Poodlestrike
Banned
DC Rebirth is a retooling of the DC comics line and universe. From the press conference:
Essentially, they're acknowledging that they've lost their way, to a certain extent, and trying to bring back what people liked about the 'verse before the New 52 without necessarily getting rid of the things people liked about the New 52.
As part of its announcements of new titles, DC revealed a few post-Rebirth character changes — Terry McGinnis is back as Batman Beyond, and Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes will be working with a new mentor: Ted Kord. This is an acceptable development. I could take or leave Kord. Y'all better buy this book or I'll find you.
The DCU will also get the son of Superman working with the son of Batman in a title, tying into the already announced Superman titles that feature the pre-New 52 Superman who's married to Lois Lane and has an apparently super-powered son.
That's thematically. Structurally, the DC universe releases are going to go through 2 big changes as a result of the relaunch.
The first big change is the price. Every DC universe title will be $2.99. Even that 80 page oneshot. So, that's nice!
More controversially, a number of titles will begin shipping bi-monthly. For those of you a little weak on your Greek prefixes (or is that Latin, I can never remember), that's twice a month.
These changes will be kicked off in Superman #52, Justice League #50, and finally and 80 page oneshot written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Gary Frank, Ivan Reis, Phil Jimenez and Ethan Van Sciver, releasing May 25. Johns revealed that the special opens with Batman trying to solve a problem related to the Joker (whose secret identity has apparently been revealed to Batman during "Darkseid War").
UPDATE!
Watch this space for the other half
Before each series starts, there will be a Rebirth one-shot for each book, presumably from the same creative team. If you're interested in a full list of titles with release months, click here. They'll roll out month-by-month, rather than all at once, so if you see something below you like the sound of, check back up here to see when you'll be able to pick it up.
Tom King will work with artists David Finch and Mikel Janin on Batman; King said he'll pull from his experience working at the CIA to make his Batman run personal, indicating he hopes to utilize a similar approach to Snyder and Greg Capullo's personal run.
James Tynion IV will work with Eddy Barrows and Alvaro Martinez on Detective Comics; Tynion called his Detective title a run that nobody's ever seen, incorporating several Bat-characters, including Batman and Batwoman working as team leaders, with Spoiler, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain and Clayface.
Tim Seeley will work with Marcus To and Javi Fernandez on Nightwing; Seeley said Nightwing will continue the Grayson story, but will introduce a new mentor character called Raptor that Seeley said would make a really cool action figure. The title of the first story will be "Better Than Batman," which Johns said might be a little controversial.
Batgirl will be by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque; Larson said Batgirl will take the character out of Burnside and send her to Asia on a backpacking trip, and on "a bit of a training mission" to "level up as a superhero."
Julie Benson and Shawna Benson, writers on the TV show The Hundred, will write Birds of Prey with Claire Roe on art; The Bensons will feature Huntress, Black Canary and Barbara Gordon Batgirl in Birds of Prey, and they'll be confronting someone who's pretending to be Oracle. The team will also be dealing with mobsters and a team of villains called the "Snake Squad." Covers on the title will be done by Yanick Paquette.
Finally, Scott Snyder will be working with John Romita Jr. and a variety of other artists on All-Star Batman. Snyder's story will focus on the "best" of Batman's villains. It will feature some of the best artists in the business, including Jock and Sean Murphy. The stories will be all in continuity, but will be Snyder's take on the villains, including redesigns and new introductions. Romita said it will take Batman out of Gotham, with Snyder calling it "every assassin hunting him and Two-Face."
Dan Jurgens will work with Patrick Zircher, Tyler Kirkham and Stephen Segovia on the twice-monthly Action Comics (and Jurgens is also listed as the writer on Batman Beyond). He mentioned that Action will be the first comic to make it to Issue #1000. Pictured on the cover were Superman, Lex Luthor (in his new Super-suit), Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Hal Jordan, Batman and Parasite. "Lex Luthor does become a Super-Man soon," Johns said, adding that the first issue will tie into Rebirth.
"This is going to be the story of Superman, Lois and Jon that we have seen in Lois & Clark [the story Jurgens has been writing about the pre-New 52 Superman] coming to Metropolis. But prior to that, Lex Luthor has declared himself the Super-Man of Metropolis. And that's kind of what gets Superman there." The first storyline will be "Path of Doom," with a character named Doomsday and a mysterious guest called Clark Kent — and "it's not the way you think," Jurgens said.
