DC Universe Rebirth #1 Review

Okay, so much for optimism for the time being

we're gonna have to go underground How exactly

do we hide when the entire planet is looking

for us? They're looking for the Justice League

without our costumes. We are nearly ordinary

citizens Hold on a second here. What about the

whole secret identity thing? I mean, I trust

you guys, but I'm not sure I'm ready to Wally

West Clark Kent Bruce Wayne Show off Red hair

it suits you you think change now welcome to

the pull bag Join us as we dig on our latest

comics and discuss them with a rotating panel

of the JCR and crew So sit back and enjoy this

week's pull bag Hello and welcome to the pull

bag back issue classics episode 60 for back issue

classics Geez and a lot of these baggage of classics

things and we're here today to talk about DC

universe Reboot, I'm sorry rebirth rebirth. That's

right. Not a reboot. It's not a reboot It never

was apparently according to the Dio and Lee Am

of course TF2 and Mike and joining me for the

first time since I don't know when Steve Megatron

And we will also have a special guest surprise

Reaction Raz reacts we're gonna have my buddy

Jesse Raz from the local radio station here like

Wow I almost said light 106 .9. Geez. It's not

like 106 .9 anymore. Just kill me 106 9 play

is the new name of the station, but he recorded

a little three -minute thing that you'll hear

in a minute, but before we get too spoilery,

because there will be a full -on spoiler of the

one -shot DC Universe Rebirth number one later,

what was your initial reaction when you heard

that they were gonna read the boot again? I was

weary, to be honest. I, because DC, and We called

this like right when they they did it like we

were like they're gonna reboot it again and just

give it five years Yeah, it's been almost five

years Mm -hmm, so it's just it's really disturbing

Lee No, it has been five years new 52 launched

in 2011. I wouldn't be surprised if I said it

but But yeah, I mean I I'm not not surprised

in the slightest, it didn't go over very well.

In an attempt to do a complete restart with the

new 52 from the old continuity and kind of wipe

the old continuity away, they alienated their

fans. And not to mention that, they still kept

aspects of the old continuity. So in doing so,

they kind of shot themselves in the foot. And

because I've been holding the continuity with

the Batman universe. They wanted to keep Batman.

They wanted their cake and eat it too, but you

can't quite play by those rules. So when they

started doing that, I... Of course, like I said,

I didn't think it was going to go over very well.

I did buy the issues for a while and then I kind

of fell off the map because I just didn't care

anymore and the stories were getting kind of,

I don't know, lackluster. And now with this reboot,

which is not a reboot, it's like a, because they

did the convergence. where they mixed all the

universes back together into one and then they

got some basically cherry pick from older new

versions of characters and kill off whatever

version they didn't want to use. I was quite

happy in hearing that because it meant that in

the way that they played it off and we'll get

into that later of the the missing 10 year span

of their knowledge from basically when you know,

the flashpoint. Yeah. It basically wipes all

their memories except for like this one guy for

that whole 10 -year span. So it's quite interesting

how they're trying to pull this out of their

back pocket and kind of like say, hey, we remember

the characters you like. Well, they're back.

And the ones that are still around from that

time, they'll start remembering. So it's it's

it's kind of a clean break without being a clean

break and they're kind of admitting it because

they've always had this kind of meta conversation

During their their their comics to kind of explain

things So it's It like I said, it's interesting,

but I'm I'm still kind of holding out. I'm so

far Happy with what I've read How we're gonna

do this, folks, is, like I said, after my clip

with Jesse, we're gonna do full -on spoilers

for Rebirth, the one -shot number one. And then

next month in July, because Rebirth, Nightwing,

and Rebirth Batgirl don't come out until next

month, we're gonna do two separate episodes next

month. Steve is gonna be on, we're gonna do Batman

and Flash and whatever else. and uh... i'll get

somebody else to do nightwing and back girl and

all that stuff what i find ironic is you know

we we we we say that you know they're they're

going back to the old universe but everybody

except a certain issue or certain series is getting

a new number one and they're reverting back to

reaction comics and detective they're going back

to their their original original numbering nine

thirty but they never actually got away from

that Because they it's been always the underlying

numbering regardless of what what the outside

of the cover is said because even when they had

that um What was it the the 900? Mm -hmm, and

they had the block 900 and it was actually the

900th issue of Detective comics even though it

was like, you know, like 40 something Yeah, or

30 something. I don't know, but it it was just

funny that they've they've still kept count.

