DC Rebirth review - Action Comics/Detective Comics/Batman/Superman/The Flash/Wonder Woman

So DC has decided to relaunch all their titles with new creative teams and is attempting to bring legacy back into the DCU. This is a very good idea, legacy is one of the greatest assets DC has over Marvel, which has almost all of its heroes operating in the current day. Another interesting part a number of series are now biweekly, and since the Hiatus combined with how many titles I’m covering make it impossible to do 4 issue tests on all of them I’m going to review the bi-weekly titles in 2 reviews. The first will cover the titles that first came out in June, and the second will cover those that came out in July.

As usual, I’ll cover the first 4 issues of the relaunch, plus the rebirth issue if there is one. But bear in mind that I won’t be covering them in as much detail as I would a regular 4 issue test because I’m covering several comics at once.

So, let’s get started with the staple of DC Comics, Action comics, which returned to its initial numbering after rebirth. Creatively we have Dan Jurgens as a writer. This guy has written Superman before during one of his most iconic events, his “death” in the 90s. It is a great story which I now own thanks to recent trade releases. In the artist category, we rotate between Patrick Zircher, primarily known for Shadowman and Tyler Kirkham, who’d done projects all over DC comics including a few issues from the previous run of Action Comics.

Some background first, the New52 version of Superman died thanks to things I haven’t read about because I couldn’t give a sh*t about the “dude-bro” version of Superman. The Super-man from the PreNew52 universe was brought in the aftermath of Convergence. He brought along his wife, Lois Land and kid named Jonathan Lane Kent (hopefully not the one Harvest was talking about because that’s 10 different types of confusing) oh and the Watchmen have apparently stolen 10 years from people’s memories or something. In the wake of Superman’s death, Lex Luthor has partially taken the mantle using armour from Apokolips.

Action Comics #957 - #960

We open with Lex Luthor using his super-armour to break up a hostage crisis. He takes the takers captive and hands them to the police. Upon interrogation they revealed they had no idea what they were doing, and just had to draw attention. A vault had been stolen from the third floor of the same building.

Luthor makes a speech to the press about being their new Superman. Old Clark is not happy about it and decides to be the less rational of the two and confront him. Despite the fact that according their extensive search, they found nothing. As Ozymandias (who should be dead according to Watchmen and appeared to the Lane-Kents during rebirth) watches over everything mysteriously. Spoiler alert, that’s everything he does in 4 issues.

Luthor and Superman fight, with Luthor considering him an impostor. During the fight, Jimmy Olson is confronted by Clark Kent. But it’s public knowledge that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person (or at least were before his death) in the New52. As they fight the vault is being carried away by airship or something but it is destroyed as the prisoner manages to escape. The prisoner is none other than Doomsday

In #958 Superman and SuperLex fight Doomsday and rescue some people from the chaos. Clark Kent acts kind of oblivious and doesn’t know about his powers. Superman grows to trust SuperLex a little more, Doomsday starts showing some smarts, Lois tries to reassure John, despite she herself being very worried, he decides he wants to help but Lois ultimately stops him. At the end of the issue Lex’s armour is being ripped into by Doomsday.

In #959 Superman saves SuperLex who then uses a mother box to repair his armour, the fight continues throughout the issue as Lois continues to try and reassure John that everything will be alright. They drive Doomsday into the sewer but ‘Clark’ falls in, apparently the old Superman forced him into hiding or something. Lex goes to try and save Clark and other civilians whilst Superman fires heat vision, Doomsday breaks a gas line causing a massive explosion. The issue ends with Doomsday ready to attack ‘Clark Kent.’

Wonder Woman arrives and saves ‘Clark’ from Doomsday and helps with his broken arm. Superman comes back to punch Doomsday. The city is being evacuated but he recommends to Wonder Woman that they try and lead him clear of the city at least to buy them more time. They manage to push him down, John sees this and loudly exclaims his approval, creating a sonic wave that Doomsday detects and leaves the city in the debris.

SuperLex asks Superman for answers, Superman gives the origin for the Doomsday he knows, a cloned super-solider from Krypton born to die until it became the ultimate killer, but it left it with a hatred of all life, especially Kryptonians. He then realises his son may be in danger and takes off, Wonder Woman accompanies him, telling Luthor to stay and remain the city’s champion. Lois worries about Doomsday’s retreat and decides to leave. Superman quickly catches up and we get a nice scene with Wonder Woman being shockingly ok with them considering the old Superman was her boyfriend. It’s the level of kindness and compassion that is absolutely Wonder Woman.

Superman and Lois try and reassure John again but they soon see Wonder Woman fighting Doomsday in the distance. Lois drives away with John as Superman moves in to fight.

Action comics certainly does deliver the action and the artwork is dynamic and reasonably consistent given there are 2 artists. The problems are with pacing, this fight with Doomsday is beginning to drag now and I realise with the level of the threat, it’s necessary for the fight to be long and it does have some nice character moments to help. The only other issue I have right now is Ozymandias in the background doing nothing for 4 issues. He’s not contributing anything, so he does not need to be there.

