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DC Rebirth |OT| It's not a reboot, and it always was [SPOILERS for Rebirth #1]

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M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Could anyone point me in the direction of a good site or video that explains the major events in the DCU and how Rebirth ties into them? I fell off reading comics forever ago, then kinda came around for a bit with the New 52 before losing interest, and now I'm hearing really good things about Batman, All Star Batman, Flash, Titans, and one of the Superman titles (tho I'm confused as fuck about how there are like several Supermans and a Clark Kent floating around...).

Any patient DC fans who want to clear up my cavalcade of questions would also be greatly appreciated in lieu of articles/videos.
 
T

tim1138

Member
plop said:
Could anyone point me in the direction of a good site or video that explains the major events in the DCU and how Rebirth ties into them? I fell off reading comics forever ago, then kinda came around for a bit with the New 52 before losing interest, and now I'm hearing really good things about Batman, All Star Batman, Flash, Titans, and one of the Superman titles (tho I'm confused as fuck about how there are like several Supermans and a Clark Kent floating around...).

Any patient DC fans who want to clear up my cavalcade of questions would also be greatly appreciated in lieu of articles/videos.
Click to expand...

What are your questions?
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
plop said:
Could anyone point me in the direction of a good site or video that explains the major events in the DCU and how Rebirth ties into them? I fell off reading comics forever ago, then kinda came around for a bit with the New 52 before losing interest, and now I'm hearing really good things about Batman, All Star Batman, Flash, Titans, and one of the Superman titles (tho I'm confused as fuck about how there are like several Supermans and a Clark Kent floating around...).

Any patient DC fans who want to clear up my cavalcade of questions would also be greatly appreciated in lieu of articles/videos.
Click to expand...

This is as good a place to ask your q's as any. Fire away.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
tim1138 said:
What are your questions?
Click to expand...

Poodlestrike said:
This is as good a place to ask your q's as any. Fire away.
Click to expand...

Okay, thank you.

So just off the top of my head:

Damien Wayne is back now, right? Was that because the New 52 never happened? Same with Jason Todd. He was gone and now he's back, and it has something to do with Superboy Prime (Superboy from before Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, right?) punching reality and shattering it?

How are there so many Supermans?

What happened to the New 52 version of these heroes? Were they just erased, or kinda rolled into the returning heroes?

And the big one: Crisis on Infinite Earths erased the multiverse, right? And then Infinite Crisis brought it back (from my meager understanding)? What did Final Crisis and Convergence do? And what does Flashpoint and the New 52 and Rebirth have to do with all that? I've heard they're all connected but I don't know how and I can't seem to find a simple answer anywhere.

I appreciate any help you can give. I want to try to get back into this, but I'm missing so much backstory. Other than buying the last several decades of stories, are there any trades that kinda lay this stuff out? I'm guessing the one-shots of each story (Flashpoint, Infinite Crisis, etc), but are there others?
 
S

Schweinehund

Member
flashpoint setup new 52.

Final crisis didn't do much besides bring Barry Allen back, who died in COIE. Convergence brought back infinite multiverses. Infinite Crisis had 52 universes. COIE had erased all the universes but one.

COIE & Infinite Crisis are tightly linked together, but have little to do with flashpoint.

I think reading Flashpoint & Rebirth is sufficient, but IC was a good enough story on it's own to go back and read.

New 52 heroes are pre-flashpoint heroes with 10 years of their lives missing.

Jason Todd came back because of infinite crisis events. Damien Wayne's arc all takes place in new 52.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
plop said:
Okay, thank you.

So just off the top of my head:

Damien Wayne is back now, right? Was that because the New 52 never happened? Same with Jason Todd. He was gone and now he's back, and it has something to do with Superboy Prime (Superboy from before Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, right?) punching reality and shattering it?

How are there so many Supermans?

What happened to the New 52 version of these heroes? Were they just erased, or kinda rolled into the returning heroes?

And the big one: Crisis on Infinite Earths erased the multiverse, right? And then Infinite Crisis brought it back (from my meager understanding)? What did Final Crisis and Convergence do? And what does Flashpoint and the New 52 and Rebirth have to do with all that? I've heard they're all connected but I don't know how and I can't seem to find a simple answer anywhere.

