So they’re trying to be Marvel. Whatever works, I guess. To me it’s all about the stories, the art, and the characters and not so much about the continuity so this could work for me.

Let’s hope they don’t mess-up the characters that bad, especially Batman!

Absolutely – the final arbiter of how most renumbering stunts work is how much readers like the book.

Here’s what I said with my retailer hat on to Newsarama:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dc-retailers-number-ones-110601.html

Fundamentally what it comes down to is buy it if you like it and drop it if you do not.

More from the NYT on the plan:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/comic-book-math-dc-to-renumber-series-starting-again-with-no-1/

This is such a complex issue to wrap your head around and questions abound about DC’s announcement, which is obviously, the intended effect.

From the reader/collector standpoint the immediate concern is the tinkering with long established icons and the secondary tier of characters a company’s stable is built upon. How much continuity will be wiped out and how off-putting will the changes be? “Change” is a scary word in all forms of life and are DC’s loyal fans willing to support this initiative? The recent revamp of Wonder Woman caused a swell of media attention, but how many of those were willing to stay onboard? Granted, we are talking about a character who has been regarded as one of the “big three” in the collective American mindset, but has struggled with sales much of its existence.

The same day digital release decision will be interesting to chart. How will it affect brick and mortar stores? Printing comics I imagine is not a cheap undertaking and it makes sense on a cost-effective basis, but will it affect the local comic shop or will it need a generation or two before the drastic pinch is felt?

But back to the initial question: To jump on or off? Dyed in the wool fans are going to continue to support their favorite characters and creators, but DC will have an incredible task of needing to be able to deliver. This may also be the opportunity for collectors struggling with a budget to find reasons to trim their monthly pull list.

My gut reaction is to have this serve as a jumping off point, but I have not seen the advance solicitations yet either. I could tell you one thing today because the news is so raw and do another thing when it is time to make my monthly order.

One thing I can declare is I will not support digital downloads. I am indeed a longbox type of guy. Should publishers ever decide to switch to exclusive digital publishing it will be the end of my new comics consumption and efforts will be strengthened in acquiring back issues.

Such a complex issue to ponder with many questions to consider. I guess we will see how it will all shake out eventually.