Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Rebirth

Now that a few years have lessened the emotional wallop brought on by Flashpoint and the New 52, most of which I haven't read, I was heartened to hear about Rebirth. The admission from DC that they got away from the things that made DC great -- hope, love, legacy -- was encouraging. So I'm cautiously optimistic and dipping my reading toes into the ocean that is the Rebirth DCU.

We start, of course, with DC Universe Rebirth 1. It's been a long time that a DC comic has made me this happy. Through narration by the long-missing, original Wally West, we learn that the New 52 universe didn't just happen, but was a nefarious plot against Earth and the multiverse. As Wally is pulled to and from across Earth in an attempt to make a connection that will free him from the Speed Force, we see how off the DCU has become. Ten years taken from everyone! Yeah, that's the part of the DCU that most irritated me, especially with the Bat books. Nothing made sense. How could Bats have trained and worked with so many partners in 5 years?!

The scene with Wally and Barry had me in tears. Tears of joy! In fact, this comic had more emotion in it than all of the New 52 books I have been reading combined. Well, Harley Quinn is written mostly for laughs, but there are some emotional bits.

The mix of legacy characters, of old versions and new, was so welcome. Two characters who would be Atom. The two who would be Blue Beetle. It's amazing how much was packed into this extra long story without any of it feeling rushed, gratuitous, or forced. In addition, the art is gorgeous. The facial expressions so, well, expressive, like real faces.

As for the reveal at the end as to who might be behind the lost time and missing characters, well, I never read The Watchmen, though I'm familiar with the characters. I don't have any emotional attachment to them, so if one of them is the villain in this, I have no problems with it. Someone must be held accountable and I just don't see Geoff Johns writing Dan DiDio into that role. (heh)

All I know is that I saw beloved characters and beloved versions of characters in this comic. I'm looking forward, cautiously, to see where this all goes. And I'm happy to be adding DC titles back on my Pull List.

Superman: Rebirth 1
I haven't been reading any Superman titles, though I do hope to be able to get the Lois and Clark trades (they'd better be doing those). At any rate, with little familiarity of what's been going on in the Superman titles, I still found this emotionally satisfying and intriguing. The panels with the Supes I know and love with Lana in the crypt where the new version Superman is buried were poignant. Tomasi and Gleason did a nice job on the story and Mahnke and Mendoza did a good job with the art. I'm curious as to where Supes will go next.

Green Arrow: Rebirth 1
This is another character I haven't read in New 52, but I guess Ollie and Dinah were never an item? Or aren't? Or something. At any rate, I do read Black Canary, and know that she's divorced from someone named Kurt Lance. If the new DCU is going to be a combination of old and new, I'm going to be confused for a while, but as long as the characters regain much of their personalities as they were before Flashpoint and stay true to themselves, I'll deal with minor confusion. In this story, the new versions of Ollie and Dinah are drawn to each other as they investigate the disappearance of homeless people. I've always loved Ollie and Dinah as a couple, so I'm being hopeful we'll be getting that relationship back.

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