Tags
Before Watchmen, dc comics, DC Rebirth, DC Universe Rebirth, Dr. Manhattan, Milestone, Pandora, Watchmen, Wildstorm
If you haven’t read this comic yet and have successfully avoided spoilers online so far, why are you reading this?
This last week, DC Comics rebooted their line of superhero comics with the release of DC Universe: Rebirth #1.
Today, I am looking at another big twist of the issue and probably the most controversial thing to come out of it.
Apparently, DC is incorporating the Watchmen into it’s core superhero universe. What this means at this point is anybody’s guess. I’m not sure what they gain by bringing these characters into the fold.
I realize that DC Comics is a company and so they want to exploit this IP that they own, and that is their right. What I don’t realize is what they gain by doing this now. Alan Moore, the writer of Watchmen said years ago that time for sequels and prequels has passed and is adamant about not doing any new material with these characters. Without him, back in 2012, DC produced a handful of mini-series as prequels to the original run, under the banner, Before Watchmen. These books were produced by some of the top talent in the industry, and were widely maligned.
So why, four years later, are they poking the bear again? DC previously stated that there would not be any new material immediately following Before Watchmen. I realize that time has passed, but I bet there are still retailers who still have some copies of Before Watchmen in their quarter boxes. Are they going to take a gamble again and buy new product of this?
Setting aside financial factors, what to do they gain story wise? At the beginning of the New 52, Wildstorm and the Milestone characters were incorporated into the DC Universe proper.
Personally, I was excited for this development. Since it’s beginning, DC, even before it was DC, has brought other companies in and folded them into their superhero books. With this, I hoped there would be a slew of new characters running around and the landscape of the DC Universe would change for the better. Some of the characters got their own series, but none of them lasted until the end of the New 52. Why aren’t the WildC.A.T.s butting heads with the Justice League? Why isn’t Static a permanent fixture of the Teen Titans? Where the hell is the previously super-successful, Gen13?
Now, is this what we are going to get with the Watchmen? Is there going to be a Rorschach solo title that’s cancelled after 18 issues? Does the Comedian join the Suicide Squad? What part will these characters play in this world? Bringing in edgy, deconstructionist characters didn’t work out so well with Apollo and Midnighter. So how will the Watchmen fare better?
The twist of the Flashpoint event being manipulated by Dr. Manhattan is an odd choice. From the beginning of the New 52 era, it was implied that Pandora was involved with the change that had occurred and was probably DC’s card to play if they wanted to reestablish the previous status quo. In this issue though, she is taken out Rorschach-style.
Why was this character even introduced in the first place then? Other than appearing in every first issue at the launch of the New 52, why did they need her? I know she appeared in some books during the last few years, but if she’s not tied into the reformation of the universe, what was her purpose?
Hopefully, there are a lot of answers we are going to get about all of this. However, I’m not sure where to get those answers. DC Universe: Rebirth is a one-shot. This is not the start of a typical crossover. There is no “Continued in DC Universe: Rebirth #2″, because there is no #2. At the end of the issue there is a final page that states:”The Clock is Ticking Across the DC Universe!” Ok, so what does that mean? Do I pick up Justice League to see what happens with Dr. Manhattan? Will there be an event later on that explains what he did to the Post-Crisis universe? Do I follow Batman’s book to see who put Rorschach’s pin in the Batcave? Which Batbook do I read?
After DC Universe: Rebirth…What’s Next?