Alex Yarde’s take on DC Comics “Reverse Flashpoint” (see what I did there) DC Rebirth and the ramifications!
“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine”- REM
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Spoiler warning: if you haven’t read DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH #1…….. what are you wating for? It’s great! Oh, I give away major plot points so there’s that!
Ok, remember the DCU Pre-Flashpoint? Well so does Wally West. The original Wally West. And it’s through his perspective, as an increasingly desperate, non corporeal being both simultaneously consumed and feuled by the Speed Force, do we get a glimpse of the truly remarkable nod to the OC’ S (Original Continuity) crowd in Geoff Johns Re-Re boot DC Universe Rebirth #1
This isn’t a “re tweaking” of the now Old 52 like we were being sold until now. It’s a total paradigm shift. We get Arrow & Black Canary back! The old Juctice Society and Teen Titans to boot! So who was behind all the problems you hated about the New 52 you ask?
Darkseid?
Metreon?
Bat Mite?
DC Senior Editors?
Nope. Turns out it was The Watchmen’s big blue omnipotent Dr. Manhattan basically using the DC multiverse as his own private erector set. To what end? …….We shall see!
The gloriously overstuffed 80 page first issue of Rebirth is so outrageously disjointed it mirrors our plucky Kid Flashes pinballing through time, space and realietes all in search of someone who remembers him. (Awwww) you see, the Speed Force isn’t a kindly “Q collective” that morphs into your Dad or Mom that bakes you cookies and gives everyone a participation ribbon, like the CW incarnation on the recent FLASH show. It’s a predator, it’s both a hungry shark and its the raging sea, it’s a SHARKNADO! Simultaneosly feeding on speedsters and feeding speedsters it’s power thought time.
The original Wally West is caught in its current and is visiting folks Ebenezer Scrooge style, popping in and out of existence (a la the WTF Flash moment in BVS) but he’s drowning fast, if he can’t find an anchor of someone who remembers him, he’ll be swept up through the temporal riptide and completely disappear forever.
Clap your hands to save Tink everybody!!
The DC Editors (oh excuse me “Dr. Manhattan”) got rid of Wally early in the New 52 because… Reasons. Well, you had an awful lot of speedsters running around and newbie comic book buyers were confused. So they settled on “Run Barry Run” Allen to be the one and only Flash. But then they brought Wally back, but Black. Which got all the “purists” (read into that word what you will) upset. Well now you’ve got vannila Wally back on the same plane of existence of New 52 Wally a few years ago Post Flashpoint.
Now Original Wally remembers the DCU Pre Flashpoint, he finds Barry Allen and then Barry remembers the status quo too. It’s great how Wally is like this stone skipping along the surface of reality and wherever he lands, he’s making waves! The old DCU is back! Sorta! The WW2 era Justice Society is back (again hinted at by the Season Finale of CW Legends Of Tommorow) because Wally remembers the group. They were the predecessors of the Justice Leauge. In a terrifically poignant chapter, Wally appears to JS founding member Johnny Thunder in a nursing home where the jaded staff thinks he’s just troublesome, delusional old Johnny instead of a forgotten hero who’s group saved the world many, many times over. I’m man enough to say, I choked up a little.
In fact, I realized while reading Rebirth the other night with a flashlight under the covers like I did years ago when I was up past my bedtime (hey it was a Midnight release!) how much I missed the legacy teams of the DCU, the years of continuity and relationships built up over time. They even erased Clark & Lois marrage. The New 52 clean slate policy underestimated how attached long time fans were to these characters and by extension, how attached the characters were to each other. Oliver & Dinah know something isn’t right, they are drawn to each other and who’s to say they’ll get back together but it’s fun to see them rekindled.
Wally reflects upon this- “Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance. Green Arrow and the Black Canary. They barely know each other anymore. But when their eyes meet they feel a spark that neither of them can explain.” he continues to reflect, “Seeing everything I realize it wasn’t ten years they stole from us, it was love.” You said it Wally! (Shade to DC Editoral Staff)
But at the heart of the matter it looks like the 30+ year partition between Alan Moores Watchmen ( aquired when DC bought Alan’s publisher Wildstorm out from under him) is getting torn down and it won’t be pretty. Dr. Manhattan is playing God and the rest of the Watchmen famously don’t play well with others. You get a big clue this will come to a head eventually when Wally tells Barry once he’s corporeal and escapes the Speed Force. ” Whoever they are, they did this for a reason. I think they took years from us to weaken us. Even now Barry, we’re being watched.” The next panel shows Batman discovering The Comedian’s blood spattered smiley face pin – IN. HIS. CAVE!
If you think about it, it’s pretty telling, reading between the lines you could say DC feels it botched The New 52 and is owning it, but they also realize they have the chance to cherry pick what was good about the streamline for newbies and still mend fences with the hardcore fans and warm some of what left them cold. Plus cleverly cribbing Marvels now abandoned “it’s all connected” TV / Film synergy. All while captitalizing on a property I’ve loved since I was a teen, The Watchmen, and driving what I found to be a deftly written, thoughtful comic book narrative (with a splash of self critique) forward.
So keep on tinkering “Dr. Manhattan”, (wink) I’m invested enough to pick up the very doable 4 Rebirth weekly releases over the summer to see how the pieces fit together for the foreseeable future.
I guess that was the master plan all along!
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all art-DC Comics, author