"5G" -- DC main characters to be "replaced," including Hal

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I remember being so excited for Smith's run when he brought Ollie back. Those were good stories and it kind of energized me and my interest as a Green Arrow fan. I like most of Meltzers run, but it had the unfortunate side effect of permanently turning Ollie into a scumbag, and that stuck with him pretty much until they got rid of the character in the 2011 reboot. I liked certain elements of the Connor Hawke run and can sympathize with what they were going for, but it just wasn't for me without classic Ollie.

[Michael Heide]

I liked the Connor Hawke era. Smith's first Ollie story was okay, his second one was much weaker, Meltzer was alright, and after that, Green Arrow was unreadable until Rebirth and Ben Percy.

[Andrew NDB]

I was reading Green Arrow for a few years before the New52 reboot... it was pretty disheartening how much he'd be disrespected as a character. Every new writer would bring "a BOLD NEW BEGINNING for Green Arrow!" and everything before was jettisoned. Over and over again. There wasn't any point to collect it anymore.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Ahh, thanks for the refresher. It's been forever since I read those issues. It was during that stretch that I finally walked away from Green Arrow after buying everything on the guy since the Mike Barr/Trevor Von Eeden mini series in the 80s. I think I was gone by the time you mention Winick coming back for a brief stint.

[Parrylakks]

As a Green Arrow fan, I actually liked Winick's run, but I'd like to point out that he didn't write the reboot. He picked up GA during vol. 3 and stayed on it until part lof the way through the GA/BC series, then Andrew Kreisberg took over, who wrote himself into a corner with that stupid Cupid storyline that he just couldn't let go of, before giving way to JT Krul, who tried to revitalize the character (and was doing a pretty good job) before the reboot forced him to shift gears. It was then him that wrote the first few issues of the reboot before handing it off to someone else.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

That actually seemed like the perfect home to quarantine Judd Winick into. And I actually liked a lot of what he did with Kyle -- not all of it, but the majority, yeah.

Yeah, you would think Green Arrow would be the ideal title for a guy like Winick. Perfect place for him to grandstand, virtue signal, all of that. I would have been fine with it there but it wasnt even entertaining. Green Lantern? Yeah, I was rolling my eyes constantly during that run.

[Andrew NDB]

Like when Judd Winick wrote Green Arrow into the ground -- then they let him write the reboot too!

That actually seemed like the perfect home to quarantine Judd Winick into. And I actually liked a lot of what he did with Kyle -- not all of it, but the majority, yeah.

[Big Blue Lantern]

Good to hear this abortion isn't going to happen.

The latest word is that it will still happen, but it will be a separate imprint.

[Trey Strain]

When they broke their universe with Flashpoint, the people in charge were the same people who had been in charge when Infinite Crisis more or less unsuccessfully tried to update the DCU years before. And then those people stayed in charge for DCYOU, and for Rebirth. Trying to get these exact people to overhaul it again with 5G would have been the textbook definition of insanity.

Like when Judd Winick wrote Green Arrow into the ground -- then they let him write the reboot too!

[Michael Heide]

I feel like the DCU never even remotely recovered after DC threw it in the trash with Flashpoint in 2011. It's been a joke compared to what we had from 1985 to 2011. And 56 to 86.

When they broke their universe with Flashpoint, the people in charge were the same people who had been in charge when Infinite Crisis more or less unsuccessfully tried to update the DCU years before. And then those people stayed in charge for DCYOU, and for Rebirth. Trying to get these exact people to overhaul it again with 5G would have been the textbook definition of insanity.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I feel like the DCU never even remotely recovered after DC threw it in the trash with Flashpoint in 2011. It's been a joke compared to what we had from 1985 to 2011. And 56 to 86.

[Trey Strain]

It was going to be Emerald Twilight again. Get rid of everything with a huge explosion, and start with all different stuff. Then, after people had begged them for a sufficiently long time, publish a big event that merged the old with the new.

I bet DiDio was fighting to do this.

Vince McMahon, who everyone should acknowledge has been a successful promoter, has said that people love two things -- a buildup and a return. DC obviously knows that too, so in theory this looked like a solid idea.

The problem with it is that comics characters are not pro wrestlers. Comics characters don't age out, die, retire or whatever, to be replaced by newcomers, unless comics companies actively make it happen. And boy oh boy, have the comics companies ever made that happen.

The message boards, including even this one, have therefore become to some extent or other about PROTECTING CHARACTERS.

You were just not going to nuke the whole DCU and profit from it. Sure, the event itself would have broken all sales records, but it would have been like the trick that Daffy Duck did in the old cartoon where he got so frustrated because people wouldn't applaud his stage act that he blew himself up. THEN the audience cheered! As his soul drifted away, Daffy lamented that he could do the trick only once.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I think Marvel is doing FCBD but DC bailed.

[Hypo]

Hmmm, that's a good point. People are reading into the fact that the Generations issue isn't listed but the Lil' Gotham Batman book is. It's possible they're saving it to distribute through their new partners.

[Michael Heide]

Is the FCBD one-shot no longer happening, or is it just no longer happening through Diamond?