So I will be honest, when I initially heard about Rebirth, I was not particularly thrilled. And I still fear we are entering an era of far too frequent rebooting of the DCU. But when I read some of the interviews about what they are hoping to accomplish, I found myself filled with hope. Geoff Johns deserves the high praise he consistently gets. Unlike many *coughDidiocough* who don't seem to really understand a lot of the characters in the DCU, Johns gets them. Compared with the people who run the business side but don't really read the comics, he is a fan that lives this stuff. And when he said that for him Rebirth was about bringing back Legacy to the DCU, I was ready to jump on board.That is precisely what has been missing in the DCU since they rebooted in 2011. And it should be noted that I can't go any further without spoilers here. The biggest example of where Legacy was missing, I believe, was in the Flash. This might be because this is the character who has made the best use of this concept historically. I grew up on the second (or third if you count the JSA) generation of hero's. My Green Lantern was Kyle Rayner, my Green Arrow was Conner Hawke, and Kon-El was my Superboy. Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Roy Harper as Arsenal, and even Donna Troy - these were the characters I resonated with most. And that also means that Wally West was my Flash.
With the Reboot, many of these characters were lost, and if they were not lost, their history was removed. They started bringing Donna Troy back into Wonder Woman, which I was quite glad to see. And I couldn't Thank Collen Bunn enough when I met him this weekend for finally restoring Garth to the Aquaman family. Honestly, the return of Tempest made me so excited to see that I sorta fanboyed. But there was still one character that was missing. I like the new Wally West. He's a good kid, and he has potential as a character. But he doesn't have the history of my Wally, and I miss that. So when I hit page six and I saw him return again, I couldn't have been happier. I wasn't even mad that it had been spoiled for me, nothing could've dampened that moment.Seeing him torn across the DCU by the Speed Force was a great way to tell the story. And to make it better, it wasn't just seeing Wally return that we were given. The Justice Society might not be too far behind. The true legacy of the DCU might be restored at last. This is enough to get me excited about these comics again. Clark and Lois have been returned from the prior universe as well, though I expect more twists to come on that front (see Superman #52). Some of the other twists that have been taken over the last few years are getting ironed out in other books. For instance, Dick Grayson is returning as Nightwing, and I could write an entire review talking about how great the latest issue of Grayson was.
But I am going to focus on Rebirth. The past of the DCU is set to be restored with the JSA and the return of Wally. But the future is also being restored. The Legion of Superhero's appears to be back as well. In addition, we get to look at some other characters that have been relatively lost it seems. Ryan Choi is back into the fold, and Ted Kord has returned (complete with The Bug). There are some solid hints of things to come in this. Some will doubtless be bigger than others.
Another thing that I was glad to see again was the return of love to the DCU. We've had some romance sprinkled throughout, but the historical power couples have been missing. Barry and Iris have been a bit spotty. Clark and Wonder Woman is a way to go, but many (myself included) would rather see her with Bruce. And Clark and Lois have a lot of history, a history that was just missing in the last few years. Arthur and Mera are back. There is a Lois and Clark in the Universe again. The moment between Wally and Linda is heart breaking, but I hope to see this relationship restored as well. With luck, the attitude that superheroes don't get to be happy is going away.
Batman is grim and gritty. Green Arrow is a bit grim. But these characters are symbols of hope and faith as well. Barry is able to bring Wally out of the speed force. There is a threat looming, a most interesting one that I'm not going to spill the beans on. But even with all that has been lost (a decade by Wally's estimate), there is a chance that we might be returning to comics where the good guys really are good guys. Where kids and adults alike can enjoy some of these tales. (As fantastic as Morrison's run on Batman was - Bruce was a giant jerk for most of it) This issue did what I know Johns was hoping it would, it had left me filled with excitement for the future of the DCU.
For a more expanded discussion of this issue and the implications involved, I recommend going here.
