For What's It's Worth: DCnU Post San Diego Comic Con

I've been thinking back on what I've heard the last few days regarding the DC 52 and I've found out something....I'm confused. More importantly, I think THEY are confused! I'm not sure what is up anymore. It seems to me that there were contradictions in what was being said at the convention.

I heard that Justice League and Action Comics take place in the past, yet I've also heard that only the first story arc takes place in the past! That's a big difference! None of the story arcs we know and love are gone, so how does that make things easier for new readers? Better yet, the DC timeline from Superman's first appearance to now is five years. FIVE YEARS! Put that with what I just said...never a dull moment for these guys, huh? That also means that Bruce has gone through four Robins (Stephanie was never one in the DCnU) in that time-frame. Was he building a league of Robins? WTF?

I know DC fans have been yelling about costume changes, or Cyborg is now a founding member of the JLA and Martian Manhunter wasn't, or several heroes are M.I.A. right now.The timeline has changed and that explains some of it. I don't have a problem with that. It's the other things that have me scratching my head.

Look, I'm gonna support this, I have no choice. I like the characters and want to read them. And Dan Didio (DC's Co-Publisher) said several times this weekend that no escape hatch has been planted. They are here for the long haul. I will not stop buying DC and quite honestly, I think the ones who say they will won't back up that claim. The talent they have lined up here is too good. The characters are too good to be ignored. I've been saying all along that I'm cautiously optimistic, but this weekend has made me even more cautious.

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For What's It's Worth: Oracle and Professor X

As you probably heard by now in September, the DCnU (DC new Universe) will begin. One of the changes that will happen is Barbara Gordon, who for the last 22 years has been in a wheelchair fighting crime as Oracle will be able to walk and become Batgirl again. As Oracle, she used her photography memory and computer knowledge to to help other heroes, especially the Bat family. More importantly, she became a role model for people with disabilities.

So now that is being reversed and the outrage is there, but I ask myself...why? The response is that she is a better character in the chair than being a bat-clone. Really? That seems funny to me. She should be an interesting character whether or not she's in the wheelchair.

Let e give you an example of someone with a disability that has been overlooked. Professor Xavier (or Prof. X) - one of Marvel's most powerful mutants - is also in a wheelchair. He's regain and loss the use of his legs a few times, but where's the outrage? Where are the people with disabilities saying HE'S a role model? The character was introduced back in 1963 IN THE WHEELCHAIR! Not only does he have a disability, he's a mutant! But it seems like he's ignored and I don't know why.

Is it that they have shown that Barbara can take care of herself? Well, Xavier can too. I can't recall right now a time where they have showed him in a physical confrontation, but when he can make a guy who can bench press 300 lbs. think he's a four year-old girl named Mary, does it matter?

Look, it's not that I don't enjoy Oracle, I enjoy Barbara Gordon. Is it fair that she stays in a wheelchair and see Bruce Wayne return from a broken back, Roy Harper get a cybernetic arm, Cyborg become...well Cyborg, and a number of people come back from the dead? From what I've been led to believe, she will be using cybernetic technology to move again. That doesn't mean it'll be permanent. She may decide that she isn't interested in patrolling in the cape and cowl, or something may go wrong and she's back in the chair. We just don't know.

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