I appreciate any help you can give. I want to try to get back into this, but I'm missing so much backstory. Other than buying the last several decades of stories, are there any trades that kinda lay this stuff out? I'm guessing the one-shots of each story (Flashpoint, Infinite Crisis, etc), but are there others?
Click to expand...
Damian was killed and brought back during New 52.

If you mean how Jason Todd was brought back at all, yeah that was because of the Superboy punching reality thing. Not sure what the reasoning was during New 52 though.

Rebirth is more or less a continuation of most New 52 heroes. New 52 Superman died and pre-New52 Superman replaced him (he was already on this Earth because of the Convergence storyline).

I don't remember Final Crisis doing much with alternate Earths beyond a side-story with Superman and some bullshit about "the fifth dimension". It more or less just resulted in Batman "dying" in order to kill Darkseid.

Convergence was like some insane fan-fiction thing where they displaced New52, pre-New52, Flashpoint versions etc. of all these characters and told them to fight. Again, the only thing that really matters out of this is pre-New52 Superman and Lois got displaced with their newborn kid.
 
M

MartyStu

Member
Shaanyboi said:
Damian was killed and brought back during New 52.

If you mean how Jason Todd was brought back at all, yeah that was because of the Superboy punching reality thing. Not sure what the reasoning was during New 52 though.

Rebirth is more or less a continuation of most New 52 heroes. New 52 Superman died and pre-New52 Superman replaced him (he was already on this Earth because of the Convergence storyline).

I don't remember Final Crisis doing much with alternate Earths beyond a side-story with Superman and some bullshit about "the fifth dimension". It more or less just resulted in Batman "dying" in order to kill Darkseid.

Convergence was like some insane fan-fiction thing where they displaced New52, pre-New52, Flashpoint versions etc. of all these characters and told them to fight. Again, the only thing that really matters out of this is pre-New52 Superman and Lois got displaced with their newborn kid.
Click to expand...


In the New 52, Talia brought Jason back to life using the Lazarus Pit.
 
E

Elaugaufein

Member
Ross61 said:
I don't think Justice League has been the flagship book many times before New 52.

I'm more concerned with Justice League of America.
Click to expand...

Justice League / JLA / Justice League of America haven't been in print at the same time much. The book bearing one of those titles has traditionally been a flagship book , apart from in the Teen Titans heyday where that was DCs biggest book.

Justice League being godawful is pretty unusual.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Schweinehund said:
flashpoint setup new 52.

Final crisis didn't do much besides bring Barry Allen back, who died in COIE. Convergence brought back infinite multiverses. Infinite Crisis had 52 universes. COIE had erased all the universes but one.

COIE & Infinite Crisis are tightly linked together, but have little to do with flashpoint.

I think reading Flashpoint & Rebirth is sufficient, but IC was a good enough story on it's own to go back and read.

New 52 heroes are pre-flashpoint heroes with 10 years of their lives missing.

Jason Todd came back because of infinite crisis events. Damien Wayne's arc all takes place in new 52.
Click to expand...

So Final Crisis brings Barry back, but does it explain where he was? And what happened to Wally West to make him disappear? Did they just act like he never existed? I know they gave a new one for the New 52 who is still around and that Rebirth brought back the original (which is one reason I'm interested in Rebirth...that Wally was the one I grew up with).

And Rebirth heroes are the same as the pre-Flashpoint heroes? Like after they regain the ten years they the New 52 took away?

Thanks again. Sorry if I'm getting annoying.

Shaanyboi said:
Damian was killed and brought back during New 52.

If you mean how Jason Todd was brought back at all, yeah that was because of the Superboy punching reality thing. Not sure what the reasoning was during New 52 though.

Rebirth is more or less a continuation of most New 52 heroes. New 52 Superman died and pre-New52 Superman replaced him (he was already on this Earth because of the Convergence storyline).

I don't remember Final Crisis doing much with alternate Earths beyond a side-story with Superman and some bullshit about "the fifth dimension". It more or less just resulted in Batman "dying" in order to kill Darkseid.

Convergence was like some insane fan-fiction thing where they displaced New52, pre-New52, Flashpoint versions etc. of all these characters and told them to fight. Again, the only thing that really matters out of this is pre-New52 Superman and Lois got displaced with their newborn kid.
Click to expand...

