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On a recent Weekly Comic Spotlight (2/8/2016) John and I discuss the DC rebirth rumors and we wanted to continue the conversation on the forum for those of you interested:

So how is the publication schedule of Rebirth going to look for the upcoming DC Comics relaunch we have been going on about for an age?
In February, Batman #49
In March, Batman #50
In April, Batman #51
In May, Batman #52
In the first half of June – either Batman #Rebirth or Batman Rebirth #1
In the second half of June, Batman #1
In the first half of July, Batman #2
In the second half of July, Batman #3.
All the books being relaunched as part of the DC Rebirth (and no, I don’t know how that will affect mini-series half way through their runs) will get a special Rebirth issue before their new #1. And those that are bi-weekly, like Batman, will get that first issue in the same month as their Rebirth issue.

I have no idea what’s in it, or what it will mean. But I am asking.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/02/02/ ... e-in-june/

additional sources on DC rebirth rumors:

http://www.blastr.com/2016-1-28/5-vital ... -get-right

http://www.polygon.com/comics/2016/1/25 ... cs-rebirth

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/01/22/ ... -dc-comics

I can say that I'm not happy about it. But I'm also not going to knee-jerk react & say I'm done with everything DC Comics. They have a lot of problems right now. I'd hope this is just a marketing push. Ditching everything from the New52 would be a mistake. DC, however, does need to re-focus. This new focus should start from the top down: Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman should be the leads. This also closely reflects the cast of the new movie. I don't want to see DC Comics become tie-ins to DC Cinema. But the comic characters probably shouldn't be wholly different from their movie counterpoints. Although we've never seen a direct link from movie success to comic sales. Ironman, arguably the star of the MCU, has a hard time keeping comic readers. The long & short of it is; I want to buy DC Comics, but right now I have a hard time justifying $3.99 a book.

Late Saturday night bullets of thought:
• I'd be okay with aging Batman to catch-up to Bat-fleck. I grew up on Batman '89 & Batman TAS. I always thought of Batman being older than he is in the New52.
• The Lantern books are just too daunting for me. It seems like you need to be reading all of them for it to make any sense. I'm not a huge Lantern guy, but maybe that's how the diehards like it.
• I'd like to see a Justice League Dark in some form. I think Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Question, Zantana, Midnight Nurse...etc have a place somewhere.
• Maybe something like the Justice League of America(2013) team?
• What is the plan for a twice-monthly Batman? I don't want it to be like Eternal.
• Re-Imagine the Batman/Superman & Superman/Wonder Woman titles. Those should be so much better.
• Shorten up arcs!!! I'm fine with long sub-plots, but not every story needs to be a yearlong event. Sometimes I just want to read Batman Batman'ing around or Superman just being Superman.
• Make Justice League matter! It should be the flagship book of DC that everyone reads.
• Put in more editors notes...if you reference something let me know where that reference is. I do other things & can't memorize comics.

I believe that the minis' will be or were already cut down to 6-8 issues to coincide with the June #Rebirth.

kinda excited about the nightwing return and Snyder moving to detective and tom king on batman...(if true)

I look forward to a new voice on Batman as well as Snyder's continued spectacular stories on Detective. What has made Batman unique is the creative team of Snyder and Capullo. I would be willing to argue that this duo has created one of the 'great runs' in comics. Who does DC have that has an engaging art style and can compliment a new writer? What creators can DC attract that would keep Batman at the top of the comics sales chart?

Well, as a retailer, I hate to see this. Every #1 is truly a new jumping off point, more-so than it is a jumping on. However, in lieu of that, as a fan, hearing that Ethan van Sciver is in the fold on art, has me getting excited. I have thought about this, and rethought about this, and here is where my head goes:
1) Is it just the Gotham-verse that is getting a Rebirth? We have seen Flash and Green Lantern go through this, perhaps it is just Gotham
2) No, silly, that's crazy! Why would they come out with a Trinity title? Clearly Bats, Supes, and Wondy are all Rebirthing at the same time (is that a word, rebirthing? If not, it is now).

More importantly, can we get solid creators lined up? I mean, solid creators. Can we get a line up like Marvel? Alright, I will settle for this:
[*] Batman bi-weekly, as long as the art is up to snuff!
[*] Detective by Snyder - but let's go back to the old style one and done actual mysteries . . . Maybe a carryover into a second issue
[*] Nightwing, yeah, I dig that, but what happens to Gotham Academy? Harley, and all her assorted books?
[*] Trinity - Please give all three leads something interesting. As a 30 year old, Superman has little draw to me . . . Could just be me, or it could be that I just feel like he isn't a deep enough character in recent years (Sorry, Billy!). Wonder Woman has been largely irrelevant, it seems, as far as sales and her involvement in the DC U. I can only hope that whatever they do, the three are used for their strengths, and maintain their voice.