They just It's like they kind of knew two years

into the new 52 that it was bombing and they're

like, yeah, what can we do? Oh yeah, let's reset,

but it's gonna take till we finish these stories.

Yeah. So you're gonna hear Jesse and myself talk

about it a little bit and then Steve and I are

gonna come back and talk about the actual issue.

We'll be back after this. This is Phil Lamar

and you are listening to the GeekCast Radio Network.

Alright folks, before we get too far into rebirth

with myself and I believe Steve Megatron and

Moving Revolt Dan, we're actually going to go

through the number one DC Universe rebirth, number

one, the one -shot. We're going to go through

and talk about it, but a buddy of mine who loves

comics, who works his ass off five hours a day,

five days a week on a radio show doesn't really

get to talk about comics. You're right! Because,

you know, it's a family show. Yeah. So before

we get into our full review of Rebirth, I have

Jesse Rez here from 106 .9 Play here in Louisville,

Kentucky. Briefly. Okay. In condensed version.

Okay. Reboot was I'm sorry rebirth was happening

initial reaction of the fact that they're bringing

back the old universe to tie it into the new

52 I get the new 75 or whatever my first reaction

was oh god another one I think that's all of

our reactions. I just read it. So we go in spoilers

Okay, so I just read it and without giving away

too much there's a character that pops up very

early in the beginning that I have greatly missed.

So it was nice to see that and it was nice to

see them acknowledging finally that there's certain

storylines, there's certain characters that just

poof, disappeared. The end ticked me off to no

end. I was on board, I was like okay. To me what

this seems like is DC did Flashpoint so that

they can reboot and make Superman this Modern

guy and tell new stories and then they noticed

hey not quite working the way we wanted it to

Wait, we blew out all the old continuity and

then they launched this that one thing where

they had the worlds colliding and only certain

world with divergence or whatever Yeah, which

was I thought was a teenage book, but whatever

so then they had that that went nowhere and now

they've got this and so now they're trying to

tie everything together and I hope it works because

I haven't been a huge fan of the new 52 I just

feel like it's screwing up also some progress

that they were making with the 52 in certain

things so I just we're being jerked around and

let's face it folks and we're gonna mention this

later let's face it it's DC wanting a new number

one for every title that they've ever had and

the funny thing is that they're doing this most

of them are new number ones except for Detective!

Detective is going back to 934 and I'm like,

what? As a collector of comics, it is a nightmare.

It is a nightmare! It looks like... I just don't

know. So I'm gonna give my full -on opinions

here in a bit on Rebirth as we talk about it,

but just wanted to get Jesse while he was here.

We did a... Thing well by the time this goes

up. It'll be a week ago on Hot cars don't leave

your kids or your pets in your cars or your comics

for that matter not if you care about them Yeah,

don't leave comics in the car, but more importantly

don't leave the kids or the pets in the car so

cuz they'll ruin You're just so horrible so We're

going to get to DC Comics DC Universe Reboot

Rebirth after this! TFG1 Mike here from the GeekCast

Radio Network and today folks I want to talk

to you about Morton's PC Repair and Service.

Does your PC feel like it's a piece of dead or

dying garage equipment? If you're in around the

Louisville, Kentucky area and your PC needs help

call Morton's PC Repair and Service. They have

the lowest prices in town, payment plans available,

fast, reliable service with custom builds, virus

removal, refo - formats, upgrades, and just about

anything else your PC needs. You can reach them

at 502 -294 -3359 or find them on Facebook. As

someone who recently partook of their services,

I can safely say they are the best in the PC

repair business, so check out Morton's PC Repair

and Service. That's not helping. We are back

here inside the pull bag, and as I said, Steve

and I are going to go through rebirth and talk

about it. We've got two, well there's actually

three main covers. One is a black and white sketch

of the secondary cover. I like the whole reaching

into the first cover where Superman's kind of

reaching into the light and then after that you

got time in a bottle with all of them in a bunch

of hourglasses. Which cover did you like better?

