DC Rebirth / YMMV - TV Tropes

Alas, Poor Scrappy: Pandora's death, since she's ultimately absolved of creating the DCnU and turned into The Scapegoat by Dr. Manhattan. Even despite those changes, the fans who loathed her up to that point felt sorry for her death when her final words are telling Manhattan he'll never be able to stop the heroes of the DC Universe because they believe in things he's no longer able to grasp, such as hope and love.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: "Kenan Kong", or in Chinese name order "Kong Kenan", is a plausible Chinese name, even if it reminds some of the very un-Chinese Kenan & Kel and King Kong. Parsed by Chinese characters, it would be Kong Ke-nan. And Kong is the surname of none other than Confucius (derived from Kong Fu-zi).
Arc Fatigue:
- One of the downsides about the Action Comics run is that Dan Jurgens' stories run just a little too long.
- The entire Myth Arc falls under this for some people, especially since the JSA and the Legion of Superheroes are essentially off the tables until it's done. Doomsday Clock undergoing Schedule Slip doesn't help either.
Author's Saving Throw: Has its own page.
Base-Breaking Character:
- Duke Thomas, given his new role in the Batman series. Some fans are looking forward to seeing more of him, some think he's an unnecessary addition to the Batfamily. Others take offense that he's getting a "bat-costume", while Cassandra is not. There's also a contingent of people who like the character, but feel that having him officially join the Batfamily defeats the purpose of his role in We Are Robin.
- Batwoman quickly became one for Detective Comics. While most readers have enjoyed her and her new role (especially those who were already fans), many Tim Drake fans are upset she has a superior position over him in the new team, even if he's still second-in-command. Some of the edge has been taken off this now that the two characters have slowly been building up a rapport with each other. However, some readers still consider her one due to her having relatively more panel time and/or character development compared to other characters, such as Cass or Clayface. This only got worse once she got an ongoing, and worsened after the "Fall of the Batmen" arc in Detective where she kills Clayface and is promptly thrown off the team, and departs to take over her father's operation the Colony with Jean-Paul and Luke taking her side
- Jason Todd in the new series of Red Hood and the Outlaws. Some find that he's written with more nuance before, while others think he'/s still written as a Creator's Pet like in the previous series.
- Gus Yale, the new Oracle. There is no shortage of fans who hate him for usurping the Oracle name, and being Easily Forgiven by the Birds for selling information to the mob. However, there are some who are willing to give him a chance, seeing him as an Ascended Fanboy standing in for the pre-New 52 fanbase.
- Mr. Oz upon the revelation that he is Jor-El. It is either a tired and boring cliche and proof that Dan Jurgens and Geoff Johns are hacks or a brand new and interesting wrinkle in the life of the Man of Steel.
Broken Base:
- Had its own page at one point, however obviously the biggest critique people have towards the comic is having Dr. Manhattan appear as the sole force behind the New 52, connecting Watchmen to the DC Universe. Whether or not this is good commentary on the negative effects Watchmen had in starting The Dark Age of Comic Books or a big middle finger to those who like the series and to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is up in the air.
- The splitting of Milestone and Wildstorm back into their own worlds. While there are fans who prefer them to have their own continuities, there are just as many, if not more, fans who preferred them staying together and that the problems were more from lack of use than them not working well in the same universe. This is more prevalent with the Milestone Heroes than the Wildstorm ones, due to the Milestone heroes having more connections to the DC Universe thanks to the DCAU and being implemented into the main continuity longer than the Wildstorm characters.
- Action Comics #1000 giving Superman a third new costume which effectively brings back the red trunks. Some people felt that the Superman Reborn costume was the best way to take a modern version of Superman's costume, that the red trunks are totally outdated and they should have been left out completely. Others are actually quite welcoming of Superman's trunks returning, that it's an iconic part of his character along with everything else on his person and they shouldn't have left in the first place. Others are okay with it, but just hope it's a one-off deal.
- Fans who liked the Darker and Edgier New 52 versions of certain characters feel disappointed at having the newer characterizations tossed aside in order for the classic ones to return. Older fans, on the other hand, are relieved that the characters they grew up with are written much closer to how they used to be.
Character Rerailment:
- While he doesn't have his daughter back, Roy Harper is being written similarly to his pre-New 52 version, as a more stable person who has conquered a heroin addiction and is looking to turn over a new leaf, as opposed to being a needy and emotionally dependent Adult Child in Red Hood and the Outlaws.
