Why DCnU is going to fail.

I was saving this for Geek Entertainment, but it seems that production on that is going to be on hold for a while due to my professional life. I promise once things calm down Thomas Deja and I will return to BTP Presents feed.

Why DCnU is going to fail.

Interesting title isn’t it? I am not saying this because I don’t like it, truth is that I haven’t read any of these titles, I am basing this on DC’s history with this types of reboots. The first Crisis was to reboot the universe to “clean up continuity”. That is a ongoing theme that DC has with its characters. They change things again 25 years later a universe scale, but those that have read DC titles for an extended period know that changes started a couple of years after the first Crisis.

DC tend to go to the extreme with their reboots with the idea that their characters are “un-relatable” with the current readers. They look at their most stable product, Batman, as how they can attract readers to their line with “Batman” like themes throughout their titles. Don’t get me wrong here, is some ways their thinking isn’t faulty because Batman is very stable in the sales chart; however, making everything the same makes other titles not to work. Superman should never be dark because he should be everything Batman isn’t in the sense of how the book should feel to the readers. Batman is dark and gritty. Superman should be hopeful and inspiring. The DCnU has is too dark from what I am seeing in reviews. Personally, I feel this is major mistake on DC’s part because people need hope, children need hope, and in this day and age we have too much darkness as it is.

Then there is the way the female characters are being treated, the exception being Batgirl.  Power Girl and Starfire are being used for nothing more than “fan service”. The most shocking thing to me so is Supergirl due to her costume. Think about this for a minute. People complained about “ultra” mini skirt and mid riff shirt. Saying that it gives people “up the skirt shots” of a teenager. What does DC do? Remove the skirt…completely so you can do those butt shots correctly using a “teenage” female. What gets me is that everyone is okay with this to the point that they are posting on message boards on how much they love the new costume. Did I miss something? Then is how the new Power Girl a.k.a Karren Starr is now Mr. Terrific’s new friend with benefits. Seriously? Starfire believes that bed hopping is an okay thing to do with her friends and shoving her breast in their faces. I am not a prude by measure, but this is just insulting to these character’s long history and their fans.

There are new costumes which range from cool to what the hell were they thinking with that costume.  Superman’s costume is, lack of better way to put this, boring. I look at that and see to many things that are laughable than inventive or creative. It is just plain boring. They same could be said about the Mr. Terrific’s costume and the Scarlet Spider inspired Wonder Girl. Wonder Woman’s new costume ,while is far better than the J.M.S’, lacks color and style. While the new Red Robin custom is creative is far too busy with those feathers. The vast majority of costumes are just a small variant of the older costumes, just with collars. They should just call these new line DC, NOW WITH COLLARS!!

Every time DC did this with their comics it always changes back in a couple of years. DC’s major problem is that they forgot who they are for the most part. They are not Marvel, which base their world on the “real” world. DC is more fantasy than reality.  Sure, Batman tends to be ground more in reality, but that shouldn’t be the case for the whole line. The reason I started to pick DC was because they were NOT like Marvel. Yet, both companies are being way too dark right now. People want to be entertained with variety of degrees of dark and light. I love Power Girl because it wasn’t dark. I love Batman because he is dark. Teen Titian should be both light and dark. Female character should not be used as fan service.

I really hope this is temporary thing that DC is doing because I think in the long-term that this is going to hurt them more than help. They were losing reading because they were ignoring fans’ request like Wally West and other characters. They have fallen into the Marvel’s trap of drawing a line in sand about the marriage of their flagship character. Once again, DC isn’t listening to their current readers and forgot what makes them attractive to new readers. Just plain good story telling and not “Brand New” take on characters.

P.S. DC just because you like a minor characteristic, like Starfire openness with having a sexual relationship with someone, doesn’t mean you take it to the Tenth degree and making her into a teenager’s wet dream.

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