DC Comics Rebirth Continues

A couple weeks back, I looked at the introductory comic, DC Universe Rebirth, and since then more than a few first issues of this new continuity dynamic have come out. Here I'll look at some of them briefly.

Superman - One of the bits in the above-mentioned comic that I didn't care about was the death of the New 52 Superman. This comic picks up on those hanging threads as the pre-Flashpoint Superman visits the Fortress of Solitude and reminisces about Doomsday with the New 52 Lana Lang. It was more fun and much better than I expected. I want to read more, despite the huge amount of baggage here to move forward.

Batman - Much like Superman, I'm not thrilled with the new Batman costume. Sorry, I'm a traditionalist and resistant to most change. If it was an alternate Batman, I'd be cool, but not the 'real' Batman. Much of the issue is taken up by the Calendar Man and his antics, including a weird new supernatural twist of his aging and rejuvenating through the seasons. There is also the inclusion of Duke Thomas, who may or may not be a new Robin, or perhaps a Lark, or something new. Darker and more sociopathic than I like my Batman, I'll pass.

Wonder Woman - Greg Rucka returns to the Amazon Princess in this issue, and while his run was critically acclaimed, it was not by me, as you can see here. This Rebirth issue, while well done, enticing, and encouraging, is one of those 'everything-you-know-is-a-lie' stories that may or may not return Wonder Woman to what I consider greatness, or create yet another version of the character I won't be reading. It's a great start, let's hope it's the former and not the latter.

Titans - I miss the Teen Titans, and yeah, I'm in get-off-my-lawn-mode, but I was never a big fan of the New Teen Titans that everyone went gaga over in the 1980s. They were cool, yeah, but my Titans were the Nick Cardy teen hero generation of the early 1970s. What's weird is that these Rebirth Titans are twisted versions of the ones I dug. I looked forward to this book as Wally West was the best thing about DC Universe Rebirth and I wanted to see more - what I got instead was a distorted revisionist history of characters I thought I knew. It isn't the same, as a matter of fact, it's all-new. I don't know who any of these people are, and I'm not interested.

Green Arrow - One of the tragedies of the new 52 in my opinion was the rejuvenation and Tony Stark-ization of Green Arrow, as well as the removal of Black Canary as his romantic and 'business' partner. Their reunion is about all I liked about this new start, I disliked the art and the story as well.

Green Lanterns - I'm sure Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz are someone's favorite Green Lanterns but I'm just not that into them. This book is more about them than Hal Jordan, and if I'm going to read a Geoff Johns Green Lantern comic, I want Hal Jordan. Pass.

Aquaman - Speaking of Johns, another great bit from the original Rebirth comic was Aquaman proposing to Mera, thereby breaking the unspoken rule about no happy marriages in the DC Universe. The problem of course is that Johns is not writing the new Aquaman series, so who knows what happens next. Dan Abnett, who had been writing the regular series, feels right at home with this soft reboot. I look forward to more of this, and more of Black Manta.

Flash - As I said, Wally West was my favorite part of the book that started all this, so like Titans, this was another I was looking forward to. The first thing that struck me was the art. It's not bad per se, but it's definitely not suited to the character of The Flash. Carmine Di Giadomenico is a terrific artist, and I admire his attempts to pay homage to Carmine Infantino, but for me, it just doesn't work. We don't get much more in the way of story than we did in the initial Rebirth book. It reminded me very much of the retelling going on in Marvel's Civil War II. I'm still on the fence with this one.

More DC Rebirth

DC Rebirth continues, so do my reviews. If you want to see what I've said before, click here, here, and here. Today I'm looking at a few more, enjoy.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps - When I looked at the Rebirth issue of Green Lanterns I expressed disappointment at not really seeing much of Hal Jordan. While he's not my favorite (that would be the Golden Age Alan Scott), he's a close second, and it's good to see he's at least headlining a title. After an intriguing opening with an aged Sinestro, we get the convoluted recent history of Jordan, which frankly put me to sleep. We get Hal Jordan reborn finally, and possibly a call out to a new Corps, but it seems too little, an attempt at hope, but not quite enough.