Out of which covers the the one with the entire

Justice League on it or the one with them. Yeah

towards the electrical pole both Which one do

you like better? I like them both and I know

it's a cop -out because I got them both But I

almost like the plain one better mm -hmm because

it actually shows more detail of the entire like

league basically The only thing that's nice about

the Lightning Bolt one is you get the hand and

then you're kind of like, whose hand does that

belong to? One of the nice things is also we

got the new logo of DC on the front, which is

a lot better than the other one that we had.

And then on top of it, the 80 -page issue was

$299, as opposed to being like $8 like some of

their other ones. Yeah, I said that to Jesse

I'm really surprised that you know I said it

was you know it was a good thing that was only

$2 .99 and I said I'm really surprised it wasn't

like $4 .99 and $5 .99 and that's usually How

it goes with DC and well I know some of their

pre -rebirth stuff is still gonna be expensive

that's coming out but Only time will tell if

they stick to this price point because I think

beyond $2 .99. It's not really worth paying for

And I know that's horrible to say about comics

because the writing and the art is so spectacular

nowadays compared to back in the day. But I myself

am not willing to put more than that. If it cost

me more than two bottles of pop or more than

a cheapest $2 meal at McDonald's, it's not worth

buying. I could buy a chapter book about that.

Yeah, so for me, I'll spend you know For a single

issue $2 .99 $3 .99 fine Unless it's something

super special I'm not buying four or five six

seven ninety nine books unless it's something

super special But just a regular issue the two

three ninety nine price tag is fine for me But

like I said thankfully this was $2 .99 we start

This one off with the clock king. Not really,

but that's what I thought. I like the clock reference

that's in there. It has somebody speaking, but

you don't get to find out right away. And then

it just shows random clocks. You get to see the

Earth. You get to see a storm. And then you see

Batman in the Batcave looking at New 52 Superman.

Yep. And I figured as soon as I saw the yellow

thing, like the yellow, it's yellow background

with black text for the monologue here. You know

he says you know something about Sometimes it

was because I was pushing myself too hard sometimes

it was because someone else was Still I always

found my way home because I had a lightning rod

to ground me But as hard as I've tried I haven't

been able to find her and we go into the Batcave

and You see the triple Joker, which they actually

they reveal that and they have Batman get out

of the the the chair like the all -knowing chair

in Justice League 50 or 52 or something like

that. It was part of the dark side thing, but

they had him get out of the chair, the master's

control chair, and he had the knowledge of the

three jokers. And of course, like, you know,

then you have the... Isn't that technically six

jokers? No, it's three. What they're doing is

they're showing different parts, you could say,

of them. Or different, like them actually in

action to kind of insinuate, but it's saying

that they don't know if it's the same guy or

if it's multiple guys or if it's him reborn with

a different personality every time. or an altered

personality so it's it's kind of interesting

and then I love the fact that you see Batman

like laying on the ground like what is going

on and you see Wally West yep go Wally and what's

funny about it is you got almost like a reverse

flash costume on him it's a kid flash costume

I know but um And it was from like his Team Titan

days or whatever from the Flashpoint era. But

what's funny is because you have now what they've

done is they have a pre Flashpoint Wally West

and then they have the new 52 Wally West. Yeah,

white Wally and black Wally. And then they've

got like the two different costumes. And although

they don't show the new costume in this issue,

they I've seen what the new issue looks like.

