Which is why the statement from the company is that she is the first solo hero to headline her own book. All the ones you listed were/are parts of larger teams and did not have their own solo publications.

What a sad time to live in. True they have never had a solo publication because the marketing always said that it would fail up against the classics. So the only solution they could come up with was to rewrite our heroes. To be PC DC is going to lose millions. Why do we have to change tradition? Why can't they just add another series? If it fails then the world still doesn't want it. I for one will save money not buying the new series. My children will inherit my collection and enjoy the stories I grew up with. Besides, when was Superman ever a racist?

Don't forget Ace and Gary - the Ambiguously Gay Duo. Burt and Ernie...

Well there you go. Burt and Ernie. The fact that that show has never talked about couples of any type and the gay community says hey make it PC and now instead of ABCs sesame street will now teach your children at a very young age that your likely gay. Especially if your best friend is of the same sex. Can anyone tell me if they ever had Mr. Hooper's wife on the show??? I think not. Besides if any character on that show was gay it was Big Bird.

The only thing permanent is change...

Maybe they weren't prominent enough? Wonder Woman could do better as a lesbian I think.

However, change for change's sake is utterly retarded. Or is that a "no no word" now!?!

If they want more diversity, couldn't they come up with new superheros to write about?

They did; white kids don't read them, though, because they like to read about heroes that look like themselves. Go figure; kids tend to idolize images that similar to themselves. Too bad kids of color can read about white heroes with no problem but not the other way around.

@Ciewywtb42mh6sps-23

Seems you are the racist one, saying that white kids are unable to enjoy non-white superheroes. You are categorizing them based on the color of their skin (Guess what? That's what racism is!). I'll admit to being white, but some of my favorite superheros were black: Spawn (Al Simmons), Bishop (yes, I bought his spin-off series), and Blade. I had plenty of other friends who, besides being white kids, also read these series and enjoyed them as well. I think changing a currently white character into a black/hispanic/asian guy is just as stupid of an idea as making Spawn a white guy, Lady Deathstrike black, or Ripclaw middle-eastern.

Don't forget Sam Wilson, the Falcon.

This is just another case of political correctness run amok. If they want superheroes who are LGBT, minorities, etc. then let someone with an imagination come up with them. To take classic comics characters and recast them as minorities, etc. is patently absurd. These characters have been around for many decades and their legacy should be honored, not rewritten. I can guarantee I will never spend my money on any of these recast abominations that are an insult to the originals.

This has nothing to do with being PC. This is about selling comics. If it boosts sales, then it will keep keep'n on, if it doesn't then next year they'll just reboot it again.

Continuity? What comics have you been reading?

LOL come on continuity have you even seen the dumb plots and obvious plotholes in most of the comic storylines.

Continuity is often rebooted. Superman's been rebooted lots of times, for example. And let's not forget that many superhero movies feature a reboot of some sort.

DC and Marvel have rebooted plenty of times so 75 years of continuity is a joke this is about more #1 issues more than anything else. Why because #1 issues are what collectors want. Changing races ,sexual orientation, or other wild stuff, just ups the publicity thus sells more comics.

" ... ups the publicity thus sells more comics."

Wrong. Loyal readers and fans quite often will boycott the books causing a downturn in sales. These publicity stunts often backfire. When (real) collectors 'want' #1 issues, they buy them from other collectors, i.e. not that crap currently on the shelves. Right now and for a lonnnng time there are NO #1 books. Marvel and DC both SUCK. All their books are now CRAP. Thank you, Disney, you suck the most.

75 years?

DC rebooted the entire line just like this in 1986 ("Crisis on Infnite Earths") ... then they did another soft universe reboot in 1994 that changed very little actually ("Zero Hour") ... then they destroyed the multiverse to create one new universe just a few years ago ("Infinite Crisis" and "52") ... then they reintroduced new, updated versions of Superman in "All Star Superman" in 2006-2008, "Secret Origin" in 2009-2010, and "Superman Earth One" in 2010; and Batman was updated in "All Star Batman" in 2009 and "Batman Earth One" scheduled to ship May 2012 .. .and now this.

Not even close to 75 years. At most, maybe 30 -- since the original Crisis.

I agree. Doesn't anyone have an original thought anymore. They do not need to change the heroes that have already been developed. Think up NEW, USE your heads for something besides a hatrack.

I guess Robin can no longer say "holy guacamole Batman" it might offend one of the other superheroes

Well, a Hispanic Batman would be Batmanuel and that character has already been created.

why they don't call it "WHAT IF" remmember this issues back in the seventies???

what if batman was latino, what if robin was gay, what if superman came from the future, what if wonder woman was a president...etc.

I agree but if you have been in comics as long as I have you would know this is really just a testing ploy companies do for extra sales. It brings up controvesery and interest to 'sideline fans' to help drum up sales. And with DC comics, they usually go back to statis quo after a year or two.

