Rebirth started out so good but its getting worse and worse each issue? Justice League is horrible, Superman started good but makes no sense now, Green Lanterns are the worst duo ever, and who in the hell thought of making the supergirl story the same as the one on TV. The only good stories are Wonderman, Action Comics, and Detective Comics. They need to go back to 1 issue a month so they have time to get things right or else it's going to be the Rebirth of the New 52.

Some comics haven't hit their stride, but I think it's too early to go into disaster mode. I dropped Green Lanterns mainly because I find Baz and Jessica lame outside of a team dynamic. JL is bad I'll give you that and as for Supergirl? Well I don't personally care for Kara but I agree that taking inspiration from a terrible show is awful. Comics should stay separate from TV shows and movies, it's what irks me about Marvel sometimes because they take hits from the MCU for no reason. Like the Nick Fury Jr bullcrap. But I think Hal Jordan, Green Arrow and Aquaman are good thus far. That's just me however

Batman, Nightwing, New Super-Man, and Titans have been consistently strong. Deathstroke, Superwoman, Supergirl, and Batgirl have had outstanding debut issues.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Superman and Action Comics, Superwoman, Aquaman, Batman and Titans are amazing so far.

Justice League, Detective Comics, Deathstroke, New Super-Man, Nightwing and The Flash are great.

Wonder Woman and Green Arrow are ok.

Green Lanterns, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Red Hood and the Outlaws have their problems but they aren't downright bad.

I really don't like Harley Quinn, the book is not my style so I can't comment on that. I strongly dislike that Supergirl burrows elements from the TV show but the Rebirth issue was ok. I've dropped Hellblazer. All-Star Batman's first issue was great although it's more of its own book and not a Rebirth one.

We still haven't seen promising books like Cyborg, Trinity, Blue Beetle or Teen Titans yet.

Rebirth seems like a greatly coordinated effort on DC's part so maybe we should just approach things on a more positive note.

These are some of the few among the very numerous titles that have been bad. There are so many that have been consistently strong. Titans, Batman (most batman titles), Green Arrow, The Flash, Nightwing and Deathstroke have been fantastic.

WWWWWHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????

Really? I guess we have different tastes because the only bad title out of Rebirth for me is Justice League. So far I'm loving everything that I've been reading. Action has been super fun, and Superman has been my favorite comic out of Rebirth. And on that note I'd like to ask what didn't make sense, because it's consistent from my perspective.

One of the biggest surprises out of Rebirth for me is Aquaman. I liked his beginning issues, but after issue 4 I'm shocked at how great this comic is, and balancing the tricky legal system that Aquaman has to follow from two worlds. It just gets better with each issue.

I dropped JL after Darkseid War. It felt like it was a natural end to a series of arcs that had been building up since the New 52 started.

The only current DC titles I buy as they come out are Flash, Titans, and Earth 2: Society. The whole 'speedforce storm' plot bores me but as a Flash fan I'll buy regardless. Titans looks very promising though, exploring the mystery behind Wally and the whole Rebirth event. Although not a Rebirth title, I feel like Earth 2 is beginning to build up some pace - something people argued that it had lacked for ages. It's ironic that one of the books that most excites me is one that as of yet is completely unaffected by Rebirth.

This!!!!!

I like RHATO so much, hope it will keep up the quality though :(

the only issues I haven't enjoyed were Harley, JL, and the Chinese Superman. The rest of rebirth has been straight dope

In my opinion Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Detective Comics and Flash are all great.

JL the only terrible one. As for Supergirl I think it only has the appearance of the show and I 100% expect it to differ greatly later on.

Deathstroke... Best issue of Rebirth... That's all I'm gonna say

JL could be better. Don't give a damn about Supergirl or the GL noobs (we already have too many human GLs...) but other than that I don't have that many complaints. Rebirth is awesome so far.

Did you really expect something that was basically a shameless pandering with the pitiful "No, no, it's not me, it's Alan Moore! I'm a good boy!" to not go wrong? They didn't even attract enough talent, no wild card innovative runs, basically nothing. Blatant fan service.

But hey, at least we now have a Superson, Superdad, Superlex, Supergirl, Superwoman, Su... rprise! Another Superwoman and also Clark Kent. Oh, almost forgot a New Superman...

Creativity at its best.

Deathstroke was good, but I'd argue Red Hood & The Outlaws edged it out just a bit.

Really? I don't know. I'm iffy on some books, while others are awesome.

Aside from these, I haven't read, and I'm looking forward to:

• Teen Titans
• Blue Beetle
• Cyborg
• Trinity
• Earth-2

So, I think DC still has some great books, and this is just from the Rebirth line. Books like Suicide Squads' Most Wanted have actually been good. There's room for improvement and I dislike a lot of what Rebirth brings to some of my favorite characters, but it's not really bad.

