Read Between the Lines: DC REBIRTH & the Great Side-Eye

30 years ago, Moore, Miller, Morrison, and their artistic collaborators, began the great deconstruction of the super-hero narrative form. That has continued on and off (mostly on) ever since. But there have been very few creators who dedicate themselves to the reconstruction of the super-hero narrative form. Geoff Johns is one of them.

In reading Rebirth and the related titles, many readers noted what seemed veiled or overt pokes and rebukes of the New 52 era of DC Comics. I want to pick out just a couple of moments that are, for me, what I would call “The Rebirth Side Eye.”

watchmen side-eye

DC Universe: Rebirth — and the related tales in Justice League: Darkseid War, Superman: Lois and Clark, and “Super League” — are the turning point in the ongoing saga that is the eight decade History of the DC Universe. It’s a saga that many long-time readers felt was broken in 2011, but is now revealed to be another related chapter after all.

Rebirth is not rebooting again (that thought seems to terrify the masses). Instead it opens up secrets of the existing universe. Amazingly, comics does this so often it has its *own* term for it – retcon. Retroactive continuity. A way of putting right what once went wrong and opening up new story possibilities.

These stories are much more than a well-crafted redirect for the line, they are a conversation between the creators and the readers.

A Note to the Unbooters

From the first day the word “reboot” was uttered in relation to the New 52, there was a vocal minority of fans who wanted, and continue to demand, that the slate be wiped clean and everything set back to mid-August 2011.

Convergence was the first attempt to tidy up the past by explaining that the previous universes “evolved” into the version we saw in Multiversity.

convergence2

Unfortunately, due to a lack of rock-solid clarity on what the ending meant, readers were left to debate and misinterpret the ending to mean anything from “it’s the origin of Mulitversity” to “they unbooted the universe to pre-Flashpoint.”

Lois and Clark, however, reinforced several times over the run that the version/incarnation/iteration/era of the DCU this power couple came from is gone for good. It was made crystal clear in issue #8 with this explanation to their son, Jon.

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Lois may well be talking to the DC reader in this scene, telling them that while the post-Flashpoint world may not be where they came from, it’s home now. *Your* home.

The Tale of a Bunch of Psycho Pirates

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, only the villain Psycho Pirate could remember that the Infinite Earths ever existed. Possibly a back-door to unboot, this also reassured the reader that the previous stories all “counted” while also showing that it was time to move on.

After Flashpoint, Barry Allen gave our Batman a letter written to Bruce by the Flashpoint reality’s Batman, Thomas Wayne. That letter remained (and reappeared in Justice League) while Barry’s own memories faded before he even got to the next issue.

After Convergence, we end up with a host of folks who remember the pre-Flashpoint universe! As well as pre-Crisis versions of Barry Allen and Supergirl (who haven’t turned up so far), Hal Jordan’s Zero Hour-era Parallax, pre-Flashpoint Lois and Clark (see above), and Booster Gold.

convergence survivors

If Psycho Pirate was a fail safe for the Crisis reboot, Convergence assembled a veritable Justice League of ways to tweak reality!

The Rejection of Morrison?

Aside from Geoff Johns, there have been few DC writers more influential than Grant Morrison. However, the way these two powerhouses see super-heroes is not at all times compatible.

It has been said that a great deal of the reason for a full reboot of DC at Flashpoint was the degree to which Grant Morrison was changing Superman. At first, it was announced as a line-wide relaunch more on pace with the later Marvel NOW! or DC You initiatives.

Part of the internal tension of the New 52 was two very different views of these characters. While both Johns and Morrison seem focused on an “every story happened” approach to continuity, the view of the characters themselves are quite different. Morrison’s book “Super Gods” makes it quite clear that he treats these characters as gods among mortals.

We have Geoff Johns making a pointed abandonment of that interpretation in Justice League #50.

never gods

Can DC find its way back to relatable human characters after years of Morrison’s beautification?

The Watchmen Affect

Rebirth leaves us with an equation to both explain how DC got here and how they might find their way back out.

DC Universe + Watchmen = The New 52

watchmen pin

Johns led his Rebirth pitch on the live-streamed video with the line from page 2, “I love this world. But there’s something missing.”

Though there were many who loved New 52 (myself included), for many fans it was a copy of what they loved. I did not share this feeling across the board, but I did in one case.

For want of a better phrase, it wasn’t “my Superman.” One of my first reviews for Comicosity was Superman #7 by Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens, in which I mused on the unfamiliarity of the New 52 Superman. “Superman is my favorite character that I don’t read,” I wrote at the time.

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I found reading “Super League” that I did not feel sorrow at the death of New 52 Superman. From the day Superman: Lois and Clark #1 hit shelves, “my Superman” was over there, this was just a guy with an S t-shirt.

I was a lapsed DC reader of nearly 15 years when New 52 brought me back. I was gone for a long time, longer than Wally was. Along the way, I forgot.

not all

I certainly carried the torch for the nearly five years this chapter of DC has covered. But now it’s time to bring everyone back to the fold, and hopefully keep those who joined the family through New 52 and DC You.

It brings me great joy to see lapsed readers coming back for Rebirth. I think they just needed someone to reach out a hand to them. Someone. Anyone.

reach out

Keith Callbeck is the co-host of the We Talk Comics podcast and the Bob Woodward of Comicosity, contributing a column when he feels passionate enough to put hand to keyboard.

 

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