So, DC is seemingly doing a hard re-boot on the ENTIRE DCU

I have absolutely no idea how this is going to work, but it looks like DC Comics just announced a few minutes ago that they will be starting their entire line over with all new #1 issues set in a DCU not of the current continuity.

Announced here at USA Today.

1)  All new #1's
2)  I think its safe to assume we just moved to an all new Earth for the DCU and the stories we all have been reading since 1986 just got wrapped up and put on the shelf
3)  The reboot is going to take everyone back to a younger, earlier point
4)  Same day online delivery of ongoing content to DC's online store
5)  New costumes for many heroes, including SUPERMAN (I never thought I'd see the day)
6)  It's 1986 all over again
7)  I think we can assume this is one way to wrap up the Lois/ Superman relationship without a One More Day resolution
8)  I have to appreciate the bold move by DC to jump start interest
9)  I think they're going to lose tens of thousands of readers and go back to old continuity within a year
10)  No word yet on if old continuity will continue or if numbering will be preserved in titles like Action and Detective.  Basically - is DC trying an Ultimates Style redo line wide and keeping any old titles, or...?  I have no idea.
11)  I am completely stunned.  Not that I didn't think it was a possibility given the nature of Flashpoint, but...  Wow, DC...

More updates as events warrant.

Something must have slipped, because DC was going to make a big announcement on June 11th, and word must have been too close to leaking.

If their Fiscal Year ends on August 31, this is one hell of a way to change the numbers for FY 2011-12.

Red Cross is a Good Idea Today

This Spring has seen its fair share of tragedy due to horrendous storms which cost hundreds of lives.  The pictures coming out of Joplin today are every bit as heartbreaking as those from Alabama a few weeks back.  At The Signal Watch we're regular donors to The Red Cross, and we like to encourage you to join us in chipping in a bit more when the need is sudden and great.

You don't have to be from Alabama or Missouri to want to help.  And you don't even need to get up from your computer.  Please visit RedCross.org today and consider a donation.  Its a super sort of thing to do.

Our Thoughts are with Japan

As you have no doubt been alerted, Japan has suffered a major earthquake and tsunami.  I did not see the televised footage until about 10:00 AM today while waiting in line for a cup of coffee.  Like you, I was horrified at the sheer loss.

What can you say after seeing the footage except to express concern, wishes for the wellbeing of people you don't know, and to be one of many voices asking that you consider providing some financial assistance to the organizations that will be responding today and in the weeks to come.

CNN ongoing coverage is here.

The Red Cross alert website.

So, apparently there's life out there in space

So, apparently NASA is saying that they've found the fossil evidence of alien life in a meteorite.

You can read the article here. 

So, upon realizing what I was reading, my immediate reaction was a sort of weird, physical thing where my body went cold and I felt sort of nauseous.  You get this, right?  I mean, these findings don't just suggest, but they are fairly significant evidence - there is something else out there.  Even single-celled warbly things are something.  Our planet is completely covered in single-celled warbly things, so it makes sense that there are chunks of Earth flying through space with bits of amoeba and flagellates embedded somewhere in the rock.

Now, of course you sort of have to believe in fossils to buy the evidence, and given the current state of things, it seems more likely that someone will cut this guy's funding and/ or burn down his home and office rather than suggest that fossil evidence means anything, but I tend to be completely amazed that scientists (the people who spent their lives dedicated to figuring this stuff out, and not you - the person who saw this thing once on the Discovery Channel), are going to go ahead and put their names in with this review.

Completely amazing.