So there's now the pre-New-52 Superman, and a new Clark Kent, and Lex is also Superman (I heard) and there's an Asian Superman (I saw an issue on the DC app)? Have they explained where all these Supermans come from?

Oh and there are three Jokers too?
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
plop said:
So Final Crisis brings Barry back, but does it explain where he was? And what happened to Wally West to make him disappear? Did they just act like he never existed? I know they gave a new one for the New 52 who is still around and that Rebirth brought back the original (which is one reason I'm interested in Rebirth...that Wally was the one I grew up with).

And Rebirth heroes are the same as the pre-Flashpoint heroes? Like after they regain the ten years they the New 52 took away?

Thanks again. Sorry if I'm getting annoying.



So there's now the pre-New-52 Superman, and a new Clark Kent, and Lex is also Superman (I heard) and there's an Asian Superman (I saw an issue on the DC app)? Have they explained where all these Supermans come from?

Oh and there are three Jokers too?
Click to expand...

The three Jokers thing hasn't been explained yet.

The Chinese Superman is its own thing (as far as I know, right now), but Lex himself is a wannabe Superman. The actual Superman situation is confusing as fuck right now... Read Superman: Lois and Clark, then Rebirth, then the actual Superman book if you wanna keep up with that.

The Rebirth heroes (with some exceptions) are the New52 heroes.
 
T

tim1138

Member
plop said:
So Final Crisis brings Barry back, but does it explain where he was? And what happened to Wally West to make him disappear? Did they just act like he never existed? I know they gave a new one for the New 52 who is still around and that Rebirth brought back the original (which is one reason I'm interested in Rebirth...that Wally was the one I grew up with).

And Rebirth heroes are the same as the pre-Flashpoint heroes? Like after they regain the ten years they the New 52 took away?

Thanks again. Sorry if I'm getting annoying.



So there's now the pre-New-52 Superman, and a new Clark Kent, and Lex is also Superman (I heard) and there's an Asian Superman (I saw an issue on the DC app)? Have they explained where all these Supermans come from?

Oh and there are three Jokers too?
Click to expand...

Barry was one with in the Speed Force, he ran into it to defeat the Anti-Monitor during the original Crisis and essentially merged with it. The fall of Earth to Darkseid and his emotional tethers to Iris, Wally, and Bart pulled him back.

After Flashpoint Wally was trapped in the Speed Force and all memories of him were erased with the lost ten years. The Rebirth one shot from last year was Wally trying to find a tether to come back and seeing who was behind the lost time
Dr Manhattan
. Now there are two Wally's, the original and the N52 version.

It's been said that they are the same heroes as pre Flashpoint, just younger due to the missing time. The N52 was never supposed to exist as it did (which is super meta, because originally Flashpoint was just going to be a summer event and not reboot the DCU), it was only because of outside meddling that it happened. The only exception is Superman, there's an as of yet unexplained mystery around the origins of the N52 and pre N52 Superman.

The Asian Superman is Kenan Kong, the New Super-Man of China. The way he got his powers is kind of complicated. Basically the N52 Superman developed a solar flare power where he could expel all of the energy stored in his cells at once, but it left him powerless for 24 hours. After using the power, a Chinese scientist managed to capture some of the energy and used it to give Kenan his powers.

The three Jokers mystery hasn't been explored yet, but rumors are that it's going to be the focus of a summer story.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Shaanyboi said:
The three Jokers thing hasn't been explained yet.

The Chinese Superman is its own thing (as far as I know, right now), but Lex himself is a wannabe Superman. The actual Superman situation is confusing as fuck right now... Read Superman: Lois and Clark, then Rebirth, then the actual Superman book if you wanna keep up with that.

The Rebirth heroes (with some exceptions) are the New52 heroes.
Click to expand...

tim1138 said:
Barry was one with in the Speed Force, he ran into it to defeat the Anti-Monitor during the original Crisis and essentially merged with it. The fall of Earth to Darkseid and his emotional tethers to Iris, Wally, and Bart pulled him back.

After Flashpoint Wally was trapped in the Speed Force and all memories of him were erased with the lost ten years. The Rebirth one shot from last year was Wally trying to find a tether to come back and seeing who was behind the lost time
Dr Manhattan
. Now there are two Wally's, the original and the N52 version.

