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I’m a big Sam Humphries fan and am excited for his work on this series.

That being said, I was disappointed in this review’s pun-headline. The Green Lantern franchise is so easy to create bad headlines … Here’s a few and feel free to use them next time you review for a Green Lantern comic that doesn’t make the grade for you

“Oa No! The new Green Lantern series fails to..”
“Green means Go…Away ! The new Green Lantern series fails to….”
“Dead Ringer – The new Green Lantern series fails to….”
“Green Light means Stop This time – The new GL series fails to….”
“Needs a Charge – The new GL series fails to…..”

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Trivia: Shouldn’t the Statue of Justice be holding a sword, not a torch? At least she has her shield.

Dave, I’d match HAL JORDAN to GL, and the LanternS book to GLC, personally — GL was always the Hal title, and GLC the “Not Hal”

Interesting is the five-years-ago figures (from just before the New 52 started) versus now. So in spite of all the “darker and edgier” New 52 revamps, “DC You,” “Convergence,” and other changes, the only characters to see a rise in sales figures since then are Batman (who’d probably sell well anyway), Superman, Batgirl, Constantine, and… Scooby-Doo? Interesting that in sales growth percentages, Scoob and the gang are one of DC’s main successes…

Scooby Doo Apocalypse was a lot better than I could imagine. It inspired me to buy the other similar books. Nice surprise in fun and entertaining reading

I’m really surprised by Unfollow. It’s a great book, full of mystery, intrigue, and plenty of weirdness! It’s a perfect Vertigo title! Why is no one buying this thing?

Nahan: bad marketing strategies. I probably would have been interested but no interior art was visible in the Previews (I think), price of the vertigo floppy was upped 33% just before and they didn’t made any effort on the price of the first paperback as they used to.
And launching a serie demanding such a very long run of issued to be correctly mamanged (the counter can’t drop from 140 to 10 in 2 issues) at a time were any new launch making it past issue 12 is a miracle was perhaps a little too risky.

Nathan: I’m buying it. And it is the perfect Vertigo title. It reminds me of Air by Wilson & Perker from a few years back, gives me that same feeling of those cool little books poking their heads out between Sandman and Preacher and Animal Man and Fables, you know? That…Vertigo feeling…mmm…

Seems cool. This art is fantastic though! Reminds me of capullo

“Having been told to read Lazarus by multitudes of people who say it’s one of the best comics ever and failing to get past the second volume” – What?! It’s a dense book, and honestly hard to keep track of at times, but it’s an amazingly great book!

With that said, I was so unimpressed with the Wonder Woman Rebirth issue. The entire thing was just WW walking around saying “The story keeps changing.” 96 times. I was like “Wait, is this the same guy that’s writing Lazarus? Given his past with DC, did he take this book on as an inside joke to see how long it would take the upper management to notice?” I thought it was just badly written…. but maybe with this issue it gets better.

If you have no basis of her 75 years of history and iterations, maybe at least read some wikis before coming in clueless and “reviewing” a #1 issue? Is it really too much to ask that someone use the internet to inform his or herself before critiquing a new book about a really old character?

Thank you for your comment, London! I don’t know if this is necessarily the “best” argument, but I want to pose another question to your question: is it really expected for a new reader to do research before they jump on to a FIRST issue, regardless of how old the lead character of that series is? When I first started reading comics, I was hesitant to dive into anything too heavily based in continuity because I knew I wouldn’t understand it and it seemed strange to me that I should have to read through wikipedia summaries of 75 year histories before reading a single story. Compare that to a series of films or more aptly, TV Shows. Sure if you’re diving into season 6 of Game of Thrones you should know what happened in the previous five seasons before doing so, but that’s not how Wonder Woman #1 or other DC Rebirth books are being sold to us. They are being sold as starting points…hence number 1. If your START requires research, you have to ask: is this book really going to attract new readers?

I really like James Tynion IV. His recent apocalyptic tales, Memetic and Cognetic, were great and I absolutely LOVED his Batma/TMNT cross over series. I’ve got to say, I disagree with you that he is too wordy in Detective. I’ll have to have another browse through to be sure, but it didn’t strike me as a “wordy” comic. That said, I don’t have a problem with wordy comics so long as the words are good…. and I though the dialogue in this was very good, keeping me filled in on what I needed to know as well as giving me insight into the characters.