@scouterv: What about Superman, Action, and Flash don't you like? I feel like Action gives you exactly what its title promises, and does it in a simple story so I'm not complaining. The deeper superman stories will be in the Superman title which I've been loving mostly because it's another father-son book. As for Flash I think it's an interesting look into the character as well as an expanded exploration of the Speed Force mythology.

Superman and Action both have the same problem. I care nothing for this cast. I was onboard mostly for the art, but I'm tired of Lois already. Jon does nothing for me, and I'm wondering where Kon-El is because there is only one Superboy. The Superfam is just not what I'm interested in.

The Flash, is mostly the art. It just looks, kind of sloppy, but the fourth issue fixed that so it's an improvement. Plus, if I have to hear Barry go "I enjoy teaching others" one more time, I'm going to vomit.

I think Rebirth has been fantastic so far especially for Superman. seeing a superhero in comics with a wife and child is practically unheard of! The Batman books have been great so far, especially Detective Comics. I have enjoyed reading Aquaman and Titans. The only books which seem to have started off slow for me is JL and Suicide Squad. Suicide Squad I may switch with another series and get the trades after the first volume depending on how it progresses.

@esco1199: Nah, DC rebirth is awesome. For the first time in a long time they are publishing better comics than Marvel.

Great: All-Star Batman, Batman, Wonder-Woman, Deathstroke, and Superman

Ok: Suicide Squad

Looking Forward to: Trinity, Doom-Patrol, Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye

Justice League is basically the worst book so far, probably followed by Action Comics, which isn't bad so far as it is cluttered.

Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Deathstroke and Titans have all been fantastic so far.

Flash, Red Hood, New Super-Man and Hellblazer have all been engaging and good so far, with Detective Comics definitely falling into this category, stupid moments aside. Beetle is off to a decent start as well. Nightwing is getting better every issue. I'm still not sold on the art for Flash though.

Wonder Woman isn't really to my tastes, but that doesn't reflect on the book, just me.

So I'm with the others on this OP, Rebirth is slaying so far.

I can't wait until January = trades so I can really immerse myself in plot development. I'm not reading anything until then apart from the Rebirth one-shots.

Why is everyone so down on Justice League? Pretty much everyone has said they're not feeling it but no one has really explained why.

@rainshadow777: It's just very dull and by-the-numbers, trying hard to be "epic" but failing to really establish tangible stakes. The threats feel very abstract. It also doesn't help Geoff Johns's Justice League was hyped to hell and back, and almost any writer following up an event-heavy Johns run is going to get chewed out.

I'm interested in New Superman, Nightwing and Deathstroke as far as Rebirth goes. But I've enjoyed the titles so far mainly GA, HJ and the GLC, BB, Titans, WW, Aquaman.

@rurgandy: ok thanks. A lot of writers who follow Johns face an uphill battle. Venditti's Green Lantern springs to mind (although I'm one of the few who actually really enjoyed Venditti's work).

@rainshadow777: I think the other part of the problem is Hitch's reputation has taken a hit with JLA, which still has yet to finish meanwhile he's referencing parts in his comic that have not been released yet.

TIL not every DC ongoing is the next Kingdom Come

Yeah I remember reading about this, in relation to deadlines and things like that. I wonder how much that reputation has impacted people's perceptions of the first few issues of Justice League. It's still so early to tell how a series is going to pan out.

What really surprises me is that some people are questioning Tom King and Batman. I've only read Batman Rebirth and I personally found that really underwhelming, but I remember people saying, well, Snyder had a big part to play in it but once King gets going it should get better. I really hope King's series is a great one because I love the character Batman but was really underwhelmed by Snyder's run and it put me off. In fact, Snyder's Batman is the only book I abandoned and I stuck with it for ages...

Come on King and Hitch, bring out the good stuff!

@rainshadow777: for the most part I like King's run so far. My only issue with it is the choice of supporting characters they chose to use and the last issue was a little kinda eh... But the I am Suicide arc looks to be pretty good and I am excited to see where it goes after that.

Is it the usual 'battle with myself', 'my parents died' and 'Gotham's a world of darkness but there's hope' kind of schtick?

Downhill? Esco please. I smell haterade. Deathstroke launched last month and the one shot and first issue had enough plot and characterization to fill in a graphic novel.

