I wouldn’t mind a reboot if it actually was a reboot instead of just saying “we’re starting over BUT this or that thing from Batman/Green Lantern or whatever also still happened but in a shorter amount of time because they’re popular and also Batman has still had like 4 Robins even though the new audience we’re supposedly trying to get has only ever heard of Dick Grayson and maybe Tim Drake if they saw the DCAU (which they did) and Cyborg is on the Justice League for some reason even though our supposed audience knows him as a Teen Titan but we can’t have John Stewart or Martian Manhunter on the League, which would make more sense because our supposed audience knows them from the DCAU, because the writer for the book has a hard on for Hal Jordan-”…you see where I’m getting at?
No. None of that. You make the first comic a World’s Finest comic or a Batman/Superman or Superman/Batman comic or whatever with Batman and Superman on their first nights out. It’s the start of your big reboot so make it a special double length or 48 page comic or whatever like JLA #50. Make it so Batman and Supes know each other ahead of the others like in the DCAU. You establish what they start out with: Batman with Alfred and maybe Dr. Thompkins, and Superman with Ma and Pa Kent and maybe ex girlfriend Lana Lang. Family makes them relatable.
Your new audience are gonna be gen zers and millennials who grew up with the movies and tv shows. You can hint at future big foes like Joker and Lex (early gangster Joker or Lex seeing them fly or swing by from an alley or window), but you don’t say it outright. Batman’s early foes are crime bosses and gangsters so make the bad guys people like Carmine Falcone or, if you want name recognition, Penguin or Black Mask. Introduce Gordon as an initially reluctant, but agreeable ally and good cop and mention a daughter.
Superman’s problems should be more about endearing himself to a cynical 21st century audience than specific bad guys: ie young people, minorities, and immigrants adore him, but the older generations despise and mistrust him and you can use that as a foundation for Lex to build on later. Play up the immigrant born background, but not to the point where the fact that he’s an alien is the most important thing when it’s his humanity that makes him Superman. He’s a kid from Kansas trying his best in a big city. When Clark’s not Superman, he’s fresh out of college working part time until he hears back from the Daily Planet. You wanna introduce Jimmy Olsen early as a roommate? Go right ahead. Introduce Maggie Sawyer as a police contact.
When you make a Batman solo comic, you introduce both Catwoman and Dick Grayson. New audiences know both best. Later you can transition Dick into Nightwing, because people like character development, and introduce Tim Drake (the only other Robin most people recognise). You can give the Robins their own comics to further develop their characters and supporting cast and give them team books like Titans and Young Justice. Catwoman’s popular and so are heists so you can give her a book too. Dick’s Robin book can lead to Barbara and a Batgirl book. Use the Detective Comics title to focus on the nascent Bat Family working together and the Batman title for solo detective stories.
For Superman’s solo title, you start with him getting the job at the Daily Planet. You introduce Perry White and Lois Lane. You don’t wanna have Jimmy be Clark’s roommate? Introduce him here. Jimmy’s a big Superman fan, but Lois and Perry are more cynical. Lois gets an interview with Superman and you establish the two’s mutual feelings for each other as well as her feelings for Clark. Sorry WondySupes shippers, but pop culture knows that Lois is Superman’s Girlfriend. You want Lois to know about Clark and Supes? Go ahead. Seriously, unless your name is Spider-Man, hiding your secret identity from your loved one only leads to bad things. Also, Lois is popular so give her a book, reporting and terrorist/war situations. Play up the army brat angle. Give Jimmy a book and make it part comedy and part investigative reporting. Include cross dressing cause he’s good at it. You wanna make him non binary or genderqueer? Go ahead. Introduce space/Kryptonian stuff, but not Zod, Braniac, or Mongol because it’s too early. Something else, Lobo maybe? Do NOT touch Doomsday with a ten foot pole! Later you can introduce Supergirl and/or Powergirl and give her/them a book(s). (You wanna keep drawing PG’s boob window but wanna keep Supergirl cause of her popularity? Make them both Clark’s cousins but from different sides of the family. Make one’s parent a scientist and the other a government official, that way both would have access to a rocket.) Then you can introduce more Kryptonian stuff now that there’s more than one and at least one of them would have been old enough to remember Krypton. Once Lex is an established threat, introduce Superboy and give him a book. Have Action Comics be half space stuff and half the Super Family book and Superman’s solo title be protecting Metropolis from Supervillains.
(Sidebar: You wanna introduce Ace and Krypto? Go ahead. They’re popular and people like pets.)
Then you bring in Wonder Woman comics. Dear Athena, do NOT make her a Demigoddess this time, that’s what Cassie’s for. She shows up before the others about five years or so before Supes and Bats. And has been working in secret with the government because her best friend and boyfriend (Edda and Steve) work for them. Diana Prince is used until the JL book so she can blend in to better understand the world she’s an ambassador to. Sensation Comics can be myth related and stuff like while the solo book can be supervillains.
Then a Flash comic. Barry Allen, just actually write Barry this time instead of Wally and you can introduce Wally later and switch Flashes around the time Dick becomes Nightwing or use the Flash book for Wally and the JL book for Barry. Bart shows up around that time as Wally’s sidekick from a more reasonable future.
