Written by Geoff Johns - Pencils by Gary Frank, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Phil Jimenez - Colors by Alex Sincalir, Brad Anderson, Hi-Fi, Jason Wright, Gabe Eltaeb, - Inks by Matt Santorelli, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, -Lettering by Nick J. Napolitano
DC Universe: Rebirth is meant to start the next chapter of DC comics. But in order to take that next step, writer Geoff Johns has to reconcile the New 52, an era of ups and downs. As a comic reader the New 52 is what got me into monthly comics, but as it went on the cynicism and uniformity of style drove me away compared to the stuff I read in trade. There have been high points: Snyder-Capullo Batman, Morrison Action Comics, Stewart-Fletcher Batgirl, and others but their totality isn’t enough to make up for the fundamentals lost in transition. As the mysterious narrator, revealed to be Post-Crisis Wally West, states at the beginning “I look down at it and know without question: I love this world. But there’s something missing”.
With the return of a Post-Crisis Wally West, writer Geoff Johns argues for a more humane, empathetic, view of DC’s pantheon. Not the atonal grim and girt that has saturated DC since the New 52 and earlier. Consider this his final statement on the soul DC comics, for now. Rebirth will be the last comic book Johns writes for quite a while as he enters a new stage in his career at DC and Warner Bros at large. In DC, the story is he has become something of a master showrunner for the line working with the creative teams for the Rebirth titles to get to the essence of these fantastic characters; hopefully the creative teams (not all of them super exciting) fulfill the promise of Rebirth and make these characters sing. At Warner Bros. he along with Jon Berg will attempt to right the ship as it relates to DC and Warner Bros. cinematic efforts, as well as his usual involvement in television.
Wally has been trapped in the Speedforce since Flashpoint and without a tether will become one with it. With Wally as his avatar, Johns journeys through the DC universe criticizing what has been taken away from them in the 10 years since Flashpoint. There is no other character, Johns could pull out of his hat that is as impactful as having the first Wally West back. No other character represents all the elements that were lost in the New 52. And true to his word, the other Wally West, also Iris’ nephew and African American, is still around and going to be the Kid Flash! Nothing is lost in the Rebirth, things are gained.
What was lost in transitions? On a macro level it was Institutions, like the Justice Society of America or the original Teen Titans – now just the Titans. Teams can be reformed but when the New 52 made it as if they never existed in the first place something more was lost. Friendships, Love, Legacies the things that made DC comics unique and different compared to their marvelous competitors. Wiped out. A story universe is not its institutions but the characters who man them, their relationships are what make them more then cold works of cement and steel. Stop them from being cynical approximations of what fans want to read.
On his journey for someone to remember him, Wally sees a heartwarming moment between Aquaman and Mera, as the latter proposes to her. I don’t even read Aquaman and that moment is filled with such care and love. Love, Wally realizes was what was stolen from them. That proposal also breaks an old (abdominal) editorial edict from co-publisher Dan Didio about how their heroes shouldn’t be married – and by extension happy. That’s gone now, happiness can return and maybe Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer will finally get married! It's a moment that makes his reunion with former wife Linda Park all the more heartbreaking.
And then there is the culprit who stole all of this from them. When the revelation was leaked online, in the abstract it sounded sacrilegious. The empty hand that altered the timeline was none other then Doctor Manhattan from ‘Watchmen’. Bringing him, and assumedly the other Watchmen, into the DC fold properly sounds desperate. But it’s setup and execution are sound and it fits the story Johns is telling. Johns uses the formal ticks of ‘Watchmen’ the 3x3 grid and references events from the book all leading up to that reveal. Wally warns Barry that a war is coming between “hope and despair, love and apathy, faith and disbelief”. ‘Watchmen’ and ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ represent that latter of those pairings. I appreciate those seminal works that absolutely belong in the canon of great works, but I am so god damn sick of that shit seeping into the mainstream of super heroism. They are Elseworld titles not meant to supplant the mainstream but support and comment on them. And now Geoff Johns has set the table for a meta-war about the soul of DC Comics.
What kind of a task is it to create something like DC Universe: Rebirth? It must serve so many masters at once: act as the launching pad for a legion of new books, be if not a retcon a redefining of years of DC continuity, all while telling the audience a story worth reading. Like the best of comics (and narrative media in general), it is simultaneously complex and simple. This complexity is perhaps lost when various revelations and plot points leaked well ahead of the books release. Rendered down to those bullet points of revelations and plot, DC Universe: Rebirth sounds like the work of madness. But everything sounds like madness when stripped of its context and execution. In execution DC Universe: Rebirth works amazingly well, that’s likely do to what kind of a fan I am. I’m someone who thinks the ending to LOST is poignant and beautiful, disregarding all the mystery and questions a segment of the fandom made their bread and butter on to tell a final story on the power of shared experiences and trauma.
To obsess over these things, to cherish the events, characters, and continuity is to be a fan. But to over obsess about plot points and revelations to the detriment of how they are being told and executed is to disregard the complex artistry at work. In the tradition of past rebirths, Geoff Johns has written something that manages coherence out of years of contradictory or bad storytelling without throwing it all away, filled it with bold proclamations towards the future, and make the DC Universe seem like the coolest damn thing in superhero comics. It’s not perfect, some of the revelations beg further questions but to get bogged down in those tangible details is to miss the message of hope Johns and the army of artist supporting him have come together to give the audience.
This is a strong step towards the right direction. And you shouldn’t expect this to be wrapped up in six months, according to interviews by co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee, the revelations of how/what Dr. Manhattan did to the universe will take place in the background over the next couple of years. That’s good, the how/why doesn’t matter it’s all macguffery, what matters is this new legion of books establishing themselves and putting forth the character’s audiences liked to read at one point or another.
I am Michael Mazzacane you can follow me on Twitter and at ComicWeek.org
Log in to comment