Heh - reminds me of something I saw on the old DC Comics board where someone suggested they reboot every month so they always have number #1 issues.
Don't say that out loud. They might hear.
DC has always seemed to screw themselves in one way or another. They have *the* classic roster of heroes, but they keep futzing around with them, when, as Marvel proves time after time, all you have to do is write interesting characters.
The Spectre could and should always be Jim Corrigan, cop killed on the beat "before his time" who is allowed to return to Earth to act as the spirit of justice. But, when sales are down, "oh my, we better change the secret identity of the Spectre. That will raise sales!" No! Nobody gives a rat's fart who The Spectre is, or who Batman is for that matter, or what the heroes powers are... we care that the characters are well-written and are used to tell interesting, entertaining stories. You don't need to change the name, just tell better stories.
"Well, Bruce Wayne would never act like that."
"Why not?"
"He never has."
"So? He's *fictional* he can act however the hell the writer wants him to act. Just tell me a good story"
It's maddening at times. Hal Jordan is the Spectre? Yeah, that suddenly makes me care about either. Yawn. Are the stories good? No? Then I'm not gonna buy it.
And that's why CoX is still causing so many people such heartache now that it's gone... It was entertaining and interesting, and fun. If it came back but was re-named "Only Losers Play This Game" I'd still be as close to first in line to play again as I could get.