Then an Aquaman comic. (…I got nothing. I thought the movie did it perfectly so make a slightly different but better paced version of that)
Then a Green Lantern comic with ex marine and now architect John Stewart getting Abin Sur’s ring. Get him out into space as soon as possible and keep him there until the JL book.
Then a Martian Manhunter comic. Alternatively, introduce J’on in the JL book.
Finally, you bring them together for a Justice League book and have them battle Starro the Conqueror, who has already attacked Mars. This would bring more attention to Earth on a cosmic level and attract more aliens to it like the Hawks and the New Gods.
(Sidebar: Make the modern day Hawks the Alien Police Officers. You can do commentary on the current situation and can keep the reincarnation Hawks as their predecessors in the JSA who have already passed and they’re next in line. If Kendra Saunders can already be legal banging age when Shiera Hall just died the day before, I think we can do this too. Or just instead of both Hawks, have Hawkgirl be the one around since she’s the one people know. That’ll free up space for a relationship between her and GL.)
You can use the existing books to introduce more characters for their own books with their own cast who can get books like Green Arrow, Zatanna, Black Canary, The Titans and their character like Cyborg and Starfire, Young Justice, The Trinity, Black Lightning, John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Captain Marvel (Shut up), Vixen, Batwoman, The Ray, The Suicide Squad, Huntress, The Question, etc.
You can establish that there were heroes in World War 2, but thanks to the government, they had to separate after the war. Bring them back to train the next generation and this is where you can have characters like Star Girl and the JSA. You can put Power Girl here if you have her. You need an explanation for why some characters and their loved ones are still around? Superpowers or magic. Two members of the original JSA were Doctor Fate and The Spectre. You think they wouldn’t at least try to help their friends? You can have some dead like Starman, which would allow Courtney to be around.
However, and this is important, you need to have the stories be one and dones. Have hints at a larger story throughout, but make it so they’re largely standalones. Standalones would allow new readers to ease into comics at their own pace and allow more stories to be told.
Still, let them change gradually over time. Dick becoming Nightwing, for example: give it at least a few years to establish him, his relationships, team, supporting characters, etc. Give him time. Same thing with bad guys, build up slowly to the big bads like Zod and Joker. Lex you can introduce earlier than others since he’s already in Metropolis and a public figure, but the others take time. Most of Batman’s big bads are inspired by him and you need to build that. The first solo Bat book should not be Joker and Harley out of nowhere. It should be Catwoman, a simple cat burglar that becomes more complex. The guy who kills Dick’s parents isn’t Two Face, it’s a gangster. You wanna hint at the Court of Owls? Fine, but nothing major and nothing concrete until way far into the future when Dick is already Nightwing and Bats has been around a longtime. Also, you make that mostly Dick’s story, none of this Maybe brother crap. Introduce Stephanie? Put her in Tim’s book and gradually make her Spoiler. You wanna make Barbara Oracle and introduce Cass’s Batgirl? Don’t remake Killing Joke. Have it be Barbara’s story and make it her saving someone’s life (maybe Cass’s) and deciding to become Oracle to still be a hero. If you make the person she saves Cass, Cass can use that as further motivation to become Batgirl besides redemption for her past. You want Superman and Lois to have kids? Make it Chris or John, or both. and let them age like actually freaking kids. You see where I’m going with this?
Make your world constantly evolving, but still endeavour to have a status quo. Keep the crossovers confined to team books or one shots like Batman teaming up with the Question or something. Maybe throw in a two parter sometimes. You wanna shake things up? Give it at least a few years, maybe five. Make them anniversaries. Five years. Ten years. Etc. Since when? The start of the reboot. First appearances. First team ups. Real life anniversaries: Superman’s gonna reach 100 in only 18 years, the Detective Comics book itself a year before. That’s gotta be an event.
Also important: you keep grouping your heroes into families? Put your money where your mouth is. Dick and Tim are Bruce’s adopted sons and that makes them his kids. They are brothers. If you bring in Cass, have Bruce adopt her. She’s his daughter and the boys’ sister. Bruce was raised by Alfred and that makes him his son. The butler thing is for appearances and for Alfred’s sarcastic wit to be most effective. Wally is Iris’s nephew and Barry’s adopted son because his birth parents are awful. Donna is Diana’s sister and Hipolyta’s adopted daughter. (Also, simplify her damn origin. Saved by Diana as a young child and raised on Themyscira, is now Diana’s sidekick Wonder Girl and later Troia. There. Done.). Roy is Oliver’s adopted son. Ditto with Garth and Arthur. They all already have their love interests by the time of the JL book, some of whom they’re already dating/ are engaged/married to. (The later I’m think mainly Aquaman)
(Sidebar: Make one of the Batkids LGBT. I’d recommend either Dick who’s slept with Wally before (Seriously, guy’s got two friends who are redheads.You cannot tell me he hasn’t experimented with at least one of them in his youth. I just went with Wally because they’re closer in age than Roy. Pick Starfire or Barbara for current love interest. I prefer Star, but I know people really like him with Babs. I don’t get it personally, but whatever), Tim with a crush on Conner (or Bart, but I prefer Conner), or Cass with a crush on Stephanie who likes her and Tim.)
Give the Trinity two books each since they’re older and more popular (the solo books and Action, Detective, and Sensation Comics) and the rest one plus the team books.
….I think that addresses everything. …I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. -.-‘ Oh, and start selling comics in grocery stores again, please and thank you.
