DC Generations, Legacies, and Branding

I've noticed a bothersome trend that has been developing at DC these last few years: brand duplication. The 1st-tier characters are seeing double, as there are now multiple Green Lanterns, Flashes, and Batmans. Many noticed this after the return of Barry Allen as the Flash, as it was pointed out that Wally and Barry were not different enough to justify both characters being named the Flash.

Not just named the Flash, but wearing almost identical outfits. This was acceptable with Green Lantern because there had already been a corps, and great pains were taken to differentiate between Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. With the return of Bruce Wayne, however, I fear for Dick Grayson's character. For so long he stood as a counterpart to Batman, and later struck out on his own as a unique character. With Tim Drake having taken the role of Red Robin, I feel like Nightwing's function in the DCU is obsolete, and what does that mean for the future?

That's the big question here: the why, and the ramifications. DC has always been about Generations, as their heroes were known for their sidekicks. Later those sidekicks grew up and either struck out on their own, or took over their mentor's roles (when the mentor either retired or died). The 1980s and '90s were a time when the second generation heroes went through major name and identity changes: following Nightwing's lead, Wondergirl became Troia, Aqualad became Tempest, and Speedy became Arsenal. Emphasis was placed on them being unique, in both costume and name.

On the Legacy front, Wally West not only took over as the Flash, but Green Lantern was reduced to one character. Not only was the entire Corps destroyed, but Guy Gardner became Warrior and John Stewart became a Darkstar (and Hal Jordan became the Spectre). When Azrael became the new Batman, there was only one Batman until Bruce returned to take back the title. Batman's "sidekicks", as well, were not characterized by branding: Nightwing, Oracle, Hunter, Anarky, Spoiler, Azrael. Only Robin kept the familiar name, the rest were original creations. Sure the quality could be argued...

This all changed around the introduction of Cassandra Cain as Batgirl in 1999. Now this easily could have been dismissed at the time, as it had been years since a Batgirl character had existed. It was followed in 2001, however, with the resurrection of Oliver Queen and the subsequent decision to keep both him and Connor Hawke named Green Arrow. Followed by Arsenal's renaming as Red Arrow in 2006, Green Arrow now had a multi-colored brand.

Multiple characters with the same name, differentiated only by slight tweaks in color and/or symbol. Obviously this is something Marvel has suffered from in the past (War Machine and Thunderstrike come to mind), but at least there have been attempts to make their characters stand out. DC isn't even trying anymore.

Generations and Legacies are cool, as it's expected that a Kid Flash or Robin will one day step up and take their mentor's role. The problem, however, is that the 2nd Generation (Dick Grayson, Wally West, Roy Harper, Connor Hawke, Kyle Rayner) was briefly given a chance at promotion, but now feel relegated to a Michael Scott/Jim Halpert co-manager situation, and we all know how that turned out. With the 3rd generation slot already filled (Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy) and in some cases a 4th generation (Damian Wayne as Robin, forcing Tim Drake into the 2nd generation slot), the 2nd generation characters are stuck without being allowed to progress, and yet any change at this point will feel like a regression.

If Wally West were to start going by the name FastGuy!, no one would take him seriously. If Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing, how can he compete with Red Robin? DC has written itself into a corner, possibly because they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. "Why not have multiple versions? We'll please everyone!" In the long run, however, this is bad storytelling.

When I speak of regression, I'd like to point out two characters specifically: Donna Troy and Roy Harper. During the "One Year Later" storyline, Donna Troy became Wonder Woman briefly. Obviously her tenure as the character was planned to be brief in order to highlight the necessity of Diana Prince in the role. In the years since, however, Donna has floundered from one Titans team to a Titans-Lite Justice League (including Mon-El wearing a Superman symbol), showing how much she lacks definition.

Meanwhile Roy Harper has become Arsenal again, but having not read "The Rise and Fall of Arsenal" I can only comment on what I've heard about it: shit, pure and utter shit. The brutal killing of his daughter and X-TREME nature of his new robotic arm only highlight how ill-advised it is to allow these characters to grow up past college age.

By contrast, Marvel kept Bucky as Captain America even when Steve Rogers returned, and Steve became Super Soldier. In the wake of Dark Avengers, Daken is no longer a duplicate Wolverine.

Now I'm not defending or detracting the quality of any of these storylines: I love Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns, but I feel like their narrative decisions are designed to be short-term but appear to be lasting long-term. In five years when they both move on to other projects, Wally West and Dick Grayson will either be killed off or regressed One More Day-style to their former selves.

