According to Big Shiny Robot!, six more DC reboot covers have been revealed by someone fiddling with URLs to see what they could see. Included in their list is a cover for Batwoman #1, which they take as confirmation that the J.H. Williams III co-penned ongoing is really going to happen after all. Given the theories I've seen in which people claim the reboot is an opportunity for DC to kill this title while no one's looking, I think that would be mighty nice.
One problem: isn't that the cover we've already seen for the various earlier launch dates of Batwoman #1? It's also distinct from the others by virtue of having credits and the logo already on the page. Yes, it shares some design elements with the (really beautiful) cover for Detective Comics #1 and there's a way to read that as a hint or tribute or allusion or other signal of some sort, but I think that's drawing an exceptionally long bow. I hate to break it to BSR and their friend with the probing fingers but I don't think that image is news; I think that image is old news.
I would love nothing more than to be wrong about this and I will celebrate my error in the streets if this title gets confirmed and launched.
["6 More DC Relaunch Covers Leaked!" - www.bigshinyrobot.com]
DC's reboot, which promises to be the singular news item from now til Comic-Con, gets about the fairest fan-response you'll find, courtesy of Klarion, yet the news release now subjects the comics internet to a slew of questions, some of which may actually be relevant to minority communities.
Based on BleedingCool's reportage, there will be a new Batgirl ongoing with Barbara reclaiming her old cowl and with returned usage of her legs. What this means for the Birds of Prey, sans Oracle, is yet to be properly spelled out, but it does mean DC is out on its only relevant disabled character. So much for its claims of diversity, eh?
None of the reboot details offer a suggestion of changes in ethnicity or other central character traits, so far making the changes applicable only to its character's ages. This explains Batgirl, and the additional Nightwing announcement, as being a reset to the status quo circa the early 90's (assuming Nightwing doesn't refer to the Krytponian variety of hero). I've come to love Dick in the Batman suit, and an interference with Morrison's Batman Incorporated story would just break me, so for now I'll restrain my keyboard rage in hopes that this reset aims to modify DC characters more wisely than I'd assume.
Elsewhere in the Batman family, this reboot could very well be the reason for Batwoman's delays, though it places the story in an odd position, setting up Kate to be hardly younger than Batman himself. Not to mention that there will now be a Batwoman operating at the same time as a (decidedly more headstrong than Stephanie Brown) Barbara Gordon Batgirl. Either way, a bat-catfight is more likely to be in order than the redheaded lesbian slash fiction undoubtedly floating in some fans' minds. I hold no expectations for this marketing opportunity to further ambiguate any characters' sexualities. I don't intend to make any militant, selfish claims that Character X should be gay, but this is as ripe an opportunity as ever to modify our heroes while maintaining their core traits. It's not too far a stretch to envision Guy Gardner as a burly bear, or to stop coding the pederasty found throughout the Batman lineage. And yet it appears DC will only utilize this as a chance for jumping on points (or, for the hilarious ragequitters on the web, a jumping off point). So, surprise me, DC. Don't tell me your characters are prepared for a new age when they still cling to yesterday's social mores. Cheers to change.
Everyone is all atwitter, on Twitter no less, about this whole DC Universe reboot that's happening in September. What probably shouldn't surprise me any longer - and yet I always find it baffling - is how capable folks are of developing extremely strong opinions in the absence of substantial information about a topic. We've all heard the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory and in this case it seems to be in as full effect as in any other: people are saying rude things about publishers, creators and one another with maybe even a little more abandon than usual. When you see a popular comics creator re-tweet some random person's criticism of the opposing publisher in a near-vacuum of actual data about the topic at hand it's... well, frankly it's just a bit silly.
Avengers Disassembled.
It is with great sadness that I announce that Boy of Tomorrow will no longer be writing for Pink Kryptonite or Gaygamer. He has decided to pursue other endeavors and we wish him the best of luck. He's been a contributor to the main site since August of 2006, and he's been with Pink Kryptonite from the very beginning.
Though he can never be truly replaced, we are still looking for contributing writers for Pink Kryptonite. Please send any samples to us here.
