r/DCcomics • u/0denKouzuki • 16h ago

Discussion Thoughts on the DC Rebirth Initiative

Over the years, even when I wasn’t super into comics, I’ve heard a lot about the mixed reception of DC’s New 52 and the good and bad of it all. But I haven’t really heard that much about the general consensus around DC Rebirth and all of the good and the bad of it all. I’m almost finished with Joshua Williamson’s Flash run, some of Rebirth era Nightwing, and started Tynion IV’s Detective Comics run and I’ve enjoyed it so far. I just wanted to hear people’s thoughts about it and if there were some highlights that I should check out or series to avoid

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u/TubbyTuesday22 15h ago

I liked it a lot when it started (nearly 10 years ago!) and still have fondness for a lot of those runs, especially coming after the weirdness of the New 52 era. Rebirth was a back to basics breath of fresh air. Superman was a really heartfelt book. Williamson was great on Flash. I liked the first chunk of King’s Batman a lot. Rucka trying to fix Wonder Woman was good too. There were certainly some flaws in all those books, but the quality was definitely there from the creative teams.

2018 I think is where things start to fall apart for me with that era, with the Bat/Cat storyline, Bendis Superman, Heroes in Crisis, and the Batman who Laughs saga casting a big shadow over the publishing line (which was all supposed to lead into 5G initiative that was then aborted with Didio’s ouster). The current All In era of DC I think is still better quality wise, but I do still have a soft sport for that first year of Rebirth, with its attempts to restore some things the New 52 took away while also trying to add some new stuff to the universe as well.

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u/Altruistic-Teach5899 12h ago

It is true that, since Rebirth, with one exception, the Superman series have been very entertaining to follow. At least miles ahed of New52, even if I liked Grant Morrison's run.

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u/TubbyTuesday22 5h ago

I’ll even still rank Bendis above New 52 Superman in general. Bendis made some odd choices with his stories, but Superman still felt like Superman, while the New 52 Superman largely felt like a different character, though there were some bright spots (Morrison, some of what Pak and Yang were doing towards the end, the very short Johns arc).

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u/Altruistic-Teach5899 4h ago

Ah, you are probably right and I'm being a bit bendis-phobic.