Today, at the ComicsPRO retailer summit, DC Entertainment announced the first details of the coming Rebirth event. While they didn’t give everything away, there is just enough to make us scratch our heads.
“At DC we believe in superheroes, and what makes them great,” said Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Entertainment. “And, we also believe in the direct market and the core comics fan. REBIRTH is designed to bring back the best of DC’s past, embrace the stories we currently love and move the entire epic universe into the future. We are returning to the essence of the DCU. With REBIRTH we are putting the highest priority on the direct market and we will continue to create and cultivate new opportunities for retailers to thrive and prosper, grow readers, fans and customers.”
The statement by itself is very vague… perhaps this video from Chief Creative Officer Goeff Johns will clear things up.
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I’ll be honest, I’m more confused after that video, AND THAT IS WHAT THEY SHOWED TO RETAILERS! Are they saying they are creating comics that readers want, or comics that Geoff Johns has a love for? If this were still the DCYou, we’d see:
- Mark Waid return as the one true writer of The Flash
- Curt Swan would be reanimated to draw comics
- Jack Kirby would finally get the credit (and payment) he deserves
- Humberto Ramos would be the artist on an all-new all-different Impulse
- Gail Simone would rock it on a new Birds of Prey series that would take us back to the “Good Ol’ Days”
- Really good Bwahaha League stories
- Ryan Choi as The Atom
- A good Legion of Superheroes
- Paul Levitz returning to DC
- A multiverse that is actually used, and used correctly to tell stories that are not necessarily in continuity, but make great long lasting stories
- Grant Morrison on Action Comics
- LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT!
- Mullet Superman…Okay, even that is taking it a bit too far.
What I’m afraid we’re going to get is more:
- Geomancer, Girder, and Tarpit… you know, those characters we’ve missed in the Nu52
- ’90s Superboy
- De-aged characters
- Faux diversity, where LGBT characters are introduced and then killed off three issues in
- Telos
- Silver Age heroes trying to understand kids these days…
There were some really great things that came out of the New 52; Aquaman earned respect for the first time, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman was out of this world, and Wonder Woman was probably the best she’s been in years – or at least since Gail Simone’s run back in 2007.
DC Entertainment did promise two things to retailers today that may be a very good thing for retailers and the publisher. First, they are returning to the old “Holding the Line at $2.99,” which should make wallets and pocketbooks happy. A lower price point means more comics can be purchased. Compared to current prices that range from $2.99 to $4.99 (depending), that means one can purchase three comics at the new price point and still have enough left over to buy a fourth comic.
Which is where DC’s second announcement enters the pictures.
The publisher announced it would be printing a number of comics twice a month beginning in June. I don’t have a problem with books releasing twice a month; there was a time when Spider-Man shipped three times a month and the stories were totally worth it. The key ingredient that made Spider-Man work (mostly) was the stories were well told and were good enough that fans wanted to plunk down their money for the next chapter. According to DC, “This new lineup includes a combination of DC favorites and new titles; titles will begin their runs under the “REBIRTH” banner and follow with another issue #1 beginning the series proper.” Again, as long as the stories are good, no one will care if this is a money grab to try and beat Marvel’s total units and dollars earned each month.
And for those wondering, Action Comics and Detective Comics will not receive new number one issues, instead Detective Comics will pick up with issue #934 and Action Comics will continue with issue #957. While it isn’t reboot, the return to the old number ways does seem to suggest DC is trying really hard to bring old readers back into the fold, while hopefully retaining newer and younger readers over the course of the year.
The publisher also took a moment to rundown all of the new Rebirth specials and number one issues and the months that they will be released.