Rating – 7.5/10

Speaking of iconic comics, let’s take a look at Detective Comics. Writing this time is James Tynion IV who unfortunately was one of the writers of Batman Annual #1, which still sucks. On a nicer level, he was also a key writer in the Eternal books, both of which were very good overall. Providing art for the books are Eddy Barrows, who’d done some great work at DC for Teen Titans, Action Comics, and had even done artwork for a few issues of 52 and Alvaro Martinez who had done a lot of Bat-family artwork in the past including the Eternal series, Grayson Annual #2 (the one where he met dude-bro Superman) and the Booster Gold tie-ins from Convergence

Detective Comics #934-#937

#934 opens with Azreal being attacked by a batman-like figure. Batman manages to scare him away and recovers a drone set to watch them. Kathy Kane aka Batwoman has a chat with her father, he wants her to resign with the military and get a team behind her but she refuses. Batman pays her a visit, showing her the drone, about 10 years ahead of most military grade hardware. He wants her to train up a team to get the mission done.

The team will consist of Tim Drake, Red Robin serving as her lieutenant but unbeknownst to them has been accepted into a college I presume (they’re a little vague) (pity, I like Tim Drake), Stephanie Brown aka Spoiler, Cassandra Cain aka orphan and surprisingly Basil Karlo aka Clayface. They all meet on the roof and Kathy explains her parameters. She also tells Bruce she thinks he’s hiding something, something’s gotten him scared. We see that he’s up against an entire army.

#935 opens with the new team facing an army of Jokers. They’re in the mud room, a room designed by Tim using Clayface material so you can armies of combattents. After 3 hours straight of fighting, Red Robin stops the session. Batwoman said she needed to see when their forms broke down. She doesn’t outline Tim’s weaknesses but says that Stephanie needs to build up the muscles to execute her attacks, Cassandra needs to put her focus on her own battles rather than worrying about everyone else and Clayface needs to learn to fight without his powers. She refuses to let them operate as she doesn’t think they’re ready, despite having a fully functional headquarters. Clayface asks Tim if he can keep his power regulator so he can maintain his form as Basil Karlo, which Tim agrees to.

Tim goes out with Batman as they pay a visit to Azreal in his base, which is now a secret hospital run by Leslie Thompkins. Azreal mentions something called the colony. Tim and Batman talk and it’s a really good character that I’m not going to spoil here. Tim visits Stephanie and mentions that he didn’t tell Batman about the invite. Stephanie tells him he needs to make a choice. Cassie passes by and it’s revealed that she doesn’t use her personal quarters and usually goes to either Stephanie’s or Harper’s place (interesting that Harper Row is not in this story)

Kathy visits her father who tells her she shouldn’t have agreed to Batman’s offer, saying Batman will always choose to stand alone. Batman is ambushed by 50 of the colony’s bat-clones and prepares to fight.

In #936 Kathy tries to talk her feelings to her former girlfriend Renee Montoya. She tells her to trust her feelings as they’re more often right than not. Red Robin calls her in and shows her footage of Batman being defeated. The attackers were using military tactics. She calls in everyone, including her father to brief them on the situation but before Orphan can arrive, she is attacked by members of the Colony, she holds her own but Kathy’s father lowers defensive shielding on the place, allowing the colony in. Cassie is knocked out briefly by some tranq darts. 

He tells them that he’s been in charge, and they’re fighting the real enemies that aren’t crime (except they’re fighting a group of terrorists, terrorism is illegal ergo they’re criminals, you f*ckwit) they decided to take out Batman because vaguely explained plot reasons. He offers Kathy a chance to join their side and continue training them. Red Robin hacks into the colony network but the network uses it to access the Batcomputer. Tim shuts it down and orders Clayface encase them in a mudball as he drops them through the floor.

#937 opens with the colony analysing Batman’s utility belt, they’ve found 42 items and are only 30% done. Sure, I believe that. Batman recovers and uses a smoke grenade in his teeth to make his escape, he’s captured in a giant batcave.

Tim explains the escape hatch has a load of decoy tunnels and 8 feet of titanium, combined with the power outage at their HQ and all this means the colony can’t follow. They head through the tunnel and discover Tim’s latest creation, the bat-trains for lack of a better word. Kathy tells them to go but Tim reveals he’s managed to hack the location of their base whilst he was briefly in the Network.

Batman confronts an IT guy who decides not to fight, knowing he doesn’t have much chance and instead stall. This guy is Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong and he was recruited at 14 after he broke through their network defences. Anyway, during Zero Year (I do wish people would stop referring to it as that) where Batman broke through what the US government couldn’t do and took down the Riddler, the US military decided to create a strike team under the same guise. They could take down terrorist strongholds in minutes. He shows them a mission recording and these guys show no mercy, leaving nothing but dead bodies in their wake. The soldiers use an algorithm he designed to know exactly how to combat a threat.

He's about to draw a gun but Batman stops him, he’s quickly confronted by Jake, Batwoman’s father. Batman knew of his involvement when he saw more drones watching her than the rest of them combined, that’s why he came to her first. He warns Batman that the League of Shadows is in Gotham city, Batman dismisses it as a rouse used to frighten the League of Assassins. Kathy then interrupts and orders the others to attack.