It's been said that they are the same heroes as pre Flashpoint, just younger due to the missing time. The N52 was never supposed to exist as it did (which is super meta, because originally Flashpoint was just going to be a summer event and not reboot the DCU), it was only because of outside meddling that it happened. The only exception is Superman, there's an as of yet unexplained mystery around the origins of the N52 and pre N52 Superman.

The Asian Superman is Kenan Kong, the New Super-Man of China. The way he got his powers is kind of complicated. Basically the N52 Superman developed a solar flare power where he could expel all of the energy stored in his cells at once, but it left him powerless for 24 hours. After using the power, a Chinese scientist managed to capture some of the energy and used it to give Kenan his powers.

The three Jokers mystery hasn't been explored yet, but rumors are that it's going to be the focus of a summer story.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys, this actually really helped a lot.

I just bought Rebirth and Flashpoint, so I'll jump in and see what I see.

Any monthly titles that are essential (or at least helpful) to understanding Rebirth better? I'm guessing Flash and Titans, since Flash and Wally West are central to all this?
 
J

- J - D -

Member
Does anyone here have the new Rebirth Omnibus or can attest to its quality? I've meaning to jump into Rebirth for a while and this looks like the best way to do it.

UKC9vgP.jpg
 
T

tim1138

Member
plop said:
Thanks guys, this actually really helped a lot.

I just bought Rebirth and Flashpoint, so I'll jump in and see what I see.

Any monthly titles that are essential (or at least helpful) to understanding Rebirth better? I'm guessing Flash and Titans, since Flash and Wally West are central to all this?
Click to expand...

It's been spread out across the line, stuff has appeared in issues of Superman, Action Comics, Detective Comics, Batman, Flash, Titans, and the recently finished Justice League vs Suicide Squad series. There's going to be a Flash/Batman crossover in April that's going to go more in depth on one of the Rebirth mysteries. They're doing a nice job of letting the Rebirth stuff develop organically across the line.

If you live in the US and your public library has a Hoopla subscription, they are getting all the Rebirth trades as ebooks the same day book stores do, so you can get sample the line easily, and most importantly, for free. Hoopla's website is www.hoopladigital.com


- J - D - said:
Does anyone here have the new Rebirth Omnibus or can attest to its quality? I've meaning to jump into Rebirth for a while and this looks like the best way to do it.
Click to expand...

I got it for Christmas, the paper quality and binding are great, it's very easy to read. Just note that it only contains the DCU Rebirth one shot and then the individual Rebirth one shots, so if a book doesn't have a Rebirth issue (like Detective Comics for example) it's not included.
 
E

Edvardelis

Member
plop said:
So there's now the pre-New-52 Superman, and a new Clark Kent, and Lex is also Superman (I heard) and there's an Asian Superman (I saw an issue on the DC app)? Have they explained where all these Supermans come from?
Click to expand...

  • Clark Kent is a random out of left field thing, he claims that the New52 Superman was pretending to be him.
  • Lex isn't a "Superman", he just built a fancy suit of armor and strapped a S on it.
  • Chinese Superman/Superwoman got their powers when the New52 Superman died and the energy from his body went outward.
 
B

BajiBoxer

Banned
- J - D - said:
Does anyone here have the new Rebirth Omnibus or can attest to its quality? I've meaning to jump into Rebirth for a while and this looks like the best way to do it.

UKC9vgP.jpg
Click to expand...
That's what I did. It's pretty good for deciding which books you want to follow, and kind of figuring out the status quo for everyone starting out. I ended up also getting the road to rebirth books "Titan Hunt" and "Lois and Clark" which gave some interesting set up to the Superman, Wally West, and stolen time mysteries.
 
J

- J - D -

Member
tim1138 said:
I got it for Christmas, the paper quality and binding are great, it's very easy to read. Just note that it only contains the DCU Rebirth one shot and then the individual Rebirth one shots, so if a book doesn't have a Rebirth issue (like Detective Comics for example) it's not included.
Click to expand...

