At select comic shops around the country, fans eagerly awaiting the release of Flashpoint #5, which ends the DC Universe as we knew it, and Justice League #1, which is the launching point for where DC is taking us. At Midtown Comics Times Square in New York City, DC Comics held a Midnight Madness event where fans could not only pick up these milestone issues, but could also meet the creators of the new Justice League book, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee!
With the anticipation of countless fans lining up for a chance to meet their favorite artists, I decided to get in line for the midnight event 12 hours early, and it was one of the wisest decisions I have ever made. The sheer volume of fans that showed up, lining the sidewalks of 40th street, from 7th Ave. to 9th Ave., was unbelievable. For me, it was not only amazing just from the amount of people in one spot, but amazing at just how many people are anticipating this relauch and love Geoff and Jim's work so much. Having only seen brief panels and getting a 6-page sneak preview, the fan base for the DC Comics relaunch is unbelievable.
Probably the first thing that happened worth mention was the amount of press that was present to cover the event. Not since Superman #75, the issue where Superman died, have I ever seen such press coverage for a comics event. I, personally, did interviews with The New York Post, CNN, and NBC. There were other people from the New York Times, Newsarama, New York Comic Con, and countless others. This was clearly an important event, not just for comic book fans, but for the world. Reporters and journalists were asking questions to every fan as to why they were there, how long they'd been camping out in line, and what their feelings were on the relaunch. It really made the event all the more special and credible, for me at least.
At around 3:00, the marketing and PR people from DC Comics came out to greet the crowd with Wayne Casino chips (props from the Flashpoint series), Green Lantern rings, pins, give aways, and food and beverages. DC Comics' level of dedication to their fans was undeniable. They could see that we are just as excited for the relaunch as they are and rewarded us well for showing up so early and spending so much time in line.
Now, while all that other stuff is all well and good, I think the real reason that you're all reading this article is to see which of the who's who of DC Comics came out for the event. For me, the best moment was when the VP Editor and co-publisher of DC Comics, Dan Didio, came out! I got to take a couple pictures with him and ask him a couple of questions about the relaunch. I also got the oppertunity to meet the new Batman #1 writer Scott Snyder. After speaking with both of them, I can easily say that this relaunch is going to be giving long time readers and new readers THE BEST stories we've ever seen! The important point that they wanted to get across was that this is not a reboot. All the past stories will still be canon, such as Batman RIP, Blackest Night, etc... Didio said that the only characters getting tweaked were the Superman-family, i.e. Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy, and even they're not changing that much. The main reason for this relaunch and setting everything back to a #1 is to merely create a clear, easy launching point for new readers to jump on and to add fuel to the fire of long time readers. It's still our same characters that we all know and love, they just look a little different and more modern. That's it! I'd also just like to add one thing from my conversation with Scott Snyder: He told me that he has two sons at home, so I asked him what his boy thinks of his dad writing Batman. He said, "Oh, my son thinks I go into the office everyday and meet Batman and Batman says, 'Okay, here's what we're going to do...' It's adorable." I just thought that was funny and worth mentioning.
Chief Editor of Newsarama, Mike Doran, was on site for the event as well. Mike had the supreme priviledge of reading not only Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 before all of us, but he also got to read all of next week's comics as well. As a long time Superman fan, I had to ask him how he felt about the new Action Comics storyline that Grant Morrison is writing. His exact words were, "I was blow away! If doing a relaunch makes Superman THIS good, they should do it every new storyline. It's amazing and probably one of the best Superman stories I've ever read. You're going to love it." He commented a little bit on each of the titles, such as Detective Comics, Batman, Aquaman, and others. For those of you who may be saying that you're not going to read all the #1's, I would also like to share this with you: He said that Wonder Woman #1, Animal Man #1, and Swampthing #1 were amazing on so many levels. He said the level of high-octane action in Wonder Woman will make you fall head over heels for the character! I spoke with the man for nearly a half an hour, so he obviously said SO much more, but he had nothing but fantastic things to say about the new #1's.
Finally, after 12 hours of waiting in line, Midtown Comics finally allowed the first batch of us up into the store to purchace Flashpoint and Justice League, then we would walk around and have the titles signed by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. I have to say, these guys are two of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Regardless of how many fan boys of geeked out all over them, they maintain this amazingly high level of excitment and enthusiasm both towards the comics and towards their fans. These two had over 200 people waiting outside to meet them and they weren't daunted at all. They were so happy to see SO many people who are just as excited as they are.
At the end of the night, waiting 12 hours does seem like a long time, but the whole event was completely worth it. Havingmet all the people that I did and getting to have my Justice League #1s and Flashpoints signed was worth every moment I spent in line. And hearing all the information about all the new #1's first hand from Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Dan Didio, and Scott Snyder, I can easily say that this LOOOONG time DC Comics fan is extremely pleased and excited for all the new books. If they're even half as good as Justice League #1, we are all going to be blow out of our chairs!! We really have so much to look forward to and we'll all extremely pleased with what we're getting! If you haven't already, go out and pick up a copy of Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1. It will easily be the best $6 you have ever spent and I gurantee you'll re-read those issues again and again!!