Detective Comics gives us some interesting mysteries, even if they’re a little too upfront with the answers here. I honestly didn’t have any issues with the artwork, as it all seems reasonably consistent. There’s a nice lot of character work, although it’s focused mostly on Tim and Batwoman and I could’ve used more for Clayface. I do like how the characters are utilised and I think the villain ideology is fascinating and probably could use more issues to develop than it’s going to get sadly, although maybe there’ll be some loose ends that will lead to future issues.

I also like the interesting stance Jake has on this. My one issue is how he’s so trigger happy and why he went after Azreal of all people, assuming it was him and not the infamous League of Shadows, a cute little reference to the TV shows and cartoons that use it so rarely fearing it might put off children or something.

Rating 8.5/10

Well, we’ve done a Batman and a Superman comic, how about another Batman and Superman comic

Batman: Rebirth #1 and Batman #1-4

Time to look at the main Batman title. In the writer’s chair we have Tom King, half of the crew that did Grayson, the other half doing Nightwing right now. In the artists chair we have notoriously slow artist David Finch of Batman: The Dark Knight and Forever Evil on pencils whilst Matt Branning joined by Sandra Hope and Danny Miki on inks. That’s quite a roster when you think about, and I’m not even covering the team for the Rebirth issue, speaking of which let’s dive in.

We open with Duke Thomas of we are Robin fame coming to Wayne Manor to accept an offer Bruce gave to him pre-rebirth. It’s Monday and it’s spring and Batman is busy apprehending Julian Day aka Calendar Man, he has unleashed spores but Batman uses an electrical shock through his cowl to stop them and apprehend the villain.

It’s Tuesday and it’s summer, Bruce Wayne meets with Lucious Fox on the roof of the Wayne Enterprises building, he’s used government contacts to secure Bruce his company back after it seized in the events of Batman: Eternal.

It’s Wednesday and it’s fall, Bruce explains that the Calendar man ages with the seasons, dies in winter, molts his skin and is reborn in the spring. He’s speeding up the season through some hidden mechanism, he has some spores which will release when spring comes around again. Duke asks what he’s doing there, he doesn’t think Batman needs a Robin, and he doesn’t need a place to stay. Batman says he isn’t interested in training a Robin and wants something new.

It’s Thursday and it’s Winter, Batman dives into the water, with the temperatures so low he can’t use an oxygen tank, he has maybe 4 minutes before his heart gives out, so he asks Duke to count. Batman reaches the device and destroys it a full 6 minutes after diving in… so much for that I guess.

It’s Friday and it’s spring again. Julian Day has returned to life, Duke and Bruce are training against a tree. Duke remarks that Calendar man comes back better each time and asks how they combat that, Bruce tells him they have to get better too.

And so that’s that, let’s move onto the meat of the content.

Batman meets up with Commissioner Gordon. A terrorist group have managed to raid on Fort Marshall and steal 3 surface-to-air missiles, one is fired and blows off the tail end of a plane, forcing it into descent. Batman tells Alfred to call in the League but all of them are busy because of course they are.

The plane is about to crash into Kane Plaza, where there are crowds building with a chance of significant loss of life. Duke asks to get involved and Batman tells him to pull up schematics for the car and the plane and find an angle for him to get aboard. Duke tells him if he drives off the bridge at an exact time at an exact angle, the jet boost in his ejector seat should get him aboard. He’s successful and begins attaching rocket boosters which how the f*ck did he carry those things onto the wings of the plane to try and delay its crash until it reaches the river. The barely avoid a building.

The Kobra goon that shot down the plane is killed by a mysterious figure. Alfred tells Bruce that he may be able to save the lives of the people inside the plane, but it’d likely be at the cost of his own life. As Batman says goodbye, the plane is caught by 2 mysterious flying people, calling themselves Gotham and Gotham Girl, they’re here to save the city.

#2 opens with Solomon Grundy. Gotham is fighting him but Grundy is about to charge towards an old man, Batman appears and takes Grundy down, warning Gotham of the fact that man would’ve been trampled. Gotham asks for Batman’s help so they can do better.

Meanwhile a man enters Commissioner Gordon’s office and confesses to have been the one who released Solomon Grundy, he says the monster men are coming before slitting his own throat. Gordon calls Batman who agrees to have Gotham and Gotham Girl watch. Gordon informs them of the threat but none of them have any idea about it. Meanwhile Hugo strange is performing therapy on a prisoner of somewhere. Inside are also a general and Amanda Waller, the General tells Amanda she’s just saved Gotham City.

#3 opens with a couple named Mr and Mrs Clover talking to ‘agent’ Matches Malone about their kids Hank and Claire. Hank went through a similar experience to Bruce except his parents were rescued by Batman. He was brave enough and began adopting his sister into the same life, helping people in need and training to their physical peaks. They began operating out of the country and made an out-of-the-blue request for a significant amount of money, which they obliged. Their kids recently returned to Gotham, incidentally around the same time Gotham and Gotham Girl returned.

Matches returns to his car as Alfred tells him about an explosion on a bridge, the bomber shouted ‘beware the monster men’ before blowing up. Gotham and Gotham Girl are holding up the bridge as Batman arrives and uses the batwing to hold the bridge while it can be evacuated. Batman gives the two a thumbs up and leaves as an explosion occurs nearby. Gotham and Gotham Girl investigate but discover Hugo Strange and the Psycho Pirate, who can master their emotions.

