How do people feel about this stuff though? It is one point that has always personally bothered me. Sometimes I don't understand the hate for reboots but the acceptance for retcons. I mean, if you retcon something like Tony Stark or Punisher's origin, doesn't that invalidate previous stories that would have thus happened before their origin? It really feels like a reboot that is hush-whispered away.
You articulated my own thoughts much better.
Especially the Barbara disability stuff. Me and my friends would debate that all the time. I recall there being some murmurs about Barbara getting better being an insult to people with disabilities. And my only thought to that in response was, is getting better really insulting??? If someone couldn't walk and we developed the means to fix that, would they not pursue it, because it'd be insulting/demeaning?
But seriously. It really didn't make any sense.
I kind of get how people like retcons instead of reboots. That said though reboots are the better way to go IMHO, specially since it usually needs to be a whole universe type of reboot. Retcon fixes Tony Start not being 70 and having been in vietnam, but what about his interactions with other characters that could effect their continuity? They may not get retconed and then it's inconsistent.
Yeah it blows my mind the it's insulting defense for keeping Barbara in a wheel chair. Bruce had his fucking back broken and was back on the job in no time. Decades later Barbara still can't walk. Considering the shit Mister Terrific and others pulled off, how the fuck couldn't they give Barbara her ability to walk back.
Hopefully Superman Unchained is good to make up for everything else Superman being garbage. Still can't believe Lobdell is writing 2 Superman monthlies in multiple solicits now.
Yeah I have high hopes for Superman Unchained, but I think the problem with the character goes deeper than the writer handling him at the moment. Personally I think having Ma and Pa Kent dead really hurt the overall mythos of the character. What reason does he really have to stay on Earth? They're created a Clark Kent/Superman that is more disconnected/alone from humanity than previous ones. To play up the whole Alien alone thing, which could work for other characters, one as powerful as Superman though, not so much. He can go anywhere, what the fuck is keeping him on Earth?
I'd rather have stories I liked retconned, than characters I liked wiped out of existence. Granted I haven't kept up with Superboy since maybe issue 5, but he wasn't even the same character post reboot. Same seemed to be true with a few of the other titans. Legacy heroes were shunted to Earth 2 and radically changed. Others were erased from existence. I think all of that is on a different level than finding out Bucky was never dead, or that Hal was possessed by a yellow fear monster when he wiped out the Corps.
As someone who was basically new to the DCU, I think that Kevin Smith's Green Arrow relaunch and John's Green Lantern relaunch were much better ways to gain the attention of new readers. They were clear jumping on points. They explained what past continuity needed explaining to new readers without ignoring it completely. Whatever retcons were made were given context.
Unfortunately Superboy was one of the characters poorly handled by this reboot. Sadly that happens. Like I said though we have an Aquaman that is better than any of the previous ones. They've actually managed to make the character interesting for a bit. Not ever character has benefited, but not every retcon is a benefit to the characters either.
That said just because a character is different now, other characters don't exist any more, doesn't mean the 25 years of comics that you have with them don't exist. You still have them, now a new generation gets their version of these characters.
John Byrne's reboot of Superman that made huge changes to Lex Luthor improved the mythos SO MUCH. I'm sure folks hated that at first, but it made Lex such a better villain in the long run, and I'm so glad they did that.
As a side note, personally I thought Hal getting the get out of killing millions free card with the retconning of Paralax being an evil entity that possed him was major fucking bullshit. It lessened the impact of everything that happened.
