Comic Vine Review

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Superman: Rebirth #1

3

A new chapter in Superman's life begins here.

The New-52 Superman is dead, and the pre-Flashpoint Superman swoops in with the hopes of reviving his counterpart. Can Superman be brought back from the dead?

Superman Rebirth is a bit of a mixed bag. There is a lot of potential here. Where the issue shines is that anyone can pick this up, regardless of whether or not you've been reading Superman or not and feel completely included in the current events. This issue is better at preparing new readers for the future over anything else.

The art is awesome on this issue. Doug Mahnke pencils, with Jaime Mendoza on inks, and Wil Quintana on colors. The two-page spread featuring Superman and Doomsday squaring-off is pretty epic and brings back memories of when Superman #75 hit the shelves.

The book hits on many different levels of nostalgia, whether it's the classic "Death of Superman" storyline or just the beginning of the New 52 universe a few years back. It reaches out to the reader to re-motivate their love of the character, and it works. Writers Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason have a love for Superman really shows, and that's the type of storytellers you want on a book with such an iconic character.

There is a lot of Superman's history recapped in this issue, pre-Flashpoint that is. We relearn all about how he died, while fighting Doomsday, and how he came back. Even the opening of the issue starts with a quick recap of what happened to Superman. Understandably, before Rebirth, Superman's story wasn't all finished.

It feels like this issue is the bottom of a large mountain for this Superman to climb. All of the other Rebirth titles this week gave readers an idea of where each book was going, while delivering an entertaining story. Superman: Rebirth gives readers an interesting story but it feels like something is missing. The majority of the issue is dialogue between Superman and Lana, and while there are some interesting developments from that, it doesn't pack the same bang as other titles and feels more like an issue paying homage to the last Superman rather than something leading to the upcoming titles. This is a bit of a bummer because this story has the most potential for greatness, considering where it left off.

Superman: Rebirth wasn't as good as we hoped, considering where we were left off during "The Last Days of Superman," but there's a ton of potential here for the future series. The art is fantastic and while there's not a whole lot happening here, aside from what feels like catch up meets a eulogy, it's a pretty good issue that leaves readers wanting more.