Rebirth is a curious beast. It goes meta beyond anything
that I think I’ve seen in DC in a long time (Grant Morrison may have done this
if he had the chance, but even I’m not sure he would have gone that far) and
what’s more surprising for me – this is Geoff Johns who did it.
Look I love both of them for different reasons. But they for
me have been two sides of the same coin. One uses the past and refashions it to
use in the present using non-linear plotting more often than none, the other is
a genius at rebooting and linear storytelling. Grant doesn’t create something
new as often as he presents it in such a light that makes it better than it
ever was before – while Geoff creates new additions to the mythos and enriches
it. He’s done it with Green Lantern and the Flash and in the New 52, Aquaman.
He was brought in for Infinite Crisis and Flashpoint to streamline the
universes – expanding once and once retracting.
Now coming to the New 52 – it has been a ride right? Some
characters have emerged well like Aquaman and Diana, while Batman and GL were
largely unaffected by it. But others have been seriously ‘reduced’. Legacies
have been removed, sagas destroyed.
This lead to alienation of multiple long time readers while
a grimmer universe seemed to have taken hold of DC (personally I don’t think it
was that grim – biggest complaint is Superman, but it’s been more the
mediocrity of the storylines he’s been in than any darkness that has infected
his books) – something that has been a recurring problem on the big screen.
You have to realize this all leads to something in the book.
Ready? Lets start.
Well first off – Wallace West is back. You may know him as
the ginger haired Flash loving friend of Dick Grayson who took on the role of
the Flash after Barry Allen’s death in the First Crisis, made it to the big
leagues alongside another successor to Barry’s Green Lantern counterpart – when
I entered comics, it was the Wally and Kyle team I saw in my JL books.
If there are two wonderful things DC Comics has done with
characters who have actually progressed, its Dick Grayson and Wally West. They
started in the hero gig as kids, became sidekicks to the main characters, and
then became their own hero – one by creating a new mantle in Nightwing and the
other by inheriting the mantle of the Flash and making it his own.
In the process, for me the latter actually did a more
complete hero’s journey than Dick ever could. He found love, married and had
kids who inherited their dad’s abilities. When Barry came back, he was a little
diminished but still a different enough Flash.
It all changed with Flashpoint. Minority inclusion and
race-inclusiveness are great recent attempts by DC and Marvel to reflect the
changing real world – but they got it wrong when we got an Afro-American Wally
West. It wasn’t just that he was written like a stereotypical ‘black’ kid – it was
that everything was gone. Back to square one.
Nothing mattered apparently – but this issue just revealed…no.
It’s not that easy to kill a legacy.
Yes. So as I said some paragraphs ago – Wally is back. And
he’s back with a terrible secret.
Apparently Flashpoint was not a reboot.
Heroes weren’t made younger just as a consequence of Barry trying to correct
the universe after he damaged it by saving his mother. Apparently someone
thought is great to play around with the universe while it was reforming after
Flashpoint and destroyed a lot of parts of what that universe was supposed to
be – and took ten years of the people and heroes in the new universe.
You can see some of the effects – as it isn’t a grown up
married father Wally West that is back (though he has all the memories of that
person), its Teen Titans Kid Flash Wally West.
And he’s trying to come back to warn the heroes that another
attack by that mysterious force is imminent.
And how can he start? By going to the world’s greatest
detective. During his JL stint, Bruce and Wally had an evolving relationship. Barry
and Bruce were bound by their love of science, so the latter didn’t take too
kindly to the passing of the mantle. But by the end of it all, they were good
friends and Wally had a great respect for Bruce’s ability to see things others,
even Gods, couldn’t.
But sadly for him, even Bruce isn’t that capable to escape
the Flashpoint curse (referring to the ten-year loss if you want an elaboration).
Wally manages to convey and bring the letter
to Bruce that started off the New 52 – the one Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne)
had sent to him via alternate universe hopping Barry Allen. And it leads him to
another discovery which I’ll get into latter on.