What bothers me most is the branding aspect of it. I feel like instead of creating fresh, unique characters (or putting a new spin on an old character), DC is shoving characters into easily identifiable roles:

Spoiler is now Batgirl, Tim Drake is Red Robin, and there's even a new Batwoman. There are currently two Batmen, two Robins, and two Batfemales. Compare that to the 1990s when each sidekick had a unique name, costume and role, to the point where Oracle and Huntress branched out away from the Batman brand.

I feel like creativity and long-term goals are being trumped in favor or short-term business decisions.

I know Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne are being written with different personalities and different roles. I know the same applies to Wally West and Barry Allen. I feel, however, that has more to do with good writers (Morrison and Johns) struggling with a business decision that was handed down to them.

The casual fan will not know the difference, they will simply see Batman and Flash. It's cheap, and damns the characters into not-quite roles.

I'm not decreeing the 1990s as a milestone of quality at DC, quite the opposite. I'm simply pointing out that there was an acknowledgement at the time of the repetitive nature of the Generations characters, and the response was renaming and repackaging.

The 21st century, however, has DC playing up the brand. Not only are there multiple versions of different Brands (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow), but there are multiple comic books. Doesn't it feel cheap to argue that Bruce is the International Batman and Dick is the Gotham City Batman, but then to have a comic (Batman: Dark Knight) specifically created to highlight Bruce's adventures in Gotham?

Anderson, you are one tough nut to crack. I'll concede that strong stories are being told at the moment, but my concern is the long run. 2nd generation characters have either been killed off (Tempest), made obsolete (Troia), or tainted (Arsenal).

Dick Grayson was almost killed off during Infinite Crisis. With a stay of execution, the stories that followed were either horrible (Bruce Jones) or boring (Marv Wolfman). Becoming Batman is a natural step for Dick Grayson, but it's an end goal: where does he go from here?

The same applies to Wally West. Heroes that are married with children tend to suffer. If DC is intending for the West family to be the equivalent of the Fantastic Four then that may work, because that's the only comic book family that has stayed together and not been killed off. Well, there's the Baker family, but even Morrison played around with the cliche by having the family get murdered, and then retconning them back to life.

Buddy Baker, Animal Man. Just about the only married with kids DC hero I can think of before Wally West.

I feel like you're assuming a lot from a few throw away comments. I feel like I understand "Deux Ex Machina" just fine (Buddy meets his maker, Morrison explains how he could write Buddy into any horrible situation for the sake of drama, then feels sympathy for Buddy and writes his family back to life), but feel free to enlighten me.

My point is I'm tired of horrible things happening to my fun superheroes. Rape, murder, that's all unnecessary. Allowing a character like Dick Grayson to reach his full potential, replacing his mentor, only to bring the mentor back leaves Dick in the lurch.

Here's the deal: every single 2nd generation character that gets married and/or has kids eventually loses their loved ones. Arsenal, Tempest, Troia have all had a spouse and/or child die. Every hero that has been promoted (Kid Flash to Flash, Troia to Wonder Woman, Arsenal to Red Arrow, Nightwing to Batman) is eventually rendered obsolete by the return of their mentor, or is regressed back to a lesser role.

I worry that, during a moment of creative stagnance, good characters like Wally West and Dick Grayson will either be killed off, or have everything taken away from them in a bout to make them X-TREME.

Bear in mind that I'm aware this is the institution of comic books. I know that things are cyclical. I haven't spent money on superhero comic in years, I get everything from the library. It's not going to kill me if Dick and Wally are taken out of the spotlight or relegated to second tier places. Getting back to my original point, being out of the limelight actually allows these characters much more creative freedom (see Chuck Dixon's run on Nightwing, Johns' early run on Flash), so I would prefer them to take a step back as long as they have a unique identity and function in the DCU.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree, Anderson. Where you see change, I see homogenization. Dick and Wally have spent the last 25 years being their own men, and now they're both Franchises.

I'm hearing you, Anderson, and I respect what you're saying. I'm not so much angry as disappointed with the repetitive trend of names and costumes lately, but I can see it as a building block towards a better future for these characters. Wally and Dick had both been suffering in the creative department post-Infinite Crisis, so they definitely needing a stirring up.

Just don't let whoever wrote "The Rise and Fall of Arsenal" get a hold of either character.