Do you think an Earth 1985 or an Earth 52 line would succeed financially?

[Lee Stone]

I think it would depend on the creatives.

I also think it would be best if the 1985 line focused on characters and teams that had their iconic versions at the time.

Matter of fact, I’d rather see a ‘DC Icons’ line that had stories for characters and teams set in their iconic era and settings.
A Wolfman/Perez Titans in the ‘80s, a Batman in his Miller ‘Year One’ setting, Wonder Woman in her Perez setting, the Legion could alternate between the ‘60s version and the ‘80s Levitz version, a Satellite JLA series, a classic JLI series...

The important thing would be the continuity would only matter within the book itself.
And a creator could pick and choose what era they wanted to add to.
It would be like 'real' book publishing. Gasp.

Kinda like if Sherlock Holmes was one of DC’s characters, writers would want to write stories set in the Victorian setting with the established characters.
And more readers would probably pick a classic setting Sherlock Holmes story over a ‘unique take’ on the character if they were wanting to read one of his books.

[Factor]

I think it would depend on the creatives.

I also think it would be best if the 1985 line focused on characters and teams that had their iconic versions at the time.

Matter of fact, I’d rather see a ‘DC Icons’ line that had stories for characters and teams set in their iconic era and settings.
A Wolfman/Perez Titans in the ‘80s, a Batman in his Miller ‘Year One’ setting, Wonder Woman in her Perez setting, the Legion could alternate between the ‘60s version and the ‘80s Levitz version, a Satellite JLA series, a classic JLI series...

The important thing would be the continuity would only matter within the book itself.
And a creator could pick and choose what era they wanted to add to.
It would be like 'real' book publishing. Gasp.

Kinda like if Sherlock Holmes was one of DC’s characters, writers would want to write stories set in the Victorian setting with the established characters.
And more readers would probably pick a classic setting Sherlock Holmes story over a ‘unique take’ on the character if they were wanting to read one of his books.

Yes! This is exactly what a "1985" line should be.
Just create new stories about DC's heroes in their most iconic states.
Whether they'd all fit in the same continuity or not should be secondary.
I also love the name DC Icons. It could very well be the name of an actual line.
I'd have: Batman & Robin (Bruce & Dick), Wonder Woman in her invisible jet, satellite era JLA (I'd add Vixen and Mera, thought), New Teen Titans, an 80s Legion where 5YL didn't happen, Babs as Batgirl with no Killing Joke in sight, Ostrander era Suicide Squad, JLI before Breakdowns etc.

And I think that instead of Earth-52 and Earth-One, DC should have one "Ultimate" line that's meant to portray new versions of their most popular characters in the early days of their careers. Basically merge the intent behind New 52 and Earth One under one banner and truly to commit to creating fresh takes on DC's pantheon, preferably with a lot more diverse voices involved.
It would be a digital first "Ultimate" DC line where new readers could get their intro to DC Comics without impacting the main line.

A third one I'd also like to see would be DC Legacy. About an Earth where heroes actually get to retire and be replaced by their legacies. So a mix of 5G with where Pre-FP could have gone if DC wasn't so conservative. This line would take place 10 years in an alternate future like the Beyond universe.

So 3 lines: one cellebrating the past, one creating a new present and one building a new future.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I grew up with DC Comics in the 1970s, but I don't think an Earth-1985 line would work because all you'd have is a bunch of writers who weren't there at the time trying to "recapture" the past. That really never works because it's not the original writers and artists, so it might end up feeling like a cheap parody of the old stuff.

Also, a lot of stuff pre-Crisis was good, but a lot was crap. Superman and Wonder Woman, in particular, were total drek for years before Crisis. I liked the Detroit Era JLA better than the Satellite-era issues that directly preceded it, but that's not saying much.

I think we can all agree that Superman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League all benefited from the Crisis. I'm of the opinion that all the best pre-Crisis continuity stories have already been told.

As far as Earth-52 is concerned, I think that a secondary line featuring an Ultimate-style take is not one I'd be interested in. Even Marvel's ran out of gas after awhile and had to run on fumes for years after that.

I want all the creativity and talent put in to making the primary line excellent. More fractured fanbases is exactly what DC does not need.

