For readers that are talking about the DC Comics Relaunch as being some kind of wiping of a long storied consistent DC history, well, you don’t understand DC history. :)
If you know and understand DC history, September is our decade’s turn for the big macro continuity change. The current, pre-Flashpoint, DC Universe isn’t really as old as you might think.
Remember these big events that changed the DCU?
Crisis on Infinite Earths – 1985/86 (changed multiverse) – 80s
Zero Hour – 1994 (changed timeline) – 90s
Infinite Crisis – 2005/06 (reinstated a multiverse) – 00s
Flashpoint‘s end / DC Comics Relaunch – 2011 (new timeline on main earth in multiverse) – 10s
All these things changed the DCU’s status quo at a macro-level. Yes, there were micro changes, Superman’s origins changed a few times, etc., between DC’s first macro change with the launch of its Silver Age in 1956 to the Crisis of Infinite Earths (COIE) in 1985/86.
Despite Action Comics and Detective Comics not changing their #’s, the current status quo in Superman, Batman and the rest of the DCU has only been around since 2005/06 (around 6 years).
That’s why folks that complain about throwing out storied DC history in September, don’t understand DC history. They have done this macro-level, in-continuity re-writing of change, every decade since the 1980s. Prior to COIE the micro changes in the status quo or origins of the characters when they occurred were jarring and came out of no where. With COIE DC started using in-continuity events to explain any line-wide reboots, relaunches, etc.
That continues in 2011 with Flashpoint and its role in lighting the match that starts the DC Comics Relaunch in September 2011. In the other words, the end of Flashpoint will be / is the in-continuity rationale for the DC Comics Relaunch.
The only difference with this decade’s relaunch is that in 2011 is DC is tying a line-wide new #1’s marketing campaign to it. In the past the #1’s were more selective.
So, know your DC history, and accept that only 6 years of continuity is being is being undone in September. In some cases, there are big changes, e.g. Firestorm, Stormwatch, etc. and in other cases smaller changes, e.g. Batman, Green Lantern, etc. However, together all the changes make up the new DCU.
