On Wednesday, August 31, 2011 DC Comics launched a historic renumbering of the entire DC Universe line of comic books with 52 first issues.

While I can appreciate the energy, the vision and the boldness of such a decision…I also know DC. Nothing lasts.  How many outfits has Superman used? How many different series have Hawkman, Aquaman and The Flash had?

Says Dan Dido a VP in Editorial: “This isn’t a haphazard decision. This wasn’t made overnight. This isn’t a stunt, or an event that’s going to go away, that’s not what this is about. This is an initiative across the company in order to improve the health of the business, and DC Comics. Pure and simple.” We shall see.

While this will last longer than Titans Tower I expect they’ll go back to the old numbering in time.

Also according to Marv Wolfman: “Once I became a professional writer I mentioned my “brilliant” idea to several editors at both DC and Marvel and was promptly told that limited series would be immpossible to sell.  Back in 1970, first issues of comics…sold poorly.  Readers were suspicious of comics with low numbers (as opposed to say Action Comics #450 which indicated it had been around for a long time).” {Page 1 Introduction of Crisis on Infinite Earths trade}

Let’s see how long it takes…update: June 2016: The New 52 is over and Rebirth begins (technically May 25, 2016 when the Rebirth one-shot was released).

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