Okay great. Looks like I'll have to pick up a few extra issues for the complete experience but generally this omnibus would be a good way to start out?

edit:
BajiBoxer said:
That's what I did. It's pretty good for deciding which books you want to follow, and kind of figuring out the status quo for everyone starting out. I ended up also getting the road to rebirth books "Titan Hunt" and "Lois and Clark" which gave some interesting set up to the Superman, Wally West, and stolen time mysteries.
Click to expand...

Great thanks. Okay so I will also want to pick up Titan Hunt, Lois and Clark, and the Rebirth-related Detective Comics issue.

Thanks, guys!
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
plop said:
Any monthly titles that are essential (or at least helpful) to understanding Rebirth better? I'm guessing Flash and Titans, since Flash and Wally West are central to all this?
Click to expand...

Some interesting developments related to Rebirth have happened in Titans and Detective Comics but nothing that is absolutely necessary. Just pick up the titles that look interesting to you. My favorite Rebirth series have been Superman (don't be scared by the multiple Supermen thing, it's really great), Wonder Woman, Deathstroke and Hal Jordan. You can't go wrong with any of these but Deathstroke might give you a headache.
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
I'm bumping this thread because everyone needs to read Deathstroke. Issue 10 with art by legends Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz was goddamn brilliant. And it's a stand-alone story (guest-starring everyone's favorite The Creeper) so it's very accessible.

That book started out rough, but now it feels like Christopher Priest is about to top his Black Panther run. Every issue is an insane puzzle and as a non-american I have to do about 2 or 3 google searches per page but it's truly amazing. Best Rebirth title along with Superman imo.
 
E

Elaugaufein

Member
I'm actually kinda intrigued with the Batbooks / JLA too, they actually seen to be doing a kind of in universe explanation for the Batfam's Wolverine Publicity and I want to see where that goes.
 
L

LordOfLore

Banned
Don't check the cover to Flash #21 which was revealed yesterday unless you want to be spoiled on who's showing up as part of The Button.
Reverse Flash
 
Lashley

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
Checking the spoiler actually made me want to read Flash, something I haven't wanted to do for a while
 
Z

ZombieFred

Unconfirmed Member
I've gone and caught up on new superman and holy fuck this was one of the biggest surprises in quality and awesome stuff in comics lately. The latest issue is probably the best comic book yet this year because of the whole s angle and the very last panel being one of the best homages I've seen executed in any medium.


Man rebirth is the best comic "reboot" I've ever seen and enjoyed immensely and become so hooked. Really loving most comics out of this <3
 
E

Effect

Member
- J - D - said:
Does anyone here have the new Rebirth Omnibus or can attest to its quality? I've meaning to jump into Rebirth for a while and this looks like the best way to do it.

UKC9vgP.jpg
Click to expand...

I completely forgot I ordered that. I'm not even sure if I got my copy. Will have to check when I get home today. Amazon says it was delivered but I don't ever recall opening it or putting it on a shelf. I hope it's just sitting in a box somewhere.

That and I'm way behind in my reading in the titles I'me following. Need to catch up soon as I do want to read Superman Reborn.
 
E

Elaugaufein

Member
So when did Damien and Johnathon meet ? Super Sons #1 opens with them obviously already being introduced, in fact given that Damien's only a massive dick to Johnathon, they seem to already be friends.
 
L

LiveFromKyoto

Member
Sgt. Kabukiman said:
I'm bumping this thread because everyone needs to read Deathstroke. Issue 10 with art by legends Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz was goddamn brilliant. And it's a stand-alone story (guest-starring everyone's favorite The Creeper) so it's very accessible.

That book started out rough, but now it feels like Christopher Priest is about to top his Black Panther run. Every issue is an insane puzzle and as a non-american I have to do about 2 or 3 google searches per page but it's truly amazing. Best Rebirth title along with Superman imo.
Click to expand...

It really is up there with the best work Priest has ever done. The amount of detail he puts into each issue is crazy. Like, every new series has Batman appear in the first 4 issues. Think about how many mindless Batman appearances you've read, then compare it with this:

1tACaeM.jpg

Fejkxlc.jpg


And the way he writes Slade, you really understand his rep. A less detailed writer couldn't sell it half as well.
 
T

tim1138

Member
I continue to be amazed that Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is written by the same guy who took over in the New 52 after Johns left.
 
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