The end of Flashpoint reboots the whole DC Universe. It marries the DC-main, Vertigo and WildStorm universes into one coherent universe.

“The New 52″ are the 52 #1 titles that DC will be launching over the following weeks.

I’ve been following comicbooks on-and-off over the last few years. I’m a little jaded when companies announce their annual crossover that promises to “change everything.” These changes are often short-term — what’s worse is that future events may undo those changes.

With that, I’m a little disappointed at DC. I’ve always preferred them over anyone else (they have Batman on their side!) and most of the time, they tell the better stories. So this new reboot throws out everything I have followed over the last few years. (as if the normal events in the comics don’t already do that.)

The idea with “The New 52″ is that this will be a younger DC Universe, with a clearer definition of universe-wide paths to be taken in the future. So how did the first one of that rate? Here are some of my personal notes on the issue:

• It starts with Batman. Everything must always start with Batman.
• The Justice League have yet to meet each other.
• It reads FAST. There’s not much story here, really, just a setup of things to come. I wish it had more pages, it is their first #1 after all.
• Batman’s cape. Define it. It seems like it’s always in motion. Tattered and whole at the same time.
• Hal Jordan’s projections are fantastic!
• The new Superman. The first and greatest hero in all of comicbook-dom — how is he? He appears in only one page. (spoilers!)
• Vic’s setup is fantastic. It’s nice to see ‘ol Cyborg making it into the big leagues.
• Darkseid is back!
• Is Batman and Superman still the “World’s Finest” this universe around? We’ve yet to find out.
• It seems like a blockbuster effort. Totally readable for new readers.
• “Legacy” characters don’t really seem like legacy characters when every reboot (and fan protest) reverts them back to the original identities.

So there. At least there’s DC’s own Retroactive if you’re looking for the previous generation’s league.

What I’m most curious about is the Bat-family. They say it remains untouched, but Dick being demoted (and they stress this was his own choice) back to Nightwing seems like a waste to me. The character’s been through enough.

[EDIT: Sorta-related. I found this piece of fanart at some image board. I wish I knew who drew it, so I could give credit:]

More Batman-related things — here’s the Dark Knight Rises poster:

Nolan’s really stuck with the crumbling-buildings-as-posters theme in the last few years, hasn’t he? Not that I mind at all. It’s always like this with Nolan movies anyway, ambiguous teasers a year away.

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Arkham City Riddler trailer:

October!

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Since I’ve been playing way too much Team Fortress 2 lately, here’s the month-old trailer for Gotham City Impostors, the class-based FPS centered around the Batman universe. (Which is still a dumb idea. Batman isn’t exactly known for his gun-carrying. Or encouraging citizens to take up arms. Except old-TDR-Batman, if you so choose to correct me on the last statement.)

A little over two years ago, we were teased that Ultimate Spider-Man 133 was going to be Ultimate Peter Parker’s last outing as Spidey. (Ultimatum!) This time around, with issue 160, I’ll give you a little spoiler: Peter Parker dies. No shit. He dies. Die dies. Dies in probably the most meaningful way possible, which I won’t spoil. (Unless you’ve already been reading articles online that did spoil the ending. I’m looking at you, NY Times.)

USM was the first title in the Ultimate imprint, and looking back, it is also the most significant, most consistent and most enduring of them all. While the Ultimate versions of other characters became twisted under different writer’s hands, Peter Parker’s “flaw” was that underneath all that power, he remained a 15-year old boy realistically dealing with life as a super-powered kid. That there’s no unbelievable streak of luck that exists only in stories — that sometimes, you just get by, no highs or no lows.

I discovered USM when I was 18, via this little shop in Katipunan, CCHQ. (IMY) Those days were spent looking forward to Wednesdays, when my comicbooks will arrive, and USM would usually be the first one I’ll pick up. Now I’m 25 years old, and it feels like Peter has become this friend that always constantly needed saving. In between those years, other Ultimate titles have come and gone, while Peter was still Peter, the best one of them all.

It helps that this emotionally charged issue is bookended by the same guys who started it all: Bendis and Bagley. Reading through 160 made me realize how much I missed Bagley’s work, and that this, truly was, the end for this version of Peter Parker, Bendis’ baby.

Apparently this isn’t the end though, and a new Spider-Man will be webswinging about in the Ultimate universe. Who he is remains a mystery. There’s also the upcoming cartoon, of which I have heard nothing new from.

What to do now? Time to pick up the trades. Catch up on this amazing piece of history.

It’s a great year to be a Bat-fan! Batman Arkham City comes out later this year — and what’s this? Batman: Year One! Here’s a sneak peek:

Check out the storyboards on this one — lifted from the panels. Will this be the best Batman animated film yet?

