The Flash: Rebirth #1 Discussion (SPOILERS INSIDE)

[Austin316]

SPOILERS!







Due to the wonders of Comixology, I've just finished this issue and I very much enjoyed it. I liked the voice Williamson gave Barry and didn't find the internal monologuing weighed down the book particularly (as it can do with a Snyder book, for instance).

I liked that it caught up with where we saw Barry and Wally in Rebirth and had a lovely little exchange.

Art wise, I felt like it was a little loose for my tastes at the beginning but tightened up as the book continued on.

I'm glad it touched on a few of the Watchmen points established in DCU Rebirth but glad that it was merely seed sowing and nothing more.

Overall, looking forward to the main series!

Final thoughts

- So, I'm interested in them properly establishing the situation with Wally (note, don't know if Titans Hunt has anything to do with this). The fact that he's wearing his Kid Flash gear but remembers all of his previous life and Barry says he needs a new costume because he's not KID Flash anymore makes me wonder about his situation and age. How did he recover these memories or pre-FP? How did he know about the events OF Flashpoint? Is he older, has he aged while in the speed force?

- Also, for clarity's sake, right at the beginning of new 52, Barry knew what he had done right, but he knew his memories would fade quickly and eventually his memories re-aligned with the new continuity. Correct?

[alien1020hk]

Although it seem like a lot of development of the story in this issue, actually it is not so much new for this issue.
Many things we have already know from the One-shot DC : Rebirth #1.

However, Flash Rebirth #1 is better than Green Lantern & Batman Rebirth.
I am looking forward the Teen Titans after read this issue.

e215dc6823862aa9380448226636ad3e.jpg

[K. Jones]

- Also, for clarity's sake, right at the beginning of new 52, Barry knew what he had done right, but he knew his memories would fade quickly and eventually his memories re-aligned with the new continuity. Correct?

That seemed to be the case. Five years later, I guess it's high time that we got what's essentially a proper actual "follow up" to the Flashpoint shenanigans. Especially since Flashpoint led right out of Flash: Rebirth (and Blackest Night and Final Crisis, because Johns, but anyways).

[Rakzo]

I repeat:

Thought this was okay. Interesting ideas here and there and accurate characterization.

However, this was mostly a recap of everything that has happened since the New 52 including the re-encounter between Barry and Wally which was already depicted, and in a much better way quite honestly, during DC Universe Rebirth. Plus, the way how Williamson handles the narration seems a bit off since there's very little conversation between the characters and all is being told from Barry's head which makes the whole thing kinda dull due to the lack of interaction.

Art was fantastic though.

[GlennSimpson]

SPOILERS!







Due to the wonders of Comixology, I've just finished this issue and I very much enjoyed it. I liked the voice Williamson gave Barry and didn't find the internal monologuing weighed down the book particularly (as it can do with a Snyder book, for instance).

I liked that it caught up with where we saw Barry and Wally in Rebirth and had a lovely little exchange.

Art wise, I felt like it was a little loose for my tastes at the beginning but tightened up as the book continued on.

I'm glad it touched on a few of the Watchmen points established in DCU Rebirth but glad that it was merely seed sowing and nothing more.

Overall, looking forward to the main series!

Final thoughts

- So, I'm interested in them properly establishing the situation with Wally (note, don't know if Titans Hunt has anything to do with this). The fact that he's wearing his Kid Flash gear but remembers all of his previous life and Barry says he needs a new costume because he's not KID Flash anymore makes me wonder about his situation and age. How did he recover these memories or pre-FP? How did he know about the events OF Flashpoint? Is he older, has he aged while in the speed force?

- Also, for clarity's sake, right at the beginning of new 52, Barry knew what he had done right, but he knew his memories would fade quickly and eventually his memories re-aligned with the new continuity. Correct?

I am assuming that Wally is younger than he would have been pre-Flashpoint, but he's older than he was the last time Barry remembers seeing him. To use the Dick Grayson parallel, Wally is now new52 Nightwing's age, but he's still wearing the Robin costume. So Wally isn't his pre-Flashpoint age, but he's too old to still be Kid Flash.