Batman walks through a room with 27 dead soldiers, he finds a woman who repeatedly phrases that she’s scared. A man is about to detonate a bomb on the edge of the building saying the monster men are coming, Gotham tries to stop him but ultimately fails. Duke tries to comfort the woman as Batman calls in for an analysis of the crime scene, he has a list of the dead soldiers.

Batman finds Gotham trying to repair the bridge. He’s not an architect and doesn’t have the resources of the city council, there’s nothing he can do, but he angrily throws a beam at the Batmobile, destroying it (that’s like the second one in 4 issues), Batman says he thought he knew what Gotham was capable of until he saw the 27 dead soldiers. Gotham flies off as Duke tells Batman he found something.

As Batman destroys the Batmobile Duke tells him that the numbers on the tags of the soldiers all add up to 24, the 24^th letter of the alphabet is X. In a secure Argus facility general lane (we find out here it’s lane) assures Amanda Batman won’t show up, but he’s already right behind him. Amanda tells Batman she was assigned to stop Gotham from burning every 5 minutes (not an invalid complaint of late) she chose the stupidest people you could possibly imagine for the job. Psycho Pirate and Hugo Strange, it was Psycho Pirate who drove Gotham and Gotham Girl mad. She knows how to deal with them but when she mentions another dead Agent, Batman heads out.

Batman heads to find Gotham with his now dead parents. He’d briefly taken off his mask when he thought all of the 28 soldiers were dead. The one that left, driven to by the Psycho Pirate killed his parents. He has the killer by the neck and ultimately snaps it. He heads off, hoping to destroy Gotham before it hurts anyone else.

What I like about this story is the action, there are some really good action moments, the dialogue is also well handled and the artwork is pretty fantastic, clearly having one person doing the pencils is helping to keep it looking consistent and David Finch is a very good artist. I also like Gotham and Gotham Girl as characters. Most heroes that try and help in Gotham present a challenge to Batman with some conflict of ideology, here it’s not exactly the case because their turn is a direct result of another villain’s actions.

But, let’s get to that. Hugo Strange, Psycho Pirate and the random people killing themselves shouting monster men. I’ve got to admit, Psycho Pirate could be a really interesting villain but the problem is they do too little in this story, and I get a distinct impression they’re building up to the monster men. As for Gotham and Gotham Girl, Gotham Girl kinda drops out of the story in #4 for no reason and yeah, Gotham’s turn was exactly the predictable twist I’d feared. At the end of the day, I can’t see them being mainstay characters, and you kind of miss the personal challenge to Batman.

Duke is a bit of a non-factor in the stories. He’s not active is his costume throughout the entire 4 issues and isn’t really active in the rebirth issue either. Alfred also has very little to do.

Speaking of poor villains, what the f*ck did Scott Snyder do to Calendar Man? OK, Tom King shares the blame as they co-wrote the rebirth issue but it’s not the first time Scott Snyder hasn’t done well with a classic villain. Given that All-Star Batman ties a lot to classic villains it’s a concerning trend.

The rebirth issue in general was of a lower quality than the rest of the series, nothing much was accomplished and if you’re a new reader, you’ll have a lot of questions. As someone who isn’t really up together with Duke Thomas I certainly had some.

Rating

Rebirth 6/10

#1-4 7.5/10

I’ll continue to pick up Batman for now, but with the wealth of issues I’m picking up, it needs to up its game or I’ll be dropping it post Monster Men.

Superman: Rebirth #1 and Superman #1-4

Superman sees the reunion of former Green Lantern Corps and Batman and Robin team Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. Patrick Gleason was the Writer/Artist on Son of Batman which as many know I did not like. For issues 1, 2 and 4 Patrick Gleason teams up with Mick Gray (who incidentally had teamed up with Gleason for Batman and Robin and Son of Batman before) to provide artwork. In issue 3, Jorge Jimenez steps in, probably to account for the swift deadlines. He’ll be back for #7 and will likely serve as a fill-in artist every few issues.

The rebirth issue begins with a recap of happenings, Clark meeting Clark, Superman meeting Superman and the one that isn’t the Superman we were following died. Following?

Superman arrives at Superman’s memorial in Metropolis and hears Lana Lang trying to break into Superman’s grave (sorry, there’s no way of describing this without your head hurting) Lana wants to keep a promise to bury him in Smallville. Superman is waiting for him to come back to life, as he once did and wants to take his body to the fortress of solitude, except he doesn’t know where it is, but Lana does. She agrees to show him if she comes as well.

They make it into the fortress and find a message left for Supergirl telling her to be ready. The device that healed Superman before is not here, Superman is not coming back to life. Conceding, he agrees to help bury Superman in smallville with his parents. He returns to the fortress and carves a statue of Superman, adding it so he’s holding the globe with his parents from Earth.

#1 opens with Superman pondering the words of Ozy from the main rebirth issue, something I really don’t care to go over in this review, I’m already reviewing 28 comics. Meanwhile John thinks about how lucky the animals on the farm are that Superman is their dad as a freak lightning strike had set the barn on fire.

Jon wants to get to work but Clark has to clean up first, Jon promises not to use his powers but soon his cat goldie is grabbed by a hawk. He fires heat vision but ends up killing the cat as well. A girl sees him as he cries over his mistake. He’s decides not to help with the barn, using an excuse about taking it slow.

