Interesting Maybe?

[bluebeast]

Like DIrishB said, two or three ongoing series. I would personally pick two ongoing series. Batman and Superman and let the rest of the universe grow out of them.

I would not detail the two characters origin from get go, but it would be explained the fact they are reasonably new at the crime fighting business, probably about a few months in. The origins would be detailed maybe in a few issues after the beginning of the series.

Superman: Clark Kent is a young adult, early 20's, living his life travelling the world. He is looking for purpose in his life. His adoptive parents died when he was 16 killed by an unexplained house fire (really superman's powers manifesting). When staying in Metropolis he saves a young journalist's life and finds his real purpose. The idea of Krypton will be left ambiguous, Clark will not know his adoptive parents are actually his adoptive parents, the series would have a back story of him actually searching for his origins.

Batman: A young intellectual recluse, at the age of five his parents were held at gun point in their manor and were shot as young Bruce Wayne watched. He was taken under by a close friend of the Wayne's Alfred Pennyworth. When old enough Bruce Wayne chose to leave his residence and moved to a secluded house in the rocky mountains. After many years of living in a secluded life, he had built a relationship with a young Selina Kyle, and studied martial arts. One night be was haunted by visions of a bat, telling him to return to Gotham City. A city now plagued by Crime, he vowed to find the reason why his parents were killed, and too clean Gotham's streets.

Kent won't be a journalist from the start, there would be no batcave, Krypton would be a mystery, etc etc. This however would change as the story progress'. Also Superman i plan on basing him of Ultimate Thor un Ultimates 1 and 2, this would last until his origin story is revealed, however what i mean by this is the fact there was doubt whether Ultimate Thor was a god, i would use this concept on Superman and then revela he is an alien from a dead planet.

As the series continues we would see a Superman Vs Batman mini. This would hint to the formation of Justice League, as Superman Vs Batman would involve the origin of Wonder Woman.

What no Flash and Green Lantern? Those two would be amazing for a reboot.

And I was thinking that Superman would learn his origins from the Kryptonian weapon BRAINIAC.

 

[-beardoms-]

Good idea about Brainiac. Flash and Green Lantern would not get there won series if i were doing it. I would introduce them in another mini, a lot of the mini's that would be released would build up to a justice league series.

 

[Ninja4peace]

Part the problem is that Marvel (at least the ultimate marvel) tends to start in the real world. Nearly all the heroes are humans before something happens that mutates them. Or just mutants outright. Notable exception being thor.

But with DC there's a whole lot of backstory that makes it very different from the real world. Not just in the Wonder woman books where the whole of Greek Mythology is in continuity, but the JSA have been around for decades, Atlantis is real and has it's own chronicles and the Green Lantern Corps just exist...there's no story of formation other than "the first police in the universe used green lanterns when they walked around".

But the big differnece- this backstory is all set against hero's who, aren't usually, different to the rest of their species. They're mostly humans (albiet with tools or weapons) or aliens - so the backstorys of the individuals origins aren't really that complicated. As a result DC seems to have far more characters, but not as many high-profile ones.

This is why all-star DC doesn't work the same as ultimate...even with the 2 allstar books we've had many characters feature whose origins aren't dealt with at all. and I don't really feel they need to be. I consider myself a completist...you can still fulfill all your completist urges within DC, you just need to be more ambitious.

 

[Random]

DC and Marvel are probably the two biggest comic book publishers. They both share similar story types (super hereos in a shared universe). Since DC began it has gone throuhg numerous re-inventions, time and time again, trying to bring new readers in. Marvel has done it, but not in the same vein as DC have. Marvel has done it once and after a while it reverted back to it's original continuity.

One thing that marvel has introduced is the Ultimate line, this line of comics has fans and haters. But hs been very popular (until recently it's gone down hill)

I propose that DC look into doing an alternate universe series, in the same vein as the ultimate series with just their major characters. DC has such a convulted back story, it has never appealed to me as much as Marvel does. I would definatley read an ultimate universe style of DC comics, focusing on Batman and Superman etc. Would you guys read it?

I would name it DC 101 and it would probably be just two ongoing series of DC 101: Superman and DC 101: Batman. Then we could get a few mini-series maybe a DC 101: Justice League which wold introduce new characters in to the comics line.

I wouldn't say do anything that would be considered "DC's ultimate universe" but it would be cool to have a short term alternate universe to let writers play with

 

[DIrishB]

Part the problem is that Marvel (at least the ultimate marvel) tends to start in the real world. Nearly all the heroes are humans before something happens that mutates them. Or just mutants outright. Notable exception being thor.