I always assumed that Barry didn't remember anything regarding pre-Flashpoint. In Flashpoint #6, when he goes to the Batcave to give the letter to Bruce, he thinks that his whole life has been the new52, and that he changed it to the Flashpoint world, and then he fixed it and put it back to the new52 world.

[Waterfall]

Pros:

+ Art
+ Barry and Wally partnership is always nice. Such a shame it'll be a while to see it again
+ On point characterization

Cons:

- The retelling of DC: Rebirth was dull. Really dull. And unnecessary honestly. We could have skipped the scene altogether and just had more Wally & Barry interaction instead.
- I'm not sure how to feel about writing Wally out of the book like that. I really hope they wont pretend he doesn't exist.


Also some confusion here: Wally remembers his encounter with Linda? Such a missed opportunity to turn the tables. It could have been like Wally forgetting her and this time Linda being curious and investigating about him.

Overall it wasn't bad perse but it definitely didn't live up to hype it received. Tec and Action, heck Aquaman were the better books this week.

Hopefully Titans will be better.

[kivatt]

Pros:

+ Art
+ Barry and Wally partnership is always nice. Such a shame it'll be a while to see it again
+ On point characterization

Cons:

- The retelling of DC: Rebirth was dull. Really dull. And unnecessary honestly. We could have skipped the scene altogether and just had more Wally & Barry interaction instead.
- I'm not sure how to feel about writing Wally out of the book like that. I really hope they wont pretend he doesn't exist.


Also some confusion here: Wally remembers his encounter with Linda? Such a missed opportunity to turn the tables. It could have been like Wally forgetting her and this time Linda being curious and investigating about him.

Overall it wasn't bad perse but it definitely didn't live up to hype it received. Tec and Action, heck Aquaman were the better books this week.

Hopefully Titans will be better.

Why would he forget Linda?
When Rebirth is about him remembering everything that happened before.
It would literally defeat the purpose if he just conveniently forgot about Linda.

[cranger]

- So, I'm interested in them properly establishing the situation with Wally (note, don't know if Titans Hunt has anything to do with this). The fact that he's wearing his Kid Flash gear but remembers all of his previous life and Barry says he needs a new costume because he's not KID Flash anymore makes me wonder about his situation and age. How did he recover these memories or pre-FP? How did he know about the events OF Flashpoint? Is he older, has he aged while in the speed force?

- Also, for clarity's sake, right at the beginning of new 52, Barry knew what he had done right, but he knew his memories would fade quickly and eventually his memories re-aligned with the new continuity. Correct?

- Wally is wearing his Kid Flash gear because he was New 52 Kid Flash when he got trapped in the Speed Force. He was trapped there so long because no one remembered him due to events explained in Titans Hunt. Presumably being in the Speed Force so long gave him access to memories from prior versions of reality. As for his age, he is younger, probably still around the same age as the rest of the Titans. I don't think whether he aged in the Speed Force or not is going to be a story point.

- Barry knew that Flashpoint happened and I don't think he has forgotten. When he was telling Bruce about it he said that his memories 'pre-FP' memories were fading right away during Flashpoint, implying that his memories of Flashpoint were not showing any signs of fading. Now, what that means I think is that he remembers the events that happened from when he woke up in Flashpoint to the end, but would not necessarily have memories of his entire life as it would have occurred in the Flashpoint reality.

[Austin316]

- Wally is wearing his Kid Flash gear because he was New 52 Kid Flash when he got trapped in the Speed Force. He was trapped there so long because no one remembered him due to events explained in Titans Hunt. Presumably being in the Speed Force so long gave him access to memories from prior versions of reality. As for his age, he is younger, probably still around the same age as the rest of the Titans. I don't think whether he aged in the Speed Force or not is going to be a story point.

- Barry knew that Flashpoint happened and I don't think he has forgotten. When he was telling Bruce about it he said that his memories 'pre-FP' memories were fading right away during Flashpoint, implying that his memories of Flashpoint were not showing any signs of fading. Now, what that means I think is that he remembers the events that happened from when he woke up in Flashpoint to the end, but would not necessarily have memories of his entire life as it would have occurred in the Flashpoint reality.