Nightwing - I wanted to like this, I really did, but like the first title here, it is bogged down in unnecessary continuity. I have always liked Dick Grayson. I thought he was a bit of a dope on the 1966 TV series, but when I read his solo college stories in the comics, I was all in on Dick, he was cool. I dug him as Nightwing in the Titans, solo not so much, and I did enjoy the comics when he was a spy in Grayson when I picked them up. This comic didn't have any of the stuff I liked in it, and I really wish it did.

Red Hood and the Outlaws - I hated this book and concept the first time I read it waaay back in The New 52, and it does not seem to have aged well since then. At least we get a solid origin for Jason Todd all in one place, but that's about the best I can say about it. I still don't know what Bizarro and is that Circe? have to do with this title.

Suicide Squad - With the specter of a bad received movie haunting this one, I don't know what to think of this one. Why is Harley Quinn here? This is like going to a remake of a movie you loved and having it be nearly unrecognizable. I probably won't be back.

New Super-Man - Unlike those above, this one was probably so good because it was refreshingly new - new character, new situation, no baggage - more like a birth than a rebirth. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun. I want to read more. This one is a keeper.

Back in a Flash

Back in a flash, and gone in a flash as well. I haven't read a DC Comic in quite some time, maybe a year at least. There was a moment there, just a moment mind you, when there was interest, but the event fatigue that has almost killed Marvel Comics, drove me equally away from DC. Notice that the thrust of this single issue of The Flash I'm looking at today is pretty much following up storylines from my reviews a year ago, not cool. Whatever happened to one-and-done comics? Hell, one story in one issue could be the next hot gimmick - that's one gimmick I would gladly put my money down for.

Speaking of money, and I hope the powers that be are reading this, the first comic book I had to have, and actually sought out a comic shop to go and put money on the counter for was The Flash #22, and that was for Jay Garrick, the real Jay Garrick, the original Golden Age Flash. That's $2.99 sight unseen, from the shelf to the counter and out the door. Think about that, DC Comics, you put the real Jay Garrick in a comic book, and I hand you money. Otherwise, I'm not interested in your line for a year or more. Someone says there's a traditional hero from my childhood acting like a hero, and I'm a customer again. Do the math.

This issue is the fourth part of a storyline called "The Button," some hogwash trying to connect Watchmen to the DC Universe. I'm really not interested honestly. Watchmen's story is over. Anyone who read the acclaimed maxi-series knows this. Any further use of the characters, who are technically Charlton heroes and barely Alan Moore's creations, is just DC giving Moore the finger. So as far as any of this button nonsense goes, I really don't care. It's the Jay Garrick stuff I want to talk about.

Jay Garrick is the first Golden Age superhero from Earth-Two I got to know. I never had a problem with the multiverse, it's only DC's writers who had trouble with that. I was fascinated by this older Flash from another world, and as I got older, I grew to love those Golden Age versions of the heroes more than the rest – Green Lantern, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, they ruled, but Jay was the first and the best.

Jay Garrick is cover-featured on The Flash #22, shown burning through the original cover of Flash Comics #1 from 1940 to appear today. Nice effect, as if the book wasn't already sold on me. Sadly, Jay only appears on five pages of this roughly twenty-one-page comic. It was enough to make me cheer for a moment, but then again that's something Marvel hasn't been able to do for quite some time.

Batman and the Flash, the Rebirth versions of these characters, are in pursuit of the Reverse-Flash through the time stream. The villain is apparently destroyed by a force - maybe God, maybe Doctor Manhattan – that also leaves our heroes without their Cosmic Treadmill and swept away into the winds of time. Metaphoric and cosmic, but it's that kind of comic. Then they hear a voice, telling Barry to say his name, "Jay."

There's a weird Shazam! like vibe in that, but the name summons Jay Garrick, and he uses his speed to get Batman and Flash back to their universe, back to the Batcave, back home. He looks like our Jay Garrick, sleeker, maybe not as much of an old man, and the costume has a few tweaks, but nothing to complain about – shinier helmet, new boots, and his sleeves cover his hands more. It was still Jay, not that guy from that Earth 2, this was the old Flash I loved.

Jay mentions being free, perhaps from the Speed Force, or some other dimension, or maybe some other Earth invisible from the 52-Earth multiverse… or maybe from Doctor Manhattan himself. Like Wally West in DC Universe Rebirth #1, he tries to get Barry to remember him, to no avail, and he vanishes into oblivion. I got my five pages and DC got my three bucks.