It's very reminiscent of this, but it's got more

of a Barry Allen vibe to it, so it's very cool

looking. Yeah. That's what I love about this,

about this issue specifically, is that it's because

it's basically talking about the whole Flashpoint

thing and trying to bring the universe back together

from Flashpoint, that it's centered around the

flashes, that it's not just Batman telling the

story, it has to be Wally telling, narrating

the story, and I absolutely love... That especially

with you know watching the flash on CW season

one season two and all that so absolutely That

was one thing for me going into this where I

wasn't sure what was gonna happen and I was fine

with not knowing But as I'm reading this I'm

just loving every bit of this this one shot here

I well, I'm loving the fact that yeah, and I

agree with you. I'm glad that Batman's not running

the show Even though he's gonna be very integral

to this entire scenario because yeah, Wally's

gonna be kind of having to relay to him what

he knows about what's going on and who's pulling

the strings and Batman's going to be the only

guy smart enough to kind of take it under his

wing. But I love the fact that Wally's trying

to reach out something terrible from the Speed

Force and he's not getting enough of a lightning

rod to get yanked back. Yep. And you know he

keeps searching and searching and going through

the Speed Force talking about The colors and

all this just absolutely amazing Amazing stuff

on the colors. I know it's it's very very vibrant

and I love the color palette because it kind

of reminds me of altered geek but um The I love

when Wally is kind of insinuating to Bruce to

look at the note mm -hmm that Was left for him

Yeah From his father from the the flashpoint

thing which I think is spectacular Yep So we

get Wally going further and further through time

and through the speed force and all that and

we flash back to when When White Wally's His

aunt was Iris so In this universe, and I think

in most of the DC universe, Iris was always Wally's

aunt instead of having Joe be his dad or whatever,

and I know there should have been characters

and that's fine, but it's essentially Iris introducing

Wally to Barry and so we meet the two flashes

and we get this part of the story and the coolest

thing for me when it comes to seeing Wally West

flash in this universe, the whole Titans thing

and everything else. I remember I screen capped

this once he met Linda. And I have the panel

where they're kissing and where he says, like

I said, she was my lightning rod. And all I can

think of is Star -Crossed from Justice League

when Batman's like Clark Kent, Wally West, Bruce

Wayne and Wally in the cartoon takes his mask

off and Wonder Woman's like, red hair, it suits

you, you think? That's the first thing I thought

of when I saw Wally West again here was the red

hair thing. And yeah, I mean, everything about

this is just so fun. Just seeing all the flashes,

seeing all of them fight different, you know,

alongside different parts of the Justice League,

the Teen Titans, all that stuff. I really, really

dig it. I do like the fact that they mentioned

how Barry died and how he was like formed and

how he took over as the Flash for a while. And

then... he's talking to like Jay Garrick and

then you get to see all the different like the

panel with all the different flashers you got

Jay Garrick you got you know Barry who returned

from the Speed Force and then you got you know

Wally West you got a Impulse you got you know

Jesse Quick and two other ones that I'm not familiar

with but it was it's kind of cool well actually

one of them is from like the 1950s but the one

in the back. I think he's like... I can't remember

his name right now, but I know that they shot

him. Yeah, he was something else, but Marvel

already had the name. Yeah, well, it was Quicksilver.

They used it. Oh, yeah. But anyways, yeah, so

it's kind of cool, you know, if they explain

the whole Flashpoint paradox and then... As we

go through this the story progresses and we get

to what I assume is a prison or something And

then Wally lashes into it. Well, it's an old

folks home. Oh, it's an old folks home. Yeah,

okay Well, those are considered prisons Kind

of And he calls the old guy Johnny that's why

I said that maybe it was Johnny quick And I thought

it was Johnny so So we get that part of the issue

while he keeps tumbling and turning and going

over and over and over again and We get You know

we get him saying that certain people are out

of reach and We get We go to a police station

and apparently somebody is saying oh food is

free right what country is that and And basically

saying the woman's nuts, which is interesting.

We get to, let's see what else happens here.

Oh, we go to Adam. We go to that part of the

story, which I thought was really fun. Especially

the keychain. Yup. And the kid pulls the keychain.

That's just hilarious. So we get the Adam giving

Ryan a message. Basically telling him, hey, you're

the new Adam. Yay. You need to save me. And basically

just blowing the kid's mind. Yup, quite literally.

