DC Comics Gives Batman, Superman Total Revamp, Make Batwoman Lesbian
Over 50 years of comic book history will virtually be erased and restarted by DC Comics as the company plans to reboot the storylines of some of its most popular superheroes such as Batman and Superman.
Comic book junkies camped out in front of Midtown Comics’ Times Square on Tuesday to be the first to get their hands on the revamped Justice League which was started over at issue No.1, and comes out on Wednesday.
Justice League is the first of 52 comics which DC plans to reboot.
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Other popular DC superheroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman will receive a retelling of their original stories.
The reboots are DC’s attempt to reach a brand new audience who have never read comic books before.
“It’s all about getting comics into the hands of new readers,” said artist and DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee to MSNBC. “We’re trying to introduce these characters to new audiences.”
Lee illustrated the new Justice League comic and played a major role in the redesigning of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
The new comics are available on digital devices such as the iPad, and digital issues can be bought the same day the physical book hits the racks.
“What we’re doing is reaching out past the direct market,” said DC co-publisher Dan DiDio, referring to a traditional comic book store.
According to DiDio, Superman and Batman are more known for their movies and video games and DC is attempting to change that.
“People who know the movies and video games don’t necessarily know that comics are even being printed,” DiDio said.
Marvel comics made a similar move when they started their “Ultimate Universe” around 10 years ago.
Superheroes such as Spiderman and the X-Men started over fresh in their Ultimate series which aimed to make the characters more modern to appeal to a new audience.
Marvel even went as far as killing off Peter Parker in their “Ultimate Spiderman” series this past summer and replaced him with a multi-racial successor to give the series a new spark.
Marvel made headlines when Miles Morales, a half black and half Latino became the new “Ultimate Spiderman.”
It still remains to be seen if DC will change the true identities of any of their most popular superheroes.
Some of their major confirmed changes include turning Batwoman into one of the first lesbian superheroes.