I think the artwork in this comic is brilliant. I too enjoyed the occasional painted portrait that seemed to pop up at emotive moments and really brought into focus thqat these “superheroes” are merely people beneath their cowls.

Batwoman is the star of the show for me. I’ve never read any Batwoman before, but this has really sold me on her. She has a fantastic costume design, and were I a villain of Gotham, I’d be a lot more scared of her than Brcuie, I reckon.

In short, I enjoyed this, I enjoyed the main Bat-title and I enjoyed Green Arrow. Looking forward to Snyder’s All-Star Batman. Well done DC. Thus far, the Rebirth is working well!

I disagree, I thought it was great. From beginning to end. And when Jon Kent started to fly off to help his dad against Doomsday. Classic.

Kyle – I think this fake Clark Kent is just a vehicle (maybe created by Mr. Oz?) to re-establish the secret identity for Superman. Tough to go forward in perpetuity with everyone knowing his secret identity.

About the possible Watchmen plot line: I personally don’t have a problem with using the characters (of course, how they ultimately end up getting used will be the deciding factor for me whether it was good or bad) because I don’t feel that the characters from Moore and Gibbons story are being affected by this one. I read Watchmen in 1988 as a sophomore in high school, I loved it and still do to this day. I’ve never wished for a sequel and I didn’t buy Before Watchmen (I saw the movie unfortunately) because that story works just fine by itself and it won’t be spoiled by crappy use of it’s characters elsewhere. For me, the use of the characters is either going to be cool or stupid in the Rebirth storyline.

What a substantial “article” this one was.

I grabbed everything but Green Lanterns. Rebirth has been good for my LCS and I’ve been pretty excited to see what they are going to do from here on out. I honestly haven’t looked forward to each issue of Superman this much since John Byrne was on the book.

You and I are on the same page Shawn, though John Byrne was just a tad before my regular reading kicked in, my era was Ordway-Jurgens-Stern etc. Looking forward to reading Action next week!

real strong week, all titles were very good reads

Wow, what a clickbait title for reviewing such garbage material. Keep lowering the bar, Beat.

Skottie, I’m a bit tired of your insults here. One more and you’re out for good.

Being a fan of the Perez/Wolfman New Teen Titans, I originally was disappointed when Titans Hunt was more about the original team. That mini won me over and this book is probably the one that I looked forward to most after the Superman books. I’m not a big Brett Booth fan but I don’t think that he’s a bad choice here. I have faith that Dan Abnett will continue to have me anticipating this book every month.

“Skottie, I’m a bit tired of your insults here. One more and you’re out for good.” – Where is a Like button when you need one!

As a longtime Teen Titans fans (a TOO-long-time reader) it’s fascinating to see all the on-ramps for a property like this. The cartoons, the Perez/Wolfman series, etc.
I think the Filmation shorts sparked my interest in the old Nick Cardy comics – so long ago. Glad to see it still resonating with fans today.

I’m more of a Wolfman/Perez-era Titans reader myself but I think the choice to go with the original Titans is a good one.

First, it helps sell the back-to-basics concept. These characters are the core. Abnett really evoked the feeling of being in your early-20s where you spend all of your time with a tight-knit group of friends, doing random crap.

Second, trying to put in the Wolfman characters would have been a real mess. The New-52 has not been kind to Starfire, Changeling, Raven, Cyborg, Jericho, etc. It’d be a monumental task to walk them back from where they are now.

I wasn’t that impressed by the book. I thought it was the typical story of, hero mistakes other and fight only to end up friends after fight. Wally seemed to be able to “shock” them into remembering, but couldn’t with his wife? All a bit rushed and jammed into a single issue.
MY biggest complaint is the annoying hat Roy wears. I can overlook it now, but in the flashback sequences, he’s wearing it. Why lord, why?. Is he going bald? The other thing that stuck out was the bright happy colors of their costumes in the past compared to the darker tones, dark blue, grey, black colors now Look forward to the younger Teen Titan book scheduled

First things first: Nathan, I was looking for that “like” button too.

What interests me in this current iteration of the Titans is that, while it’s using (some) different characters, I think in Titans Hunt and here, Abnett has done a lot to capture the tone of the Wolfman/Perez group. Long-time friends who have been through a lot and love and trust each other. They’ve seen action, fallen in and out love, and have a lot of history together. Whether it’s Cyborg and Starfire and Changeling or Lilith and Wally and Garth, that resonates.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

loved the writing , great premise , the art was just ok, still a good read

My two favorite comic book characters are Superman and Captain America. I wish Cap was getting the same kind of revival that Superman is getting. Ever since the Lois and Clark mini, I’ve loved reading Superman again!

