Showing posts 56 - 60 of 74 matching: reboot
Monday, October 17, 2011
What We Learned at NYCC 2011
David Uzumeri covered the "DC ALL ACCESS: Justice League" panel at New York Comic Con for Comics Alliance and turned in the following quote about Booster Gold:
[Dan] Jurgens and [Geoff] Johns confirmed that Booster Gold doesn't remember the pre-New 52 DC Universe.
However, Vaneta Rogers also covered the panel for Newsarama, and her article implies a starkly different conclusion:
Jurgens said Booster's experiences from Flashpoint seem to be relatively intact, but he said the fact that he has those memories in his head somewhere doesn't necessarily mean he can remember them consciously.
Johns said, "If Booster remembers anything, he's not going to tell anyone."
Johns: "Does Skeets remember?"
Jurgens: "No, Skeets does not."
Johns: "Does Rip Hunter remember?"
Jurgens: "That's a story still waiting to be told."
(Is it just me, or does Johns' response to Jurgens' announcement that Booster remembers sound like something a super villain would say to a hero who has just discovered his world-ending plot?)
Josie Campbell's article for Comic Book Resources verifies Rogers' report.
[DC Senior Vice President Bob] Wayne then asked Jurgens on behalf of the online fans about Booster Gold's continuity and whether Booster remembers the timeline from before Flashpoint. "Booster's experiences are still relatively intact," said Jurgens before continuing, "But it's one thing to have those memories, it's another thing entirely to recall those memories."
"Is Rip Hunter coming back?" Johns asked him.
"There are still stories to be told," said Jurgens, before dashing Johns hopes that Skeets would reappear anytime soon.
Funny that three reporters covering the same event would hear three different stories, isn't it? In any event, it seems likely that Booster does remember Flashpoint, even if his lips are currently sealed. This isn't the first time that history has been changed around Skeets (or Booster, for that matter). It is interesting to speculate how Rip Hunter, DC's resident Time Master since the Silver Age, is dealing with the changes to history. Certainly, that's a story I'm looking forward to reading.
Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: comicbookresources.com comicsalliance.com dan jurgens david uzumeri geoff johns josie campbell new york comic con newsarama.com reboot rip hunter skeets vaneta rogers
Thursday, September 29, 2011
New Releases: All Sold Out, Part 2
Yesterday, I mentioned that DC was selling out of all of their new releases. I think that bears a little more investigation, especially in the context of whether DC is getting what they want out of this reboot.
Yes, the comics are selling well. Phenomenally well. If each of the new 52 has sold out at a print run averaging 50,000 (a very conservative estimate: Justice League reportedly sold over 170,000 copies alone, but some of the later, more esoteric titles no doubt received substantially smaller orders). All but Justice League are $2.99 each, so we'll run with the $2.99 price point and figure that's $2.99 * (50,000 x 52) = $7,774,000 gross profit for the month on DCnU North American first prints alone. (DC takes in somewhat less -- probably considerably less -- than half of that number in net profit.) That seems pretty good. But is it?
In July, DC's gross sales came to about $6,742,665. The conservative estimate therefore represents a 15% increase in sales. More importantly, back when this reboot was announced in the month of April, DC grossed only $5,814,418, making this sales bump a comparative 33% increase in sales! If this can be sustained, the reboot was totally worth it to DC Comics.
Sustainability is now the big question, though, isn't it? How many of these issues being sold are to new readers and how many are being sold to old readers who have decided to pick up a few extra comics this month to see what changes are in store for their favored characters? Will these "new" readers stick around for the long haul? How well is the new "day and date" initiative going with digital sales? Or does this all represent merely a brief bump in sales as always accompanies a new slate of number one issues?
Time will tell; all we can do at this point is speculate. Real sales figures will come out sometime in the next three weeks, and no doubt everyone will be relatively happy with what they reveal. In the meantime we have to be content knowing that whether or not this reboot is the answer that DC is seeking to combat a shrinking market, at least it is successful in the short term.
Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: reboot sales
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Blue and Gold for Never
When Charlton Comics updated their Blue Beetle character for the Marvel Age in the mid sixties, they made sure to link the continuity of the character to his predecessor who had been published since 1939. When DC purchased the Charlton stable of characters in the 1980s, they maintained that history when introducing the characters to their new, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity. When DC created a new successor to the Blue Beetle in 2006, they again carefully maintained the link to the past, ensuring that the Blue Beetle would be among the premier of their so-called "legacy" characters, with a publication history of nearly 70 years.
Yesterday, DC published their latest incarnation of the Blue Beetle. Gone is any suggestion that there were previous Blue Beetles on Earth. Gone is the shared history with his predecessors and the world revealed through their adventures. Is this approach a foolish abandonment of the history that has earned the character nearly 70 years of publishing history, or is it a wise jettisoning of dead weight that is keeping the new Blue Beetle character from being accepted by a modern mass audience?
What makes this issue relevant to Boosterrific.com is the fact that the reboot seems to divorce the Blue Beetle from Booster Gold. Once upon a time, DC depended on the duo to sell comics. Even when the 2006 Beetle was relaunched, Booster Gold was the familiar tool used to introduce him to a skeptical audience. For 20 years, the characters of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have been as inseparable as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy or Bud Abbott and Lou Costello among their legion of fans. Now the two characters are more comparable to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, once arguably America's most popular comedy duo before circumstances drove them apart. While each would continue to be a star in his own right, the shadow of their shared past could never forgotten by their fans, new or old.
So is it in the best interest of DC Comics to recreate the character of Blue Beetle with no shared connection to Booster Gold? Time will tell. Perhaps in the future, DC will reunite the two characters for more shared hijinks. Or maybe future audiences will come to accept that one character be mentioned without the other. But right now, it sure seems like there's something missing.
Comments (6) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue beetle reboot
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Is He Talking to Us?
I present the following evidence from yesterday's Justice League International, Volume 3, #1, that Dan Jurgens lurks in the Boosterrific.com Forum.
Maybe I've read too many comic books lately, but it sure seems like they are starting to talk directly to me. Do I live in a basement? Check. Do I spend all day on the Internet? Check. Do I have a closed mind? Check and mate.
Point to you, Mr. Jurgens. But Booster's new costume still sucks.
Comments (6) | Add a Comment | Tags: costumes dan jurgens reboot
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
New Releases: Justice League International #1
Before Flashpoint, DC released a Justice League International #1 cover with a brunette in black and yellow tights in the bottom left of the image. During Flashpoint, DC released a Justice League International #1 cover with empty space where the heroine used to be. After Flashpoint, DC released a Justice League International #1 cover with a blonde in white tights in the bottom left of the image. At least I remember all of these changes.
Note that between revisions, Guy Gardner's boot has been correctly recolored. Yet Booster still isn't wearing a Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring. Curious.
Of course, DC used both the image with the brunette and the image without during their media blitz for the New 52. Is this latest art even the final cover image for the book? We'll find out as Justice League International #1 hits shelves today. Buy a copy and make Skeets happy.
Comments (5) | Add a Comment | Tags: covers justice league international reboot woman in black
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