All of my life Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have
been the world’s greatest superheroes. Spider-Man was up there, too, but DC’s
Trinity were, to me, the definition of “superhero”. They were what I thought of
when someone would use that term. That’s not to say that I have spent my whole
life reading all of their comics. I know them from TV, movies, and cartoons
more than anything else. I’ve read Batman comics on and off my entire life and
I’ve certainly read plenty of comic books featuring Superman and Wonder Woman,
but I am by no means a DC expert.
I bought pretty much any Batman book that came out in the
90s. I read Death of Superman and
followed the resulting comics pretty much until he came back. I think Bloodlines was the first line-wide event
that sucked me in. Then Zero Hour got
me. I can’t tell you if I truly enjoyed it or just got caught up in the sweeping
epic-ness of the event, but I bought most, if not all, of those tie-ins and
waited every week for the newest issues.
Around 2004 and 2005 I was getting back into reading
comics and I remember trying both Identity
Crisis and Infinite Crisis. They
were both confusing and deeply mired in the past continuities of DC. As someone
with only partial knowledge of the secondary and tertiary charatcers, I was
lost. I realize now that I was mistaking these events as an entry point for the
DCU. I think I reasoned that a massive, line-wide event was a great time to
bring in new readers.
By the time 52
came around I had gleaned enough from my prior attempts and from just being a
comic book nerd on the internet to grok what was happening. There were still
events that lost me a bit, but the narrative structure kept the momentum going,
hopping around from scenario to scenario. None of the segments lasted long
enough to truly lose me. And some of them got me invested in heroes I’d never
read before, like Adam Strange.
At this point I’ve read Final Crisis, Blackest Night,
and all of the other big events that happened up through the launch of the New
52. Some were better than others. Most lost their momentum at some point. Most
were spread too thin across many books and sometimes I dropped titles I was enjoying
due to their being mired in or sidelined by some big event.
I think if I have a point here – and I can’t guarantee
that I do – it’s that DC Comics hasn’t been too concerned about being
reader-friendly over the past couple of decades. And they certainly haven’t
been worried about new readers. They’ve claimed
that they have, but even the most “fresh start” New 52 titles had gobs of
continuity hanging around.
But I’m not here today to criticize the New 52. I’ve done
plenty of that as DC has disappointed me again and again over the past five
years. Today I’m here to celebrate DC’s newest fresh start and the promise it
represents for the future.
I have read DC
Universe Rebirth #1 twice now and before I get any further I want to tell
you to take your $2.99 plus tax to your Local Comic Book Shop
and buy this 80-page comic book. It made me very happy and gave me the hope
that Geoff Johns claims to want to bring back to the DCU. Every word of the
story is an acknowledgement of everything DC has been doing wrong for not just
the past five years, but perhaps the past thirty. I cannot help but be excited
about what’s coming.
I am not going to spoil any of the major events or story
beats of the book because I strongly believe that any comic book fan should
experience Rebirth as I did – with no
hints of what is to come and the ability to let the narrative sweep over them.
However, there’s no way to talk about the book without at
least touching on certain things, so from here on out there could be very minor
spoilers in that a few elements will be discussed. If you want to go into the
book completely fresh, stop here.
If you need just a bit more convincing before you give DC
another chance, read on.