- As with the above, Starfire's time in Red Hood and the Outlaws has seemed to be retconned out altogether, becoming a warmer and emotionally open person who fights against human trafficking, doesn't shun away others, and plays a Team Mom role with the Teen Titans.
- While her origin story is still a mystery, Donna Troy is no longer a genocidal, man-hating murderer. Instead, all that is currently known is that she was an Amazon who was adopted by human parents at an early age.
- Tim Drake's time as Batman's partner is no longer neglected.
- The Amazons of Themyscira are closer to their Golden Age and George Perez takes once more, and are no longer a society that reproduced by raping and murdering men so they could have children.
- The classic Lobo is back, attitude and all.
- Mr Freeze is once again a Tragic Villain trying to cure his wife instead of a Stalker with a Crush.
Complete Monster: See here.
Continuity Lockout: Knowledge of Flashpoint, Watchmen, the Jamie Reyes "Reach invasion" arc of Blue Beetle, and so on are required for anything to make sense. God help you if you are a casual comic reader who's heard of this major DC Comics un-reboot and is trying to use this as an introduction to the DCU. Also, unlike with most such events, DC Universe: Rebirth #1 is not followed by a miniseries that would focus on the main crossover plot, so casual readers will have no idea what title to pick up next if they want to follow the whole Dr. Manhattan arc. DC Comics has been releasing collections of storylines at a swift pace, however, to alleviate that.
Crack Pairing: Teen Titans artist Jonboy Meyers admitted he would like to do a story pairing romantically Raven and Klarion the Witch Boy.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Kite Man, for his sheer absurdity and hilarity, like jumping through a window, stealing a woman's pearls, then jumping out another window, then parachuting with his giant kite thing. He's shown up a few more times, as an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, speaking only this: "Kite Man. Hell yeah." His utterly heartbreaking backstory just boosted his popularity even more.
Epileptic Trees: With The Reveal, many fans are trying to piece together other clues about certain other things. Among the prevalent theories including that the mysterious Mr. Oz is actually Ozymandias and that the New 52 Superman is actually either the long-forgotten Sand Superman or even Superboy-Prime.
Fan Nickname: Fans refer to the Afro-American Wally West as "Choco Wally", to differentiate him from the red-haired speedster with an identical name, whom they have nicknamed "Strawberry Wally".
Ho Yay: The cover to Superman #10 has Superman and Jonathan staring down Batman and Damian, yet the way Superman and Batman are positioned, it looks like they want to kiss.
It Was His Sled: Comic news sites were talking about the return of redheaded Wally West and the Dr. Manhattan twist days before the Rebirth special came out.
- The Wally one in particular is extremely hard to avoid, and basically impossible if you didn't read DC Universe: Rebirth #1 the first few weeks it was released. Once DC did a third printing of the DC: Universe Rebirth special, the cover features him! Heck, the cover of Titans: Rebirth goes as far as to have him in his new costume no less! And that's not even getting into the fact that sites were spamming his reunion with Barry everywhere.
- Rumors about the demise of Tim Drake were swirling around months before it happened. Not helping is DC removing Tim off the cover of Detective Comics #940. And then there are big media outlets like Entertainment Weekly posting a very spoiler-y interview with James Tynion IV talking about Tim's "death". To the point that, in just one day, people who don't even read the Rebirth line of books are bemoaning that DC has killed another Robin. Even though he's not dead, per se.
Les Yay: The first issue of Superwoman launched the Lois/Lana ship, with Lois asking Lana to do for her what she did for Clark, and Lana wanting Lois to never "leave her".
Memetic Mutation:
- Upon hearing that the title character of New Super-Man would be named "Kenan Kong", many fans immediately began hoping for a "Kenan and Kal-El" series.
- "He's back" was used repeatedly once photos of the comic were leaked, confirming the return of Wally West.
- The worst kept secret that Dr. Manhattan is involved has forced people to refer to him as "you-know-who" when speculating without spoiling his involvement.
Narm Charm: As one reviewer noted, Batman's statement in Justice League: Rebirth #1 is so Batman-ish, it's both funny and badass:
Batman: We're going to find its brain, and negotiate the terms of its surrender.
- As mentioned above, Ted's goofy grin at the true nature of the Scarab. Sure it's silly, but it's so uniquely Ted.
Older Than They Think: Wally zapping the Titans to restore their memories? Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) did the same exact thing with its Continuity Reboot.
