Rebirth continues this week with Superman Action Comics #958, Aquaman #1, Batman:Detective Comics #935, Wonder Woman #1, and The Flash #1. Now that Rebirth is is full swing we are beginning to see where each title is going, and how its going to affect the overall feel of DC Comics moving forward. This week offered some solid titles that, at times, gave us all we would want in this characters, and at other times, too much. Check out my mini reviews for Superman Action Comics, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman below.
Superman Action Comics #958
"Lex Luthor is now dawning the Superman Cape and hovers over Metropolis, but if Doom has anything to do with it it won't be for long. At the ending of last issue we find Clark Kent show up unexpectedly, along with "new" Superman." This is where we sit heading into this issue. Up to this point Rebirth Action Comics has dazzled me and continues to set the bar quite high for other books being released. The dynamic with Supermans kid allows the narrative to have life to it, because it sets up the question "what is going to happen with this kid and his future?" That is the question that will be relied upon time and time again moving forward. This book had plenty of action and it was exciting to see Luthor fight with the cape on. The battle scenes kept me engaged and that over arching question of, "what is actually going on!?" remains. The ending of this issue tells us a little bit, but still we are left in the dark. This issue was a lot of fun and was an enjoyable read. I did feel like I don't really know any more than I did going into this issue. Hopefully that won't be a consistent issue with me reading two issues of the same comic monthly. I'm expecting the next issue to provide much more and drive the narrative much further. (I would advise reading Justice League this week as a per-cursor to this issue)
Aquaman #1
"Aquaman and Mera find themselves working to bring peace among their people and the people of land. At the end of last issue we see the awakening of Black Manta." I've always considered myself a pretty big fan of Aquaman. After reading the first Rebirth issue I was even more stoked to get my hands on this issue to see exactly where their taking the character and what kind of road it will take to get him and the other cast of characters on a new inventive story arc. Thankfully, after reading this issue they have definitely succeeded! The biggest narrative story-line in this series is the relationship between Aquaman and Mera. This is ultimately going to be the driving force for the entire new run. This book provides some interesting, yet thoughtful moments between the two. "The End of Fear" is the tagline for this new series and what this book does well is show us that there is still much fear to be had for both sides of this "civil war" of sorts. We see these characters out of their element, which makes this Aquaman run unique and entirely different than many things we've see in the past. There are some pretty heavy moments in this issue, and the introduction of Black Manta in his full form is not only satisfying, but also the most excited I've gotten about the character in some time. This book has a bright future.
Wonder Woman #1
"Wonder Woman finds herself in the rain forest searching for answers. She is on a mission to find someone and with that comes exposition to why exactly she is there." Up to this point we don't really know a lot about whats going on in this book. The Rebirth issue of Wonder Woman was filled with exposition, many times not really explaining itself the readers. This left my mind cluttered and almost not interested in what was to follow. With that said, now that I've read this issue of Wonder Woman it is finally coming together for me, at least a little bit. This issue offers two different story lines. Neither story line, at least up to this point, crosses paths with the other one,, but its obvious they are setting up for that. The mystery behind why Wonder Woman is searching in the rain forest is really the driving point to the narrative thus far. With the introduction of Steve Trevor in this book it allows the narrative to see new life and, as i mentioned before, another story line to enter mingle its way into the core story that is being told. I am most interested in how this will all come together. I really feel like we are being set up for a Wonder Woman story that we've never experienced before, and that could be amazing! It is what we see in the last panel on the last page that really excites me.