DC Universe Rebirth #1 (DC)

This is the biggest and most controversial comic DC has released in years.  It reboots the company back to pre-New 52 continuity (in some ways), and then it goes and shocks fans by introducing Watchmen's Dr. Manhattan into continuity.

For fans, it's the return of Wally West that's most rewarding.  This is a sequel, in a lot of respects, to Flashpoint, with Wally reminding Bruce Wayne of that letter Barry Allen gave him from his father.  Geoff Johns scripting the phrase, "My name is Wally West, and I'm the fastest man alive," is easily this particular comic book geek's favorite moment, because this was stuff I cherished in my earlier years, when I was devouring Mark Waid's run on The Flash.

Other fans choose to see things differently.  Watchmen is kind of like a sacred totem to them.  Because Alan Moore is untouchable, Watchmen is untouchable, and so things like Before Watchmen and the appearance of Dr. Manhattan as a nominal villain are untenable to them.  To those readers, I suggest, first, to read Matt Kindt's brilliant Divinity comics over at Valiant.  They're the best Dr. Manhattan stories ever.  And yes, I'm including Watchmen.  Maybe it's because I came very late to the party, or maybe because The Dark Knight Returns reached me first, and I've had no problem ignoring what most of that comic is about except to know it's Old Man Batman (also, please direct your attention to Mark Millar's Old Man Logan, somewhat amusingly not to be confused with Marvel's several recent attempts to keep that one going).  I get that Watchmen was a pretty big deal, and that it introduced new sophistication to superhero storytelling.  But it's just not worth putting up such a fuss.  It's just not.

I've argued elsewhere that Dr. Manhattan is a deeply cynical person.  His decisions throughout Watchmen are cynical.  This makes him, in the hands of Geoff Johns, an improved version of Superboy-Prime from Infinite Crisis.  That's basically what Johns does in DC Universe Rebirth.  He improves on his own story.  It's highly likely that Johns will be telling more of this story himself.  He's uniquely suited for the task.  I'm saying right now, there has never been another comic book writer who so uniquely understands superhero storytelling, has proven to be such a master of it.  Grant Morrison is his closest competition, but has, time and time again, proven that he's more interested in standalone storytelling, things that are suited to their own logic, but without the ego Alan Moore brought to the same kind of storytelling, which is why The Multiversity: Pax Americana is already a better Watchmen story than Watchmen itself.

DC Universe Rebirth is packed with classic Johns character moments.  He can do this better than anyone.  If he'd been looking over the shoulder of everyone who wrote for the New 52 era, there would have been a lot fewer complaints.  But the whole point of the New 52 era was to present a fresh tablet for creators to reinterpret the DC landscape, not in a restricted sort of way, like Marvel's Ultimate line, but the ability to succeed or fail based on creative gambles.  I'd say the results speak for themselves, but there's been so much grumbling, about the "loss of everything that made DC great," that clearly they don't.

So we have Wally West return.  We have Green Arrow and Black Canary finally reunite.  We have Aquaman propose to Mera.  We have the Aqualad of Brightest Day return.  And yeah, Dr. Manhattan.  Like Manhattan, it's likely Johns will be handling the mystery of the three Jokers, too.  Personally, I just wouldn't like to see it any other way.  Scott Snyder teased a lot of things in his Batman, including the identity of "the" Joker.  This is a character that has undergone as many creative revamps as anyone else you could name in comics.  It's been speculated in the past that he periodically reinvents himself.  But for all these years, there's never been an official origin.  In that respect, he's the DC equivalent of Wolverine.

So I look forward to Johns exploring that.  Getting back to Aquaman.  And anything else he cares to explore.  He's stepping away from regular writing duties, as of DC Universe Rebirth.  It's sad, but it's also exciting.  It means people might finally stop ignoring his talent.  Everything he does will be a little more special, an event, like DC Universe Rebirth.

Let the fans who will complain, complain.  They don't get it.  It's fine.  They didn't really get it to begin with, either.