Is DC Comics’ Constant Rebooting Of Their Franchises Making Any Sense?

DC may be the proprietor of infinite Earth’s, but it seems like they’ve not been living on the same one as the rest of us for a good while now.

When rumours began to surface that DC would yet again be rebooting their comic book continuity in the form of ‘5G’ (fifth generation) during the early days of the pandemic. It seemed like a surefire way to gain some capital, although the superheroics of Batman, The Flash and Starfire seemed to be at the back of their mind. This detriment was vocalised, if not echoed, not so exuberantly by the entirety of the industry’s fandom. They all breathed a tremendous, collective sigh as they placed their heads in their hands with the thought of yet another potential reimagining of their beloved heroes becoming a monotonously repetitive cycle.

Luckily for all of those who were probably planning to initially denounce their undying loyalty to the company after hearing of such an announcement, the whole thing seems to be nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

What isn’t a hoax however is all the reboots that actually were brought to fruition and would you believe it (let’s face it; you definitely would), there’s an oversaturation of these that’s so plentiful that it’s an utter surprise that all the world’s forests haven’t been excavated just to supply for these issues. Issues that began with 1985’s first issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis on Infinite Earths:

Gap between the inception of DC 1939 – Crisis on Infinite Earths 1985, 46 years.

Although it’s not the originator of the many DC reboots, Crisis on Infinite Earths is by far the most associated with this practice and for good reason. Mainly due to the fact that it was the only one that felt appropriate, as it understood how to bring in omnipotent figures while still faithfully resetting the continuity in a memorable fashion.

The reason for this comic series’ existence was simply so that DC could wipe a few of the more unnecessary, if not archaic, characters from their canonical line-up. This meant hundreds of characters such as Jay Garrick’s Flash, the co-existing Superman and most notably, Supergirl and Barry Allen's Flash were to be killed off solely so they could be written out of DC’s continuity.

The experiment was a success, yet DC happened to do it again just a few years later with Zero Hour.

Zero Hour:

Gap between Crisis on Infinite Earths 1985 – Zero Hour 1994, 11 years.

The antithesis of the widely appreciated aforementioned Crisis on Infinite Earths. Zero Hour was a rebranding of what came before and for lack of a better pairing of words, completely pointless.

Its goal was to retcon the mistakes made by Crisis on Infinite Earths, as well as dispelling anything that unexpectedly remained in circulation following that story. It was also tasked with realigning the timeline to make it more understandable to those attempting to follow the convoluted continuity.

It failed to do all of the above and instead it created a multitude of inconsistences. They then aimed to reboot it completely with the announcement of Infinite Crisis.

Infinite Crisis:

Gap between Zero Hour 1994 – Infinite Crisis 2005, 9 years.

That gap seems to be getting a lot smaller already, doesn't it?

Infinite Crisis is a title that follows on directly from Crisis on Infinite Earths and in doing so makes Zero Hour obsolete in the process. Despite this, the comic series could not be more of a confusing mess if it tried to be.

Its primary concern is recreating the universe from scratch and while it somewhat succeeds in this regard, it also tries to pack far too much into its morbidly obese storyline. There are certain heroes and villains that begin being picked off seemingly at random just for them to come back to life in the future. It runs with this increasingly transparent storyline, with Lex Luthor taking over the universe momentarily before devolving into a plot with a jealous Superboy fighting everyone because…well, just because really.

If it decided to focus on one, or, at a push, two of these aspects, then maybe the overarching story would’ve been interesting, if not cohesive. Certainly not the worst of these reboots, but ultimately poor non-intellectual drivel, nonetheless.

The New 52/Flashpoint:

Gap between Infinite Crisis 2005 – Flashpoint, 6 years.

This one’s a bit of a head scratcher.

Although they are both part of the same reboot as they do co-exist with one another they’re not actually part of the same series. Confusing, isn’t it? Let’s break it down.

Just like every other instance of forced debauchery in this article, Flashpoint is a crossover event that was mainly written to revamp the overall line-up of DC’s superheroes. It however inadvertently forced DC to cancel all of their upcoming comic books scheduled for release to the tune of many unsatisfied fans.

What’s important to note though, is that Flashpoint didn’t begin it’s life this way, it was originally intended to just be a standalone concept in a limited series (that sounds familiar doesn’t it). As with pretty much everything else talked about here, DC saw the dollar signs and immediately began work on reconstructing what didn’t need to be taken apart.

This caused the new line-up - simply called the new 52 - to come into the fray. To little success, especially in comparison to the precursors that eluded to it's inevitable existence.

It also caused DC to go back to the drawing board just 5 years later.

DC Rebirth:

Gap between Flashpoint 2011 – DC Rebirth 2016, 5 years.

Rebirth is the latest reimagining of DC’s line-up for the third time in less than 20 years. It’s also the ambitious facilitator that has tasked itself with bringing back everything lost after the unveiling of the new 52, as well as reinvigorating the characters still at their disposal.

The ideology behind it was to reignite the driving forces, motivations and values of the characters whilst attempting to build on them a little bit more. It instead, derailed everything people had come to love about the companies characteristically fuelled compatriots. It was the most pointless reiteration of something that was metaphorically living a tranquil life before the tide turned. 

Since its inception, it has been debated whether or not this actually classes as a reboot; most fans would tell you it is not. It is more of a return to traditional ways in the same way that a lot of other companies - if not all of them - seem to be primarily focusing on within the zeitgeist.

A pointless experiment designed to extract dollars from wallets, currency from cards and bitcoins from fanboys.

Gap between DC Rebirth 2016 – 5G? 2020, 4 years?

Since writing this article, 5G has become a published series in a last-ditch effort to save the dying comic book industry. It was published under the alternative name Future State. Predominantly to avoid any sort of negative association with the ill-fated 5G nametag.