Sin - I have to say that I agree with you 100%. I do not understand it when this route is taken instead of originality. It almost makes the writers seem lazy. Even this idea of remaking any movies can be taken too far. It can be interesting to see other versions but, yes, when too many start doing it, no.

In the super hero stories we can keep the original stories but if we want to add ethnicity the writers have tons of space to do that. Haven't they heard of evolution. Produce a future, for heavens sake. Bring in other races. I often wonder if writers who write remakes have spent their time plagerizing when in university!!! GB

I obviously disagree with this re-do of ICONIC Superheroes.....but, to blame all this "new improved" crap on Superman is kind of backwards isn't it? LOL To me, I will stick with the Iconic characters of yesteryear.......and I never even purchased a comic book....but, with DC doing this to ICONIC characters, you can bank on the idea that I definitely won't buy this re-juiced trash....

Well said...

Well said Shogun. So called "artists" from the last 20 years have absolutely zero talent. That goes for whatever industry they are part of. At least Marvel had the brains to make the new spider man have absolutely nothing to do with the Marvel Universe. Its part of the Ultimate Universe and you expect stunts such as that to occur there. Then again you expect sales to drop there as well as people grow tired of the idea and move on to something different. Its funny cause when I read comics, I read certain titles for 20-25 years. I never had a problem with those titles getting old or stagnant. It seems that around the mid 80's this new generation of so called writers came along and simply couldnt invent anything original and so either rebooted comics (which most bombed miserably after a year or two) or simply copied characters and renamed them. I expect this reboot to sell well for a few months, then the newness will wear off and people will simply drop buying them.

Someone pointed this out earlier and it is, unfortunately, the reality. Rather than use some imagination to create new characters that appeal to a larger fan base, they are coming up with ridiculous stories to try and milk a little more out of the existing cash cows. The entertainment industry is void of creativity and has been replaced by marketing and packaging of the same idea in a superficially new way.

I second just about everything that I have read above. This is but a sad reflection on how far American culture has sunken into the sewer.

I'd like to see a reboot of "Idiocracy" as often as it takes until people finally get the message.

LOL! So true. Like the SNL skit where everyone has something important to do to stop a Volcano from errupting. Then the flash (i think) turns to Aquaman and tells him to go talk to some fish.

Aquaman being ridiculous has everything to do with the writer's complete inability to write, not Aquaman. In 2011, we still have not explored the deepest parts of the oceans & we discover thousands of new species every year. We act like we know it all & have mapped out every inch, but it's a lie. There are insane wonderful stories that could be written in the context of the deep aquatic. They just have failed us all in presenting them.

It was the writers who made Aquaman do nothing more than talk to fish. If they had even an ounce of creativity, they would've had him bump into Cthulhu at least once. The ugliest puppet can still blend into an epic story, but nothing can survive a barren plot.

I think they tried that Jack but Aquaman was so dull that Cthulu just slept the whole time.

Comics are fiction, history is fact. It's really fairly sad to see people put "graphic novels" on the same plane with textbooks.

Being a collector of comics I heard some grumbling among other collectors regarding the loss of continuity but to be honest I am shocked by the outrage I am reading on this board. I would bet that most of the people bitching don't even read comics, let alone buy them. Look at the cover of Justice League #1 included with the article, this pretty much covers the big guns of DC and as far as I can tell not one of them has changed colors. But you know what even if they did what is the big deal? Don't buy them if race or sexual preference if a big issue.

The issue is, these characters have a background, a story that defines them. Change one small fact and maybe the story unravels. Change a big fact and the whole story becomes null. Characters made up and actual people all have a common thing. Their life made them who they are. Whatever their race or belief. But that is what defined them. Change those events, and those facts, and what is the character worth. Not the comic book he or she is printed on that is for sure.

Amen...

Comic characters have been changed and histories re-written too many times to count. It's the nature of the industry.

I can understand a long time fan being upset about years or decades of history rebooted in this way but my issue is with the outrage over race/sexual orientation expressed on this board. I have the DC Comics preview issue covering all 52 new series and I couldn't find one where a character's ethnicity or sexual orientation changed.

Marvel did something similar several years ago with the launch of the Ultimate Universe which I believe was quite popular at the time. It allowed the writers to tell their story without being constrained by continuity. For the most part the characters did not differ greatly from the originals but allowed for some originality in the stories.

@JR-2328744 My problem has nothing to do with race or sexual orientation being changed. As an avid comic book reader (which according to you, most of the posters are not) my problem lies entirely with the history being changed. And yes, I am aware of the ret-conning that has gone on in the past, and I accept it. But having Barbara Gordon walking again effectively negates "The Killing Joke" which is, in my opinion, one of the most poignant and gripping graphic novels of all time. Are we really willing to discard that kind of artistic history for the sheer need to make a buck?

Siren, none of the past stories are being discarded. While the new storylines may not tie into the old ones nothing stops someone from picking up "The Killing Joke", "Death in the Family" or "Death of Superman" graphic novels. Good stories will stand the test of time.

