In yesterday's post, I lamented the impending radical reboot of the DCU. Let me be Mr. Positive now, and list a few things I would do, had I the power, to simplify the DCU and bring it "back to basics" without (potentially) reversing years of continuity:
1. Mostly restore the pre-"Batman R.I.P." status quo in the world of the Bats. Dick realizes he will never "be" Batman, and now that Bruce is back, Dick can return to being his own man (or Babs' own man). Nightwing was a magnificent character (with a great costume), and the DCU needs him back. I would keep Damian as Robin, though, and Tim can stay Red Robin or choose another identity not so closely tied to Robin. That way, we have Bruce Wayne as the one and only Batman again, with a young and impetuous Robin by his side–the "classic" coupling–and the rest of the Batverse can stay as is (including Steph as Batgirl, provided there is a place for Cassandra, and Babs as Oracle in some form).
2. Return Wonder Woman so she bears some resemblance–not primarily visual–to her classic roots (as Johns did with Hal and Barry already). This may be the plan, who knows, and the new costume, especially as tweaked by Lee in the JLA promo picture, has grown on me. But restore the origins to what most people know, including Steve Trevor being involved with Diana's trip to "Man's World" (cue James Brown–heh!). And please, DC, get her right this time. That, in itself, may make this whole reboot worthwhile.
3. Superman is fine–keep the younger Supes in the Earth One line, but don't. mess. with. Superman. He's your key property right now with the upcoming movie and 75th anniversary coming up. Don't let Grant Morrison write some metacontextual, oh-so-clever Superman book–hey, I liked All-Star Superman, but as an ancillary title, not one of the main books.
4. Keep Hal Jordan on Earth more than has been done the last few years. I loved the Wein/Gibbons run on Green Lantern in the 80s, much of which took place on Earth with Carol fighting "normal" villains. Green Lantern Corps can handle the sci-fi- aspects of the GL world, but keep Hal "grounded" a good bit of the time.
5. Restore the JLA to some line-up focused on the Big 7 (or 6, as they're doing), without the needless de-aging. I loved Meltzer's line-up, as long as it took to come together. Do something like that again, but do it right.
6. Don't know what to do with the Teen Titans–perhaps they need to give them a rest for a while.
7. Do not touch the Legion–the return of Paul Levitz has been an 80s fanboy's dream.
8. Restore the glory of Aquaman, of course, as I have faith Johns will do–he was redeveloped wonderfully through Brightest Day, so don't mess that up. I see Aquaman as DC's Thor, capable of supporting his own separate world–can you imagine Atlantis fleshed out as well as Lee and Kirby did with Asgard? Peter David did just that, of course, with The Atlantis Chronicles, so build on that if you want–just make us Aquafans proud, please.
9. Secret Six stays, end of story.
There is a chance, of course, that we're all overreacting to the skimpy details DC has given us regarding the reboot. Things may not change that much–more than the minor tinkering that resulted in New Earth after Infinite Crisis, certainly, but perhaps not a complete rollback. I wouldn't mind a short round of "spot the changes" like "One Year Later," as long as much of the DCU is kept the same–if someone is going to tinker with the past at the end of Flashpoint, let them be minor changes, not radical ones. Change for the sake of change is never wise–I just hope Johns, Lee, and Didio keep that in mind too.
In an exclusive interview at IGN, Batman group editor Mike Marts reveals some more of the plans for the Bat-characters post-Flashpoint:
Mark D. White 