@ready_4_madness said:

@rainshadow777: People hate it because King uses different supporting characters to explore the underlying tragedy of trying to "save" Gotham. King's Batman is less driven by the past, and more by the future. Really, every time a writer takes over the main Batman book and pushes it out of people's comfort zone, fans freak out. People hated Morrison because of Damian Wayne, the Silver Age references, making Jason Todd ugly, etc. He only gets vindication these days because of Dickbats. People hated Snyder for creating new villains and using original supporting characters.

I'm more surprised that some of DC's bigger/high profile books books are getting an underwhelming response but they deserve it. So far Suicide Squad, Titans, Batman and Justice League are the bottom tier Rebirth books. The real hits are the likes of Green Arrow, Nightwing, Detective, Superman, Deathstroke etc.

Here's a collection of tidbits from 4 different Tom King interviews, he pretty much wants to be comics Zack Snyder or Bay with Batman.

The best thing Batman can do with me is to be a good comic that takes people a little bit outside of their day, where they can read and be like, ‘Holy shit!’ That gives you a jolt of pleasure. I’m not trying with Batman to be like, ‘OK, here I want to comment on the world.’ I want to make Die Hard.”

I want this to be the book where people, when they want the Batman summer blockbuster, this is the book they go to.

It's going to be big explosions, and some cool super hero stuff that I always wanted to do.

Yeah, I mean, I know I can write a book where someone stares out of a window and thinks deep thoughts. I know how to do that. But with Batman, I’m trying to do a big genre thing that will appeal to me when I was 12 and me now, where I just want to go outside and punch the sky.

It’s hard, and against my own nature. And it’s scary, because I look back at Batman: Year One and see what Frank Miller did. He redefined the character in just four issues. I have five issues now and I haven’t come close to accomplishing that. But I don’t want to do that here. I want to do something bigger and funner.

Not exactly hard to figure out why his run is so meh, he's not even trying.

I have to disagree with you. With some of the books you mentioned I do agree that they are going downhill and that they are pretty bad, but looking at them objectively you actually can't expect any different. Bryan Hitch has been a writer for a short time and so far all of his stories have been about alien invasions and some alien beings who are trying to take over the world. Sam Humphries on the other hand is a writer who has never written a single good and entertaining story in my opinion, everything that has come from him is either mediocre or just plain bad.

The other however that you dislike are books which I like, Superman for example is one of my favorite additions to the Rebirth lineup and Supergirl has a big future in my opinion. Rebirth is a concept which is making low profile books and characters great again, while the big name books are actually doing worse.

@entropy_aegis: I like Superman but let's not pretend it has any more depth than a Dragonball Z episode here. As for Green Arrow, it's the one of the most "style over substance" books of Rebirth. Pacing is poor, character motivations are hazily laid out, and the overly flowery dialogue is empty. Nightwing is doing a better job of being a Robin Hood inspiration, only it does so without beating the reader over the head with loaded social justice buzzwords, and instead arrives at its conflict in a more natural manner.

I judge books on what they want to do. Superman has succeeded in giving us a high concept action book with family drama, it revamped the Eradicator exceptionally well, those are the 3 mission statement of this arc(with the former two of the book as a whole) and I cant really find many flaws in the execution of their mission statements. Whatever it's flaws they they exist on sidelines, the creators are not not drawing attention to them.

Now as for King, he wants to write an action block buster, lets see how he's done so far.

First and foremost I’d like to note that it’s foolish to go that route because Tynion and Snyder are also writing block buster action books but both of them have Bat family and villains to spice things up. Tom King however has so far insisted on having a few lame characters carrying his story forward so he’s at an automatic disadvantage on two levels from the word go. Now it has also failed on a third level by not having a single good or memorable action scene throughout this whole arc. King’s action is just lazy, uninspired, devoid of creativity and therefore boring, we didn’t see Batman use tactics or relevant tools to take down Grundy, nah Bruce just tossed him. Similarly he throws batarangs and smashes vehicles on Gotham during their encounter. A two year old could have written these bland action scenes. Similarly King didn’t bother to show us how Batman infiltrated Waller’s bunker and got past 6 guys with Blockbuster formula, it all happened off page with the convenient excuse being “he’s Batman”. Finally Gotham just thrashes the JL with his punches and kicks due to magic powers that were inserted in to the story during that scene. If I was forced to rank this run just on action alone I’d still fail it badly, there’s no consistency, thought and creativity put in to these sequences and one of them massively violated the “show, don’t tell principle”.

King should stick to writing deep thoughts because he’s not good at action, even proper action requires serious skill, it’s why the Raid guys have gotten more accolades than Bay ever did.

Of course, I'll suspend real judgement until I do a bit of reading myself, but I have to agree that none of the above is particularly enticing to me.

