DC Universe: Rebirth #1

History

The issue originated when DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee approached Geoff Johns — then DC Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer — about stopping the New 52 line at issue #52 and relaunching all titles with new number-ones; Johns's initial skepticism turned to enthusiasm once he was given creative latitude to make it a story-driven course correction rather than a mechanical reboot. Johns spent extended time at DC's Burbank headquarters mapping out everything he felt was missing from the DC Universe — legacy, optimism, emotional bonds — and presented the concept to DC's editorial staff in a whiteboard session that, by multiple editors' accounts, generated an extraordinary level of internal excitement. The story was written explicitly as Johns's last major comics project before shifting to other DC Entertainment responsibilities, lending it a personal, valedictory quality that reviewers widely noted. Published on May 25, 2016, with a July 2016 cover date, the 80-page one-shot was illustrated by four artists — Gary Frank, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, and Phil Jimenez — each handling different narrative segments, with the Watchmen epilogue pages drawn by Frank in a deliberate echo of Dave Gibbons's nine-panel grid storytelling.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published May 25, 2016 (cover date July 2016); 80-page one-shot written by Geoff Johns, illustrated by Gary Frank, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, and Phil Jimenez, with a cover by Gary Frank.
• Contains the first full Post-Flashpoint appearance of the original (pre-New 52) Wally West, who had been entirely absent from DC continuity since the 2011 New 52 launch; his return and emotional reunion with Barry Allen became the issue's most celebrated sequence.
• First issue to formally establish Doctor Manhattan of Watchmen fame as an in-continuity DC Universe figure, specifically as the outside force that manipulated the timeline after Flashpoint and stole approximately ten years from DC heroes' lives — directly seeding the 2017–2019 Doomsday Clock maxiseries.
• Batman discovers the Comedian's blood-stained smiley-face pin in the Batcave after Wally's visit — a direct Watchmen artifact appearing in the DCU proper for the first time — and the epilogue lifts dialogue verbatim from the closing pages of Watchmen #12, rendered in a nine-panel grid format.
• The issue also plants the 'Three Jokers' mystery (Batman's Mobius Chair revelation from Justice League #50 is revisited), foreshadows the return of Ryan Choi as the Atom, reintroduces Ted Kord alongside the New 52 Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle, teases Aquaman's proposal to Mera, and introduces Mister Oz accosting the pre-Flashpoint Clark Kent.
• Retconned the New 52's biracial Wally West as a cousin of the original Wally rather than a replacement, with both characters explained as having been named after the same great-grandfather — allowing DC to maintain both versions of the character going forward.
• Went to at least five printings within its first four months, each with a distinct cover: the second printing updated Gary Frank's cover to make Doctor Manhattan's hand more visible; the fourth featured Ethan Van Sciver's cover showing the Batcave scene with three Jokers on the Batcomputer; the fifth featured Phil Jimenez's cover of Barry and Wally grasping hands.
• Collected in the DC Universe: Rebirth Deluxe Edition hardcover (ISBN 9781401270728), and also included in the DC Rebirth Omnibus Vol. 1 alongside all the character-specific Rebirth one-shots that followed.

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Variants (6)