As for the Superman and Joker glimpses, the latter will be
covered in the Justice League #50 review. It’s not important right now (or is
it…hmmm?) while the Superman one – basically if you don’t want spoilers for
that skip to the next paragraph. Well over numerous events, New 52 Clark has
been to hell and back and gives out and dies recently.
We now see a Secret Origin chapter for Wally West in case
another forgot or is new to this. Very silver age in a way (especially Wally
getting the same chemicals in the same ratio dumped on him while being struck
by lightning…wait where’s the lightning?). It’s a crash course as we follow
Wally on the same journey I mentioned before – becoming a Titan, then the
Flash, then marriage and family.
And then…nothing.
As I mentioned, someone did something between Flashpoint’s
aftermath and New 52’s beginning that fundamentally changed the universe they
currently inhabit. And Wally got lost in the Speed Force.
Wally, having failed with Bruce, now goes to one of the
legacy characters lost to the Flashpoint curse. Johny Thunder, former member of
the Justice Society, is now a crazy old bird at a mental asylum (first thought
was Dodds as in the JSA Sandman but then I think that is the Kingdom Come fan
in me talking).
Well it’s nice to see some allegorical themes cropping up as
Wally (lightning) gets literally drawn to Thunder. We learn that Johny hasn’t
forgotten his team and is still trying to find them. Which makes me wonder
- is there a Justice Society on this
Earth? Then is this ten-year thing arbitrary cause that would mean the JSA were
from before Batman and Superman even put on their capes (going post Crisis) –
how did they fade from this universe? Where are Jay and the rest then?
In between we see Maggie Sawyer witnessing the interrogation
of an unknown female – and we pan out to a legion ring in an evidence bag. The
Legion of Superheroes are a team in the 31st century where Superman
has cemented his legacy as the world’s greatest hero and actually been on the
team as Superboy in some iterations. The blond hair makes me think its Saturn
Girl. Though the ‘I have seen the future’ seems like something Dream Girl will
say. But leaning heavily on Saturn Girl.
Same with Blue Beetle. After his father’s death during Forever Evil, Ted Kord apparently fell in love with the design of the Beetle as adorned by Jaime Reyes (which is ironical as actually Kord was the second blue beetle and Jaime the third) and they became friends. But the scarab on Jaime’s back holds more mysteries than just its extra-terrestrial origins – as the classic Dr Fate introduced to the main Earth for the first time (there’s another Dr Fate running around but he’s a kid. This seems like the JSA one – Kent Nelson) warns Kord.
Meanwhile we see a kid in a cape turn thirteen (BTW not
Damien Wayne. It's someone else – don’t know who) and Jessica Cruz (spoilers for
Justice League #50) is now a Green Lantern and talking with Hal about Simon Baz
(GL with a gun) and Sinestro. Then we see someone introduced during Brightest
Day – Jackson Hyde aka Aqualad. Trying to come to terms with both his powers
and his sexuality.
Now comes the big fish. Pandora was a key person responsible
for the New 52 as she guided Flash into merging and restructuring the universe.
We may actually find out her true role in that now – but ironically it’s her
death that begins it. And this starts off the clues.
Her style of death is actually reminiscent of something I’ve
seen in a particular graphic novel and a movie by Zack Snyder actually of all
people. Will come back to that.
Well, before her death, she accuses the murderer of being
responsible for the tortured existence of the New 52 saying that hope will save
it. It’s a theme reflected by Wally as well. Her death actually seems to echoes
into Wally’s journey even as we see Grail from the Darkseid War nurturing a
young Darkseid while mentioning Wonder Woman’s brother Jason (again…see my
review of Justice League #50 which will be up after I manage to finish this).
We circle back to the New 52 Superman’s death scene as
heroes gather for mourning and here Wally finally finds solid hope after
Aquaman and Mera’s love helps solidify the connection – his wife in another
life and the woman who has managed to save him from being consumed by the Speed
Force before is here. But alas, this is not the Linda who loved Wally and
married him. And all seems lost as despite Wally’s pleas, Linda cannot
remember.
