Flash has been a mess but it looks as if Barry is headed our way and Batman is about to become fruit salad as are all the Bat-related family of titles for reasons which truly are unclear if not unjustified.

JLA remains a mix of classic DC icons and the writer’s pet heroes as it has been since, well, forever. JSA seems more and more like JOhns’ personal vanity continuity project at DCU.

Johnnyzito is right in that it looks like no hard reset is coming but it certainly feels like one given the direction and tone of Final Crisis. This schism between tone/story direction and publishing reality seems to lend to an overall impression that DC doesn’t know what it’s doing and the books don’t know where they are going.

Didio can say whatever he wants about the DCU heroes and how they are going to be presented but what is actually being done month to month in the comics is a far different story.

My recent fear is that the monthly DC titles are starting to feel unimportant or just not of interest. The Superman books are well done but the New Krypton angle just doesn’t spark my interest. JSA seems divorced from the rest of the line. Wonder Woman is not meeting the high expectations I had for Gail Simone’s run. Flash is merely treading water. JLA hardly seems to be a must read. I’ve thought Nightwing had improved under Tomasi but it’s been cancelled. The Batman line looks like it’s just being ditched in favor of whatever editorial fiat has been secretly determined.

Frankly, it doesn’t look like their is any consistent vision for the DCU books and certainly no consistent execution. When compared to what Marvel has done with the persistent and organized approach to their entire line of titles with Civil War and Secret Invasion, DC looks like a chaotic failure and I think the sales are reflecting that fact. Whether one enjoyed the creative content of Marvel’s recent event books and stories or not, Marvel had a clear plan and direction to to take their entire line of product in, through, and back out of their events in a planned fashion. These events actually aided the monthly titles in boosting sales and having the chance to pick up new readers.

Final Crisis seems almost divorced from helping the monthly titles and recent things like Countdown and the persistent editorial resetting of DC’s monthly titles seems only to have crippled DC’s ability to attract new readers and keep the existing readership base satisfied.

And I know the ‘hard reboot’ that looks like it’s coming after FC isn’t coming BUT All Star Superman makes me long for a continuity-less super hero story.