With all the praise for the inking, please give a shout-out to Mick Gray, the unsung hero of this book. He and Patrick Gleason are an incredible combination.

Green Arrow has been hot and cold with me over the years. Even though I lean right, I prefer Ollie as the liberal hero we’ve come to know over the years. When the New 52 rebooted, he lost that and he seemed to become “Batman with arrows” again. The Rebirth issue and this issue have surprised me with how much I’ve enjoyed them. I discussed with Alex last week how I prefer a house style with superhero comics but I really enjoyed Otto Scmidt’s art here.

“Alex: To be honest, your take on the issue didn’t strike my mind.”

Who talks this way? Learn English, fellas.

Imagine that, corporate-owned superhero garbage is largely the same as it ever was. Will fanboys ever learn?

Well, given the plummeting sales, maybe they finally have.

Alex,
Not being snarky at all but can you explain what you mean by “house style”? Personally, I believe that comics from the Big 2 should have a somewhat consistent look ( if we’re on the same page with the term). Not a cookie cutter approach where everyone is drawing like Jim Lee but I grew up with Byrne on the X-Men while Perez was on the Avengers, Starlin, the Buscemas, etc… Using current artists, I prefer a Fabok or a Pelletier to be on DC books rather than the sketchier, cartoonier artists that I prefer on indie books or a book like Gotham Academy.

based on feedback from our customers, they are off to a very good start, each title had over 100 people adding the comics (all 5) to their reserve/hold. same performance as last week, DC is on to something here. these comics are getting a much stronger “word on the street” then the last batch of Marvel Now titles

“I prefer a Fabok or a Pelletier to be on DC books rather than the sketchier, cartoonier artists that I prefer on indie books or a book like Gotham Academy.”

Not every title has to appeal to your very limited, shallow tastes. But looking at DC’s poor output, that’s what they’re going for now.

Easy there, Brave Keyboard Warrior….

Hi Shawn,

I think we have the same understanding of the term “house style”– a look that, while not necessarily 100% homogeneous, has a large number of consistent features across all titles. May I ask why you prefer this look?

Personally, I dislike the idea that a large publishing company could ever have a house style because it leads to creative stagnancy across a large line. You can have stores that only sell bone broth or one kind of artisanal bagel because they’re small boutique outlets that target a small corner of the market. A company like DC or Marvel, who wants to and does capture the largest market share among comics publishers, is not a boutique brand. Paradoxically though, in DC’s case, they target the audience for house style books as though it’s the totality of the market rather than just one niche in a greater whole. Their strategy is what MacMillan’s would be like if they only published horror novels or Simon and Schuster acted like they were Harlequin.

I believe that the art style of a comic dictates its tone. I also believe that superheroes are not just a vehicle for action stories, but can be used to tell a variety of tales. Having a house style limits that possibility because personally, I don’t think a romance book with Jim Lee on art would fare as well as something drawn by Joelle Jones. Large publishers like DC and Marvel should and finally are diversifying their visual lineups to accommodate the fact that they are, in fact, large publishers with a wide variety of audience members who want to read different things.

We’re probably not too far apart in thinking, we may just be viewing it from opposite preferences. I like a house look probably because that is the way my brain is wired for superhero comics. Like I previously wrote, I was raised on John Byrne, George Perez, Frank Miller, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, John Romita Jr., and others who were popular (and doing regular work) from the late 70’s through the 80’s. Just using Marvel as an example, Peter Parker looked like Peter Parker in not only the Spider-Man titles, but also when he guest starred in other books. Depending on the artist, he can look different in his own book these days. For a while, Captain America’s costume looked different from book to book. Of course these are just personal preferences (which I’ve heard are “shallow and limited” lol) but they take me out of the story. I agree that the tone of a book is dictated by the art, I think that Neal Adams would me a bad fit on Invincible just as I agree Jim Lee wouldn’t be a good choice for a romance comic. And preferences change, as a kid I HATED Bill Sienkiewicz on the New Mutants but now I look at those issues and love them.
I appreciate your opinion and your willingness to have these conversations in the comments section helps make this sites one of the great ones.

I’m just glad to see The Flash drawn by someone named Carmine again!