DC Promises Big Changes as "Convergence" Winds Down in May

[victoryfive]

That's the thing fumetti. Everthing is $$$ driven now.Well everythig has ALWAYs been driven by sales but now its much easier to read through the bull%&$#. I am sure someof the big decisions made in the last 10 years have been made in a higher office than the one Didio occupies. Its the only thing that makes sense with all the 180s Didio and editing has been through.WB entertainment mucked up Green Lantern and Superman returns, and I'm sure they stuck their 2 cents into the comics every now and then.

[FishboneX]

Better yet...the main timelines they are featuring in Convergence (COIE, Zero Hour, Flashpoint) are likely to each get an Earth in the New 52 Multiverse. So, the New 52 Universe will be the main source of continuity that we read on a weekly basis, but each of those past timelines will have their own world that can be visited from time to time or even have an ongoing.

Exactly. There are already new titles announced that take place in the Multiverse,and at best, people are freaking out over reading the quote wrong.

[Buried Alien]

I seriously don't know how Didio keeps his job.

Probably by obeying HIS higher ups; they can't fire him for following their directives.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[FishboneX]

Probably by obeying HIS higher ups; they can't fire him for following their directives.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

His success in increasing monthly sales of the books probably doesn't hurt.

[Sirzechs]

See there's no need for evidence of the contrary as people will still have the same kneejerk reactions based on click bait taglines.

[BohemiaDrinker]

I seriously don't know how Didio keeps his job.

Regardless of we liking it or not, Didio has way more successes than failures. No EIC or publisher before him managed to make a weekly work. A single one. He's put seven out so far, with varying degrees of success.

He does have flaws and he did commit a lot of mistakes, but I don't think his competence can be questioned,

[godisawesome]

....and he's not Quesada. That has to help.

[Doctor Cosmic]

Here's why these final Convergence solicits DO worry me. Convergence really isn't about alternate Earths/universes, it's about alterations made to one universe, a point Morrison made in the Guidebook. The current Earth/universe designated Earth-0 was originally Earth-1 and has been changed five times since the days since it went by that name: COIE, ZH, IC, FC, and Flashpoint.

The bottled cities in Convergence aren't alternate universes, they're resulting diversions from the original timeline brought about by various cosmic machinations.

These new solicits tell us that DC is keen on erasing those diversions/tributaries and leaving one one timeline/reality: the Earth-0 reality, itself part of a larger Multiverse that has been affected by the same machinations that fractured the original Earth-1 continuity.

There's a chance that DC could be combining the surviving alterations with Earth-0, but we haven't seen any indication of that in the June launch info. It's possible that these "anomalies" could be headed towards the 7 mystery Earths/universes in the Orrery, but I find that less likely than their complete erasure.

DiDio said that Convergence was the chance to bring "closure" to the pre-Flashpoint DCU, but he didn't say it would be by wholesale erasure of all past versions of it. Yet the Chip Kidd covers and a new interview over at Bleeding Cool seem to bear it out.

I suspect this news will leak prior to Convergence's finale, just like Convergence itself was a leak.

Prepare for much wailing and the breaking of the Internet.

[Buried Alien]

Here's why these final Convergence solicits DO worry me.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Dr. Jan Itor]

I seriously don't know how Didio keeps his job. He can't make a single sound decision, and he can't even stick with the half-baked ones for very long. The past decade is a total mess.

I also have no idea why anyone buys this stuff. DC treats its characters like junk; they'll publish anything with a Bat symbol on it. And worse, the DC fans just lap it up! Until people stop giving DC money, this dreck is gonna continue forever.

I guess there's no such thing as a "discerning" DC fan anymore...

*Rolls Eyes*

[Dr. Jan Itor]

Prepare for much wailing and the breaking of the Internet.

And this will be different...how?

[Dataweaver]

Here's why these final Convergence solicits DO worry me. Convergence really isn't about alternate Earths/universes, it's about alterations made to one universe, a point Morrison made in the Guidebook. The current Earth/universe designated Earth-0 was originally Earth-1 and has been changed five times since the days since it went by that name: COIE, ZH, IC, FC, and Flashpoint.

