Geoff Johns wrote the story Blackest Night. The story itself was based off of a one-shot Alan Moore wrote which told about the end of the Green Lanterns. In Geoff John's newest work he continues with another idea from Alan Moore, but we will get there. For now, hello fellow fans. I am masterofthez and this is day 1 of the Month of Writing challenge. And today I'm talking about the comic event DC Rebirth and all the various aspects of it. This is going to be fairly long and hold all of the spoilers. Also be warned. This is going to be one of my longer posts.
1: What is this?
I want to make this very clear. DC Rebirth is not a reboot. More accurately this book could be called a mission statement and setting up of future plots. I'll get into the plots individually later so I won't cover them in this section. Instead I want to focus on the mission statement of the book.
This book has a lot of meta commentary about the state of DC comics since the New 52. It talks about how 10 years have been taken from the universe when it was being reformed. This retcon explains why time just doesn't work well. For those of you who don't know, a major complaint of the New 52 when it first came out was how time just didn't really work. They said superheroes had only been around for about 5 years in the universe at the start of the New 52 (Justice League #1). This kind of change removes any kind of legacy from the universe, like the Flash family and the Justice Society of America. 5 years also really isn't enough time for Batman to have trained 4 Robins.
But as the narrator Wally West (we'll get back to that) said, "It wasn't 10 years that was taken from us. It was love." In the new 52 no one trusts each other. No one respects each other. Characters who have loved each other for years don't even know each other anymore, like Green Arrow and Black Canary. Long lasting friendships like the Titans are simply forgotten. But Wally and the reader are given hope that love will still win with the scene of Arthur (Aquaman) proposing to Mira. Overall the new mission statement of DC is looking to be one of hope and a brighter future.
2: Wally West
The narrator of this story is Wally West. Yes. The one who helped found the Teen Titans, became the 3rd Flash, and was the original Kid Flash. With that being said, a lot of people on the internet have been saying something a little wrong about him. THIS IS NOT THE PRE-NEW 52 WALLY WEST! THIS IS THE NEW 52 WALLY WEST! As the book explains, Barry did succeed in his mission to restart the universe after Flashpoint, and as Wally himself said in the book, the Wally we've seen in the New 52 is not the New 52 version of the original Kid Flash. That Wally West is the cousin of our Wally West. Those two both just happen to be named after the same grandparent. Now that that is out of the way, for the rest of this section when I say Wally West I will mean ginger Wally.
Despite this book being basically set up, putting Geoff Johns on the book was great. Johns is great with creating pathos quickly and by the end of this issue you genuinely feel for Wally. His quest isn't a personal one. All he wants to do is warn everyone of a threat (which we'll get to). Nobody remembers him. Not Batman, not his fellow Titans, not even his wife. I thought he was going to die as he gave his message to Barry, but then Barry grabbed him and dragged him in. It was truly heartwarming. I cried a little.
I still have to question why Wally's kids are never brought up. We even see an image of Irey (Wally's daughter), but no mention that he is a father. I'd think that something like that would have been brought up, but maybe that will be addressed in the Titans book, where Wally is going to be for the foreseeable future. Also I do like his new Flash costume. My only question is, will Wally still be called the Flash? I mean, I want him to still have the name, and I don't have a problem with two Flashes running around. I just wish we had some confirmation on his name is all.
3: Ryan Choi
The second Atom is back. Kinda. Ray Palmer has gone missing in the microverse, so he left a message and a size changing belt to his assistant Ryan. I hope this leads to him getting his own book again, but I feel this is more direct set up for a future event comic.
4: Damian Wayne
We see Damian celebrating his 13th birthday. Yep. He is now a Teenager. That whole thing was just to justify how Robin could be in the Teen Titans. He is now a Teen, so he reached the age minimum. Good for him.
5: The Legion of Superheroes
I will admit I don't know much about the Legion. I read a trade of them by Mark Waid a few years back, and that was about it. Regardless, I liked what I read and I look forward to seeing more of them in the future.
6: Blue Beetle
This is the book I'm most excited for and the most nervous about. I'm excited because Ted seems like he's going to be a lot of fun, and Jaime getting into normal life again seems like a step in the right direction. I'm a little scared because I really don't want the scarab to be magic. Part of the scarab's mythos is that he was seperated from his hive mind due to magic. If anything I hope the magic dealt with in this book has to do with the magic that freed Khaji-Da.
7: Watchmen
Yes, the Alan Moore book DC Rebirth seems to be saying that the reason the New-52 came to be was because of the involvement of Dr. Manhattan. I do feel bad for Moore, that his work is once again being used in ways he didn't want, but I like this idea. Symbolically, Watchmen is a great reason the New-52 to have ended up so dark. Watchmen was a dark story that told a dark superhero story, and it was really popular. So popular that a lot of superhero stuff tried to follow it down its dark road. So the idea that once they defeat the god of Watchmen they will be brighter is an idea I get behind.
So, ya. Those were my ideas on DC Rebirth. I'd love to hear what you guys thought about it in the comments. I'll see you tomorrow.
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