[DrNewGod]

1985? I don’t think so to be honest. Is there a strong demand for Pre Crisis DC these days? I’d have a hard time believing that. An Earth 52 though, yeah I do. Hell they should’ve done that in the first place instead of rebooting the whole line.

I can see Wally West fans enjoying a 1985-verse, but I'm not sure about anyone else.

...one I'd also like to see would be DC Legacy. About an Earth where heroes actually get to retire and be replaced by their legacies. So a mix of 5G with where Pre-FP could have gone if DC wasn't so conservative. This line would take place 10 years in an alternate future like the Beyond universe...

This sounds a lot like Byrne's Generations books, although his were very Super-Bat-centric.

[Dred]

I can see Wally West fans enjoying a 1985-verse, but I'm not sure about anyone else.

This sounds a lot like Byrne's Generations books, although his were very Super-Bat-centric.

Not sure why Wally fans would like another universe where Barry's still the head honcho. That's kind of the point of a 1985 verse -- it starts at the end of pre-crisis as if crisis didn't happen. At that point Wally was retired, could barely use his powers, and wasn't in comics.

[superduperman]

Yes! This is exactly what a "1985" line should be.
Just create new stories about DC's heroes in their most iconic states.
Whether they'd all fit in the same continuity or not should be secondary.
I also love the name DC Icons. It could very well be the name of an actual line.
I'd have: Batman & Robin (Bruce & Dick), Wonder Woman in her invisible jet, satellite era JLA (I'd add Vixen and Mera, thought), New Teen Titans, an 80s Legion where 5YL didn't happen, Babs as Batgirl with no Killing Joke in sight, Ostrander era Suicide Squad, JLI before Breakdowns etc.

And I think that instead of Earth-52 and Earth-One, DC should have one "Ultimate" line that's meant to portray new versions of their most popular characters in the early days of their careers. Basically merge the intent behind New 52 and Earth One under one banner and truly to commit to creating fresh takes on DC's pantheon, preferably with a lot more diverse voices involved.
It would be a digital first "Ultimate" DC line where new readers could get their intro to DC Comics without impacting the main line.

A third one I'd also like to see would be DC Legacy. About an Earth where heroes actually get to retire and be replaced by their legacies. So a mix of 5G with where Pre-FP could have gone if DC wasn't so conservative. This line would take place 10 years in an alternate future like the Beyond universe.

So 3 lines: one cellebrating the past, one creating a new present and one building a new future.

They actually have some of these, they just don't use them. Earth 38, for example, is a legacy Earth. And Earth 21, I think it is, is basically a SA Earth. I like this idea of an "Icons" line. Where you can have stories take place at any point in a character's history using any version of them you like. It wouldn't necessarily have to be Earth 1985 but it could have things like Superboy and the Legion, or satellite era JL. Or even a Wally Flash. I do think that DC could benefit by tapping into it's past a little more. Even if it's not an entire line. Do stand alone stories featuring "classic" versions of characters.

[SiegePerilous02]

I think we can all agree that Superman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League all benefited from the Crisis. I'm of the opinion that all the best pre-Crisis continuity stories have already been told.

We really can't. Superman definitely didn't benefit from Crisis in the long run. Pre-Crisis he at least got some quality stories from Moore and Gerber that are considered classics even if everything else was average or poor. But they utilized the continuity present at the time effectively. Byrne's comics have aged extremely poorly and established very bad trends for the character, and chucked out his mythos from which he's never fully recovered. While it doesn't necessarily have to be Earth-1985, more continuity light stories that freely draw from stuff before 1986 would be wonderful for Superman.

Wonder Woman is 50/50. Her Silver and Bronze age stuff was weak for the most part and Perez's run was the best since Marston at the time. it coming about due to Crisis however is bad, as it's the same problem Superman had with the continuity re-set. Perez coming on to overhaul the title without a re-set would have been interesting to see. We wouldn't have gotten Old Man Steve and the dominoes that resulted in Donna Troy becoming a nightmare wouldn't have fallen over.

[joebleau]

earth-1985: The ship has sailed on the pre-crisis era. I really doubt they could sell it.


