DC Comics At Comic Con!

This weekend I took time out and listened to most of the recordings of the Q&A panels for DC Comics at Comic Con, giving priority to those that dealt with the continuity reboot the company is enacting in September.

I’ve had my share of both reservations and excited hopes for the reboot, and still do. But DC shared some interesting information that corrected misinformation and gave us new things to ponder. Here are the moments that stuck out to me.

COSTUMES

Jim Lee said that many classic superhero costumes call back to the 30's and circus strongmen, a look that readers then would understand and see the logical connection for. DC now wants looks that evolve like Batman’s has over he years, toward more functional and “real-world”. This is the philosophy that motivated all of their biggest costume changes, including the most talked about involving the removal of Superman’s “red underwear”.

BATGIRL

The Batgirl book launching in September features Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, back in the costume and no longer paralyzed. Barbara Gordon was paralyzed by the Joker in the compelling DC classic by Alan Moore, “The Killing Joke”. Putting Barbara back in the costume and removing her paralysis seemed to imply that “The Killing Joke” never happened in the new continuity, which I thought was a real bad move. But DC said clearly that "The Killing Joke" DID happen in the new continuity, and Barbara’s recovery from paralysis will be covered in the story.

I still happen to think that Barbara Gordon has much more to add to the DCU as Oracle, the hi-tech information jockey of the DCU. And I have HUGE issues with her Batgirl costume. Batman is all about being a scary urban legend. A creature of the night. Batgirl’s look, with her bright yellows, ruby red lipstick, flowing red hair flowing out of her cowl, and most of all, the big “fun-loving” grin on her face on the cover, communicates the exact opposite of the character her persona is supposedly taking inspiration from. But Gail Simone is writing this book, and I’ve never read anything of hers that wasn’t fantastic. So hopefully I’ll be hearing enough good buzz about this book to make it worth a try.

CONTINUITY

Despite lowering the age of DC's main characters and making virtually all of them single again, some other major events of the old DCU remain surprisingly intact. Superman was still “killed” by Doomsday. And the events of "Green Lantern: Rebirth" are still in continuity. These announcements were interesting, given that both of these events involve a multitude of other characters and situations that are not part of the new continuity. Hopefully we’ll get some kind of special mini-series that will help us old fans blend the old continuity with the new, because otherwise we’ll be left guessing about the details of these major events.

SUPERMAN

Some of the most controversial changes surround Superman, who has a modified (no underwear) costume and is now confirmed to be single. Grant Morrison(who is introducing the new Superman in the re-launched Action Comics) continued to emphasize that there are specific reasons for Superman's costumes (in Action Comics AND Superman) to look the way they do. I plan to hold them to it!

Morrison hinted that Superman wears the cape because it is the baby blanket he had with him in the rocket from Krypton and it always protected him from damage as a child. He compared it to the blanket “Linus” carries around in the “Peanuts” strips and cartoons. Personally, I think this makes Superman sound insecure and immature, but I’m willing to see how it actually plays out in the comic.

I’m also very interested in the specific reasons for Superman to be wearing a “utility belt” (which takes the place of his red underwear) and a suit with seams that look a little too much like “armor”. The powers of Superman have classically been his own, so to indicate any dependence on gadgets or his costume seems a bad move. But we’ll see. On a bright note, Morrison said he wants Action Comics to feel very different from All-Star Superman. Yay! Maybe this story will be stripped of enough of his “post-modern” sensibilities to actually make sense!

GOLDEN AGE HEROES

One big bummer was the news that Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and all the Golden Age heroes will be “given a rest” for awhile in the new DC. This is a huge shame, because they represent a rich history that makes DC different from every other comic book company. Hopefully they won’t be gone long.

WALLY WEST

In related news, Wally West will be “given a rest” as well. With Barry Allen made younger and single, it didn’t make sense for his nephew Wally (who has always been younger than Barry) to have a wife and kids. Although I loved Wally’s time as The Flash, I thought the family elements they brought into his story were hugely mishandled, so I’m willing to wipe them from the record. And as great as Wally is, I’m content with Barry as long as the stories continue to be strong.

LEGAL BATTLES

One Elephant in the room that I was glad to hear brought up was the legal battles DC is having over the rights to various elements of the Superman mythos. It was rumored that this legal battle was the real reason for the reboot of the DC universe. But DC Editorial stated that all the story points, costume changes and decision to reboot the continuity were devised completely independent of the legal battles over the Superman related properties. This was good news to me, since I think creativity and re-invigoration are better motivations for good stories than legal battles are.

DIVERSITY

On a different note, I found it very interesting how often people were asking about having more gay characters, Latino characters, African American characters, and disabled characters. “Diversity” was an issue that came up roughly every five questions! One fan asked the panel how they could justify saying they are being gender diverse when only 1/4th of the superhero characters are female.

Now, I think diversity in fiction can be great and I also think DC actually leads the charge in this area. But here’s my question. Is it the duty of comic creators to have their line-up of superheroes reflect the various demographics of the US or the world on a one-to-one ratio? Will locking themselves into that kind of agenda result in the best stories that will appeal to the widest variety of readers? I’m an Evangelical Christian. (Evangelical meaning “pertaining to or with emphasis on the Bible or the Gospel” and not politics or whatever other crap comes to mind.) Over 1/4th of the population of the U.S. identifies themselves as Evangelical Christians, but I don’t see a single Evangelical Christian character in comics, and even having one or two pop up in DC wouldn’t come close to 25%. I’m not saying that’s what I want, either. (I doubt anyone at DC could both write awesome stories AND portray an Evangelical Christian positively.) If I feel like entertainment that will portray Christianity positively, I’ll look for material that’s marketed to Christians. I don’t look to comics to validate my sexuality, my ethnicity or my beliefs, and I don’t understand why self-validation in the comics they read seems so important to these readers. The artistic realm is a thin foundation for supporting personal identity. I think those foundations should be built outside the fiction we enjoy and comics should just be about exciting, escapist entertainment.