That evening the girl knocks on the door, leaving Jon in an awkward position. Her name is Kathy Branden, her grandfather had bought a nearby milk and is offering free milk to his neighbours. Lois asks if she’s seen Goldie and she says she hasn’t, but will put out a saucer of milk for her. Jon is angsty about having neighbours thanks to them maintaining and eventually blows up over it, he’s sent to his room and we see him crying. Batman and Wonder Woman pay Superman a visit. Jon can hear words from it. As they leave Superman tells him to come quickly and quietly.

Superman takes Jon to the Arctic Circle where a submarine is about to sink, Jon is told to watch as Superman rescues the subs. The captain thanks him but the sub is soon attacked again by an octopus/squid thing. It begins to attack Jon too, so Superman instructs him to use his heat vision, his first shot hits Superman but he tries to reassure John to make him try again, he focuses and manages to shoot the crystal that was controlling the creature, making it back away.

Jon reveals the truth about Goldie, Superman already knew, he could smell the ozone from when it happened. Jon relents he’d do anything to change it, but all he can do now is apologise. Superman tells him Lois should be proud and they head home. Some of Jon’s blood was spilt and is assimilated by an unknown villain. Lois reacts by helping bury her by the tree.

Later Kathy joins Jon on the tree and they talk, she knows enough and hasn’t said anything, he trusts her enough to bear his soul to her. Lois and Clark are talking about how they have to ensure he doesn’t have to go through it all alone as Clark did, they have the best of both worlds to help him. Lois thinks they need to teach him to fly, to build his confidence but they soon get a knock on the door. It’s Kathy’s grandfather, holding an unconscious Jon, the branch had broken and he’d fallen from the tree. Superman is kinda rude to them if I’m honest but he’s run a full body scan with his x-ray vision and there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong. Lois is concerned that he can have these powers and still sustain these injuries. Clark says there’s only one place they can find answers, the Fortress of Solitude. Meanwhile the Eradicator is formed, and promises to save Kal-El.

Superman and Superboy arrive and find the Eradicator petting Krypto, who resembles his original form more now. Krypto may as well be dog equivalent of a woman in refrigerator but I’ll get to that. Superman sees the Eradicator and decides to violently attack him despite the fact the last time this superman saw the Eradicator in Rein of Doomsday, he was an ally. Anyway, the beat down ends when the Eradicator saves John and Lois from some debris.

Jon is put into a scanner, still uncomfortable with the Eradicator starting at them, from what they can tell, Jon is still adjusting to the unique genomes that give him his powers, making them difficult to control and unreliable, particularly his invulnerability. The Eradicator gives his origin. His kind were created by General Zod on Krypton to hunt down Kryptonian fugitives and transport their souls into the Phantom Zone, when Krypton was destroyed, his only remaining protocol was to find the survivors. He wishes to eradicate the human half of his son, by ingesting it. Krypto stands in the way and is eaten instead.

Superman beats him down again as Jon angrily looks at Krypto’s cape. Quick question, who does the Eradicator expect Superman to breed with. THERE ARE NO OTHER KRYPTONIANS, just sayin’.

The fight between the Eradicator and Superman continues, Lois tries to console Jon and eventually convinces him to help. Together, they breach the Eradicator’s armour. Meanwhile Bibbo beats a guy at arm wrestling, the guy had procured a space rock that’s supposedly from Krypton but it’s not authenticated. Superman, Lois, Jon and the Eradicator appear in the bar. Fire from the Eradicator’s chest begins circling the rock as Superman and Jon are unconscious.

Lois deduces that there’s Kryptonite inside the rock and works to get rid of it, there are spirits in the flame that begin inhabiting some of the patrons of the pub. Bibbo tries to flight them off as Lois tries to reason with them, one of the spirits tries to inhabit superman and this begins an existential journey where he talks to his father. Superman eventually manages to establish communication with the spirits of Krypton, who have been trapped, but the Eradicator returns and begins sucking them all back in. Superman flies off with Jon and Lois with the Eradicator in pursuit. Jon tries to use his heat vision on the water to create steam cover but the Eradicator is too fast. The spirits ssay they can help to buy them time and blast the Eradicator into the water. Superman loads Jon and Lois into a submersible and flies them to the moon. Bibbo ensures his patrons that Supes has a plan.

There really was only one story that could possibly be told here, a story that had to come for several other titles to move forward. We needed a coming of age story for Jon where he ultimately becomes Superboy, or whatever he plans to call himself, a step necessary for the Teen Titans and Super sons books to take off, though as of me writing this review the release of Super sons has yet to be announced.

As a coming of age story #1 and 2 do the best for me, #3 and 4 aren’t much to write home about but ultimately serve their purpose. The artwork is a considerable improvement and the guest artist for #3 didn’t bother me that much.

The biggest issue is the Eradicator who is… not particularly interesting, his background doesn’t make him sympathetic and his motivations are boring and really don’t make much sense when you think about it. Also, can we lose it with the animal killing, killing Krypto was unnecessary, didn’t even really serve that plot much.

The rebirth issue was nice, a good send-off to the New52 superman whilst establishing a few elements for the ongoing, the fortress of solitude, Doomsday and Lana Lang, probably. But it also isn’t entirely necessary to read the main book.