Gene Yang will work on New Superman, a monthly title, with artist Viktor Bogdanovic. The comic will feature a Superman in Chinese culture. A character named Kenji Kong gets infused with Superman's powers — but the powers also infuse his heart.
Steve Orlando will write Supergirl, working with artist Brian Ching. "With Supergirl it's all about the things that make classic Superman comics," Orlando said. "At the same time, we're talking about what makes Supergirl different from Superman… Her experience as an outsider, I think, makes her unique." The comic will start with a storyline called "The Cyborg Superman," who is actually Zor-El. He offers Supergirl the opportunity to be back on Krypton, but Orlando said that may end up being her worst nightmare.
Trinity will be written and drawn by Francis Manapul and will launch as a monthly in September.
Superwoman will feature a new character and will be written and drawn by Phil Jimenez, with help on art from Emanuela Lupacchino. It will launch as a monthly in August.
Superman, a June-launching book that will ship twice monthly, will reunite Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, this time as co-writers, and will feature art by Gleason and Doug Mahnke.
Artists Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott will be working with writer Greg Rucka on the June-launching monthly title Wonder Woman. "I wanted to bring a mythic history to it and really make it feel authentic," Sharp said. Rucka, who's returning to Wonder Woman, said the book will tell two separate but simultaneous stories — one contemporary and one that tells the character's past. The even numbered issues will be called "Wonder Woman: Year One" by Scott, with the odd number issues telling the story, "Wonder Woman: The Lies," apparently clarifying the character's convoluted history and featuring Sharp's art.
The current Titans Hunt by Dan Abnett leads into the new monthly title Titans, which Abnett will also write, working with artist Brett Booth. The book will launch in July and will feature a team similar to the one Abnett is writing in the current Titans Hunt, including Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Arsenal and Garth. "These are legacy characters," Abnett said. "And they are also friends." Abnett said he cannot talk about what happens in the book became Johns told him not to. But Johns said Titans Hunt will tie directly in to DC Universe Rebirth, and Titans going forward will spin directly out of Rebirth.
Abnett is also writing Aquaman, working with Brad Walker as co-writer, along with artists Walker, Jesus Merino and Phil Briones. Abnett called Aquaman a great character — "a superhero, a regular guy, a king, an Atlantean, a surface-dweller." In Aquaman's first storyline, the character wants to make Atlantis part of the world, but neither Atlantis or the surface-world embrace the idea. There are also people out to destroy him, including Black Manta coming back "bigger and better than ever," Abnett said. Abnett and Johns said they'll be working together on "Rise of the Seven Seas," a storyline Johns teased when he was on Aquaman.
Bryan Hitch will write and Tony Daniel and Fernando Pasarin will draw Justice League. The cover shown features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman, The Flash and two Green Lanterns — Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. Daniel said the two Green Lanterns are "rookies" who are thrown into a big, cataclysmic event with the rest of the Justice League. "It's the biggest thing I've ever been a part of, I think," Daniel said.
Joshua Williamson, whom Johns specifically called out as someone who's "grown into a great writer," will work on The Flash with artists Carmine Di Giandomenico and Neil Googe. Williamson said a Speed Force storm shows up over Central City, and there are dozens of new speedsters. Barry Allen has to train them. One in particular becomes a killer called Godspeed, Williamson said. The Flash cover featured the New 52 version of Wally West in some type of Kid Flash costume.
Robert Venditti will write Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, working with artists Ethan Van Sciver and Rafa Sandoval. Venditti said the story will show how Sinestro wins the war against the Green Lanterns and parks Warworld where Oa once was. John Stewart and Guy Gardner will also be in the book and "all the Lanterns."
DC Chief Creative Officer and Rebirth architect Geoff Johns will work on the Green Lantern Rebirth one-shot with artist Ethan Van Sciver and writer Sam Humphries, who's crossing to DC from Marvel to write the new title Green Lanterns. Humphries said Green Lanterns, which features art by Robson Rocha and Ardian Syaf, will focus on Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz, whom he called the two new Green Lanterns of earth — rookie Green Lanterns who are partners trying to learn to love each other. "They have to patrol the most treacherous sector in all of space, and that's planet Earth," Humphries said, calling the book a story about "courage overcoming fear." The villains in the book will be the Red Lanterns, including Atrocitus and Bleez. The story will be called "Red Dawn."