It's funny that he references Frank Miller redefining Batman in four issues. Look at the issues though - small panels, lots of dialogue and tonnes more plot within a single book compared with these days of big splash panels and minimal dialogue. This is one of the reasons why I found Batman Rebirth #1 so patchy. Batman swims down in icy water to blow something up apparently set there by Calendar Man.. it's action but there's no real context for it and that whole book just let me scratching my head, wondering what it was that I just read. And this was the Rebirth one-shot supposedly setting some context!

For me, the best comics writers are people like Geoff Johns and lately Robert Venditti who seem to focus on the plot of their arcs first, then the action just falls into place around a great storyline. Those comments above from King seem to suggest that he's starting with explosions and figuring out a reason to have them (like Michael Bay), and that this will appeal to 12 year olds.

But like I say, I'm definitely going to check out the first trade paperback and make a decision from there. I just need a character I can connect with (like Arthur Curry or Hal Jordan), and if King doesn't give me that, well there are plenty of writers at DC who can.

The plane scene in the first issue was tightly directed, and created just the right amount tension, while also instilling the thematic question of whether or not Batman can be considered obsolete, through the use of "show, don't tell".

The question of how Batman infiltrated Waller's bunker is ultimately unimportant to the plot going forward. He could have broken in any number of ways, but the only part of that sequence that has relevance is the end result. There were other things in that issue that I did find flawed, but Batman showing up in the Bunker was not a big deal.

Gotham defeating the Justice League was justified with a reason that was hinted at in previous issues, and was a climactic turning point for both Hank and Claire. It also showed that Hank was at the point of no return both mentally and physically.

I really like green lanterns, detective comics, batman, hal jordan and the green lantern corps, and deathstroke. I thought supergirl was pretty good, and I guess flash is meh. I have every issue of titans so far, I just haven't read then yet. Haven't read anything else though.

@rurgandy: The plane scene was good but truth be told Janin would have made that sequence far better if he'd been drawing it, his art has a level of dynamism that Finch cant match. Still King's script was passable there but the Batman dying part was very forced and not sold properly.

From an action perspective Batman infiltrating her bunker needs to be shown, remember he wants it to be an action book but he deprived the fans of the opportunity of witnessing cool Batman infiltration action. Even if I were to agree with your line of reasoning that script still suffers from the same issues because Hugo and his role was just told to us, same goes for Waller's. Then we're told about the extra soldier and how he survived and killed Hank's folks,just a lot of telling and nothing to show for it.

Gotham beating the JL was just abrupt and unnecessary, what was the point of that whole fight? wouldn't it have been better if we had witnessed Batman using his tactical skills and resources to fight Gotham instead of calling the JL and smashing vehicles till they arrived? what's so cool and creative about Kings version?

I want to love King's Batman, the only reason I post his interviews and previews is because I need him to succeed, I've never put that much effort in to Snyder or Tynion's stuff but the man is himself saying that he wont be bringing the stuff that made Vision and Omega Men successful. So he's either not serious, just lazy because he thinks the gig is safe or feels he has nothing interesting to say about Batman. King has not brought his best yet, for example even if you want to defend Duke even you cant deny that King's own Damian runs circles around his Duke in terms of which character is more enjoyable to read about. Dont take my word for anything, King's own pen tells quite a story of contrast in how he's written both characters.King is holding himself back and I think it's largely due to his budding bromance with Snyder.

@entropy_aegis:

From an action perspective Batman infiltrating her bunker needs to be shown, remember he wants it to be an action book but he deprived the fans of the opportunity of witnessing cool Batman infiltration action. Even if I were to agree with your line of reasoning that script still suffers from the same issues because Hugo and his role was just told to us, same goes for Waller's. Then we're told about the extra soldier and how he survived and killed Hank's folks,just a lot of telling and nothing to show for it.

Batman infiltrating the bunker isn't necessary because the audience knows Batman is capable of infiltrating high-security areas. Those other instances, I'll agree that the writing is rushed.

Gotham beating the JL was just abrupt and unnecessary, what was the point of that whole fight? wouldn't it have been better if we had witnessed Batman using his tactical skills and resources to fight Gotham instead of calling the JL and smashing vehicles till they arrived? what's so cool and creative about Kings version?

That fight was the point of no return for Hank. He was so overcome with anger that he willingly sacrificed his own life just for power. The sequence was a key turning point.

