedding the elements that they will no longer hold the rights to.” No Krypton, no Lois Lane, no Clark Kent, no iconic costumne? Yeah, right. Jeremy, your guess is so far into the laughable range I’m having difficulty breathing.
As fgor the Siegel / Shuster estates, DC coild solve everything by simply giving the heirs their fair share of the the multimillions DC earns in licensing fees. The Superman property is one of the most recognizable and profitable trademarks on the planet. In the worst case, Warner can simply dig deep and buy the rights outright. A hundred million dollars should do.
DC offered to do exactly that! The lawyer who is representing the heirs REJECTED it because he wants the rights pulled away from DC/Warner. That’s part of the reason why Warner is suing him. They’re fine with including the heirs on everything and giving them money, and they had a good relationship with them before he hatched his scheme to steal Superman.
The lawyer found a loophole in the copyright law that he exploited and figured that by doing so he’d be able to gain the rights to Superman himself. The Hollywood Reporter has the full story on how evil his scheme was and why Warner is going after him now:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hollywood-heist-how-a-burglary-192768
So this is DC’s answer to Ultimates? I’m down with this. I would love to start reading a lot of DC stories and looks like this is the reason I was looking for to get back into collecting comics! Great news!!!
This is horrible. I hate when companies reboot issues to #1. I hated it when Marvel did it and I’ll hate it with DC. Action, Detective, Batman, Superman, all of these have been around for decades and their numbers are in a way their legacy and of course the mark that they’ve existed for almost a century. The Siegels and Shusters should definitely get their fair share, rightfully so, but do force DC/Warner into this position affects the fans the most. Like someone else said, Superman is the most iconic thing on this planet. Hell Cuba even has a statue of him in an anti-democracy/capitalism museum. To alter him is an injustice to the character, but also toe Jerry and Joe.
Settle out of court, give them royatlies, make NICE, but don’t muck with the characters in this way.
I look forward to this if it is done right. Don’t do it like marvels with the Ultimates. If you are going to do it go 100%. Don’t leave all the other comics going along with it.
You guys do realize that this means the end of the origins of all our favourite heroes, right?
Yep. I am glad. All of them can use some refreshing. To be honest they should just do away with superman all together. End the current heroes with Superman saving the world from everything and now he has nothing to do. So he leaves earth to a heroes farewell to never be seen or heard from again. The kryptonite shim is old and tired. Week enemies always have it, strong ones don’t. Blah… old. Don’t get me wrong, I love the character, just time for him to be done with.
@ Mark Paul;
Don’t worry, they’ve done this (rebooting) before. It’s the reson I gave up on DC years ago.
Ok this is more then a reboot this reinventing from scratch. New name new adventures new weaknesses obviously no Krypton means no kryptonite . Maybe a world where batman’s parents didn’t die but he just became a costumed hero by choice. So many possibilities. Not to mention they could do away with alot of the back stories that don’t mesh right. Or this could be an alternate earth one of the 52 other’s that exsist would explain everything as well. Either way I’m curious to see how it works