Now, when it comes to comics, I’ve always been more of a Marvel kid, though I’m relatively familiar with the Distinguished Competition, and have been sort of keeping up with the news about the latest reboot over at DC, where they’re starting the universe over at square (or issue number) one for all the characters, ideally as a jumping on point for new readers.

Some characters aren’t changing much at all (my understanding is that Batman is pretty true to all his central themes), though other characters have been changed up pretty radically.

And, there’s been a lot of complaining from established fans. This is not a surprise. Comic fans complain about everything. It’s what we do.

Still, I think some complaining is warranted. Feels like DC missed th boat on one particular character; one that hadn’t really been in the comics for years, but thanks to a cartoon from a couple of years ago has a big built in fan base – Starfire. There’s been LOTS of complianing about that one. However, the best piece, that gets to the heart of why the changes don’t work, empirically, or as a means of drawing in new readers, has best been captured in the words of of a seven year old girl, as interviewed by her mother:

“Do you think the Starfire from the Teen Titans cartoon is a good role model?”

*immediately* “Oh yes. She’s a great role model. She tells people they can be good friends and super powerful and fight for good.”

“What about this new Starfire?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s not doing anything.”

“Is this new Starfire someone you’d want to be when you grow up?”

*she gets uncomfortable again*”Not really. I mean, grown ups can wear what they want, but…she’s not doing anything but wearing a tiny bikini to get attention.”

Draw your own conclusions (though do take a look at the Shortpacked comic included in the article, which hits the mark perfectly).