EDITORIAL: DC- The New 52, 1 year later.

I'll admit that this post comes later than I had originally intended. I will admit as well that there is 0 reason for this lapse on my part. No seriously, the reason for the lateness is the ass-hattery that was the Zero Month, an entire month where DC decided to give the finger to conventional numbering systems, and throw some rather pointless stories at us that I frankly couldn't care less about. But other than this stupidity, has their little experiment been a boon, or a failed marketing gimmick? My answer and more after the jump.

Beware, I swear a lot. If strong language offends you read no further.

You may remember my initial thoughts on DC's "Fuck You" to the fans. Barring that, you might remember Josh's more hopeful version. Either way, after spending the year with this new universe DC decided to cram down our throats, I can finally and definitively say... This is utter shit. The concepts of good story-telling were thrown out the door for fucking Bat Cow, and what I have been left with is not the sense of joy that originally came from reading a great story. No, rather I now feel like a dutiful husband that has seen my marriage is broken, but I continue to try and make it work, despite the horrible emotional pain it causes. There is only so much abuse one can take, before one must look at beloved characters and say, "I liked you once, but you've changed, and you are no longer the character I came to enjoy all those years ago."

What started out as 52 initial titles, I am down to reading 8. When you add on the additional 10 titles that came with waves two and three, I am up to 10. So, less than one sixth of all the titles are still things that I look at on a regular basis... With about half of those teetering on the edge of being dropped.

One should realize that there is a massive problem, when the Batman family of books has a commanding 13 titles in the current roster of 52 titles. That is exactly one fourth of the entire DC universe. Now, one might say to themselves "Well, he is the only main DC character that has managed to have a movie that isn't cited as the cause for numerous suicides in the last twenty years", but that is no reason to take up half your titles with his group of characters. And it gets worse, if you add on his involvement in the Justice League, as well as the somewhat loose connection he has to World's Finest (Huntress is the daughter of the Earth 2 Batman). With those you can bump that count up to over 15 titles. This would be akin to the ancient Greeks deciding rather than writing their pantheon of gods, they were going to instead write about Dave, and his adventures, with the gods only being a slight footnote in Dave's story.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Batman. Ever since I saw the Tim Burton interpretation back in 89, I have loved the character. Some small bit of nostalgia perhaps, but this was a character that filled my 8 year-old heart with wonder, long before Spider-Man was even a blip on my radar. But Batman has quickly become the Wolverine of DC.

However, you have not read this far to read me bitching about the many Batman titles. I'm sure you are looking for specific points of disinterest in this new clusterfuck of a universe. Shall we begin?

1) Muddy continuity made only more muddy with each additional issue. So, they've said that the various Crisis events never happened. OK, I can dig that. But, if the Crisis events never happened, then why is the Green Lantern set of books still on the exact same path as it was when the universe was rebooted? Without missing a beat, last year's Green Lantern #1 was a direct continuation of the previous Green Lantern story line. This means that Blackest Night happened, which means that Final Crisis happened. But the Crises never happened, which negates Blackest Night, which negates the current Green Lantern story line... fucking confusing story-telling.

2) Inconsistent characters. Best epitomized by the numerous iterations of Batman.

3) Where the FUCK is Stephanie Brown? You consider that Green Lantern has gone on unadulterated from the time before the reboot. And the Existence of Batman: Incorporated indicates that the recent events of the Batman story took place, what happened to the Pre-reboot Batgirl? Instead of giving her a send-off after bearing the weight of the cowl for so long, or allowing her to go back to being Spoiler, and shunting her off to Teen Titans or some such, the universe as a whole acts as if she never existed.

4) Bat Cow... See Batman Incorporated #1, and see why this particular bit of stupidity deserves enough hatred to be on my short list of reasons to hate the new DC.... actually, that is cruel of me to expect you to read that awful story... instead here is a panel so awful it ruined an entire series for me....

Copyright: Batshit insanity

Honestly, after seeing that, if you need any more reason to hate the new DC Universe, then you've already drank the Kool-aid, and there is nothing that will ever sway you.

In the end, I honestly do not know what DC could do to fix this for me... the sting of the insult that this entire reboot represents is still there. Maybe one day, they will restore my faith, but until such a time comes, all I can say is "Fuck You, DC."