DC Rebirth What are you current thoughts

[comicstar100]

Now that we are a little over a year and a half into DC Rebirth what are your thoughts? Do you think it is still going strong or is it starting to lose steam? Personally I'm still really enjoying it over anything we had from New 52.

[Sacred Knight]

For me its been losing steam since last summer, if not sooner. Its on fumes right now, with Metal and Doomsday Clock (the first three issues at least, as that's all we're getting for a while), holding the line.

[JBatmanFan05]

The Rebirth line is way better than New 52. It's the actual slow Rebirth story (it feels like it will be doomsday before D.Clock ends) that is ...losing my interest more and more.

[Assam]

Assam of May, 2016: "Am...am I interested in the DCU again?!"

Assam of November, 2016: "I know, I can't believe it either, DC is good again! Okay, so there are a lot of things that need to be worked out but I have hope! Everyone, read DC Rebirth!"

Assam of July, 2017: "Man, I'm starting to think Rebirth was all a lie. Things aren't getting better, they're just getting worse again."

Assam of December, 2017: "Rebirth was always a lie and I hate it! And I hate myself for ever thinking DC, with the same people in charge, could accomplish anything better. It's just bad decision after bad decision. This is barely better than the Nu52!"

Assam of February, 2018: "I don't care anymore. I just don't care. Most of the books I used to enjoy have gone down in quality, some by virtue of losing their writer, some not so. Most of the new stuff DC is doing isn't interesting me and each time I think I'm gonna get something back that I love, it's pulled away. But I don't care. This is not the DCU I once knew and loved and it never will be. I'll stick with the small amount of good books they have, enjoy them and that will be that."

[Buried Alien]

I like it, but I wish DC would hurry the hell up. Dragging it out like this is beyond reasonable.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Sacred Knight]

The true "ending" to the Rebirth saga is pretty much guaranteed to be a whimper and underwhelming now. Because its not going to matter anymore because it can't. With Doomsday Clock being delayed so long, the rest of the verse is going to move on of its own accord, as it should. So whatever implications Doomsday Clock would have originally had, are either going to be gone or extremely muted in its consequences. We're already seeing this in practice with the Superman plans. Bendis is at the controls now, so its highly likely Doomsday Clock is going to mean squat for him by the time its ending comes, at least no where near on the scale that it seemed originally intended.

[Dzetoun]

REBIRTH was an interesting mix of honesty and cynicism (which are not opposites, by the way, although people sometimes act like they are). It was an admission, albeit mostly a tacit admission, that the New 52 hadn't really worked out over the medium run and that some of its basic premises had been poorly considered. It was cynical in that the operative direction for REBIRTH was "Find out which version of these characters people want and give it to them. We don't care how you do it, we don't care what narrative path you take or how you navigate any continuity quagmires, just get the characters to their points of highest popularity."

In doing this without, to date, an actual crisis, DC showed it was possible to make such shifts in the DC Universe without resorting to red skies and tuning forks. But, although they proceeded without the architecture of a crisis, they still had many of the same problems that occur with a crisis. Continuities got tangled, and in some cases (TITANS, for instance, or Donna Troy's origin) degenerated into an impossible morass. Some very promising series (GRAYSON, perhaps TITANS HUNT) got cut off in a baby-and-bathwater deluge. Plot threads of long-standing were either ignored (Kord Industries from FOREVER EVIL) or cut off with laughable abruptness (Owlman, Pandora) or explicitly rejected (much of the Azzarello/Chiang WONDER WOMAN run).

So far, so usual, as far as these kinds of initiatives go. History shows that whenever there is a major restructuring of the fictional universe, a clean up action or actions has to follow in a few years to sort out the detritus. We are at the point of awaiting the cleanup and final product. That some of the fallout in the meantime has been unfortunate is disappointing in the extreme but still not unusual.

As JBatmanFan05 points out, however, the big problem is that REBIRTH was launched with the promise of a master narrative that would pull the DC Universe from one status quo to another. That has proceeded slowly in fits and starts and there is a strong sense that they have changed their mind several times already and seem sometimes to be making it up as they go. It's possible that people are expecting too much of DOOMSDAY CLOCK, especially now that it's been delayed. A lot of the cleanup may proceed piecemeal, with DOOMSDAY CLOCK being a kind of aesthetic statement rather than a ZERO HOUR continuity shift.

In any case, however they do it, REBIRTH is flagging somewhat and they really need to give the master narrative some attention and momentum.

[The Dying Detective]

It had a fine start but it's definitely slowing it needs a new direction soon. But in regards to Doomsday I won't be mad at the delays because quite frankly Geoff Johns has more responsibilities on his plate now I am not going to be made because of that.

[cranger]

I am still enjoying the books. Then again, I never thought Rebirth was about leading into some big status quo changing event, but simply opening doors for the writers to bring back elements that made the characters enjoyable. Those doors are still open and the characters still enjoyable. Some mega event is not needed for me to know if I enjoy the books I am reading.

[Pohzee]

Makeup on a pig.

[astro@work]

Rebirth came out of the gate much stronger than 52, and still feels more like a recognizable DCU than the bland charmless nu52.
I'll take the worst day in Rebirth over the best day in nu52.

That said, I feel like Rebirth has stalled a bit because of the interminable delays with Metal and Countdown. Many of the promises hinted at in the original Rebirth one-shot (JSA, Legion, Shazam) seem held up by these delays.

I'm also a LOT leery of Bendis undoing all the Rebirth work done on the Super family, with all the titles getting put on hold. Super Sons was the brightest light DC had going for it. Shoving them into non-continuity team ups with Dyno-mutt or Top Cat, or into a team roster ain't going to cut it. Similarly with Super Girl, while the title is bland she's at least on more solid footing than the vengeful morose nu52 Kara. ANOTHER reboot for Kara and we might as well throw her on the slag-heap with rebooted Legion #3 and batch SW6. Don't screw up what you just (finally) fixed DC.

[Zero Hunter]

I am still enjoying the books. Then again, I never thought Rebirth was about leading into some big status quo changing event, but simply opening doors for the writers to bring back elements that made the characters enjoyable. Those doors are still open and the characters still enjoyable. Some mega event is not needed for me to know if I enjoy the books I am reading.

I agree with you. I have never thought of it as some giant inteconected plan but more of a "resetting the table" idea. So many book have been great since Rebirth started that to me were really struggling before. The Superman books, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, The Flash, Aquaman, and others are just so much better now than they were pre-Rebirth, and I think that was the whole point. Most of DC's flagship titles seem on much firmer ground than they were before except the Justice League which is still kind of a mess. Even as much hate as Teen Titans and Titans get they are still so much better than what was being done with the Titans during the Nu52.

[WhipWhirlwind]

Less and less interested with each passing week.

BC is reporting that Marvel may have gotten Hickman back, and if so it makes DC look foolish as hell for giving Bendis Superman and seeing that as some big get.

[Moonwix]

For me the only great thing about DC rebirth, is that they fixed superman. His books were the only ones I enjoyed and still do, right now I'm just holding my breath on the Bendis situation. Red hood and the outlaws is the only bat book I do enjoy. Everything else is just bad to average at best.

[MajorHoy]

As I've said before, Rebirth to me feels a bit like the post-Zero Hour DC; they had this big story where they attempted to fix mistakes/confusion from the last reboot, but it seemed like instead of an improvement it was just a combination of retreading past ideas and "new" stuff that was generally meh.
Despite all the problems with New52/DCYou, I was buying more during that time than I am right now.