The deal still stands however. Give me back my Flash, hell, I'll get greedy, give me back my Justice Society, and I'll give you my money, DC Comics, deal?

Justice League Rebirth

I've looked at the comic that started the whole Rebirth thing for DC Comics, and several of the Rebirth restarts for various characters. Now I'm looking at the restart of one of my favorite comic book franchises, Justice League Rebirth.

The monumental task of relaunching DC's major superhero team goes to Bryan Hitch, handling both writing and illustrating duties. Hitch has worked on the team before and is probably best known, at least to me, as the artist who brought Marvel Comics Ultimates - a super-realistic version of their Avengers - to life. I admired the attempt, disliked the story and the characters, but dug the art. I still like Hitch, somewhat (he draws an ugly Wonder Woman, sorry, but it's how it hits me), but this is not his best work, or perhaps his style is not right for the Justice League. I think it might be the latter, at least on the visuals. His Flash also bothers me, never looking like the Flash, but more like just some guy in a Flash suit.

Bryan Hitch is aware of the new continuity, and the old continuity. He's better than some of DC's guiding editors in this instance. I loved how he wove in the new/old Superman and the two semi-new Green Lanterns into the story to aid the remaining five Leaguers - Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg - against an oncoming alien threat.

At first, the giant alien monster attacking the unnamed city seems almost Lovecraftian, then kinda downgrades to a cheap Starro knock-off. Either way, the Justice League's triumph is straight out of "Doctor Who," specifically that first Matt Smith episode, "The Eleventh Hour," when he tasks the Atraxi to run, and tells everyone that Earth is defended.

Despite some problems, I liked this issue, not as much as some other Rebirth books, but enough to give it a chance if I come across it again.

DC Universe Rebirth

This was supposed to be the book of the week, the big comic book event, but Marvel Comics trumped it by making Captain America a Hydra agent. Yeah, it sounds like a headline from the Bizarro World doesn't it? I guess that clinches it. Marvel Comics hates superheroes more than Fredric Wertham. But while Marvel is stumbling backward into darkness, DC Comics is forging forward… to rebuild their broken universe, their broken characters, and reach out to readers old and new, rather than drive them away.

On point with this endeavor is writer Geoff Johns, who after fifteen pages of DC Universe Rebirth had me smiling. I don't smile at DC Comics, not in a long time now. The story follows Kid Flash, the real Kid Flash, Wally West from the old days, as he tries to find his way out of the Speed Force, and contact his old friends to warn them. Yeah, warn them of a danger that may have caused the New 52 Universe, and apparently no, it wasn't Flashpoint.

And about that, for those who haven't read it, here come the spoilers, so act appropriately. While I loved Watchmen, even the movie, the videogame, and a few of the prequels even, I have never been one of those fans that held it up as holy and untouchable. Alan Moore has written a few good comics, yes, but he is not a god. So the core thrust behind what caused the New 52 Universe and stole a decade from my favorite heroes and sliced and diced their memories is okay with me. I actually kinda dig the idea, and can't wait to see it further explored.

Now that that is out of the way, I can talk about how much I enjoyed this book. I loved seeing Wally again, and his tour of the New 52 Universe made things even better as we got to see Batman, Johnny Thunder, the Atoms, the Blue Beetles, maybe Saturn Girl, and so many others. I loved seeing Wally's origin relived through new artists' eyes, and the mystery of the three Jokers, the sadness of a Green Arrow and Black Canary who don't know each other, Aquaman's proposal to Mera, and really, who didn't cry when Wally encountered Linda Park, and then Barry Allen.

I honestly don't know which, if any, of the new DC Comics I will be picking up, but I will say this - they have my interest, and I sure as hell enjoyed this issue, and want to see what comes next! What did you folks think?

Wonder Woman 2017

Wonder Woman ~ I hated the first two film entries in the DC Extended Universe, absolutely hated them. Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice were seriously bad enough to put me off DC superhero movies forever. That said, I gave number three, Suicide Squad a chance, and while it wasn't great, it wasn't bad. Maybe DC movies weren't cursed after all. I sincerely hoped not, because number four in their film plan was very special to me. Wonder Woman is one of my favorite characters in comics, and a misstep with this one would cut the cord for me and DC Comics movies. I shouldn't have worried. Wonder Woman was amazing and astonishing, better than any of us could have hoped.