Young and Just Us: Thoughts on Fan Generational Issues in the DCU

[ladymordecai]

There is a thing that I do not understand.

In this Newsarama article, an interview with Dan Didio, I am excited by very many things: the idea of multiple Wonder Woman titles, the integration with Milestone (though I am anxious about that, as well as excited about the re-emergence of the characters), and the return to a nonlinear continuity.

Comments

[bradygirl_12]

True, the way DC kills off characters just cheapens death in so many ways. *sighs*

As for the Barry and Hal issue, well, as much as Wally and Bart are 'your' Flash and Green Lantern, Barry and Hal are 'mine'. I think this generation of readers is getting a taste of what loyal readers suffered in the '80s when beloved characters were killed off. There are still a lot of people who prefer the original Kara Zor-El over the current one, myself included.

I hear what you're saying about moving forward, but let's face it. The characters were grew up with will always be special to us. And maybe DC is trying to cater more to older fans. Are the upcoming generations buying comics as much as older generations did?

Comics are always in flux. If one character is gone for twenty years, they will be back (see Hal and Barry). Maybe fans of Kon and Bart will get lucky and they won't have to wait twenty years to see them back.

But I really have no idea what TPTB at DC and Marvel are up to! They're too busy destroying the universes with Final Crisis and Civil War, aren't they? ;)

[ladymordecai]

See, I think a great deal of the fact that older generations are buying more comics than the younger ones (wow, I'm in a younger generation...) is that comics are marketed all wrong, but that's a rant for another day, when I feel like bringing up MINX and cross-media issues. I do agree with you that it's likely older readers buy more comics.

Also, I'm less annoyed about them bringing characters back to life (I know I ragged on Barry and Hal pretty hard, here, but they're just good examples of a trend) and more annoyed about the fact that they kill younger characters to do it! I'm sad about Kara dying in COIE, but I definitely didn't want to have to give up Linda for new!Kara. I like Peter David's original plan--to have the title include PG, Linda!Supergirl and pre-COIE!Supergirl. That way, everybody wins. But nooo, we can't have nice things.

TPTB at Marvel and DC are both crazy. Can we have, like, two or three years where they don't CHANGE THE FACE OF REALITY AS WE KNOW IT in their universes? Maybe? Give us a chance to settle in and figure out what the heck is going on?

Anyway. Thanks for reading and replying, I always like it when people make me think.