See, the thing is, when DC does a revamp, things change. Big time. Much of DCs comic-continuity is based on one fictional reality, collectively known as the "DC Universe," or just the DCU. When DC started with Action Comics #1 (coincidentally, the comic that introduced Superman, albeit a very different one than we know and love today (he was closer to Mr. Incredible)) in the 1940's, most of the stories had nothing to do with each other, and in the rare scenarios that one comic DID affect a different comic, it was usually because they starred the same character.
Somewhere, somehow, somebody changed that when, after a few superheros had their own successful continuing comic series, they decided to crossover. I don't know who and I don't know how (I'm guessing the first one was a Batman-Superman cross?), but it happened. Fine. I (grudgingly) admit it was often kinda cool.
This eventually evolved into something a LOT of people have copied (myself included, guilty as charged); a fictional universe with interacting characters from different comics and/or stories.
This often makes reading one series very confusing, because sometimes a character will be in his/her own series, and in another series at the "same time", both in the real world and in the comic continuity. It's a major confusing pain when the end of your monthly comic puts our hero in NYC battling a super-duper bad guy and find him in Sally-Sue's bedroom in the beginning of the next month's comic... with little or no explanation (the explanation tends to be that another hero came by and took our hero's place cuz... well, just because).
Take for example Spider-Man. Recent* happenings put our friendly neighboorhood Spider-Man in important positions in 1) his own series, 2) an amazing (but depressingly short-lived) miniseries known as Civil War, 3) The Avengers (later the New Avengers), and a few other series (X-Men, Iron Man, and others). It was all so very... confusing. It seemed like the writers back at Marvel had added "Random teleportation/Time-warp" to every character's power list. Sad.
This confusing-ness, however, is kinda also what makes Marvel great. They can't explain everything with a single series, so they go ahead and attack the story arc from almost EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER'S point of view, then add a short-lived limited series on top of that to make everything clear. Sometimes it gets retorical and mind-bending and confusing as hell, but it really allows every single aspect of the characters and story arc to be viewed in minute detail, which I can appreciate. It really makes for some INSANE depth**.
So what about the revamp? Well, first off, this is not the first time DC has done a revamp. The first time was introduced by a little story arc known as Infinite Crisis. It basically killed all the the key players in the DCU and replaced them with similar -though not identical- copies. The best example I can think of is Flash, who pre-Crisis, was Jay Garrick. He was revamped entirely, making the post-Crisis Flash Barry Allen. Major differences? Jay Garrick ran really-really fast***. Barry Allen broke the sound barrier regularly. Jay Garrick got his powers from inhaling "water vapors"**** as a college student. Barry Allen got shocked the buh-jebus outta him and suddenly gained the power to access the universal "Speed Force"*****. Biggest difference? How's this:
Jay Garrick:
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| Really? That's his costume??? |
Barry Allen:
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| I consider this guy the REAL Flash for the costume alone |
Well, that was in the 50's (I think). This change, of all of the ret-cons and BS that came of Crisis, was for the betterment of a lot of very bad things. However, other changes were made. Big things. A new Flash doesn't even register on the scale of the other upheavals that have been done in the past.
From what I've heard, this time DC plans on making the DCU "younger" and "more relatable" to a new audience. The way things stand, Superman FINALLY married Lois Lane, Bruce Wayne is in retirement running Batman Inc., Dick Grayson (the original Robin) is the new Batman, Damian Wayne is the current Robin, Tim Drake is the current Red Robin, and Barbara Gordon is The Oracle. This revamp threatens to put the entire DCU back 25 years -making Dick Grayson the only Robin again, not to mention dissolving the marriage between Superman and Lois Lane! Horrible!!! DO NOT WANT!!!
This has been Ben Overon, and I approve this message.
*I say this because 2002 is SO recent...
**Like, INSANE DEPTH. Deeper than a bottomless abyss. Deeper than the cup of coffee you're craving right now. Deeper even, than one of Forrest Gump's mother's sayings.
***Faster than a car! *Mock excitement*
****I swear to God I am not making this up.
*****I swear to God I am SO not making this up either. Why is it that Flash-origins make him sound like he uses drugs?!
