Comic Review: DC Universe Rebirth Chapter Two
Issue: DC Universe Rebirth Chapter Two
Name: Legacy
Published: 2016 by DC Comics
Blurb: 
Creators:
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
First Look
Characters:
The Good: Wally West, Johnny Thunder, Professor Palmer aka Atom, Ryan Choi, Ted Kord, Jaime Reyes aka Blue Beetle, Robin, Power Ring, Jackson Hyde aka Aqualad, Pandora
The Bad: Retirement Home Workers, Dean Plumm,
The Undecided: Captain Sawyer, Doctor Fate
My Reading:
This chapter starts off right where the last ended, with Wally searching for someone to help bring him back into reality. We start with a scene in a retirement home where we see orderlies chasing an elderly gentleman through the recreation room. He closes himself off in a closet and we see Wally appear to him. Apparently this guy is Johnny Thunder and he’s connected to lightening somehow. He used to be a part of the Justice Society and while everyone thinks he’s now crazy, he’s not, he just wants to find his old friends. Wally tells him not to give up looking and that the world needs them in the war that is coming. The orderlies break into the closet and Wally is gone into the Speed Force again.
The next vignette shows a police station interrogation room where a detective is questioning someone who says she’s a friend of Superman. The detective and Captain Sawyer think she’s crazy since she stole a sandwich and said where she comes from it’s free, but she also says she’s seen the future. I’m not sure who this is or what it’s all about, but she has a ring with an ‘L’ on it which I believe is a Legion of Super-Heroes ring…from the future.
The scene then jumps to a university where Ryan Choi is being berated by the Dean because his professor has cancelled classes all week. When Ryan heads to Professor Palmer’s office though, he’s not there but there’s a taped message. It turns out Palmer is the Atom and he shrunk himself ‘Beyond the Atomic’ in search of whatever was causing time disturbances. He give Ryan a shrinking belt and asks him to find him in the microverse to help save the entire universe. Choi is a bit worried.
Each of these scenes seems to be the starting point for a story that looks like it could be pretty interesting. The set ups are real good in my view and I’m glad I’m gonna keep reading down the road. The next stop is the lab of Ted Kord who just designed ‘the Bug’, a flying batcave. Jaime Reyes is not really impressed though and as the current Blue Beetle seems to only want to figure out how to get the scarab off his back. As he takes off for school, Doctor Fate shows up and indicates that Kord and Reyes have things all wrong, the scarab is not extra-terrestrial, it’s magic. This makes Ted even more interested in studying the device.
And then we get a rapid fire montage…Robin celebrating his 13th birthday, Power Ring just getting her ring and learning Hal Jordan has to deal with Sinestro, and Aqualad having to deal with his mother’s dislike of his boyfriend. They’re all pieces of puzzles I’m sure will be fleshed out in future issues but I like the brief introductions here.
The final scene is of Pandora running and deciding to take a stand. She’s in an alley and puts on a brave face declaring that the heroes of the universe enjoy hope and that hope will overcome anything. Her eyes glow blue with I believe the reflected light of whoever she’s talking to and then she explodes in a brilliant blue flash. All that’s left of her is some pink smoke…I guess she’s not gonna get a new series in Rebirth.
What did I learn:
- It looks like the Justice Society will be returning in Rebirth.
- Ryan Choi may be a new Atom
- Ted Kord is very interested in magic and particularly the scarab since it was revealed that it is magic and not extra-terrestrial.
My Thoughts:
Once again this chapter has a lot going on. I touched on a bunch of it in my First Look but I did a bit of research on some of what’s going on since I thought I needed to know more.
Johnny Thunder was a member of the Justice Society as Thunderbolt who partnered with a genie to gain his powers. The society was around for quite a while but went away during the New 52 era…it looks like they’ll be back in Rebirth.
The woman with the ‘L’ ring looks to be a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 30th century and I think she is Saturn Girl and indicates another set of heroes that haven’t been a big part of the New 52 era coming back. I think these hero returns are a large part of why the chapter is named Legacy. Bringing back heroes that have basically been put on the back shelf or forgotten in the recent era are coming back to make themselves known to new readers and to carry forward their continuity.
I suppose the fact that I don’t have much knowledge of the DC Universe makes some of there legacy reveals less than impactful to me, but I can tell they are loaded with lots of meaning from the way the dialog and art is laid out. Perhaps it’s the pacing of the panels or Wally’s narration, but while I don’t know these guys, it still seems important and I think that takes a lot of talent from the creators.
It looks like there are going to be multiple Atom heores in the Rebirth era and from my limited understanding Ted Kord used to be the Blue Beetle and now Jaime is taking over. So it seems even my limited knowledge is being rewritten with the changes Rebirth is bringing.
Do these changes also mean explorations of different cultural mores? I don’t know since I haven’t read anything recent in DC, but the hints in the panels featuring Jackson certainly point to him having a boyfriend which I know wouldn’t be the first time in comics, but I’m not sure how it fits in with the legacy and Rebirth themes.
Finally, Pandora’s destruction kinda ends this section with a bang. There’s obviously some powerful entity at work here at the start of Rebirth and I can only think it’s whatever Wally think stole 10 years from the universe. It looks like Pandora’s not gonna be a part of the Rebirth era but you never know – this is a comic book universe after all.
This Legacy chapter was pretty informative for me. I really didn’t know much about these characters and I’m glad to see them here. It looks like this section highlighted some of the new and returning faces to the DCU and I always like to get a brief intro before starting any new series. I guess this kinda makes this issue a #0 for a bunch of new titles.
In any case, I really liked this chapter and will gladly continue with the Love chapter next.
My Rating: A
This comic can be found on Comixology or at your local comic book shop.