Thanks! So all we know is that Barry remembers Wally from the new 52 continuity, not that he remembers pre-new 52 Wally or any of his other memories from before Flashpoint.

Is Titans Hunt actually good? It sounds like an interesting read and a bit of a sneaky pre-cursor to Rebirth.

[AlexanderLuthor]

I liked it. Williamson gets the voice right and we get introduced to Barry's world. REALLY like that he built off the Rebirth one-shot and gave Barry a co-investigator role with Batman. For those who didn't like the recap of the Wally interaction, I think Williamson had to tie that together for people who didn't get Rebirth, new readers and just to make his visit to Bats make sense in the flow of the story

[GlennSimpson]

Thanks! So all we know is that Barry remembers Wally from the new 52 continuity, not that he remembers pre-new 52 Wally or any of his other memories from before Flashpoint.

Is Titans Hunt actually good? It sounds like an interesting read and a bit of a sneaky pre-cursor to Rebirth.

It's pretty good, although it probably reads better in one sitting, as issue-to-issue it moves kinda slow. It probably could have been 6 issues rather than 8.

[Frontier]

I thought this was a solid issue. It did a good job of catching us up to speed (pun intended) on Barry, his major supporting cast, and his life up until now while giving us hints at the direction the title will be heading going forward. There wasn't much in the way of action, aside from the dynamic and fast-paced visuals in the art, but some strong character dynamics help really sell the issue .

Williamson sets up well the conflict Barry will likely be enduring throughout his run, of trying to juggle so many things at once that he loses sight of the smaller, but just as important, things. With everything Barry was dealing with in this issue, he completely lost track of the case, and an innocent man could be going to prison thanks to a potentially coerced confession.

This is probably the nicest Captain Singh has been to Barry in...probably forever.

I'm a little surprised we didn't get anything with NuWally other then a cameo in that splash page.

So Thawne is still locked up in Iron Heights, though Barry's visions seem to predict it won't be long before the Reverse-Flash breaks out to menace The Flash again. Though I wonder how he'll react to all the future Speedsters and Godspeed?

I wasn't expecting a complete depiction of Barry and Wally's reunion, but while I do think we could've just skipped to content that wasn't in the Rebirth special, it was still great to see Barry and Wally together again and dealing with what's going on. I imagine a big arc for Wally going forward is going to be getting his life back together, both with his friends (Titans) and family (Iris and Linda), so I'm definitely eager to see where that goes.

I kind felt parallels between what was going on with Wally and Linda with how things currently stand between Barry and Iris. The former's relationship is gone and Linda no longer remembers Wally, which is hurting him a lot, while Barry and Iris lost their marriage with Flashpoint and while, Barry's making an effort, it doesn't seem like things are going well romantically between them in the present.

Hey, don't judge Barry for still using the Flash Ring Wally. It's a classic .

So Wally West is the Flash. 'Nuff Said .

I wonder who that yellow blur at the end was? Zoom? Or Godspeed?

[Zero Hunter]

Is Titans Hunt actually good? It sounds like an interesting read and a bit of a sneaky pre-cursor to Rebirth.

I really enjoyed it a lot. The writing was great and the interactions between the characters as they try to piece back together what actually happened in their pasts is very interesting. Plus it made a character as lame as Mister Twister into a pretty scary villain, and I love when a writer can breath new life into an old lame villain.

[Agent 37]

Not a bad start. I'm happy that it seems like Flash will get a big role in trying to solve the mystery of the missing timeline.

Parts of the dialogue felt on track, but others felt forced (especially the Wally needing a new costume conversation). Was hoping to get insight on if Wally would be appearing in Flash AND Titans, but I'm thinking Wally will be pretty much in Titans exclusively.

Gllad Wally gets to keep the Flash as a codename as well, as he deserves it, IMO.

[Buried Alien]

It's kind of like FLASHPOINT II: THE ROAD BACK. FLASHPOINT, after all, was a Flash/Batman story, and it looks like REBIRTH might be too.

Say: maybe this would be a good time for DC to do a package of historic Flash/Batman team-up stories.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)