June:
Rebirth Specials:
• AQUAMAN REBIRTH #1
• BATMAN REBIRTH #1
• THE FLASH REBIRTH #1
• GREEN ARROW REBIRTH #1
• GREEN LANTERNS REBIRTH #1
• SUPERMAN REBIRTH #1
• TITANS REBIRTH #1
• WONDER WOMAN REBIRTH #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
• AQUAMAN #1
• BATMAN #1
• THE FLASH #1
• GREEN ARROW #1
• GREEN LANTERNS #1
• SUPERMAN #1
• WONDER WOMAN #1
New Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
• ACTION COMICS #957
• DETECTIVE COMICS #934
July
Rebirth Specials:
• BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY REBIRTH #1
• HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS REBIRTH #1
• THE HELLBLAZER REBIRTH #1
• JUSTICE LEAGUE REBIRTH #1
• NIGHTWING REBIRTH #1
• RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS REBIRTH #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
• HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
• JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
• NIGHTWING #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping monthly):
• BATGIRL #1
• BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY #1
• THE HELLBLAZER #1
• RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS #1
• THE SUPER-MAN #1
• TITANS #1
Fall
Rebirth Specials:
• BATMAN BEYOND REBIRTH #1
• BLUE BEETLE REBIRTH #1
• CYBORG REBIRTH #1
• DEATHSTROKE REBIRTH #1
• EARTH 2 REBIRTH #1
• SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1
• SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1
• TEEN TITANS REBIRTH #1
• TRINITY REBIRTH #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
• CYBORG #1
• DEATHSTROKE #1
• HARLEY QUINN #1
• JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #1
• SUICIDE SQUAD #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping monthly):
• BATMAN BEYOND #1
• BLUE BEETLE #1
• EARTH 2 #1
• GOTHAM ACADEMY: NEXT SEMESTER #1
• SUPERGIRL #1
• SUPERWOMAN #1
• SUPER SONS #1
• TEEN TITANS #1
• TRINITY #1
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that those characters that have a big television and movie presence will get the twice monthly releases, but there are a number of items on the list that do give me hope. While I don’t expect Ted Kord to return to the DCU anytime soon, Jamie Rayes as the Blue Beetle is certainly welcome news. The same is true for Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, and Batman Beyond.
There are some that are head scratchers like The Super-Man, which could be a reference to a Siegel and Shuster story from January 1933 called “The Reign of the Super-Man.”
Then there is Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, which will cause more than a few Spoilerites stomach’s to sour.
At this time, the creative teams have not been announced, though I could have sworn Scott Snyder mentioned something about his move to Detective Comics a few weeks ago on Twitter. DC is waiting until the Rebirth panel scheduled for Saturday, March 26th at WonderCon in Los Angeles, CA.
At the moment, I’m leaning on the positive side of this announcement, and I really hope DC Entertainment is committed to telling really good stories with the characters and creators that we know and love. What about you? There’s a comment section below just waiting for your reactions and thoughts.
4 Comments
We’ll see. I know that Hal always disappoints me. I was with team Kyle and LOVED Mosaic starring John Stewart and then loved his presence on The Justice League cartoons.
I am looking forward to The Titans but am not hopeful unless they bring back Donna and Dick in meaningful ways. They were always the center of the Titans for me.
The New52 made me stop buying DC Comics. I don’t know what the hell this Rebirth thing is supposed to be, but I rather doubt it’s going to lure me back.
Are the Amazons still rapists? Is Wonder Woman still Zeus’ daughter? Will she continue to use a sword & shield more than her lasso & bracelets? Does Helena Bertinelli still not exist? Is Cassandra Cain still a mess?
If the answers to those questions are “Yes,” then this means absolutely nothing to me.
Just one thought… Que?
Well not surprised that they’re trying to fix stuff, but with them lowering the price point and possibly of getting good stories it does make me want to start picking up a few books that I dropped like The Fash and Earth 2. Also pickup new ones I have not read like Blue Beetle and Hellblazer. Plus I’m very happy they are sticking with Batman Beyond.
My main question is are these the only book that they will be doing? 32 titles after the rebirth specials and 10 are twice a month so are they going back to basics and going to keep it simple? I hope so, and if they do any event I hope they just do a limited series and then possibly see the effects in the main titles.
But all in all it does give me a spark of hope that DC is turning in the right direction.