We're facing a veritable flood of alternative titles to the classic comics canon. They also boast great creative teams and extensive promotion. And the commercial results are undoubtedly good, which leads us to a question: Why do we like alternative titles?
DC Absolute and Marvel Ultimate as examples
With all these alternate worlds and changes made to canonical lines when an element works in new iterations, new readers often end up unsure about which version to buy or prefer these versions over others. Are we facing a new paradigm for comics? Is it just a phase?
Other DC worlds, Marvel 's What If...? , the two alternate universes of Ultimate, Earths One and Two, and DC's new Absolute. These have been the universes and collections that have changed the characters the most. Almost all of them have been short-lived, with exceptions like Ultimate (which has recently been regenerated) and the current DC Absolute, which we don't know how long it will last.
6 reasons to buy these new universes
While I don't want to go into too exhaustive an analysis, some characteristics apply to each wave of alternate worlds, because the multiverse isn't something new; it's just the same old thing with a different "subtitle."
1. They are "new"
A priori, they don't have decades of previous stories, and anyone can jump in without the usual pests coming to explain or correct what you're reading. Marvel's current Ultimate Spider-Man hasn't lost Uncle Ben, so they can't use the "with great power comes great responsibility" argument,according to those who've read all the web-slinger comics. The old rules no longer apply.
2. They are not the "classic" heroes
Heroes were born at a certain time, and they've changed, but their beginnings always seem tied to their early years. So, being born in a different era means being a different hero. DC's Absolute Batman isn't a millionaire and was born in the present day, so he's physically bigger due to his training, and the Batmobile isn't just a car.
3. They start from scratch
It's similar to being new, but it refers more to the fact that everything can happen again in the same way, or completely differently. DC's Superman Red Son tells the story of Clark growing up in the USSR without the values of the American dream; he's a communist and acts accordingly.
4. They never last long
They're either limited series, or they simply end because the authors don't know what to do with them anymore, and they end up resembling the canonical version and no longer interest the reader. They're usually miniseries, one or more, or they're usually shut down, as happened with DC's Earth 2 or Marvel's first Ultimate Universe, when sales decline.
5. Old boundaries are broken
The X-Men are violent, they kill, they have sex. They've done that before. No, jokes aside, in those worlds, the heroes haven't developed, and their actions are driven by what they're suffering, and their decisions are different. On Earth-One, Batman doesn't kill, but there isn't the advanced technology for his gadgets to work, and there's heightened surveillance that modifies his modus operandi.
In Absolute Wonder Woman, Diana is more like the warrior all Azzarello fans have come to expect, but she's also more caring and human, and has a touch of Disney princess appeal because she survived hell. Boundaries are pushed because they don't work the way they did when they were created.
6. They make us believe they are cooler
It's as easy as putting them in our soup to make us think about it. But they're as cool as a good old canonical era.
Almost all of these characteristics, if you notice, depend on the length of time the character has existed. And that's an indication that comics are a market that, although no one wants to admit it, needs to continually regenerate itself. And it's not usually done as deeply as it should be within canonical lines, since it's easier to create an alternate world and for the audience to tire of it and return to the classic one, because it's the cool one and the truly good one.