DiDio Details More of DC's "Convergence" Event

[Blacksun]

One of the things that happened with DC and the New 52 is when we launched the New 52 and we had the 'Flashpoint' story that got us there -- the stories that took place in the regular books ended rather abruptly, and I think that's where some of the concern comes from for fans. You didn't get the sense of closure you had with 'Zero Hour' or 'Crisis.' It left people wanting.

I had plenty of closure with superman and batgirl, birds of prey. Not sure about other books. But what didio said is not the true for all the books.
who said fans won't want more after convergence?

lol didio

[Cmbmool]

Just when you think DC and Didio is trying to make up for the Pre-new 52 mess they end up making you more disappointed in their comments on this "event."

Honestly I don't know why I try to stick to DC comics anymore as it's WAY different and darker than their old comics. Even Post-Crisis didn't end up THAT dark.

[Sirzechs]

That the old universe ended so abruptly and that the new one was such an editorial mess (which they've gotten far more under control in the last year or two it seems) was an issue and showed how rushed and poorly planned all of this was, sure. But the main issue is that the characters that people spent years getting invested and the runs that they spent years reading to create a personal history in their minds were gone overnight and replaced with something they didn't immediately catch them as being as worthwhile (be it due to the house art style, the more extreme feel of the first year or so of the new 52, the more artist-driven initiatives instead of writer-driven ones, or just due to sheer stubbornness and pettiness or any other reason under the sun).

Its no different that what happen before with COIE, some things carried over, others didn't and characters like Donna Troy and Hawkman suffer because of it for years. There has always been and always will characters that people invest years into getting changed and erased thats just the way DC does things.

[Buried Alien]

This is setting up to be the biggest event in a year (2015) in which DC already has several big events planned.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[GlennSimpson]

Just when you think DC and Didio is trying to make up for the Pre-new 52 mess they end up making you more disappointed in their comments on this "event."

Honestly I don't know why I try to stick to DC comics anymore as it's WAY different and darker than their old comics. Even Post-Crisis didn't end up THAT dark.

I don't necessarily agree with your accessment, but if you're not enjoying them, I recommend you move on.

[Matt D]

I think saying "It's just the way DC does things" is a little disingenuous too. They've basically done it on a wide scale twice in 50 years. Yes, one character will change now and again, or maybe a few at a time. The scope is different for Crisis and for this. Crisis would have gotten a very similar reaction if the internet was around then, yes, and it did get something along that line with zines and what have you. That's understandable too.

With Crisis, the idea was to modernize for the shift to the direct market, to simplify, to make things less confusing for new readers and to take that New Teen Titans feel, something a little more "Marvel" in style and go line wide with it.

I'm not 100% what the relative gains were for the new 52. What sort of stories can they tell now that they couldn't tell before? I think there's been much more uniformity of art than writing (and for the worse, to be frank). They're finally starting to break away a little from that now with things like Batgirl and Gotham U. I get the mandate to make everything feel more like Marvel in 1985. I don't get why they would make everything feel more like, what, Wildstorm? in 2010.

[Blacksun]

Just when you think DC and Didio is trying to make up for the Pre-new 52 mess they end up making you more disappointed in their comments on this "event."

Honestly I don't know why I try to stick to DC comics anymore as it's WAY different and darker than their old comics. Even Post-Crisis didn't end up THAT dark.

welll DC is like everybody move on...oh wait look at this event that we want money from your nostalgia

[Sirzechs]

Honestly I don't know why I try to stick to DC comics anymore as it's WAY different and darker than their old comics. Even Post-Crisis didn't end up THAT dark.

This made me nearly spit drinks into my keyboard. Identity Crisis? Black Adam slaughtering 2 million people in World War 3? Ted Kord getting is brain blasted out? I swear there's alot of Jokes on this board.

[GlennSimpson]

I think saying "It's just the way DC does things" is a little disingenuous too. They've basically done it on a wide scale twice in 50 years. Yes, one character will change now and again, or maybe a few at a time. The scope is different for Crisis and for this. Crisis would have gotten a very similar reaction if the internet was around then, yes, and it did get something along that line with zines and what have you. That's understandable too.

With Crisis, the idea was to modernize for the shift to the direct market, to simplify, to make things less confusing for new readers and to take that New Teen Titans feel, something a little more "Marvel" in style and go line wide with it.