In between we see how Oliver and Dinah, an on-off couple before
New 52 – are so distant now but still feel a connection while the new Superman
(actually the pre-New 52 one) is told by a mysterious figure that everything
isn’t as it seems – which is true as the New 52 isn’t a new universe so how did
two Supermen exist? That mysterious figure was there before looking on from the shadows in previous Superman issues.
This leads to Wally resigning himself to become part of the
Speed Force forever. But before that, he needs to ensure one last time with the
man who taught him how to be a hero. On the way, he sees the new Wally West (the Afro-American one). Apparently they are not the same person but cousins in a way. Seeing his heroics just makes Wally more certain that the Kid Flash legacy is in safe hands. Now knowing that, he meets up with Barry.
Yes as always when the speedsters are involved, Barry Allen
can never be far behind.
Its touching to see them so close yet so far. You can feel
Wally’s heart breaking as he sees his mentor be the hopeful hero he always was
(bringing pizzas to people he rescued) knowing this is the end for him. He
tries to thank Barry for ensuring that he lived up to the mantle of the Flash
and understanding the value of time and just as he fades away – Barry remembers.
It’s a cinematic and touching scene in the way only Geoff Johns
can deliver. You understand the history between them even if you may not have
read about it.
Barry instantaneously remembers and starts his own regret –
the Flashpoint changed everything. It brought about a world where heroes are
novices and legacies and friendships have been lost.
Even as Barry tries to apologize for it, Wally stops him –
saying someone bigger than either Eobard Thawne or Darkseid has played with
them.
And now comes the kicker. The end dialogue as we see Batman
find the Comedian’s bloodied smiley badge (after passing by the Clown Prince of
Crime’s big playing card…so meta!) – its from the end of Watchmen.
So who is the malignant force that played around with the DC
universe? Well…its Dr Manhattan.
Yes – apparently when the good Doctor went off to experiment
with universes and the DC one was ripe for the taking due to Flashpoint. So is
he a villain? Or was this a flawed attempt that Manhattan is trying to correct and either he is killing off people like Pandora who helped it come to be - or someone is framing him (cause that is totally how Rorshach died in Watchmen).
Also there are parallels with Wally's initial talk of a precious watch he lost and the watch at the end on Mars getting dismantled and rebuild. Its a metaphor for the DC Universe and also Dr Manhattan is obsessed with watches since before he got his powers. So stronger the hunch becomes.
But there's no dispute - the blue hand on the cover and the man who created the New 52 is not actually a man, he actually something close to a god. And what of the other Watchmen? Ozymandias? NiteOwl? Silk Spectre? Dare I say it - Rorshach somehow? The Watchmen graphic novel began with the bloodstained smiley badge? How will this one proceed?
Now lets get into a little analysis. Why does Johns use Dr Manhattan here? You remember the role he played in the book? Well...its a little worser than what happened in the movie (where Manhattan was indirectly to blame even though he was played by Ozymandias) - but basically Manhattan grows tired of humanity's squabbles leaving him further less of a man and more of an alien. He kills Rorshach to ensure the lie is prolonged - basically cold blooded murder.
And where is the DC Universe today? On the film side, its being viewed as taking heroes and making murderers of them. In comics, Johns in a meta sense blames the seriousness that invaded comics post Watchmen and TDKR. The death of the Silver age and all. While an updating was required, maybe it went too far and forgot what comics were supposed to be about - what DC was supposed to be about.
This is a love letter to continuity and an appeal to give DC a second chance to redeem their mistakes. And Johns nails it.
This was highly ambitious and while a lot to take, still credit where credit's due. Johns has crafted an impressible platform and hopefully it will live up to it.
Coming to the artwork, it was a delicious palette served up. Reis, Frank, Jimenez and Shiver - well Fabok or Lee wasn't there but this was an awesome artwork league in itself. Great visuals!
So, I give it 9.0 out of 10.
+Amazing reveals
+Great artwork
+Some great character moments
-The final reveal may be polarizing
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