Rebirth Round-up: Week 1

After a some big story lines coming to an end last month in Darkseid War & the Super League crossover DC hit us with an impressive Rebirth one-shot that saw the ‘reboot that’s not a reboot’ kick off in real style……surprises, scale and everything else were thrown into the mix.

The first week of Rebirth releases sees the first of the big hitters roll out of the events of that opening one-shot with the hope of a new start beginning that plays homage to the characters past while breathing new life into the world they inhabit……something DC is pinning a lot of hopes on.

Superman:Rebirth #1

Written by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason

Art by Doug Mahnke (pencils) & Jaime Mendoza (inks)

Colours by Will Quintana

Lettering by Rob Leigh

Fresh from the fall-out of Super League we see a fresh start for Superman of sorts as the post “death” question brings with it a merging of the pre-Flashpoint & New52 worlds. Lois has her own agenda to pursue and the new Clark/Superman is onto her attempts at acting out the last wishes of the man she loved.  As a continuation of what has gone before the creative team has absolutely nailed it but the end to the last Superman run felt fairly underwhelming so it’s a hit n miss affair.  It “could” be the start of something amazing but it feels far more middle of the road to me which may not encourage me to stick with this for the long haul.  The story is good, although not great and the art is kind of the same so it’s hard to see if this will achieve the heights that DC are hoping for from Rebirth.  Much like the movies Superman seems to be a struggle to breathe new life into but I’d be inclined to at least give it few more issues to be sure but even that seems to be far more of a gamble than one of DC’s big hitters should warrant.

5/10

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Batman:Rebirth #1

Written by Scott Snyder & Tom King

Art by Mikel Janin

Colours by June Chung

Lettering by Deron Bennett

While I maybe didn’t follow all of the Snyder/Capullo I read enough to know that as Batman runs go it’s probably one of the best in recent times and with that in mind it was always going to be a tough act to follow.  This introduction to the Rebirth Batman has a good vibe to it though and with Snyder involved it feels like a true passing of the torch to King & Janin.  It’s got everything you’d expect from the Batman world and with a familiar villain given a new edge and with the Bruce/Batman dynamic blending well there’s the added bonus of the introduction of a new team mate to help tackle the villains of Gotham.  A slick script and strong style to the look of the book – this is probably become the dead-cert for the DC world as it’s ability to deliver seems to be continuing with this new creative team.

8/10

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Green Lanterns:Rebirth #1

Written by Geoff Johns & Sam Humphries

Art by Ethan Van Sciver & Ed Benes

Colours by Jason Wright

Lettering by Travis Lanham

With Johns involvement in the one-shot that kicked off the whole Rebirth venture and his history with these characters in particular there was a lot of hope that this could be an impressive start.  Unfortunately it feels like it just falls short of that with a stripped down & far simpler GL world to get involved in as multiple Green Lanterns face time together as they protect Earth.  A buddy movie in comic form which has a much slower, muted start than I was hoping for but there is still a deeper sense of potential here as the scale is still present with a character that spans the Universe let alone the world.  Looks good but could be so much better – this is one that should at least be worth sticking with through the first arc to see what momentum it manages to build up.

6/10

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Green Arrow:Rebirth #1

Written by Benjamin Percy

Art by Otto Schmidt

Lettering by Nate Piekos

A character that has seen recent success in the Arrow TV series it’s comic Rebirth was always going to be an intriguing one as the mythology has become much more mainstream.  The Oliver Queen/Green Arrow dynamic comes into question as much through the introduction of Black Canary as anything else but this paves the way for probably the best title from the Rebirth releases.  It’s a strong & smartly paced opening with the troubles of the less fortunate in the city becoming the focus and a blossoming relationship between Arrow & Canary being introduced in as natural a way as possible. Great story and it looks amazing – this is the standout release from this week for me and the one I’m most likely to stick with into it’s first arc and beyond.

9/10

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Take a look at what else June has to offer from DC’s Rebirth….

G-Man