While this is exciting, it is also rather daunting, and will likely end up with me right where I am now. Getting Batman, Detective, and whatever book Dick is in . . . That's it.

I have no idea what ReBirth is now.

From DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns twitter...

RowdyFromScrubs wrote:I have no idea what ReBirth is now.

From DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns twitter...

That "and it never was" comes across a little snarky, particularly in regards to fairly reasonable speculation on a very vague teaser.

I have a feeling the curtain will be pulled back later this week. Apparently there is a ComicsPro meeting scheduled for later this week (http://www.comicspro.org/content.aspx?p ... _id=194913). Plus the May solicits should be coming out soon, and they probably contain a clue too.

JohnMayo wrote:That "and it never was" comes across a little snarky, particularly in regards to fairly reasonable speculation on a very vague teaser.

I agree. Don't get snarky when people don't decode your cryptic teaser in the correct way. If you don't want folks conjecturing on it, just make a *bleeping* announcement or craft a press release so we all know what is up.

I know I've passed on a couple of DC books last week & didn't pull some books this week, because I'm not paying $4 for something that is going to be meaningless come May/June. ReBoot speculation has to be bad for sales.

JohnMayo wrote:

RowdyFromScrubs wrote:I have no idea what ReBirth is now.

From DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns twitter...

That "and it never was" comes across a little snarky, particularly in regards to fairly reasonable speculation on a very vague teaser.

Just my thoughts on Rebirth

With the latest tweet from Geoff Johns, if Rebirth it is not a reboot (It would have been funny if they said, "It's not a renumbering." or "It's not a reimagine."), I can only guess (And I can be wrong about this.) that DC will bring back most of the Pre-52 characters and have them co-exist with their counter-parts.

The reasons why I am saying this are:

1) Both Green Lantern Rebirth and Flash Rebirth mini series (both written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Ethan Van Sciver) brought back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen into the DC universe. (I was very surprise when they brought back Barry Allen after being absent for 20 years.)

2) The appearance of the pre-52 Superman in the current (or New-52 universe) DC universe. (The Superman: Lois and Clark mini series (I got that series in my reading pile. And pre-52 Superman appearing in Superman #50 coming out March 16.)

Why bring back a pre-52 character now? Especially, Superman? Why not pre-52 Barry Allen's Flash? If I remember correctly, that Flash was the central character in the Flashpoint miniseries (also written by Geoff Johns). And I thought all the pre-52 characters were gone after Flashpoint.

These are just my thoughts.

I do agree with DoctorMo. I just got to wait for DC's May and June solicits to see what DC's plans are.

Aloha!

All books are $2.99. Action and Tec are going back to original numbering plus double-shipping. There is a DCU: Rebirth 80 page oneshot at end of May.

So we have a few details on rebirth now

I like what is being promised especially the $2.99 books!!!

Here is the List of Books:

June Rebirth Specials

• AQUAMAN REBIRTH #1
• BATMAN REBIRTH #1
• THE FLASH REBIRTH #1
• GREEN ARROW REBIRTH #1
• GREEN LANTERNS REBIRTH #1
• SUPERMAN REBIRTH #1
• TITANS REBIRTH #1
• WONDER WOMAN REBIRTH #1

New #1s "Double Shipped"

• AQUAMAN #1
• BATMAN #1
• THE FLASH #1
• GREEN ARROW #1
• GREEN LANTERNS #1
• SUPERMAN #1
• WONDER WOMAN #1
• ACTION COMICS #957
• DETECTIVE COMICS #934

July Rebirth Specials

• BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY REBIRTH #1
• HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS REBIRTH #1
• THE HELLBLAZER REBIRTH #1
• JUSTICE LEAGUE REBIRTH #1
• NIGHTWING REBIRTH #1
• RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS REBIRTH #1

New #1s regular shipping

• BATGIRL #1
• BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY #1
• THE HELLBLAZER #1
• RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS #1
• THE SUPER-MAN #1
• TITANS #1

New #1s double shipping

• HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
• JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
• NIGHTWING #1