I want to love King's Batman, the only reason I post his interviews and previews is because I need him to succeed, I've never put that much effort in to Snyder or Tynion's stuff but the man is himself saying that he wont be bringing the stuff that made Vision and Omega Men successful. So he's either not serious, just lazy because he thinks the gig is safe or feels he has nothing interesting to say about Batman. King has not brought his best yet, for example even if you want to defend Duke even you cant deny that King's own Damian runs circles around his Duke in terms of which character is more enjoyable to read about. Dont take my word for anything, King's own pen tells quite a story of contrast in how he's written both characters.King is holding himself back and I think it's largely due to his budding bromance with Snyder.

Creators say a lot of things in interviews that don't align with their own work, and there's no point in taking them at anything more than just face value. Even in those same interviews, King talks about the themes he's developing.

And Duke and Damian are two completely different characters. Substituting one for the other doesn't do anything.

@rurgandy: The audience also knows that Batman will always win so might as well not write any action sequence in the book at all. Look Seeley showed Nightwing, Babs and Raptor finding their way through the maze, it wasnt hyper detailed but you got the gist. Similarly Tynion showed Bruce escaping the Colony, it was simple but cool but King just did nothing and as you admitted the rest of the issue was plagued by the same problems. On every level that issue was just crawling along, spinning its wheels with nothing happening and everything happening simultaneously. All these problems have one basis, Gotham, King wasn't interested in giving us cool Batman action or giving serious time to Hugo, he just wanted to move to this Gotham guy that no one gives a crap about.

Hank is not the issue, it's the League and Batman himself. Once again King doesn't bother to give a crap about the main character. I can get Hank being unhinged, his part of the story I dont have an issue with(in how it was presented) but what was Batman doing? smashing vehicles, so much for master strategist and manipulator with unlimited resources. These issues suffered from lack of prioritizing, King is so consumed by a bunch of dull characters that he and Snyder conceived that he's messing up the rest of the story. Hugo and Pirate didn't even appear in the last 2 issues, hence my comment in the Batman forums about him just writing a Gotham Girl and Duke series . Batman and the villains have been a complete after thought for now, what about the investigation in to the random attacks? that was supposed to be the primary plot. If this continues then even Batman's Suicide Squad and Bane will fall flat on their faces because the writer may well be too busy devoting panel time to Duke and Claire's wedding and romance in general while Batman & Bane fighting each other gets a passing mention like Hugo's got in#4.

Duke and Damian may be different characters but King's own pen had made Damian more relevant and entertaining than Duke, that's what I'm saying. Grayson #12 is regarded by many as the best issue of the series and the Damian portion the best of that issue. Damian took off in merely 2 pages under King's own pen the first time King wrote him. Even Robin War is generally liked mostly by Dick and Damian fans. Duke on the other hand has had 7 issues by King himself and not a frick is being given. What I'm saying is that King should focus on his strengths, Damian is a strength, Duke is DEFINITELY NOT, his own writing testifies to it so it's his loss if he's suppressing his own strengths just to suck up to Snyder. Even all his talk about wanting this book to about blockbuster action and all the teases about the biggest battle in Gotham's history ever is the sort of stuff you tend to hear from Snyder. It's clear to me that King is not taking the initiative, he's not exerting himself as the head Batman writer.

I'd say Superman has more depth than DBZ. But where DBZ is a shallow pool of clear water, Superman is more a lake that may have at one point been the site of illegal toxic waste disposal. You're gonna be OK, but try not to spend more than 30 minutes in it.

As for Green Arrow, I can agree with you on some points. The pacing is meh and some of the character motivations are laughable at best. However, the book does look nice, and it's a valid interpretation of Oliver. The problem is, that, for this point in time, this is a valid interpretation of what Oliver is. He's essentially always been a Social Justice Warrior. Except now we use the term Social Justice Warrior and that phrase has a lot of baggage that Oliver takes on. But this is the Oliver that I think a lot of people wanted. I like it, and it works. I'd question if this is what I was looking forward to, though.

But I disagree with the dialogue. Compared to when Percy first took over, this Oliver is a lot less flowery in his speech. With that said, it's still one of the better books DC puts out. At the very least, it's the best looking. The closest competition, to my utter surprise, is Red Hood and The Outlaws.

Really?! NO way sir I choose not to believe it. Aquaman, Deathstroke, Flash, and Wonder Woman(even though its confusing) are ALL Good Books. I'm very much enjoying it.

Agreed. Rebirth is probably the biggest comic money gimmick I've ever seen. It's been poor and over hyped from the start. Even with dirt cheap comics and infinie numer ones it's not worth it.

Every month since June has brought at least one stellar DC book:

June: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman

July: Nightwing, New Super-Man, The Flintstones

August: Superwoman, Deathstroke

September: Trinity, Doom Patrol, Teen Titans, Frostbite

October: Shade the Changing Girl, Cave Carson