I'm not 100% what the relative gains were for the new 52. What sort of stories can they tell now that they couldn't tell before? I think there's been much more uniformity of art than writing (and for the worse, to be frank). They're finally starting to break away a little from that now with things like Batgirl and Gotham U. I get the mandate to make everything feel more like Marvel in 1985. I don't get why they would make everything feel more like, what, Wildstorm? in 2010.

The new52 goal was: 'to simplify, to make things less confusing for new readers' as well as create a better environment for their writers (from a continuity point of view).

This is assuming you just mean creatively, and choose to ignore the marketing/publicity benefits, and the overall increases in sales the whole thing produced.

[Kryptoniac]

This made me nearly spit drinks into my keyboard. Identity Crisis? Black Adam slaughtering 2 million people in World War 3? Ted Kord getting is brain blasted out? I swear there's alot of Jokes on this board.

Apparently the Flash dying in COIE wasn't dark for people or the subsequent reboots of the characters..Batman especially

[JohnNorthey]

I suspect DC wants to see how many vote with their dollars on certain characters/concepts and after this even we might see more of the most popular ones. IE: if the LSH bit does well then more LSH content might show up, if it seems Wally-Flash does well then maybe he'll use the speed force to get the 'real' one into the new 52 or something. Lots of possibilities and we might even see some new titles based in one of the old universe/timelines if sales go high enough. Sadly, I'm expecting most will do poorly and we get little new or long lasting from it. I'd love the old Earth 2 back, or even the current one to get more air time (weekly is fantastic but seeing the world destroyed isn't) but I don't expect it.

[Matt D]

The new52 goal was: 'to simplify, to make things less confusing for new readers' as well as create a better environment for their writers (from a continuity point of view).

This is assuming you just mean creatively, and choose to ignore the marketing/publicity benefits, and the overall increases in sales the whole thing produced.

That's fair enough. I wouldn't know that at all from the end product (though I would know a lot of what I mentioned from Crisis by reading those comics). Do you think it worked? The big problem with Crisis along those lines (and not the Marvel feel) was that the restarts didn't happen at the same time. Things weren't synced up. Not everything was restarted, etc. Some things (the successful ones) were kept. Didn't all that happen with this as well? Didn't it create more confusion that took years to unravel and eventually lead to band-aids and the same sort of confusion they were trying to fix in the first place? The editorial mess coming out of the relaunch, the confusion, the attempts at secrecy. People kept scorecards for those first two years at every bit of creative confusion. There wasn't a general map that everyone had access to. It made for creative pitches but once the execution started, it hit a stopgag.

As for the general darkening, that's basically been the Didio/Johns model from the early 00s. It worked pretty well right until they started to mix it with the the old aesthetics in Infinite Crisis. When they started to look back at more "pure" times and then added the bloodlust, everything got very murky. DC's spent 30 years moving away from their more idealistic strengths, but it's really ramped up in the last 13 or so.

[Sirzechs]

I think saying "It's just the way DC does things" is a little disingenuous too. They've basically done it on a wide scale twice in 50 years. Yes, one character will change now and again, or maybe a few at a time. The scope is different for Crisis and for this. Crisis would have gotten a very similar reaction if the internet was around then, yes, and it did get something along that line with zines and what have you. That's understandable too.

Exactly and If people got to love Post Crisis after a reboot, why can't New52 get its shot to prove its worth? it's in the third year and fans have been calling for its removal since Day 1.


I don't know why people continue to say that about stories that could be told before, same can be said about COIE that it wasn't need for the stories that are told in New Earth, the JSA/JLA team ups happened before didn't it?

[upgrayedd]

Yes, now they have a lot of people who happily read their books every month, and a small vocal minority who just complain all the time.

I am a little of both. I bought 2 issues of every New 52 the first two months they came out (collector habit), later dropped to one of each, then started dropping titles. I really had hope for better things and I really gave it a try. Wally West is one of my favorite characters along with the golden age JSA, DC really messed things up on both of those ends. This Convergencce event might bring me closure.... of New 52 comics.

[Sirzechs]

Apparently the Flash dying in COIE wasn't dark for people or the subsequent reboots of the characters..Batman especially

Pretty much, then there was Martian Manhunter's dead in Final Crisis.