Anyone reading Rebirth?

[HalJordan4184]

Anyone out there reading the current Rebirth titles?

After feeling alienated for a few years, I've been successfully lured back into comics at DC through them. Currently enjoying:

Action Comics
Superman
The New Super-Man

I'm really liking the Superman titles. I'll be the first to admit, I did not like the New 52 Superman. There were ups and downs, but it just didn't feel like Superman reading it. It's like DC tried to take everything identifiable as Superman, and find someway to turn it on it's head, but insist it was the same. The pre New 52 Superman is back, with his wife Lois, and their son Jon. It feels like Superman again, at least to me. Just in these first few arcs, it's nice to see a Superman thinking about everyone else in a battle, and how he can best protect the people (cue the line from Superman II's Metropolis Battle). I also like seeing Superman have a family. Sometimes, it's good to see your heroes actually get what they deserve.

I've also found myself liking the New Super-Man. It's kind of cheesy, in a very deliberate way, which I've found myself loving. I love the fact there is an entire series dedicated to a tongue in cheek approach to the "Chinese Knock-Off" Superman. The other heroes get even funnier.

Anyway, what's everyone else think?

[Halberdier17]

Yeah I'm currently reading Rebirth.

I read:

Action Comics
All-Star Batman
Batman
Detective Comics
Green Lanterns
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps
Titans

Those are the books I'm reading consistently for Rebirth. I tried out other books but those are my favorite. I had to cut down so I can purchase different books.

I'm looking forward to the DC Young Animal line that starts in September with Doom Patrol.

[CKent/KalEl]

The Superman book is just wonderful. Latest issue (7) was 10/10 perfect.

[Aurora Moon]

I seem to feel the opposite of some readers here.

To me, 52 superman wasn't so bad personality-wise, etc. I saw him returning to his roots as an populist hero that Jerry Siegel originally envisioned him to be. In Jerry's days, "Golden age" Superman wasn't exactly afraid to get his hands dirty and was willing to use violence to get his way sometimes. Yet despite all this he was still a good man at heart.
Golden age superman was quite different than the Sliver Age superman in terms of personality, etc. The sliver age superman is probably the one that most people are more familiar with, if not the one from the 80's to 90's. So they complain that 52 Superman was nothing like the superman they grew up with and loved, etc.
When the real irony here is that 52 Superman is actually a tribute to his original roots.

I will admit however, that there was some stories in the new 52 that I wasn't a fan of. I felt that they were doing pa and ma kent a disservice by using their deaths as a cheap plot device, instead of actually exploring how important the Kents were to Clark's development... and how their deaths impacted him on a personal level.
I also wasn't a big fan of Clark's buzzcut haircut.

I thought that the way they introduced the new superman in rebirth was a little too weird... and killing off 52 Superman the way they did, didn't make me happy.

The one good thing about the Rebirth line is that the writers aren't taking themselves too seriously, and isn't afraid of writing light-hearted stories alongside all the more serious stuff.
That was where 52 failed, I think.... it just took itself too seriously and sucked the fun out of some stories.

[HalJordan4184]

I think the "going back to his roots" angle, would work better, if we were closer in time to his roots. For the vast majority of the characters history, he's been far different than was portrayed in the new 52. One of the things that irked me with the new 52, was the insistence that the character we were being given, was the Superman we all loved. They were trying to pull a Smallville and say, the differences we see now, are important to what comes later. They just never did the what comes later part. It's even acknowledged in the Rebirth story line now just how different the new 52 Superman was from his counterpart. I don't have a problem with different takes on characters. The biggest issue, I think, came from what happened with comics at the time. New 52 Superman was pushed onto the public, for no reason other than they hoped it would increase sales. The problem was, the character had fans. When you do a 180, and just kill everything ongoing at the time, in the hopes a massive change will bring in people that aren't reading, while still keeping the people that are, you are taking a huge gamble. One that historically, hasn't worked. Not a lot of people jumped on board, and the people that were reading stopped.

[Aurora Moon]

Yeah, that was probably the biggest problem with New-52's writers. They did lie by claiming that this was the same exact superman that people were familiar with, when everyone could see that it wasn't. and readers don't like being lied to, or being treated like an idiot.
They should had flat out that they were exploring Superman's original golden age roots though modern eyes, or something like that. And as I said before, the other problem is that they took themselves way too seriously. There was times when I felt like we were having a early 90's flashback when everything in comics were grimdark and oh so edgy! I mean, there is a reason why so many people consider the 90's the worst era of comic books ever, and called it the dark era of comics.
Not even the golden age superman took himself that seriously. Even he knew how to have fun... he wrestled lions for fun, for pete's sake.