But with DC there's a whole lot of backstory that makes it very different from the real world. Not just in the Wonder woman books where the whole of Greek Mythology is in continuity, but the JSA have been around for decades, Atlantis is real and has it's own chronicles and the Green Lantern Corps just exist...there's no story of formation other than "the first police in the universe used green lanterns when they walked around".

But it seems you're holding too much to whats been established in the regular DC universe. Why would an offshoot/Ultimate have to be the same at all? It really doesn't even have to be close. I think its a mistake to set up a "different" (even only slightly) universe but hold so closely to the strictures of the original.

What we're saying is do away with all the extraneous, uninteresting, D-list characters the DC universe is made up of and focus on just Batman, Superman, and possibly a JLA (which would, ideally, be just Bats/Supes and maybe Wonder Woman or Green Lantern). Make it a universe where there is only a few super-powered individuals instead of thousands (or hundreds like in the Ultimate universe already).

That way, when a character has a super-power, it actually means something.

 

[Ninja4peace]

But it seems you're holding too much to whats been established in the regular DC universe. Why would an offshoot/Ultimate have to be the same at all? It really doesn't even have to be close. I think its a mistake to set up a "different" (even only slightly) universe but hold so closely to the strictures of the original.

What we're saying is do away with all the extraneous, uninteresting, D-list characters the DC universe is made up of and focus on just Batman, Superman, and possibly a JLA (which would, ideally, be just Bats/Supes and maybe Wonder Woman or Green Lantern). Make it a universe where there is only a few super-powered individuals instead of thousands (or hundreds like in the Ultimate universe already).

That way, when a character has a super-power, it actually means something.

But the thing is as soon as you have wonder woman, you have the amazons and the greek gods.

As soon as you have green lantern you have the corps and the guardians.

Maybe you could write a universe with just Bat and Supes but I don't see what writers could do with a DC-101 that can't be done anyway.

I really like the things Alex Ross has done. That's not necessarily in it's own continuity but it's completely stand-alone and he's given many characters origins in the Secret files & origins GN. I consider it somewhere between a tribute and a best of the silver age. And it's beautiful.

 

[J. Agamemnon]

But the thing is as soon as you have wonder woman, you have the amazons and the greek gods.

As soon as you have green lantern you have the corps and the guardians.

Well, that's part of the problem and correct me if I was mislead, but you're assuming that Green Lantern may not be as good without the corps and it's components. You're assuming that WW would have to be restrained to the Amazonian mythos and there would be no other possible way to reboot her without that inclusion...

...and that's crap. For starters, her outfit shows nothing at all of her heritage. In fact I don't know why she chooses the American Flag as an outfit when she's the ambassador of mankind. Right off the bat, she could be tied to the US gov't.

The first Green Lantern has nothing to do with the corps, but the starheart. Draw from that mythos instead of the corps and Oa. You could rewrite the starhearts' origins, where it came from, is it actually kryptonite? Could he become a weapon against Superman? Could he in fact be a villain?

So many different possibilities without being confined to a previous continuity.

 

[DIrishB]

But the thing is as soon as you have wonder woman, you have the amazons and the greek gods.

As soon as you have green lantern you have the corps and the guardians.

No...no you don't. Only if you carbon copy the original DC universe do you have those things.

A new Wonder Woman doesn't have to be an Amazonian.

A new Green Lantern doesn't have to have a Green Lantern Corp.

See what I'm saying?

Well, that's part of the problem and correct me if I was mislead, but you're assuming that Green Lantern may not be as good without the corps and it's components. You're assuming that WW would have to be restrained to the Amazonian mythos and there would be no other possible way to reboot her without that inclusion...

...and that's crap. For starters, her outfit shows nothing at all of her heritage. In fact I don't know why she chooses the American Flag as an outfit when she's the ambassador of mankind. Right off the bat, she could be tied to the US gov't.

The first Green Lantern has nothing to do with the corps, but the starheart. Draw from that mythos instead of the corps and Oa. You could rewrite the starhearts' origins, where it came from, is it actually kryptonite? Could he become a weapon against Superman? Could he in fact be a villain?

So many different possibilities without being confined to a previous continuity.

Exactly.

