I admit up front that what I'm about to share might be completely false, so take it with a grain of salt. It's some fun stuff my comic book retailer shared with me, stuff he heard from people he knows who know other people at DC. You know how that goes...
From his "sources:"
- Rich Johnston's comments that Absolute DC has a lot to do with the looming copyright expiration is true. This is DC's preparation for a long-term solution to the problem of no longer solely owning all versions of their characters.
- The "Absolute Earth" line (possibly referred to as "Earth-A" to avoid conflict with the countless numbered universes) will not line up with the plans that James Gunn has for DC on film, whereas "DC All In" will. Apparently, "All In" refers to synergy among various media.
- Absolute DC books will be limited to solo characters for a time and will radically reimagine some of them. That's not my choice of words, it's the word my comic guy said was used. Johnston used similarly strong wording in his story.
- Because the intent is to develop a new universe that would more easily exist in light of expired copyrights, expect changes in characters' ethnicity, sexual identity, and powers.
- Green Lantern and Flash will be among those most changed from the versions we know today. Think the SA approach to those same characters but perhaps as radically different as Tangent.
- First books released include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and the debut of new characters or old characters repurposed for the new universe.
- As Johnston said, Waid is involved but so too are John Ridley, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Gail Simone, Tom King, Tom Taylor, and Grant Morrison.
- Superman will likely receive a new ethnic background, with Coates adapting his Superman film ideas for the Earth-A version of the character.
- Wonder Woman's origin will be heavily tweaked, rooted in Native American mythology instead of Greek.
- Bruce Wayne will likely be of mixed heritage and will possibly also be gay or bisexual.
- The buildup to the Justice League will take a while, perhaps months or even a year's worth of stories.
- Grant Morrison is involved in some way with the Wonder Woman revamp, possibly writing and approaching the character the way he did Superman in the New 52.
My thoughts:
Personally, none of this interests me in the slightest. If true, though, it's not surprising. They will retain trademarks but not copyrights, meaning they'll have to get very creative to distinguish their versions of the DC heroes from those that will likely start appearing in less than a decade. I have no interest in what will less "Ultimate DC" and more of a radical reimagining, but I understand why DC would go that route.