Big Changes. Right.

I'm going to crosspost a little bit from my Tumblr because it's pretty much in line with stuff I've been posting here. Skip ahead to the Superman stuff if you've already read it.

I was answering this dcwomenkickingass post:

The reveal of the cover of Action Comics #1 was accompanied by an article where DC executives talk about the DCnU. This one stood out.

One thing that is clear: Among the top heroes, none of them will change more than Superman and Wonder Woman. The changes, such as a notable but still-secret shift in the status quo at the Daily Planet, will be met with fan ranting, but of course that’s part of the relationship here. The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy, and DiDio and his team will be more worried when fans aren’t debating comics and their true or proper mythology.

In a reboot that has Barbara Gordon going from Oracle to Batgirl, the idea that there an even bigger change for Wonder Woman makes me nervous. And “still-secret status quo at the Daily Planet”? We see it looking destroyed on the cover of Superman #1, is that what they mean or is something else?

We've known a reboot was coming to Wonder Woman for a full year now. They've been hinting at bringing Steve back as a steady love interest, and that in itself is a HUGE change. Perez took out so much of the pre-Crisis elements that returning the jet and tech to Paradise Island would be a huge change too. We've got two worries:

1) They overemphasize the warrior side so much so that they cut out saving the pilot and replace it with her coming to the US on a mission other than "Return this injured party to his home" because then we won't get the merciful aspect of her personality coded into her from the start. The absolute worst case scenario (which they pretty much did in the animated movie even though they kept a bit where she saves him first) is if she captures the pilot rather than rescues him, like in Flashpoint. Since Flashpoint is supposed to be a perversion, I'm hoping this means the decided upon origin will be the normal one.

2) They lose themselves in trying to make her relatable by adding the trappings of American culture and forget that she was created to be a visitor from a foreign land free of our cultural (sexist) hangups who can COMMENT on our culture's weirdness.

Fingers crossed the big change they refer to is just a full reversion to classic origin/setting and not yet another JMS-style way of making her more like an average woman. No being raised in the states, PLEASE.

All that said, I don't buy for a second Superman's personality is changing much. They're mucking with the setting to revert to something Pre-Crisis (the marriage is probably gone), which will mess with the franchise as much as it does with Wonder Woman's. But Superman as a character? Too iconic to mess with his behavior too much. In fact, that Action Comics #1 cover?



(I'm going to make you sit in the corner with a dunce cap if you think that's his new costume. We've already seen the dumb without-red-trunks costume all over the place.)

Half Clark Kent farmboy clothing, half Superman clothes. A visual that focuses on his down home roots is exactly like the sort of thing to emphasize Superman's humanity and his connection to the Earth. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the focus of this issue.

This September, New York Times bestselling writer Grant Morrison (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN) joins with sensational artist Rags Morales to bring you tales of The Man of Tomorrow unlike any you’ve ever read before in ACTION COMICS #1. This momentous first issue will set in motion the history of the DC Universe as Superman defends a world that doesn’t trust their first Super Hero.

Oh, so the whole issue is the world changing their attitude about Superman... and him trying to continue acting like he always does. Huh. Sounds like a pitch that explores Superman's relation to humanity, and his own humanity in turn. That's cover and solicit, and the sort of thing Morrison would write.

Out of today's books, I'll try out Action Comics, going to pass on anything George Perez writes and not too interested in Superboy yet. I'm iffy on Supergirl. Sounds like they're doing a just-arrived from Krypton and must learn to connect to humans thing. Don't know those writers, don't know if I care for that story.