The X-Men anime is cleavage. And shoulder pads.

This version of the X-Men is a mix of New and Astonishing — in anime format. When I say anime format, I mean slightly-tweaked Western designs animated in beautiful/mad MadHouse style.

The story kicks off a year after Jean’s supposed-death (she will rise again) — with the X-Men regrouping in the Xavier Institute to do what they do best: take matters into their own hands when it comes to mutant issues. Scott is still in his post-Jean/pre-Emma/mega-whine period, Logan is still angry all the time, while Storm and Beast serve as the heart and mind of the group, respectively.

Their first mission has them investigating the disappearance of fan-favorite middleschooler mutant Hisako Ichiki/Armor in Japan. X-Men-type shenanigans ensue.

All in all, (and I haven’t checked out the Wolverine/Iron Man series) I think this is the strongest Marvel Anime offering so far. It follows certain 616 storylines while also adding some anime sensibilities. (The good kind. The kind that doesn’t change the settings/characters too much, but changing them enough to make it a logical fit for the tone/direction they are going for.)

The animation, as expected of MadHouse, is top-notch. The end credits also show much promise when it comes to some villains that will be featured in future storylines: Magneto, Juggernaut, Stryfe(!) and Mystique, to name a few.

Oh, and as mentioned, the X-Men anime is cleavage. Case in point:

Personally: I’m looking forward to the episode where Charles Xavier steps down and Cyclops decides to be a bad-ass.

[Thanks to Mikko for the heads-up!]

The clip posted on Newsarama last week teased Batman vs Superman on the the season opener for The Brave and the Bold. Seeing the familiar armor, the episode was bound to have quite a few more references to previous instances when Batman had to fight Superman.

Here are two screenshots that reference their fight from The Dark Knight Returns:

…and a third screenshot that looks like a panel from the Hush storyline:

Batman and Superman slugging it out is something fans truly want to see. With that episode’s portrayal, and that one we already know how gorgeous it would probably look, animated. Question is: why do we still not have a DC Universe Animated feature for The Dark Knight Returns? (It, of course, being the primary source of this Batman-haet-Superman thing. Most comics that have them fighting probably reference it one way or another.)

They could get away with it being a little too “dark” now, as shown by The New Frontier, so that covers a couple of issues with the source material. (Batman: Year One will be made, but still no official announcement for TDKR.)

Until then, fans have last week’s Brave and the Bold episode to repeat over and over to see Batman fighting Superman, TDKR-style.

Now it’s The Flash’s turn to have his big “event.” From the pages of The Flash comes the “big event’ of 2011 (that will, or may potentially change the DCU (again, this is a parenthesis-within-a-parenthesis)), Flashpoint.

A preview of the figures from The Source has this about Batman: “He spends his days running Wayne Casinos.”

Here’s some theories from ComicVine: What Do The Flashpoint Teasers Mean?

Watched Batman: Under the Red Hood again — only to realize that there aren’t that many animated Batman films (not counting the Superman/Batman ones) — and making a top 5 list is only a matter of selecting the ones that really stood out.

So here goes my list:

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm – The one that started it all — coming out straight from the (then on-air) fantastic animated series, this one had all the elements of a good Batman story: action, mystery, romance and tragedy.

Batman: Under the Red Hood – The most recent Batman animated film is action. Just action. Based on the story arc “Under the Hood,” it is the culmination of that Jason Todd cameo from the “Hush” storyline, 7 years ago. While many didn’t like how Jason was even brought back in the first place, this animated feature had enough great action sequences, double (and triple) crosses and the occasional banter between Batman/Nightwing, to make this direct-to-video feature highly entertaining.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker – Okay, so I cheated a little. While not featuring the Bruce Wayne version of the character, this Batman animated feature still has enough action, mystery and humor to make it stand on it’s own. If you watch it enough times, you’ll recognize that this is secretly Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie wrapped in Batman Beyond awesomeness.

Batman: Gotham Knight – Tying in to The Dark Knight, Gotham Knight is an anthology of Batman stories set in the Nolan-verse. Sitting nicely in between Begins and The Dark Knight, these stories explore several themes of “Batman in the real world.” Animated by various Japanese animation studios with Batman voiced by Kevin Conroy, it surprisingly works.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero – If you think about it — SubZero wouldn’t have happened at all if Mr. Freeze just learned how to ask nicely. Life lessons all around.

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For now this list will remain like this until maybe a Batman: The Brave and the Bold (oh for this episode alone!) movie comes out, or if the Batman: Year One direct-to-video turns out great later this year.

Wow.  The Arkham City teaser was exactly a year ago, now we have this to go on — check out Batman being a bad-ass: