I'm wondering why they've put Cyborg in place of Martian Manhunter in Justice League.  Smacks of tokenism to me which is pretty sad.

Well, I guess I stand corrected from my earlier post on this thread.  Maybe.  We'll see. :-)  It still doesn't make any sense to do all of the various settings up they'd been doing across the line just to have it all go nowhere in the name of a big relaunch.  Especially on the heels of something like Flashpoint which (conceptually) isn't what you'd call a "Universe ender."  Say what you will about the execution of Crisis, but at least it was designed to be a celebration/last visit/culmination of All That Had Gone before (on a big picture level).  Flashpoint is some bizarre alternate reality thingee.

If you're really going to reboot a line, do it right.  Bring all of the books to proper conclusions, maybe do your big "end of all that's gone before" series, and then kick-off your new universe.  Or better yet, show some sense and realize that the vast majority of your potential readership aren't going to be trying out 52 new books in one month so you should be staggering the new era.  Start with the basics (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman), and then gradually expand the new universe while contracting the old one. 

If this really is a permanent no fooling starting everything over kind of thing, then doing it the way they're doing it comes across as a big FU to people currently reading the books.  Not because they're tossing the continuity away per se, but because the stories we've been reading didn't get finished, but rather tossed away.  Stuff like that doesn't make me want to give the new line a shot.  (And "new looks designed by Jim Lee" doesn't impress either.)

I don't want to be one of those kneejerk reactionaries who loudly proclaim "DC IS DEAD TO ME!!!!," but I don't know if there'll be anything left for me there.  We'll see what's what when the solicits come out, but almost all of the DC books I'm reading (JSA, Birds of Prey, Batgirl) wouldn't really work if they're trying to make everything "iconic yet modern."  Maybe Legion, although I'd miss the history.  Still, not like it's the first time on that one. :-)

The picture above reminds me...

You know what I miss about Green Lantern?  When he would use his ring to make a big hammer to whack villains with.  Why does he need to make big, complex gun-looking thingees with it?  Why not just shoot stuff from his ring if he wants a projectile?

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Most likely because he was a member of the JLA in Smallville and in the 80's Super Powers cartoon. THey even wanted to include a new female Cyborg character for the Justice League cartoon from several years ago. So it's less about tokenism and more about trying to make the comics reflect their TV and movie counterparts. IMO, that is a hell of a lot more sadder than trying to make the JLA more racially diverse.

Then again, I could be wrong...

Edited by Eric Smearman on 31 May 2011 at 6:59pm

:'-(