DC Rebirth 5 years this year.

[Batman Begins 2005]

May 2016 was the start of DC Rebirth. May 2021 marks five years. I thought this topic would go well with the "10 years since the New 52" topic. What do we think to DC Rebirth?

I thought Rebirth got off to a great start with the one-shot meta commentating on the darkness and characters getting forgotten. Wally West was brought back and THAT shocking ending. I also liked The Button. Halfway through Doomsday Clock. As for the Batman books, a disappointment with the exception of Super Sons and the Batman Annuals. Really didn't like Tom King's Batman run. Give me New 52 Bats over his Rebirth books.

Thoughts on DC Rebirth?

[dornwolf]

I liked the direction at the time. It’s what got me reading DC again. Not to say it was perfect though. While I loved Superman at the time along with Jon the whole going from Preflashpoint to being the universes proper Superman was just a mess. As a whole rebirth was fine until doomsday clock delays and then everything ground to a halt as if know one had any clue to where to go on some stories along with letting stuff from before rebirth creep back in.

[Restingvoice]

In general, disappointed
I specific later my hands hurt

[HsssH]

Things I liked from Rebirth: opening Nightwing arc, New Super-Man, Deathstroke, Super Sons.

So yeah, this was probably my least liked DC era. Entire premise behind it was stupid.

[Avi]

It didn't matter that much and I'm not sure anymore what the goals were back then. Oh, I guess one good thing was the price drop to $2.99, then again, there was double shipping so... Did it really matter?

Nightwing - They never promised more than bring him back in black and blue, so... Promise archived? Overall I thought Seeley's run was enjoyable, but I would give away that whole thing to see what Seeley & King had planned for Grayson. Taking them and Janin off for the last three Issues of Grayson also makes it into a classic that never was. After Seeley, Nightwing struggled. Humphries had no consistent artist. Percy lost goodwill because of the tech arc. Then editorial happened.

Wonder Woman - Rucka made me enjoy WW again. But, as much as I liked his run, he was basically the clean-up crew (except for the Year One part, though, debatable) and afterward WW pretty much got into a slow decline. For me the focus on Grail and Jason was a real turn off. Tamaki's Liar Liar had the same effect. Still have to read the Orlando run, which is said to be better.

Green Lantern - Good but forgettable. It was a sign that Jessica and Simon wouldn't be forgotten, which I liked.

Deathstroke and New Super-Man definitely stood out as quality content.

The straight-up erasure of New52 Superman and Lois Lane was a mess from the outside looking in. As if they couldn't have just merged.

[Digifiend]

Huh? That's exactly what happened, they merged, after New 52 Clark and Lois had previously been killed.

Though when that happened, it broke New Super-Man and Superwoman's origins. They came up with a fix for Kenan's, but Superwoman was derailed to the point it's creative team changed - a few months later they gave up and depowered her, cancelling the book.

[Restingvoice]

Basically I'm seeing sign of what I dislike, when Wonder Woman decided New 52 was just an illusion. It wasn't bad though because that's only mean the New 52 adventures did happen, it's just a very convincing illusion because it was cast by the gods. I can work with that.

It really came to ahead though, in Superman Reborn. What I wanted was for DC to fix their world and lore outside of comics, and then I'm coming into it with a new number #1 with a clean slate, clear back story, or at least as clear as it can be with the amount of flashback and narration the issue #1 can be

But no, not only did they fix it in story, they do it in the most confusing way possible
First the Post Crisis Super fam is transported to the New 52 after the New 52 version died
Wait no they're actually the same people originating in the Rebirth universe separated into two
Now they're merged back into one, with brand new back story that's neither what they told in New 52 nor the start of Rebirth

Like within a year they have 3 back stories. What the frick?

Then there's Doomsday Clock only just starting which means it's gonna be a while before everything's actually fixed. I was liking some stories and planning to get the trade, but after seeing Superman Reborn, I decided to drop all plans and see where everything goes first.

It was a very. Long. Wait, with a bunch of horrible decisions like HiC and Ric Grayson.

I perked up when Didio announced his timeline, because even if it's impossible, it's something, but now that's cancelled, and they're still doing what they're doing back then, which is telling you what back story is canon by showing what flashback they have.

At least now I know they've given up though, and the start of Infinite Frontier, by what they're showing in the books, actually convinced me that right from the beginning this is a new universe with new back stories. At least they're clear that I should have no expectation on what canon or not and just go by what's on the page.

Now to see how long before they screw it up.

[Avi]

Huh? That's exactly what happened, they merged, after New 52 Clark and Lois had previously been killed.

Though when that happened, it broke New Super-Man and Superwoman's origins. They came up with a fix for Kenan's, but Superwoman was derailed to the point it's creative team changed - a few months later they gave up and depowered her, cancelling the book.

I wanted to ask how they merged but I guess what Restingvoice wrote is somewhat of an explanation? Having to kill the New52 versions just doesn't sound like merging to me.

Oh, right. Doomsday Clock. That existed. "The continuation of Rebirth". I realize I never heard of its ending.

[HsssH]

Yes, they were merged after both Lois and Clark were already dead.

[Gaius]

I mainly read GL and WW so I liked the Venditti and Rucka stuff of the opening Rebirth runs. Tossing out the Azz and Finches NEw 52 WW was necessary though WW went downhill outside of Orlando pretty much and I enjoy Morrison's TGL more than I did Venditti's series.


Other stuff I sampled:

King's Batman was perfectly fine for the most part.

Feel mostly the same about Rebirth Superman era as I do Bendis; mixed, some good with some bad.

Deathstroke was good.

[HsssH]

Does Morrison/Sharp GL count as a part of Rebirth? If so then this is another thing that I enjoyed.

[I'm a Fish]

I loved Rucka's Wonder Woman run, Green Lanterns and Justice League: Dark.

[godisawesome]

I now see it as the New 52’s counterpart: a change in direction, a major marketing push, not a bad job with selecting creative teams, a little unsteady but not unstable at first... but still under the direction of Didio and his editorial board, so still ultimately doomed.

I think all you really need to judge it is that it lasted about as long as the New 52, like the New 52 had some gems and strong concepts, but ultimately still saw some just plain bizarre self-sabotaging from on high - that the tale of the New 52 could probably be structured around Wally West, with a heralded and exciting return, a somewhat sloppy attempt to integrate him back into the mythos, and then editorial declaring war on him again for daring to be a legacy character.

[MajorHoy]

Instead of Rebirth it became Stillbirth. The initial promise of "hope" returning to the comics was soon strangled, and many stories became even darker / meaner than during the New 52 (hard as that may be to believe).

[Gaius]

JLD was also good yes, sold me on the concept more than the 2011 version did.