 

[Zombipanda]

Well, first off, I don't think you can take the Amazonian origins out of Wonder Woman any more than you can take the Kryptonian origins out of Superman. Sure, you can reimagine these characters all you want, but you eventually reach a point where it's not an "ultimate" version of the character at all, but instead you have something like the Tangent Universe where names are tacked to characters that don't have much in common with the source. Honestly, I don't think DC should go this route. I love you Jag, but what you're suggesting is beyond unappealing to me. I can see where you're coming from with Green Lantern, but GL is a book about space cops. That's why it's succeeded all these years and the original Green Lantern is little more than a background character. There are essential pieces you need to keep in places to really highlight the strengths of the franchises. It doesn't make a lot of sense. I feel like their core books are pretty entry-friendly. I think the idea behind the UU is something that's run its course. Both companies have done a pretty good job of targeting their books to a broader audience without having to shuttle off a new universe to appeal to the casual crowd. That said, on a creative level, the idea greatly appeals to me. I'm still proud of the Ultimate DC Universe I sketched out a long time ago. However, I think if it were to be done, you can't go the same route as Marvel. The strength of the Ultimate Universe is that it drew itself back to the core idea of Marvel Comics, the idea that all this could take place in the real world. DC is a different beast, and if they did something like this, they'd need to appeal to what makes their brand strong: rich history and legacy. Here are the things I think would be key to a project of this nature, to create a product that speaks to the strength of DC's characters while sidestepping some of the problems that plagued the UU. Most of them deal with time and legacy, which I feel is the cornerstone of the DC characters.

- A sense of solid progression. If Superman and Batman are going to be the cornerstones (and they absolutely should be), then the books need to be about the progression from Year One to the apex of their careers. These are both characters that came out of the box fully formed. Superman was Superman and Batman was Batman. They were both characters with experience, who were at the top of their game. More than the Marvel characters, these guys are about the journey. How does Bruce Wayne go about becoming the greatest detective in the world? How does Superman become a paragon of virtue and discover his origins.The last 25 years of DC comics have largely been an exploration of the characters' legacy. Writers (I'm looking at you, Geoff Johns) have spent a great deal of time taking the seventy-five years of legacy and constructing a narrative out of it. But with that many writers dabbling, it's a rather patchwork affair. This is an excuse for smart writers to take the decades of lessons learned by their predecessors and apply it to a chronicle of superhero careers without seams. I'd suggest twelve issue volumes, much like Ultimates, with each one covering a year of each guy's career, set to a ten year plan. The restrictions will force writers to make each issue count, because there are clear limitations set. You only have this much space to tell the story of Batman's first year, for instance. It will insure that every issue counts, instead of coasting along with generic Batman/Superman/Whatever stories. It would be similar to the season format of TV shows. I'm looking particularly at The Wire, which was touted as a "television novel". Each volume would be an independent story that provides a perfect jumping on for new readers, but which progresses a narrative. Each volume stands alone in its own right, with a beginning and middle and end and clearly delineated themes and motifs, but also rewards readers who've been picking up the book since the beginning.

- Utilize a small, tight group of writers. This is easy. Look at the Bendis/Millar paradigm. It would be fairly easy to do if you have Superman and Batman as the core books. Put together smart writers who are good at long term storytelling and can work well together. If they have a few year's lead time to work on Batman and Superman before new franchise favorites are introduced, that lays the groundwork for any later writers who come along and sets clear and universal rules. Be frugal in how quickly you introduce new ideas and characters. I'd suggest a universe bible in much the way a lot of TV writing is done.

- Don't purge history just because you don't know what to do with it. Pieces of the past like Justice Society and Blackhawks and pieces of the future like the Legion are important parts of the DC tapestry. The problem comes from utilizing these characters irresponsibly. Batman and Superman's first appearance should mark the beginning of a new age. There's no doubt about that. They're the fathers of the superhero movement. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't have been masked men in WWII, or characters inspired by their deeds in the future. These kind of characters add echoes and resonance to the strength of these guys in the same way that Captain America brought a heritage to Marvel's Ultimate Universe. Just utilize them frugally. I'd suggest yearly summer event minis that focus on the universe's history and its future.

- Keep the fictional cities around. I want Metropolis and Gotham. Half of the strength of Batman and Superman comes from the character of the cities they live in. You can't move Superman to New York and Batman to Boston just to make things easy, and there's no reason this needs to be the "real world". Part of the characters' strengths come from the fact that they live in a world that's much more vivid than ours. Batman should be about detective stories and Superman should be about science adventure, and their cities should reflect this, drawing on modern day and retro elements in much the same way that the WB Batman cartoon did or Azzarello's pulp project seem to be doing.