Reality Subtext:
- The original Wally serves as a mouthpiece for the readers who dislike the New 52, remarking that the post-Flashpoint continuity has robbed the DCU of its legacy and stolen time and history from its heroes. The central theme in the one-shot is cynicism and darkness vs. optimism and heroism, with the heroes of the DCU representing the latter, and Doctor Manhattan representing the former. This could be seen as commentary on the negative influence the success of Watchmen had on the superhero genre.
- The changing of seasons and the rebirth of Calendar Man in the Batman Rebirth issue can be taken as an analogy for the frequent cycles of relaunches and retcons in comics.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- Lois Lane's reception is at all-time low with the double whammy of the New 52 version of her being Demoted to Extra and instigated the entire Superman: Truth storyline. Rebirth brought the Post-Crisis version of her back to the limelight while giving the 52 version of her an epic Heroic Sacrifice in Superwoman and important role in the Super titles.
- Wallace West, the New 52 Wally, was controversial for being completely In Name Only. Rebirth however brought back the original Wally, but rather than toss aside the new kid, he was given extensive promotion and support still, allowing him to develop as the new Kid Flash. What helped was his endearing relationship with the original Wally (now established as his cousin) and exploring his "Well Done, Son" Guy issues to make him into The Woobie, while also erasing the issues people had with him initially. He also got a slight name change (going from Wally to Wallace), helping him become his own character.
Ship-to-Ship Combat:
- The development of new love interest Shawn Tsang in Nightwing complicates an already contentious shipping war with both Starfire and Barbara Gordon, both of whom have shared Ship Tease with Nightwing. This is somewhat alleviated by Nightwing writer Tim Seeley writing both women as being understanding as opposed to petty, taking an Amicable Exes approach with the former, and an I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy approach with the latter. That, and Shawn is already becoming something of an Ensemble Dark Horse.
- Shippers of Bruce and Talia were upset at Batman's proposal to Catwoman. But that didn't compare to the harassment that writer Tom King received on Twitter for teasing a Batman/Wonder Woman fling (one that only after spending ten years in an undisclosed dimension with seemingly no way out) and portraying it as the "wrong" relationship.
So Okay, It's Average:
- General consensus seems to be that Justice League is the most underwhelming title, given its high profile. It actually reached memetic status, as anything to do with Justice League would be responded to with "is Hitch off Justice League yet?" or some variation thereof.
- The Night of the Monster Men Bat Family Crossover isn't considered to be bad, just disappointing compared to the three well-received titles that are involved in it. That it's essentially a six issues fight scene doesn't help.
Strangled by the Red String: Some fan-favorite relationships have been restored with very little build-up or chemistry, to the point where readers suspect that writers are merely Pandering to the Base. For example, Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown are sleeping together in Detective Comics, despite never having done so pre-Flashpoint, and having had little interaction otherwise. Likewise, the Green Arrow and Black Canary relationship was quickly rushed to the point where they were hooking up and longing for each other, despite sharing just a few encounters.
Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Many series that were poorly received with the New 52 (such as Deathstroke and Green Arrow) have been received more warmly. Other series that came off praised runs (like Nightwing) are considered to be just as good as their predecessors, if not better.
Take That, Scrappy!: Pandora, the character responsible for the creation of the New 52 continuity (and who is as a result, heavily associated with the reboot by fans) is brutally and unceremoniously killed by Doctor Manhattan. Sadly, it turned out she was The Scapegoat, and Jon was the true responsible party.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In some cases, and overall, Rebirth has ended up sinking into this, mostly because the Myth Arc got dragged out so long that many of the esteemed runs that promised to return things back to form ended and the excitement for such wore off before things actually got back in-line. Doomsday Clock, the long awaited conclusion to things, has gotten such terrible Schedule Slip that none of the books can actually move forward, and filler in its place has been rather lackluster. One particular problematic issue comes with how this has effected Wally West, who despite the hype for his return has unfortunately not been allowed to actually make any real progress with restoring his life properly or fixing what was done to him, which is in-part due to Executive Meddling. While its seen as being far better than New 52 was, it still failed to accomplish what it was supposed to do.
The Un-Twist: Thanks to a combination of creator comments and the general nature of the relaunch, very few were surprised when the original Wally West returned. His return had also been very heavily foreshadowed in the last issue of Titans Hunt.
Win Back the Crowd:
- This is DC's main goal as the DC YOU, with comic book events such as Superman: Truth and Batman: Superheavy, proving so unpopular that DC comic sales had dipped down to where they were back before the New 52 launched.
- Greg Rucka writing Wonder Woman once again definitely won fans over.
- The general feeling of DC bringing back elements that people felt were missing from the New 52.