Although Convergence only seems to acknowledge three of them: CoIE, ZH, and Flashpoint.

The bottled cities in Convergence aren't alternate universes, they're resulting diversions from the original timeline brought about by various cosmic machinations.

Correction: they’re samples of resulting diversions from the original timeline; bottles that were dipped into these various streams to capture parts of them. The narrative at this point appears to be that they’re the only remaining samples of realities that have otherwise ceased to be; I don’t buy it, though.

These new solicits tell us that DC is keen on erasing those diversions/tributaries and leaving one one timeline/reality: the Earth-0 reality, itself part of a larger Multiverse that has been affected by the same machinations that fractured the original Earth-1 continuity.

There's a chance that DC could be combining the surviving alterations with Earth-0, but we haven't seen any indication of that in the June launch info. It's possible that these "anomalies" could be headed towards the 7 mystery Earths/universes in the Orrery, but I find that less likely than their complete erasure.

I find it more likely; it lets them postpone the revelation as to which “anomalies” have found a home in the new Multiverse until they’ve had a chance to review the sales figures for Convergence — something they simply aren’t going to be able to address with any solicits that come out before Convergence ends. That means that the earliest we can expect to see the “winners” of Convergence will be in the solicits released in May, once the April sales figures are known: that is, the solicits for September. I’d recommend waiting until the Novenber solicits are out before declaring that DC has destroyed everything from the pre-New52 realities, if even then.

DiDio said that Convergence was the chance to bring "closure" to the pre-Flashpoint DCU, but he didn't say it would be by wholesale erasure of all past versions of it. Yet the Chip Kidd covers and a new interview over at Bleeding Cool seem to bear it out.

I’ll have to read that interview before commenting.

EDIT: OK; I’ve read it. There’s a lot of talk about this being a celebration of eighty years of publication history; but nothing that gives me the feeling that when it’s over, everything pre-New52 will be jettisoned. Rather, the sense I’m getting is that even the New52 is part of the “eighty years of publishing in New York”, and that June will be starting a new era of publishing, which may or may not conform precisely to the New 52.

[fumetti]

Probably by obeying HIS higher ups; they can't fire him for following their directives.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

A great many employees in this world have been fired for exactly that reason. It can and does happen all the time.

[fumetti]

Regardless of we liking it or not, Didio has way more successes than failures. No EIC or publisher before him managed to make a weekly work. A single one. He's put seven out so far, with varying degrees of success.

He does have flaws and he did commit a lot of mistakes, but I don't think his competence can be questioned,

Not exactly correct. The Action Comics Weekly of the early 90s worked. It sold just fine and lasted 42 issues. DC gave up on it because it took so much effort by editorial (keeping track of 4 or 5 sets of creators and storylines instead of one). The difference between then and now is that ACW cost about twice a regular comic because it had so many extra pages. Today's weeklies are the same or nearly the same as a regular comic (size and price). ACW was definitely a success.

Didio's "competence" is debatable, depending on how you measure it. IMO, his position is the overseer of DCU characters/continuity and selling the books. Dido failed miserably to sell DC's characters at a consistently high basis (as measured by the success of Marvel's sales). That's why corporate execs laid down the ultimatum that resulted in New52. And the existence of the New52 proves a significant failure to protect the integrity of DCU characters and continuity.

But that last point is also debatable. Since, IMO, regular DC fans don't really care about the characters--they'll buy just about anything with DC's title logos on it (Super-this, Bat-that, JLofWhatever), regardless of the characters beneath the suit--I think many DC buyers will totally disagree with me. It says "Earth 2" on it, so it's the Justice Society! Doesn't matter if it's totally different people inside and all past continuity is disrupted or destroyed. That's what I mean by no more 'discerning' DC fans. That's how I see it, anyway. I don't just pay to see the laundry run across the page. Many other people do, apparently. Oh well.

[fumetti]

*Rolls Eyes*

You prove my point.