Heroes Reborn In The DCU

Every few years a Hero dies and is reborn, it’s the nature of comics. Rarely though do entire universes get reset, few are brave enough to try it. Marvel attempted it once and is still trying to live it down. Now DC is attempting the same thing but on a much larger scale. Will they succeed where the competition failed?


One of the first comments readers had regarding the new relaunch of the DCU is the fact that this is Heroes Reborn all over again. Some “big” event was going to end with the relaunching of the major books with new creative teams, new history and a new direction for a new era. For Marvel this era was the booming 90’s where image was everything and style often took precedent over story, if it looked cool, had pouches and a foil variant it would sell. Guns and skimpy costumes for females were just topping on the cheesecake. Many are looking at these new costume designs and the books as Heroes Reborn 2.0, and honestly they are not without merit, Jim Lee was a big player in the Heroes Reborn launch. Lee and Rob Liefeld took control of the main Marvel franchises and created new worlds for Captain America, Iron Man, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Readers can’t help but look back at the Iron ManDeathstroke and see a slight resemblance, this is similar with other characters; shoulder pads, v-necks and raised lines are prominent features on many of the redesigned costumes.

The question that arises in readers minds is, will this be as successful? Will sales really go up or will we see the books end in a year and have a Heroes Return style reboot again, with a more classic approach to the characters? But what they are failing to take into account is a key factor why the Heroes Reborn books didn’t work out (aside from Captain America’s questionable sex change). The decision Marvel made to choose style over content. They let the artist have free rein and the writers played second fiddle for most of the books. DC has said numerous times in regards to a similar issue that this is being done for story reasons. Yes, they want updated characters that the young people will want cool action figures of, but they also want to reserve what the older fans love about the characters and the stories they told. The editors have been working with numerous writers to give each book a voice that can be heard, as well as a style that they can showcase.

The signs of this have already started to show, look at Batman: The Dark Knight by David Finch. If DC ever published a book closer to the Heroes Reborn style, I can’t remember it. This book is being marketed on the artist alone, he has been given total freedom over the book, writer, artist, designs, etc and we see a very similar reaction to the Heroes Reborn scenario. Fans were less than thrilled with the book, saying the writing was sub par, soon the book got hit by delays, with a fill in artist coming on who matched the “style” to help the book ship. The Dark Knight will have shipped only five issues before restarting in September, but it will be a shinning example of how committed DC is to the new 52. They have brought in a highly capable writer, Paul Jenkins, to help Finch with the story and plot so he can focus on art. DC has even taken an extra precaution on art, Jay Fabok will stay on with art assists so deadlines can be met.

DC is also applying another Marvel type of principle to the new 52, implementing inner company lines to divide the books on content and theme. When Marvel launched their Marvel Knights imprint it was meant to be a darker line, one that rode the edge of what it meant to be a hero in the Marvel universe. Sound familiar? DC is doing the same thing just on a broader scale. Come September, we will have the entire DCU divided into their own lines, with some overlap. The Edge line, the Dark line, the Justice League line and the standard Batman, Superman and Green Lantern line. They want each to stand on its own but when needed, join up for something special. Those who have been following the source blog this week can already see the seeds being planted for Animal Man and Swamp Thing to cross over at one point within their first year. DC has said they have no plans for a large company crossover, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see some inner line crossovers happen, it’s worked for Batman and Green Lantern in the past.

DC is learning from the past as any good business should, they looked at how the competition has handled reboots and relaunches and looked at internal books as well, and have come up with what amounts to a checklist of things to avoid:
1) Don’t put style over substance
2) Don’t mess with what’s working
3) Take chances
4) Create unity in the books and
5) Make a commitment to the books shipping on time.
As every new solicit is released we see a clearer picture of how DC is dedicated to this list, they cannot afford to mess this up. When Heroes Reborn was launched it was only 4 books, for DC it is 52, that is 52 chances to fail, 52 books that could plummet in sales.

DC needs to learn from the mistakes that have been made if they are going to gain market share, and that is what this is all about, they are losing in the comics market, and the market is shrinking.

This is a radical chance they are taking, a gamble that has to pay off or they will have a hard time regaining ground. So far DC has been showing readers that they are dedicated to these books, they are listening to fans (some costumes are still being changed we have been told), and that they will not let their readers down.

In the wake of Flashpoint it’s going to be a new era for DC, new heroes are being born, many reborn, but the thing that will really shine out of this reboot is the content. Writers are being given the ability to take chances again, comics need to change if they want to survive and sometimes a fresh start is best. So as September approaches I say we put our faith in DC, let our heroes be reborn, let them be out knights in shinning armor to take us away from the mundane confines of reality, and lets just enjoy the books.

Adam Schiewe

Heroes Reborn In The DCU