- The general talent level on the higher-tier books has fans optimistic, whether through the retention or promotion of writers like Tom King or the signing of big names such as Greg Rucka.
- The announcement that Detective Comics would be "the Bat-Family book", featuring Batwoman in a lead role alongside Batman himself and having Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Cassandra Cain as supporting characters, was very well-received.
- Wally West as Kid Flash, even if some were hoping he'd become an adult again.
  - Those adult Wally fans do seem to be getting something, however, since Geoff Johns kept joking about him and giggling with Flash writer Joshua Williamson. And DC's June solicitations specifically tell readers to only read The Flash and Titans after reading DC Universe: Rebirth #1. Then there was a leak and we found out that yes, the original Wally is coming back.
  - Others loved seeing Wally in the corny yellow-and-red original Kid Flash costume.
- Nightwing in black and blue drew many cheers, along with the news that Grayson writer Tim Seeley would be staying with the character. Just for reference, the crowd went insane when it was revealed that Dick would go back to black and blue, more so than with literally anything else said during the entire panel.
  - To a lesser degree, the reveal that Green Arrow would once again have a goatee drew cheers from the crowd.
- The massive push for the Teen Titans team(s) which consists of:
  - Restoring Starfire, Wally West, Aqualad, and Donna Troy to membership on either team after their glaring absence from the group, while Damian Wayne will be leading the Teen Titans.
  - An effort to bring the Titans back into wide scale prominence in-universe, with the company going so far as to dedicate the final non-Rebirth issue of Justice League, the cornerstone title of the New 52, as a tie in to the first Titans Rebirth issue.
  - Aqualad finally joining the Teen Titans after the previous attempt to get him into the book several years ago ended up an Aborted Arc because of Flashpoint.
- The reveal that there are plans for certain fan-favorite properties which include:
  - Shazam, the title character having been a major part of the Justice League but has had almost none of the mythos associated play a role outside of a temporary JL backup feature.
  - The return of Ted Kord as he mentors his replacement, Jaime Reyes, effectively giving fans two Blue Beetles for the price of one.
  - Legion of Superheroes who did have their own title at the start of the New 52 but was eventually cancelled^note.
  - New Gods that did not have major prominence in the New 52 are gaining more and beyond Darkseid.
  - The Justice Society especially as while the characters are being used the group itself doesn't exist in any form in the New 52 and several associated characters haven't been seen at all.
- For Suicide Squad fans, getting a roster taken directly from the film after the roster for New Suicide Squad alienated fans through Wolverine Publicity and Plot Armor. Also, the cover for the Rebirth one-shot making it clear that Deadshot will not get a Race Lift and that the movie designs are not being used. Though one influence from the movie did make it into the comic is Amanda Waller being heavy once again, which went over well with many fans.
- Red Hood and the Outlaws, despite still being written by the divisive Scott Lobdell, started its Rebirth run on a stronger note than the previous volume, with some feeling that it's a Surprisingly Improved Sequel. Many note the improved pacing and writing compared to the New 52 series, as well as Bizarro becoming an Ensemble Dark Horse.
- The Super-Family. Even those who are not fans of Superman admit that it is interesting and a good read.
- New York Comic Con 2016 saw the announcement of several Wave 2 titles, such as Super Sons and a new Batwoman solo series, which were all enthusiastically received.
- Christopher Priest's critically-acclaimed run on the main Justice League title, especially after the So Okay, It's Average Bryan Hitch run.
The Woobie: In Detective Comics, Basil Karlo is being portrayed as a good man whose transformation into the monstrous Clayface has affected his mind and causes him to act in villainous ways despite him genuinely not wanting to.
WTH, Costuming Department?:
- While the new Superman costume, which appears to be a blend of classic, New-52 and DCEU, has been mostly welcomed, his traditionally red boots being blue has caused this reaction among fans. People, even those who don't like the underwear, already complained about his outfit having too much blue, and this makes it worse. Of course, the flood of blue in his costume may have been significant, given revelations made during Reborn. The blue boot costume didn't even last a year before getting replaced in Superman Reborn.
- The seemingly new design for The Joker has gotten this reaction from many, thanks to a combination of the white suit and the bizarre new hairstyle.
- For Batman Beyond, Terry's mask looks more like a second layer of messed up skin then a proper mask.
- While Tim Drake's outfit has been well-received as a good take on his classic Robin outfit, quite a few people dislike that it has any green, since his name is Red Robin, and even one of his Robin outfits did away with the green.

YMMV / DC Rebirth

Edit Locked