With all the bad blunders that DC seems to be making in the eyes of the fans, what companies got the reboot right? My picks are Marvel, Valiant (they relaunched their entire universe but kept the core principles that fans knew), Dark Horse, IDW, Image

 

Soooo, everyone besides DC.

I don't know how to judge the DC reboot. It feels more like a case of the vocal minority/silent majority than the reboot actually failing. I mean, you can argue quality all you like, but looking at this thread as microcosm of comic book internet culture, it's the same group of ten or so guys saying the same thing over and over. Half of us aren't even reading the books that we're complaining about, and just reacting to the latest Bleeding Cool article posted.

In the case of Marvel, they really hit a homerun with the Ultimateverse in the early 2000s. In the long run though, that universe was a major clusterfuck and they ran it into the ground within a few short years.

 

I don't know the thing with comics (Mostly DC and Marvel) is reboots don't mean much I guess because they still use elements from before the reboot and will just retcon whatever they don't like.

 

Valiant tried some reboots in the past that weren't done badly.

And then, of course, there's the whole "DC Silver Age" thing.

 

As someone who has admittedly limited exposure to pre 52 DC, I actually quite like the New 52. Not everything is perfect but on the whole I like this era more than previous ones. In fact, as a Marvel fanboy I'm saddened that Marvel's universe is so convoluted and messy as it is. A string of time travel stories has really burned me out as the straw that broke the back.

But yeah, at the moment, I'm happy with DC.

 

Well Dc has their own convoluted Time Travel story coming up.

I don't think there have been any really good line wide reboots, I do think there have been some good retcons and reboots of individual titles though.

 

I'm curious -- when has IDW and Darkhorse had a line-wide reboot? And did it include the licensed books?

 

When did Marvel ever have a linewide reboot? They've only done relaunches and continuity fixes. The Ultimate Universe was a separate launch and most definitely not a reboot. Not sure they qualify.

As for DC, well, one could argue that they did several reboots right. The Silver Age reboot being one - launching long lasting characters like Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Katar Hol, Ray Palmer etc. You could also say the same for some of their reboots during the mid/late 80s - Batman and Superman were really successful as both titles sold really well, while having long time influences (Batman's Year One being hailed as one of the best Bat stories ever, while the more human Superman and evil businessman Lex Luthor were some of the more long lasting influences of the Byrne reboot.)

I'm thinking he refers to IDW's licensed books. Stuff like TF and Joes basically rebooted, ignoring continuities from the previous runs (well the main titles anyway). As for Dark Horse, not sure what he refers to - Star Wars maybe? Though technically it still follows from the movie continuity but ignores the comics.

 

I thought DC did a fairly good job rebooting their universe after Crisis on Infinite Earths. It wasn't without some snags (Hawkman, Wonder Girl), but generally simplified things and produced some good titles. I can't really comment on the new 52 reboot one way or the other; I'm not upset about it, but there's nothing they're publishing right now that I'm interested in buying either.

Assuming this is in reference to IDW's TF comics, which reboot did they get right? The one at the start of AHM? The one at the start of the Ongoing? The one at the start of MTMTE/RiD? I mean, IDW's rebooted the TF line enough times, they're bound to have gotten it right at least once.

As for Image, when have they done a reboot? Image doesn't even really have a shared universe to reboot, AFAIK.

 

I was wondering about this too, but Marvel has a long history that I'm not all that familiar with.

So, either way, we're talking about companies rebooting a handful of books, versus a company that relaunched everything (that wasn't an imprint).

Seems like a fair comparison...

 

The ultimate universe, I consider a reboot in the same vein that Batman Begins or Amazing Spider-man are considered reboots. Same concepts new approach. Just like IDW or Dark Horse's Valiant are considered reboots.

I guess you could also consider the Heroes Reborn event as a failed reboot.

 

How about new directions, like the "new look" or "dark knight" Batman from the 60s and 70s, or the "Kryptonite Nevermore" storyline for Superman? They aren't reboots in the sense that they wipe out the past and start over, but they do make major changes in the look, tone of storytelling and perception of a character. If nothing else, it shows that DC was attempting to deal with story problems and decades of continuity a long time before Crisis. They just weren't as heavy-handed about it.

 

Pretty much as soon as anyone who was not Bendis or Millar started writing anything.

And in the case of Kryptonite Nevermore, the changes weren't very long-lasting either. Everything reverted to the way it was mere months after the storyline ended and O'Neil moved on to other characters that suited his writing better.

New Look Batman was far-reaching, though. Eventually overshadowed by what Robbins and O'Neil did at the end of the decade, but still. I love the issues Infantino drew. Not so much the Moldoff issues where he tried to do the Infantino style and kind of fell short into a weird, uncomfortable Infantino/Kane mid-ground.

 

DC did the reboot right in the 80s. The problem with it in 2011 is that it was not even thought out, it was just done because sales were low. They had a purpose for it in the 80s and that was because the Multiverse concept got out of control on them. CoIE allowed them to get everything back in control and they let a lot of new blood take over their comics. Plus, while things did change event wise, character histories were not completely wiped out of existence, just slightly altered.

 

Dark Horse reboots are when they started new series (Buffy Season 8 ignores the previous Buffy DH works and starts from where the show, as well as Angel, ended for example), or Star Wars for years not really mentions the Marvel run.

IDW starting the Hasbro properties that have no real bearing on Dreamwave or Devils Due.

Valiant just restarted from scratch (at least for thE characters they still had), re telling/ updating origins (XO Manowar, Archer and Armstrong, Harbringer, etc) while keeping the same general characterizations from their past (unlike maybe Acclaim, that altered XO into a modern war suit from Earth instead of alien armor )