Rating – Rebirth #1 – 8/10

#1-4 8/10

Next up we have the Flash. Barry Allen was a central character in Rebirth so I was hoping his title might have some answers, let’s take a look

The Flash

On writing duties we have Joshua Williamson, who had before mostly worked on Voodoo at DC and did a couple of one shots for various issues. Issues 1-3 have Carmine di Giandomenico as artist with Neil Googe doing #4. Carmine di Giandomenic is relatively new at DC, having only done an issue of Grayson prior to this, although I’ll admit, it’s impressively he got 2 months’ worth of issues on time with only 2 weeks between them. Neil Googe had worked on the previous Flash title and had some work on Injustice. Let’s take a look and see what’s what.

We open at a crime scene, a woman named Heather Macy has been murdered, their son saw the whole thing and says a monster did it, the police reckon it was her husband and yes this is supposed to evoke Déjà vu. Barry arrives, telling them not to rush to conclusions, which is especially true in a world of metahumans. Director Singh tells Barry to turn over the evidence, it’s personal for him. Barry says he needs to stay on the case for that exact reason. His mother’s case wouldn’t have taken 15 years to solve otherwise. Yeah, 15 years ago, metahumans were not as well-known as they are today.

Barry sees a vision of Wally West (the one, the only and the best, well actually neither the one nor the only) and then some guy in a white suit who says he’s going to kill them all, followed Zoom. Barry tries to grab zoom but he’s not seen and he’s taken off the case. After a recap of his origin, we cut to Barry discussing the case he was taken off of with his father. Guess Doctor Manhattan did something, he was dead before. Oh yeah, this was a cheap attempt to copy the TV show, funny how things work out, isn’t it?

He tells him about the visions and Henry asks if anyone has ever studied the speed force, but it’s off limits thanks to a treaty between ARGUS, Star Labs and the Justice league. With samples of the case he’s been kicked off of being analysed, he goes around saving lives, bringing Pizza and arriving a date with Iris a full day early. Then we get the bit from DC Rebirth of Barry Allen and Wally West meeting, Barry dragging him out etc etc.

Barry wants to tell Iris but Wally isn’t ready yet, there are still pieces of memories missing and he doesn’t want to go through with Iris what he did with Linda, who didn’t remember him. Barry heads off to join the Titans, with Barry saying he’s off to talk to Batman. You’ll be pleased to hear their entire conversation takes place off panel. Bruce analysed the comedian’s pin and it contains some strange radiation and there’s some talk about he and Bruce are kindred spirits. Apparently the husband confessed to the murder anyway, and the cops about how Barry can make mistakes.

#1 opens with Flash dealing with a tornado, after yet another recap of his origin. We get it, he was a man struck by lightning. I guess the purpose is to introduce us to August, who is gonna be a big player, but we’ll get to that. Barry arrives late to a crime scene, a robbery at a STAR Labs facility that resulted in a guard being killed. Barry and August are assigned to the case and Barry quickly notices that the thieves were careful not to smash vials that would potentially be deadly.

Soon both of them remember other engagements and head off. New CSI detective Kristen (who apparently was an intern) is left to deal with it (voluntarily you understand.) Barry heads of to Jitters, hoping to help the other Wally (I’ll probably look at him in more detail when I do Teen Titans) but Wally was able to finish it, quick. Barry tells Iris his caseload is major and she says he might be spending so long trying to do everything he ends up doing nothing. The sound of sirens sounds and Wally finds online (news breaks fast, doesn’t it) that there’s a fire and a STAR Labs truck is under attack.

Barry races to get everyone out of the burning building as the police try and ultimately to hold off the attack on the STAR transport. The leader, claiming himself responsible for the chemical theft wears a symbol on his chest that was spray-painted near his brother’s crime scene, a Black Hole symbol. The leader shoots him but the shot doesn’t kill him exactly, he gets kinda lightning struck instead.

Issue 2 opens with Barry trying to teach August how to use his speed force abilities as Wally continues to struggle with his. Iris mentions to the police how a Doctor Carver was among a group fired by Star Labs for conducting illegal experiments. A Star Labs insider overhears and contacts Black Hole.  August wonders whether they even need to abide by the law now that they have speed as Barry talks him down.

Iris is kidnapped by Black hole and the two speed out to rescue her, Barry does so but is shot by some kind of speed dampener, August arrives to help and manages to help heal him as they knock out the shooter and destroy the gun. As the day is over, a new storm arises and many more people are struck by lightning.  

Issue 3 opens with Barry and August stopping a couple of robbers using the speed force and locking them up in iron Heights. Barry finds out that STAR Labs has a training facility they’ve set up for people with speed force powers. Barry meets with Dr. Meena Dewahn, herself a user of the speed force. August wants to return to look for more evidence from Black Hole but Meena informs Barry that not only was he the one that brought the speed force storms to the city but there are people out there too afraid to use their powers or do anything.

Barry and Meena head off to help whilst August returns to the police station. Meanwhile, Iris is asking some police about the Black Hole case, when they don’t give answers, Wally uses his speed to steal their file and Iris discovers they were fired for conducting speed force experiments. Barry and Meena arrive at a house of a girl who’s vibrating so fast she’s practically in ghost form. Barry makes her concentrate on things she loves to provide a lightning rod for her to settle with and she joins them at the lab.