Earth-52: Look at all the book left at the moment and tell me DC could live with only this few titles. No scrap the 52 era and dont look back.

[bat39]

I think it would depend on the creatives.

I also think it would be best if the 1985 line focused on characters and teams that had their iconic versions at the time.

Matter of fact, I’d rather see a ‘DC Icons’ line that had stories for characters and teams set in their iconic era and settings.
A Wolfman/Perez Titans in the ‘80s, a Batman in his Miller ‘Year One’ setting, Wonder Woman in her Perez setting, the Legion could alternate between the ‘60s version and the ‘80s Levitz version, a Satellite JLA series, a classic JLI series...

The important thing would be the continuity would only matter within the book itself.
And a creator could pick and choose what era they wanted to add to.
It would be like 'real' book publishing. Gasp.

Kinda like if Sherlock Holmes was one of DC’s characters, writers would want to write stories set in the Victorian setting with the established characters.
And more readers would probably pick a classic setting Sherlock Holmes story over a ‘unique take’ on the character if they were wanting to read one of his books.

Your 'Icons' idea is an interesting one!

Here's how I'd do it:

Batman and Robin: Bruce and Dick during their heyday as the 'classic' Dynamic Duo. Tonally I'd keep it somewhere in the neighbourhood of BTAS.

Superman: I'd actually go with something akin to the Golden Age Superman here - a blend of the original Siegal/Shuster stuff, the Max Fleischer cartoons, George Reeves' TV show, hell even the recent Superman versus the Klan mini. Just one and done stories of a classic Superman in a retro 1940's/50's setting doing his thing.

Wonder Woman: I'd actually set this one firmly in WW2. Make it a blend of the original Marston stories and the movie.

Flash: I'd want this to be Wally West, specifically modelled after the DCAU Wally West.

Green Lantern: I'd prefer this to be a John Stewart book, again very heavily inspired by the DCAU take.

Aquaman: This would very much be the the 'King of the Seas' bearded take from the 90's, with a fair bit of inspiration from the movie version.

Green Arrow and Black Canary: Very much the 70's liberal crusader version, combined with the very similar DCAU versions.

Justice League: This would be heavily based on the Satellite era, plus the JLU cartoon. The League is built up around the Big Seven, but there are about a million other heroes, and every story focuses on a new set.

Teen Titans: The New Teen Titans era of course, with a fair bit of input from the cartoon.

[Buried Alien]

If I were a billionaire, DC can print up as many Earth-1985 comics as it likes and I'd buy every copy personally.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lee Stone]

We really can't. Superman definitely didn't benefit from Crisis in the long run. Pre-Crisis he at least got some quality stories from Moore and Gerber that are considered classics even if everything else was average or poor. But they utilized the continuity present at the time effectively. Byrne's comics have aged extremely poorly and established very bad trends for the character, and chucked out his mythos from which he's never fully recovered. While it doesn't necessarily have to be Earth-1985, more continuity light stories that freely draw from stuff before 1986 would be wonderful for Superman.

Wonder Woman is 50/50. Her Silver and Bronze age stuff was weak for the most part and Perez's run was the best since Marston at the time. it coming about due to Crisis however is bad, as it's the same problem Superman had with the continuity re-set. Perez coming on to overhaul the title without a re-set would have been interesting to see. We wouldn't have gotten Old Man Steve and the dominoes that resulted in Donna Troy becoming a nightmare wouldn't have fallen over.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Perez could've salvaged her and created something similar without the reboot.
I remember really liking Wonder Woman from #269 up to #293.
I think she disappeared off the comics racks in my town after #300.
I don't remember seeing her comics again until the Invasion crossover.
Or it could've just been selling out before I got there.

[Coco Loco]

The problem with concepts like those is that their appeal lies in a prior era being preserved in amber. But once you start telling new stories with those characters and progressing their universe, they’re no longer preserved. They stop being the thing that made them appealing.

A one-off story where the current DCU crosses over with Earth-1985 could be a lot of fun. But it doesn’t work as an ongoing conceit.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I think the Earth 52 ideas could be folded into Earth One or 5g. It kills two birds with one stone to me.