The remaining series from the New 52 launch are coming up on issue #52, and DC Comics is celebrating with a set of variant covers homaging the #1 issues from the launch. Here’s Jesus Merino’s tribute to Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato’s cover to Flash #1:
The cover is nice and all but why do we need all these titles restarted anyway.
The biggest problem I had with the New52 in the first place was that they were ditching the numbering on so many established titles.
Now, Flash in particular had only just been restarted a year earlier so it wasn’t a major blow..(On the other hand that Pre-Flashpoint title had been about Barry Allen picking his life back up after his return in Flash Rebirth and I was keener on DC re-numbering his new book to pick up where the hold one left off…Flash #1 (June 2010) should have been #351 and so on.)
But far worse than Flash were the travesty’s that occurred to the Longest running titles in DC’s pantheon
Batman (1040-2011) last issue #713
Superman/Adventures of Superman/Superman (1939-2011) Last issue #714
Detective Comics (1937-2011) last issue #851
Action Comics (1938-2011) last issue: #904
On the home stretch to #1,000 and they pull it?!?
Even Wonder Woman, who was always “Officially” regarded as the number three Character behind Superman and Batman, was finally given her due when DC started renumbering her third consecutive series to honor her entire history so that by the time Flashpoint came along her last issue was #614 (maybe not as high as the World’s Finest, but certainly an acceptable number.
Now, Issue can’t go beyond 52 without starting over? It used to be that DC put a lot of stock in the Legacy and duration of it’s characters. but now it seems that none of their books can go the distance anymore.
Back in 1995, Books that made it to 100 were given special covers. Now it seems as if the #100 is permanently unattainable
To me, this is a real shame.
It really is sad that within the big two publishers we may never again see a book (non-renumbered Action and Detective) in the triple-digits.
Growing up I only read Marvel. Any time I would think about getting into DC I would wonder why books like Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman were numbered so low for being around forever… it made me not want to get invested, and I did not understand why any book would restart its numbering.
The higher numbered titles at Marvel didn’t intimidate me or scare me off, it made me feel as though I was reading something with a long history that I could learn about. I’d like to go back to a time where legacy, even by something as admittedly ancillary as numbering was part of the hobby.