"Ultimizing" the DCU
I read a really interesting blog today with a post called "Ultimizing" the DCU where the author said this:
I think DC will, for "Final Crisis," do some variation on "ultimizing"/rebooting/de-aging their characters. For the core characters, you will still have Bruce Wayne as Batman, Clark Kent as Superman, etc. But they will start at square one. "Streamlined." No characters appearing older than 25-30. No marriages, no steady girlfriends. So Superman is a free agent, romance-wise. You could even see the comics restarted at #1. For the more secondary characters, you choose the version that has been most popular. GL = Hal Jordan, Flash = Wally West, etc.
I can't tell you how much I like this idea.
First of all, I can only come a this from the perspective of someone who grew up on Marvel and finds the fact that the best DC characters -- Superman and Batman -- are too often portrayed...as middle-aged, poorly drawn, over-bulked sticks-in-the-mud. I think it's great that S&B have been around forever...but do they have to look like they have? I mean, who is your target audience? It's nice that DC wants to keep the few thousands of guys (and maybe gals) who grew up reading Superman in the golden and silver ages appeased...but...come on. Common sense would have to tell you that young people? They don't get into characters that remind them of their parent's generation. And old fans? Well, they are...not the future.
If S&B are going to remain DC's franchise players for a new generation, they have to appeal to a new generation. They can't be the generation's parents.
This leads me to a discussion for another day: If they are going to "Ultimize" the DCU, I hope they get rid of Dick Grayson. Not that I have anything against the original Robin, but his whole attachment to Batman is stupid AND HE'S TOO OLD. He ages Bruce Wayne by virtue of his very existence, and wrecks the continuity of Bruce's own history and development as a hero.
What I'd really like to see is a Dick Grayson/Nightwing with a history independent of Batman. WHERE HE WAS NEVER ROBIN. And then leave Tim as Robin -- a protege that Batman picked up in his mid-thirties and who is still a kid.
Though, the way they are offing kids in the DCU, I don't think that Tim is long for this Earth...
I think DC will, for "Final Crisis," do some variation on "ultimizing"/rebooting/de-aging their characters. For the core characters, you will still have Bruce Wayne as Batman, Clark Kent as Superman, etc. But they will start at square one. "Streamlined." No characters appearing older than 25-30. No marriages, no steady girlfriends. So Superman is a free agent, romance-wise. You could even see the comics restarted at #1. For the more secondary characters, you choose the version that has been most popular. GL = Hal Jordan, Flash = Wally West, etc.
I can't tell you how much I like this idea.
First of all, I can only come a this from the perspective of someone who grew up on Marvel and finds the fact that the best DC characters -- Superman and Batman -- are too often portrayed...as middle-aged, poorly drawn, over-bulked sticks-in-the-mud. I think it's great that S&B have been around forever...but do they have to look like they have? I mean, who is your target audience? It's nice that DC wants to keep the few thousands of guys (and maybe gals) who grew up reading Superman in the golden and silver ages appeased...but...come on. Common sense would have to tell you that young people? They don't get into characters that remind them of their parent's generation. And old fans? Well, they are...not the future.
If S&B are going to remain DC's franchise players for a new generation, they have to appeal to a new generation. They can't be the generation's parents.
This leads me to a discussion for another day: If they are going to "Ultimize" the DCU, I hope they get rid of Dick Grayson. Not that I have anything against the original Robin, but his whole attachment to Batman is stupid AND HE'S TOO OLD. He ages Bruce Wayne by virtue of his very existence, and wrecks the continuity of Bruce's own history and development as a hero.
What I'd really like to see is a Dick Grayson/Nightwing with a history independent of Batman. WHERE HE WAS NEVER ROBIN. And then leave Tim as Robin -- a protege that Batman picked up in his mid-thirties and who is still a kid.
Though, the way they are offing kids in the DCU, I don't think that Tim is long for this Earth...