Bored?

Okay, I get it, DC, but you don't. You're tired of these familiar characters. They're all too... familiar. Boring. You want to tell interesting stories, and your creative staff can't work up any enthusiasm for these guys.

So, Everything We Know Is Wrong. These new characters look like the ones we know, and some of them even go by the same name, but it's not them. These are people about whom you think you can tell exciting stories. And you want to trick us into buying a brand new comic about a brand new character by putting an old familiar name on it.

Hey, it worked in 1956 for "The Flash" in Showcase #4.

I just finished the World of Flashpoint mini, in which the world's most determined, most dogmatic skeptic becomes a dark magician in order to... No, I can't even finish that sentence. Why even use the name if you're going to go so far off the rails? Representing this character as Doctor Thirteen is just plain cruel.

But why am I surprised? This isn't your first attempt, and cynicism born of years of reading comics I didn't like featuring characters who shared a name but nothing else with a character I wanted to see more of tells me it won't be the last.

As I said earlier:

DC wants to have their cake and eat it too. Almost literally. They want to exploit their world-famous Iconic Characters without being tied to the 75 years of history that, well, made them the Icons they are.

But along with the history, you're throwing out the essence of the characters. When you introduced Barry Allen, there were enough points of similarity with Jay Garrick that for fans who remembered the earlier version, this was still the Flash.

I know, I know, it's only Doctor Thirteen, who cares about him?

Well, obviously not you.

I guess Doctor Thirteen will go the way of Ralph Dibny, and be the exclusive domain of the people down the hall in the Showcase Presents office. Who will be the next character you care that little about?