Spider-Man has the right idea

So, I was looking at movie trailers earlier, and saw the one for next year's Spider-Man (I'd seen it before) and it got me thinking: Why reboot after only 10 years? Bond changed actors many times and never felt the need for an "origin" story...why not just pick up where the last series left off...or go ahead and set it in High School but skip the origin.

I realized, though, that they're taking the approach that comics should. Many people will not have seen the Spidey from 10 years ago, and that's a movie that was created for a different people in a different time (I still remember the original teaser with the Twin Towers featured prominently). At some point in a story that just goes on and on like comics do, you need to dump the old continuity, get back to the basics of the character and tell the story again, with whatever updates keep it relevant for the newcomers.

Comics used to know this. Every 3-4 years you'd get a renewal of sorts...not necessarily a hard reboot, but they'd just tell the same stories again for what they assumed were the new new generation of readers.

But something happened...primarily with "Generation X" but other outliers as well...they refused, upon growing up, to put away their childish things. They carried their adolescence into adulthood, and expected their toys to grow up with them. They insisted that Spider-Man, Superman, etc. all follow them from the bright primary colors of their youtrh into the gray land of moral inabsolutes of their adulthood. They demanded ambiguity, dark and gritty, middle ages and married characters that reflected their lives.

But that's not what comics were or ever should have been. Comics should stick to the core of their stories and not cater to audiences that simply want to walk hand-in-hand with Superman to their graves. To this end, I think that comics from the big 2 should hard reboot every 10 years or so. Throw out the old continuity and start the story over again and see where it goes. Don't do what Ultimate Spider-Man did and feel compelled to reintroduce every minor supporting character that ever appeared in the main books. Just start the story over and see where it goes.

As long as you maintain the core of the character, you'll keep the core fans and attract new ones. sure you'll lose the desperate guys that have posters of Mary Jane Watson on the walls of their parents basement and the guys that so identify with Superman that they wear faux eyeglasses, but you'll grow your overall audience in a way that clearly isn't happening with comics today.

If you don't think the numbers will be there for a reboot, take a look at the New 52 from DC and think again. What started out as a soft reboot is getting "harder" with each issue as sales increase. DC went from the clear loser in sales to the winner...while doing it with less books and at a lower price than Marvel.

IMO, it's the only way for the industry to survive.

Sweet jesus, don't say anything to suggest that DC's new 52 reboot was a good idea! Are you insane?!

Don't encourage them.

No that's not what happened
No that's not why they did it
No that's no what they did
No they should not do that

Gen X didn't refuse to grow up, and even if they did that has nothing to do with what happened.
Stan Lee actually had the right idea... Every comic is someone's first. When you realize this you realize how dumb the idea of a "reboot" is for reintroducing characters is.

The problems include...
Forced 6 issue arcs
Using blurbs to introduce the characters/story rather than doing it in the comic.

Really? My local stre is limiting the issues he's ordering now because most of his regulars dropped very but Green Lantern.

F reboots and remakes.


First Marvel spends the last 8 years ruining Venom, and now DC reboots my favorite ongoing and I have no clue what they are even going for (Nightwing).

(Back on topic) Isn't it because Disney took over and they want to do interlocking storylines?

Disney taking over did kill that Spectacular Spider Man show though due to the rights issue. It was getting pretty decent too....

Each new generation should have a new generation of heroes.

I don't think that you need to reboot every 10 years, but you should keep the 'flagship heroes' to their roots while allowing them to live in the world that is around them and remain relevent. In addition, when times change, you should create new heroes that symbolize the beleifs and struggles of those times, and deliberately compare and contrast them to the old school heroes.

For instance, the Death of Superman arc.

It's no Kingdom Come or Watchmen, but it examined what Superman really is...his morals? (Steel) His powers? (Eradicator) and even poked fun at the reboot idea with Superboy/Superman. It then reintroduced the character at a more beleivable power level, but the core character remained the same...a Kansas Farm Boy with enough power to change the world, and enough ethics NOT to.

The Broken Bat storyline was similar. It looked at what Batman was and what he was supposed to be through Azrael and Robin and Nightwing, gave the grim and gritty times a grim and gritty surrogate that they thoroughly deconstructed, then gave us good old Batman back.

And I have nothing but good things to say about the Byrne and Simone runs on Wonder Woman.

IMHO, every few years they should introduce new characters that symbolize issues that were not in the headlines a few years ago, and give them their run in comparison to the flagship characters.

Let the best man/woman/whatever win.