A while back (a few weeks it would seem), I asked the following question:

“If you were reading a comic and it decided to reboot in the middle of the story… would you still read it?”

I ended up getting a variety of responses from a number of people on Twitter.

@PinkBatMax Not if I was a casual reader. If I was super-devoted, MAYBE. But probably not.

@Leuszler: Re: Reboot in mid-story, It would depend on what level of reality it was operating on.

@MoltenInk: euuuugh… I would say it would hurt the loyalty…. now if it was worked into the story in some “logical” way…… IE: a time paradox or some kind of alternate reality or something….. take a page out of DC’s book

@Tom_AIAC: Depends on how much I like the comic and the artist. That is a practice I frown upon though.

@Kyethn: No. Or rather, I would probably intend to, but get bored as they went through all the story that had been done before.

@GenDraftComic: I would read a rebooted comic if there wasn’t a long hiatus or delay.

@T_iii: unless I was a huge fan that’d put me off- unless they were continuing the story simultaneously to redoing the original pages.

@Ginpu: I agree with @t_iii. I gotta be the uber fan for that.

@Vanilleon: If it’s just for an art upgrade, no. But if there’s a big improvement in WRITING quality, then yes. (My answer may be biased. 😉

@Mitsukaiten: Depends on the type of reboot… If they want to retcon the whole story to date, I’d be less than enthusiastic.

@Arthaonline: Would I still read a book that reboots in the middle of a story. No. That strikes me as indulgent on the part of the creators. In addition, consistency, reliably delivering the book, that counts for a lot with me and a reboot goes against that.

Grrrr… I find all that rather grating. That’s just me. I probably wouldn’t. I just don’t have a great deal of tolerance. I understand rebooting major franchises in a desperate attempt to breath some life into them. In other cases, I just don’t think it makes a lot of sense. From what I can see, successful books are consistent. I guess I think that purchasing reboots just encourages bad behavior. If you purchase this reboot, well then here’s another…

This is a common theme that I have seen as of late in movies, Spider-man (Get to the back of the class Mr. Parker), Robo-cop (possibly the killing of a great series; Dead or Alive you’re coming with me), Batman (did it right and did it successfully). Comics have done it countless times as well (I won’t get into it, its been done to death). Web comics are no different. There are many webcomics out there that have had successful reboots and many have not.

The question on readers minds:
– Why are you doing this now?
– Why take what many have really enjoyed and just turn it upside down?
– Why state that the canon you know and love is basically gone like trying to deconstruct an episode of LOST?

Why, why, why?

To be honest I don’t think we will ever know unless you ask them directly. Sometimes the best answer is that it’s just time. Everyone has their own opinion of what is a successful reboot and what isn’t. I’m just bringing attention to a theme I’ve been seeing as of late.

One Response