Animation veteran John Semper, who worked on Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Static Shock, will be writing the August-launching, twice-monthly Cyborg, working with artists Will Conrad and Paul Pelletier. Semper said the book will play on the idea of mankind becoming so attached to technology, practically and biologically, that it will be hard to tell humanity from technology — something called "The Singularity." "Cyborg is already living The Singularity," Semper said. "And that's something we wanted to investigate. Where does the soul of machine end and the soul of man start?" Semper said he'll be going into a dark place with Cyborg, and he'll also explore the challenges of being a black man living in Detroit.
Harley Quinn, which will be written by the title's current team, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, with artists Chad Hardin and John Timms. "We're going to throw a lot more craziness into the book," Conner said. There will also be a lot of guest stars, including Bat-characters and non-Bat-characters. "It's a book about fun," Palmiotti said. "And I think the audience has really responded to that." Conner said jokingly that the team is not doing a Rebirth book, but has been talking about doing an "Afterbirth" book. She also was announced as a DC exclusive artist and is now obligated to draw three books for DC.
Suicide Squad will feature art by Philip Tan and Jim Lee, with Rob Williams writing. "It's a book about hope and redemption," Tan said. "Which is weird," Lee said, "because it's a book about super villains." The book will feature Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Katana, Boomerang, and a "couple other ones" that DC won't spoil yet, Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns said.
Green Arrow is by writer Ben Percy and artists Otto Schmidt and Juan Ferreyra. "Green Arrow and Black Canary finally meet," Johns said of the title.
Red Hood and the Outlaws is by writer Scott Lobdell with artist Dexter Soy. "Red Hood decides to recruit two new outlaws to make a dark trinity: Bizarro and Artemis of the Amazons," Johns said.
The Hellblazer is by writer Simon Oliver and artist Moritat. "This will be Swamp Thing and John Constantine on a mission to save Abby Arcane," Johns added.
Deathstroke is by writer Christopher Priest and artists Carlo Pagulayan, Igor Vitorino and Felipe Watanabe. "We got him on Deathstroke," Johns said. "It is the most character-driven, sophisticated, nuanced, but still shooting people book."
Batman Beyond with writer Dan Jurgens and artist Bernard Chang. "This will be the return of Terry McGinnis," Johns said to huge cheers from the WonderCon audience.
Blue Beetle by writer Keith Giffen with Scott Kolins on art. "This is one of my favorites. This is Jaime Reyes working with his mentor, Ted Kord," Johns said, again to huge cheers.
Teen Titans with writer Ben Percy and artist Jonboy Meyers. "Damian Wayne essentially decides he's going to lead the Teen Titans, and nobody wants him to, so it's Robin versus the Titans," Johns said.
Super Sons, creative team unknown. Presumably we'll find that out before the thing starts releasing. "Super Sons: Son of Superman meets son of Batman," Johns said.
Justice League of America also has no stated creative team and "we can't talk about yet," Johns said. It's a mysteryyyyyy~
It has been confirmed that Gotham Academy and Earth 2 are continuing without being altered by Rebirth.
Which is fucking great because hell yeah, Gotham Academy bitches!
For now, what we're sure of is that Super League (taking place across Superman/WW, Superman, and Action Comics) by Tomasi runs into the Superman Status Quo, Abnetts current Aquaman and Titans Hunt are precursors to their rebirth sequels, and that Jurgens Lois and Clark book is probably going to turn out important, seeing how he's headlining Action.
Have some suggestions for titles you think people might want to get up on before Rebirth? Post 'em!
For instance, I would recommend that as DEFINITELY NECESSARY AND NOT IN ANY WAY SUPERFLUOUS preparation for Blue Beetle, you pick up the 06 run by Giffen and Rogers. Definitely important, not me shilling for a favorite character at all.
The full Wondercon presentation: https://youtu.be/MeclvTBvADI
A Q&A: http://www.newsarama.com/28561-watch-dc-s-rebirth-press-conference-from-wondercon-live.html
A gallery of art they've released: http://www.newsarama.com/28577-the-new-definitive-dc-rebirth-art-gallery.html
Greg Rucka Q&A about Wonder Woman! http://ruckawriter.tumblr.com/post/141734737228/explication-and-elaboration
Geoff Johns Rebirth Breakdown http://www.blastr.com/2016-5-25/reb...f-johns-offers-depth-breakdown-epic-new-comic
June!
July!
August!
