Midnight Madness

Downtown Redlands has always had a cool after dark vibe.

With Market Night, the bars and the clubs, there always seems to be people hanging around having a good time.

It's not often that you'll see them outside of a comic book store.

But that's where me and about 20 other people were on a very warm late summer evening Tuesday night.

Why would someplace like Comic Quest, the store that sits at the corner of Orange Street and Citrus Avenue, open at midnight on a random Tuesday evening? To cater to the folks like me -- the comic book geeks, hipsters and fans.

That's right I'm a comic book geek. Proud of it, too. And not just any comic book geek -- I'm a DC Comics book geek.

So, with DC Comics launching its New 52 campaign, what better time to get the books then when they can officially go on sale. It's the same reason people waited in line for Harry Potter books. So why not us comic book fans?

For those who haven't heard what's going on, here's the quick version: DC Comics took its entire universe and pushed the reset button. Stripped away some of their past experiences. Made them a little less experienced and get rid of some of the nasty continuity issues that have made it difficult to attract new readers.

So, the answer start again. With new numbering. Everything goes back to No. 1. Even the historic titles such as Action Comics (where Superman first showed up) and Detective Comics (the book Batman made his debut in).

It's not the first shakeup in a comic book universe. There's been plenty of those. Marvel created a completely separate universe to restart its characters into a more modern world years ago, with its Ultimate line -- the place where Spider-Man just died and was replaced by a new teen, who happens to be half-black, half-Latino.

And, of course, it's not DC's first go-round trying to reset itself. They've had plenty of "earth-shattering" events that they've used to try and reset the universe. But each time, some pesky piece of continuity has popped up and undone what they tried.

But by going back to No. 1 with everyone -- and raising some eyebrows for healing Batgirl Barbara Gordon, who was paralyzed by Joker years ago -- the hope is that this time the changes will stick.

And if it does stick, then maybe DC -- and parent company Warner Bros. -- will be able to go forward with developing movies with its characters the way Marvel has with its. Because that's been one of the things that has bogged down some of its characters -- convoluted backstories and histories. Wonder Woman's history alone is enough to get your head spinning.

The other major part of the new initiative for DC is going digital. The company is now releasing its books simultaneously in print and on digital platforms for e-readers. 

And that brings us back to Comic Quest. They opened at midnight last week, too. For the release of the first book in the New 52 -- Justice League. This week, it was another 13 new books released, including the aforementioned Batgirl, Detective Comics and Action Comics.

Next week, another 13 will be released. Twelve more the week after. And then another 13 the week after. And Comic Quest will be open each midnight to let the fans get their fix before the sun comes up -- or before they go to download their books.

UPDATE: Monday afternoon, Comic Quest announced on its Facebook feed that rules and regulations will keep them from opening at midnight for the foreseeable future.

And my review? So far, so good. Justice League was a nice, breezy read that boiled its characters down to their essence. And as long as the writers can keep their stories straight, then I don't see why this can't work.