Actually, comparing the comics I have seen of late with the ones I grew up with, the story lines are far more intricate and the story telling richer than the ones i read as a child (in the 80's, which, I will admit, was not exactly a golden era).

I couldn't agree with you more. If they're trying to be PC, they're going the wrong way about it by getting rid of the character in the wheelchair. Oracle was incredible in the fact that she showed that you can be a superhero and have physical limitations and the two were not mutually exclusive. She used her mind rather than her body to fight crime. Did they not think that there could be kids out there reading comic books, in wheelchairs that could be inspired by Barbara Gordon? Not to mention all the other changes they're making. I know that Marvel did a re-vamp with "Ultimate X-Men" and "Ultimate Fantastic Four", etc. a few years ago, but they never made any changes as drastic as these. For the love of god everybody, go out and buy a classic comic book so they'll stop this!!

Ummm, wake up why don't you. They made it about race, not the fans. I can say with certainty little black kids & latino kids loved Superman when they 1st saw him due to who Superman IS & what he DOES! Yet, absolutely not due to his skin color or their secret desire to look like him. It never mattered that he was white & they were brown, he was simply awesome.

Changing your hair color, or your outfit, or your whole style, DOES NOT equate to waking up & deciding to be chinese today, or black, or latino. We don't need tranny superheroes either just cuz humans try to be different genders!

Did I already say wake up?

I've got to say, my problem has nothing to do with race. I just don't like the huge change in history and backstory that some of these characters are going through. Now, I can't speak for everybody but I'm fairly certain that the real issue here is not truly about race, but about the fact that people feel the need to MAKE it about race. Superheroes are superheroes no matter what color they are and the fact that they feel the need to flip it all on its' head is a sad commentary about our society.

Its not about color its about the tradition of the characters, Superman, Batman, Wonderwomen are staples in comic book lore. No need to chnage them. create new characters, if the writers cant come up with new ideas, they should not be writers. They should have new ideas new heros. without having to resort to revamping just to appease the public

Sounds like you're the one who can't let it (color thing ?) go. It's all about tradition. All great storytelling is about tradition. That's how the characters get passed down from generation to generation, dumba$$. Now all of a sudden the hero turns out to be black, not white ? Female, not male ? What's next --- Underdog was really a squirrel ?? Secret Squirrel was really a gay mouse ? Yogi Bear was a pedophile (with BooBoo) ?

Actually no, you have also missed the boat on what people are angry about. Your response is what is sad, & your view is shared by many. DC can absolutely be blamed for it, if this move goes down as described here, it is at the core of "selling out." If they want to milk that market, then CREATE A PRODUCT! Do not change our cow's milk into goat's milk to appease those of whom do not enjoy the taste of cow's milk. Goat's milk is its own product, Soy milk is its own product, etc. If all those minorities had such a problem with white heroes, then obviously they have not been spending their cash on said comics. This doesn't mean alienate your base who have supported you through the years! The new american way seems to be, molest your product to appeal to non-fans in order to broaden your reach & fanbase. Anyone paying attention knows this works none of the time.

You want a real example of what you think you know but missed?

SPAWN. A NEW hero created from SCRATCH who was...BLACK! How much money did McFarlane make? How quickly did each issue sell out? How legendary did the series become overnight? 1.7million sales for issue #1 alone. Eventually it faded without leading their fans beyond their imaginations, but for almost a decade EVERYBODY was excited & talked about the next Spawn issue. There is absolutely ZERO debate regarding the need to change a pre-existing character's race to boost sales or milk a market. CREATE something worth buying & it will be bought. CREATE something worth loving & it will be loved. Don't argue idiocy & ignorance to support garbage tactics which revolve around making money at the expense of integrity. Any art which has allowed itself to be,"in business to make money" has reached the beginning of the end,& raped itself of its own soul. History has proven that. You need to pay more attention.

Go back & check how much Green Lantern sales spiked once the ring was passed on to John Stewart simply because he was black. You'll be disappointed.

Don't confuse the depth of a race change with the intrigue provided by Superman: Red Son. Any story posessing juice exceeds the boundries of mere ethnic origin, & presents possibilities which toggle wonder, facination, & even fear. That short series didn't revolve around being russian, it revolved around being a socialist.

If all they wanted was to test a new market, they could create a new series like "Elseworlds" where by chance certain heroes are whatever, or create a new series which revolves around shallow ethnic origin. Revamping classic characters is unnecessary. It speaks to a larger problem than just "making money."

You have a point, but when Elseworlds and Milestone Comics and other universes are created within the DC Universe, there is a ghetto feeling that accompanies it. Why can't Superman be black in a real "reeboot"? DC doesn't have the guts--until now. Let's be real; this is all academic. No one is going to mistake any changes in the DC Universe for the real, white thing. It's all about money. Always has been; always will be.