Relaunch characters differently.

[bretmaverick2]

Here’s the example I’d use.

I’d like to see a Kamandi relaunch not necessarily wiping out Kirby’s original run but have a non comics but strong science fiction novelist take up the relaunched series. Market the daylights out of it through science fiction channels. Give it a solid 12!issue “season 1” approach.

Another idea would be taking characters like Bat Lash and do the same approach with a novelist known for westerns.


Other ideas??

[Adekis]

Heard the suggestion of doing Superman in a cyberpunk setting, as the original Golden Age series were frequently about highlighting injustice and inequality - and so is the cyberpunk genre.

Lane and Kent as young, passionate investigators and truth-seekers, Luthor as a corrupt and ruthless executive who lets the people rot, Superman as a daring vigilante standing against the machine, "Robin Hood with the strength of a hundred men" to paraphrase Kent in another issue - yeah, I think cyberpunk DC is an idea with legs. Just as long as they remember to keep the "punk" firmly in place.

[lemonpeace]

Black Lightning and Duke Thomas would be the ones I'd adjust. I'm not sure if we are rebooting these characters or only relaunching them but I'm gonna do a reboot idea then a strictly relaunch version.

Black Lightning - if given the chance to reboot I'd have Black Lightning be from and based in Freeland, Georgia from jump. I've said it a million times but that is one of the main things the show got absolutely right, basing Jefferson in his own city that has it's own history that he's free claim and influence as his own. having him working in "the bad part" of Metropolis doesn't do him any favors, and the don't think Cleveland or Brick City were ever all that solid. Freeland makes the most sense for the characters and the show did a stellar job creating a solid foundation. I did a whole breakdown of how I would structure Freeland and whole Lightning Family-sphere of characters in his appreciation thread, so I won't get too much into that here, but starting his story out and basing him in Freeland would be first and foremost. I would also make him and Batmam co-founders of The Outsiders and, after the first couple missions, transition the team to a Freeland based/DC universe team. at no point would the book ever be titled Batman & The Outsiders; whether he's in it or not. I would remove Batman from the Outsiders equation entirely but I kinda need him for my next reboot candidate....

Duke Thomas - if I'm rebooting Duke I'm making him a Black Lightning character and taking all of his stories and transitioning them over to Freeland as well. While his connection to Batman has helped him, I've come to like the idea of him with Jefferson more than I ever did with Batman. I would keep We are Robin and Robin War and all that but I'd have it all take place in Freeland. how I'd adjust it, Duke and some other kids are inspired by Robin and start a grass roots movement in his name in Freeland while Black Lightning is away with the original Outsiders team on some crazy mission; and I'd replace Alfred with Gambi as "The Nest". the city eventually cracks down on them and the OG Robins catch wind of it, which would lead into Robin War. once that calms down Batman and Black Lightning return they take Duke under their wing as part of the new Outsiders and thats where he becomes the Signal. I'd condense his nameless training era and Batman & The Signal by essentially recreating Hill's Outsiders run but replacing Sofia Ramos' story with Ra's with Duke's stuff with Gnomon.

if we're just relaunching I'd do largely the same thing just no retconing.

Black Lightning & The Outsiders - I'd relaunch a Black Lightning series and an Outsiders series led by Black Lightning. Jefferson moves to Freeland with his daughters, Duke comes along under the pretense that he's moving there for college and the rest of the Outsiders (Katana, Metamorpho, etc.) follow suit. the Black Lightning title would focus on deepening Jefferson's connections to the new location and establishing his mythology (unrealized family history, new characters and supporting cast, re-establishing his daughters and his new family of characters, etc.) while Outsiders will focus on fleshing out Freeland as an epicenter of metahuman activity and a hub for international meta trafficking.

The Many Lives of Hawkman - speaking of relaunchs, I'd also relaunch Hawkman. I loved a lot of Robert Venditti's Hawkman run, except the weird immortal Carter ending part; wasn't a fan of that bit tbh but it's whatever I guess. what I did love about that run is it opened up Hawkman's reincarnation cycle a lot more and made it so it encapsulates the entirety of human history and beyond. So if I were to relaunch Hawkman I'd just focus on a seasonal ongoing where each reason we watch the life and death of a new Hawkman from different points in human history across various cultural and ethnic group. one season he could be Kalu Haluchi, an anti-slaver cultist of the Hawk Men secret society in the 1700s; in another he could be Kai-Hung, a Chinese warrior of the sea who fought Japanese pirates during the Ming dynasty; and so on and so forth, bouncing from in Nth metal historical tale to the next.