Barry heads to the prison. He wants to help them before they become trainee rogues or the like. But when he arrives he finds the crooks dead, their connection to the speed force has been severed. August, who just about escaped that fate said the person responsible was a new threat, Godspeed.

#4 opens with Barry Training the speed force recruits at STAR Labs. Meena tells him that the speed force isn’t bonding with them the same way it did with him and also that when speed forces combine close to each other it’s possible to steal someone’s speed if you outrun them. August arrives to remind him he’s still needed as Barry Allen. Iris arrives and tells him of Dr Carver’s research into the speed force. Barry heads off to investigate with Meena, who can track the speed force they’re using.

They encounter Carver who uses a device to force the speed force into himself and become a monster. August arrives with some recruits and together they steal the speed off Carver. The lab is destroyed in the process, which Barry remarks seems too easy, he wants STAR Labs to analyse what they did. Wally is trying to focus his powers but it doesn’t seem to be working. He sees the ad for the STAR Labs assistance.

Meena kisses Barry to get him to loosen up (good job) and Barry decides to unmask to her.

The Flash: Rebirth #1 was not a bad story but not a great one either. Aside from rehashing bits from DC: Rebirth #1 it really didn’t add much to the Watchmen mystery, and it annoyed me that the conversation in the batcave didn’t happen on-panel. I feel more attention should’ve been given to this and Wally’s return than the case that really doesn’t go anywhere and could’ve been established just as easily in the main title.

As for the main title, its… ok. Sadly, I can’t really give much more than OK, and it really comes down to 2 factors. The first is the relative irrelevance of Barry Allen after the first issue. The second is the villains. Black Hole and Godspeed are new villains and whilst they certainly make an impact, we don’t know much about them.

Artwork is decent, although I’ll give credit to Googe for not drawing lightning around the Flash in every panel, even if he’s standing still, something that does bug me about Di Giandomenico’s art.

This is probably the worst book of the bunch, but that doesn’t make it bad. Unfortunately, the only thread that interests me right now is Wally West, and that really isn’t enough to make me continue buying this title.

Rebirth #1 6.5/10

#1-4 7/10

Finally (and I really mean that – I must be crazy reviewing 28 issues for 1 review) we have Wonder Woman which had adopted a radically different approach to the other titles. Instead of having multiple artists collaborate on issues or bringing in fill in artists, this comic is essentially telling 2 different stories with 2 different artists.

Wonder Woman

The stories are Truth and Year One and for ease of summary, I’ll be covering them separately. Truth covers the Rebirth Issue, and issues 1 and 3, Year One covers 2 and 4. Greg Rucka is handling the writing and he is a very talented writer with a long history at DC which covers Action Comics, Batman and a well acclaimed run on Wonder Woman

On art duties we have Matthew Clark in Rebirth until Wonder Woman’s costume charge where Liam Sharp takes cover. With Nicola Scott providing Art for the Year One issues. Matthew Clark hasn’t been on a regular comic for DC since Doom Patrol. He’ll be doing some artwork for Justice League later. Liam Sharp has done some artwork in a lot of titles I’ve never read but he does have a 30 year history behind him. Nicola Scott had worked on Earth 2 and a couple of convergence tie-ins recently at DC.

“Something’s happening… In my Memory… The story keeps changing.” The Queen of the Amazons wished for a child and one was granted, forged from clay and made real by their will. Or the Queen fell in love with Zeus and became with child, or is it children? Wonder Woman saves some women from… I dunno sexual predators, it’s kinda hard to tell.

Wonder Woman flies into her apartment and begins to have more memory issues. She was treated well as a child or was she looked down upon for being a lesser being made of clay, but all changed when a dying sailor was brought to the shores by their gods or was he an unwitting herald warning of the escape of Ares?

The message was clear, and the response is that Themyscira would choose a champion to go to man’s world, sacrificing her immortality, home, and place. Not one amazon hesitated, or perhaps one did, Diana’s mother prevented her from competing, but she did so anyway and ultimately won. Wonder Woman picks her helmet and crushes it easily, she shouldn’t have been able to, it’s the helmet of a god. She uses the lasso around herself and I’m not sure how this works but she discovers she’s been deceived. I know the lasso compels the truth, but if you’re not aware of the truth, how can you reveal it?

As Wonder Woman continues to ponder her place she smashes a mirror and decides to change costume. She heads to Olympus to find the source of her deception. She sees automatons, the work of Hephaestus, which attack her, knowing they will never relent, she fights back. Is the God of War being welcomed to Olympus, or is that another lie? She ponders the three responses to the confrontation of a lie. Honesty, deceit and hostility, born of fear. It’s clear this lie is afraid of her. This is not Olympus. She warns whoever is responsible that she will find the truth.

#1 opens with Diana arriving in the Banakane Rainforest. She says that she needs to talk to the occupant. She gives the first of her three warnings, she is only the enemy if she is treated as such. Meanwhile, a commander enters a secret military base in Bwanda. There is an operation to remove a warlord named Cadulo from being a threat. Leading the mission is Col Steve Trevor. They’ve been ratted out and Cadulo’s men are firing upon them. They manage to fight them off but the commander tells him that he cannot reach his intended target.