[nate-dog1701d]

I had to pull the plug on monthlies two years ago, but up until that point, I never found New 52 Superman distasteful. Aside from Morrison's origin run in Action Comics, I don't recall him being overly violent or morally gray. The biggest difference I remember is how he was a loner and not much of a leader. In Justice League, he was hardly a character because he never spoke up. Batman was the leader. That said, I thought Superman Unchained and Superman/Wonder Woman - what I read of them - did a good job showing his innate goodness.

Now, I will say that going the loner route made him more boring, which is funny because I imagine they were attempting to make him edgier and cooler. I also strongly disliked the costume.

All that aside, I am interested in catching up and reading Rebirth stuff. Maybe soon.

[HalJordan4184]

One of the things I didn't like was the role reversal between Batman and Superman. Superman ended up the loner, and Batman ended the leader. It's sort of jarring, because Superman is supposed to be the natural leader, and moral compass, of the Justice League. It's a position he refused a few times, and initially didn't even join, but only because he feared it would pull him away from being able to help in other places he may be needed. He frequently ended up joining the League during their biggest fights anyway, so he ended up joining.

[Halberdier17]

I'm looking forward to the rebirth of the Wildstorm Universe in mid-February starting with the Warren Ellis book "The Wild Storm" which will basically do what DC Universe Rebirth #1 did for the DC Universe.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

One of the things I didn't like was the role reversal between Batman and Superman. Superman ended up the loner, and Batman ended the leader. It's sort of jarring, because Superman is supposed to be the natural leader, and moral compass, of the Justice League.

I always found it odd how Batman has this large Batfamily, Robins, Batgirls etc. when Batman himself should be a loner. There was even the whole Batman Incorporated thing going on.

Whereas Superman often works as a loner when it's really not part of his character. Sure, he has a Superman Family too but I guess too many kryptonians around make stories and threats hard to write. That and Superman isn't as a profitable character as Batman.

[DJ Doena]

I gave up on The New 52 after about half a year.

Then I stumbled upon the mini-series Lois & Clark.



And I really liked it. That's why I'm giving Rebirth a chance. I've subscribed to:



Unfortunately I haven't had the time to actually read them yet as I've been very busy lately.

Just today I got my latest batch. My entire collection can be seen here.

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

^ That Flash cover is just great.

DC kinda screwed over old and new (52) fans of Superman. The return of the classic Superman feels really awkward from what I've seen. That said, people seem to like the new Superman titles.

[HalJordan4184]

I haven't felt Superman's return to be awkward at all. If anything, it's been one of the better written things in the New 52/Rebirth stories I've read. It's Clark Kent getting back to being Clark/Superman.

[President_Luthor]

I've picked up a handful of Rebirth issues over the past few months, they tend to lean towards the Batverse but I've picked up a Green Arrow, Supergirl and some Justice League.

I can't say I'm all that familiar with New 52 Supes aside from the JL issues I read back then, but I've heard that he didn't really click with fans of Superman. From the little I've read of Rebirth Superman (I just recently picked up Trinity, it looks promising), I think he will become more 'likeable' to both new readers and old school fans who missed pre-New 52 Supes.

Detective Comics is pretty good (good news if you're fan of Spoiler), as is Justice League and I'm liking BOP too. Batgirl and Supergirl aren't bad either -with SG not surprisingly feeling the most "CW" in tone- though they've both been de-aged in recent times -- esp. Supergirl who's now back to being in high school. For Batgirl, it depends if you're ok with Batgirl of Burnside aka the hipster Babs. Odds are I won't be able to keep up with all of them (I'm still trying to catch up on my backlog of some New 52 TPB's -- quick rec: Batman and Robin), but it will likely be Batman-related.

[nate-dog1701d]

I still need to catch up on Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Justice League from New 52. I stopped reading around issues 31-33, so I've a little ways to go. I may cherry-pick some of the Superman stuff if it's not too costly. Superman: Doomed is already sitting in my Comixology app. I'll probably catch up on Green Arrow and Grayson as well.

For Rebirth, I'm interested in Batman, Detective, All-Star Batman, Superman, Action, Nightwing, Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and the GLC, Flash, Aquaman, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle, and Titans, off the top of my head. Titans is just for Wally, as I haven't yet become a (Teen) Titans fan.

I'll definitely be trade-waiting. The good news is that all the Rebirth trades except All-Star Batman will be coming out in paperback first, so there will be far less of a wait between individual issue releases and collected editions. DC has long been notoriously slow on this front. They used to come out with hardcover collections roughly six months after the last issue collected, then paperbacks six months after that. There will still be lingering New 52 trades when the first Rebirth stuff comes out.