Wonder Woman gives her second warning. She wishes to pass in peace, but will fight if she has to, and if they engage, they will lose. The commander is warned that Wonder Woman is definitely in the area. It’s considered that maybe Steve told her to come, they contact him and he denies it but the commander says this is exactly the thing Wonder Woman would fight against, they haven’t spoken is a long time. Wonder Woman gives her final warning. She has come to ask for aid, and will not leave until she has an answer. She attacked by wolf-creates wearing with swords and loin cloths. Because of course…

Steve encounters a group of villagers. Cadulo has stolen their daughters. Wonder Woman beats the wolves but is attacked by a growling creature. It’s Barbara Ann, aka Cheetah. Wonder Woman asks for her help; she can no longer find Themyscira.

Cheetah asks Wonder Woman to repeat what she wants, obviously finding some joy, Barbara Ann is no longer her name, that name is dead. She blames Wonder Woman briefly but she did try to stop her from getting into it. The wolf-men return and they are not Cheetah’s followers, they’re the worshipers of ‘him.’

Wonder Woman reiterates her request and cheetah angrily refuses. She ‘let’ Urzkartaga turn her the way she is, a curse bride, unfaithful wife, condemned to eat flesh to live. Wonder Woman says they were friends before and that hasn’t changed. Cheetah hates her but that’s fine, love can exist with hatred, each praying on the other. They move, trying to make distance on Urzkartaga’s followers.

Steve and his crew head out to find Cadulo and rescue the children, they quickly encounter a jungle that shouldn’t be there, the work of Urzkaraga. Wonder Woman stops, she wants answers, despite the fact they were given to her in the last scene. They attack and injure Cheetah. Wonder Woman fights valiantly to defend her. Cheetah is about to eat one but Wonder Woman stops her. She blames herself, her eternal hunger is punishment for him not being her first. Wonder Woman assures her it’s not the case, people like that rarely do it for that reason, the do it because they can.

If she dies, he will find another and do the same. Cheetah agrees to help under the condition that she help her kill Urzkaraga and free her from her curse. Wonder Woman gives her word. Trevor is captured and it’s revealed that Cadulo is working with Urzkaraga. Steve offers him a chance to surrender.

It’s clear from this that Greg is not just sweeping the stuff from Brian Azzerello’s run under the rug but it willing to take it into a new direction. And there is no question this is a Wonder Woman book. She is written very well in these issues as kind, compassionate, loyal and fierce when she has to be. Small things like offering chances, seeking help from a major enemy, offering compassion to said enemy, even comforting her. This is how Wonder Woman should be written. As for Steve Trevor, he’s written decently, there’s not much coming out of this plot yet but it’s promising. The artwork is very nice and captures a great look for a jungle-esque environment.

Now let’s take a closer look at the two issues of Wonder Woman: Year One.

On Themyscira, many of the Amazons wonder why Wonder Woman looks to the horizon instead of the stars. Themyscira is the only place she’s ever known, she did not exist before they retreated from the world of men, it’s natural to be curious. Kasia warns her of the suffering she went through before retreating her, something she’d rather forget and says that departing the island would mean leaving it all behind.

Diana and Hippolyta agree to do archery together. Diana manages to hit 2 targets at once with the same shot. After a montage of things, she heads out on horse, Kachi and finds a dying tree. A snake comes out and bites her.

In Man’s world Steve Trevor helps his friend Nick hook up with Maya, they eventually have a child for whom Steve is named Godfather. Yeah… Nick’s gonna die. Diana eventually recovers although apparently it was a lengthy recovery, she’s told it must’ve been a message from the gods. Steve and Nick head on a mission on an air force jet and you can guess the rest. The plane crashes on Themyscira and of course Steve is the only survivor.

A meeting is called of the council of Themyscira. The inventory of the plane had been tallied, with Areto ready to give her analysis. They carry weapons of war, ones that could be more effective than Amazonian weapons, she believes they wish to attack. Castalia counters that only by the Patron’s will, could they have landed here, they were brought to us in need. Hippolyta notes of their symbol, an eagle with a bowed head, signalling that they will meet battle, but will not seek it.

Steve awakens and sees Diana waiting at his side. They speak different languages and don’t understand each other but he’s able to communicate his name as she is that he’s the only survivor. Hippolyta sees a rising threat, perhaps one of Ares’ design. A champion must be sent to man’s world. There is little point asking for a volunteer, no-one would refuse so the games are the way to decide. Phillipus claims that she may not win but Hippolyta knows that she will.

She tries to dissuade Diana but ultimately allows her to compete. She becomes one of the final 3, with the final challenge to perry a gunshot, only Diana is successful here and she is sent with Steve and the dead on the invisible jet.

Year One is a charming story with charming artwork. It’s hard to judge the characterisation in the knowledge that characters are not fully formed yet. Nick’s obvious death was a mistake and I really don’t see the meaning of the snake bite, but that’s minor in the grand scheme of things. Nicola Scott’s artwork wonderfully captures the ambience of Paradise Island.

#Rebirth #1 #3 9/10

#2 #4 8/10

And that's it for now, we'll take a look and Nightwing and Justice League next week

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Images/clips used in this review belong to DC Comics. All images in this review are subject to fair use