We then go to which this is one thing that I

thought was kind of out of place blue beetle

really seriously did you feel any of this was

out of place because I know it's Wally going

through the timeline and trying to find someone

to ground him, but I Don't know just the whole

thing between Ted and Jaime or Jamie or whatever

his name is supposed to be it just felt weird

Yeah, I I'm not too familiar with Blue Beetle

other than like Young Justice. I know of Ted

Kord. I know of the other kid more so from Brave

and the Bold than anything else, but I just felt

that it was just a weird little imprint there.

And then Dr. Fate comes to Ted, which is again

weird. We get lantern stuff in here. we get what

else happens. So we see all this stuff which

is very cool because the second part of the story

or chapter is all about legacies. I think it's

cool. They show Damian Wayne. They show the new

Green Lantern girl. Hal Jordan's basically like,

yeah, I'm kind of MIA and then She said who's

Sinestro, you know, and yeah and then you know,

you get a couple other people involved that are

dealing with things and It's I don't know. It's

just it's all kinds of crazy for a while there

and then you get to see the dark side thing Yeah,

which was in that Justice League issue Because

they killed justice or they killed dark side

and then this chick the daughter resurrected

him Yeah, which was weird But uh, yeah, I like

seeing the whole league kind of showing up knowing

that Superman was gonna die and you get to see

the the modern green arrow From like the TV show

almost Yeah, this giant splash page of all the

heroes of Wonder Woman and Super Hero and Arrow

and Martian Manhunter and Firestorm and just

absolutely love that panel. And you've got various

people sprinkled in there. You've got, you know,

yeah, you've got Vixen in there. You've got Beast

Boy. You've got, you know, all kinds of heroes.

And then you got, you know, Alternate universe

Superman and then all that and he looks really

old here Well, it's the It's the faithful hair,

but well, it's the pre pre -new 52. Yeah, man

So, let's see which you know, he's gonna take

over Yeah, that's true. He gots to have a superman

And so we get to a point where Wally is saying

he has so many questions and we get to Aquaman

and Mira and they're on a date and all that happens.

Yay, he proposes. It's an Earth custom, don't

worry about it. Let's see, we go to more, oh,

we go to Iris trying to get a story and that

doesn't necessarily happen. No, wait, that's

Linda not Iris. It's younger Linda duh. Yeah,

Linda doesn't know I'm so stuck in the TV universe.

So he says he's back and she doesn't really believe

him and Yeah, yeah Which is which is interesting

and you can see the Gotham heroes the two new

ones that showed up. Yeah Swamp thing and then

See Wally kind of floating around trying to Yeah,

he gets to cyborg at one point and probably the

best part the entire issue Breaking out that

blue as much as I love the red just Breaking

out the blue. Yeah, they modified his costume

too. I don't know if you saw that floating around

today on social media. I haven't seen... They

put blue stripes on his legs now. And they have

the blue that goes over his chest go around his

back too. Oh, okay. But it looks pretty much

like his Pre -New 52, so it looks pretty spot

on. Yeah. We eventually get back to Central City

and we run into New 52 Flash Wally West, the

African American Wally West. And he's just getting

started. We run into... let's see what else happens.

You know, so we get his beginning, which is interesting.

His white Wally is slowly feeling himself dissolving

and then Barry comes in and kind of... Saves

the day a little bit here, and then he notices

that that kids becoming Kid Flash, and he won't

be Kid Flash anymore Yeah, I like the fact that

Barry brought everybody pizza That was hilarious

on it's crazy because The you know white Wally

West is feeling himself breaking down right and

then kind of makes this this final like I'm done

and then appears before Barry to just basically

say hello and goodbye that you won't remember

me and telling him to ask Batman and telling

him about the timeline and Barry's like who are

you and then He just says, Barry, thank you for

an amazing life, and Barry finally, uh, you know,

reaches out for him and pulls him out of the

Speed Force, pretty much. Well, he remembers.

He goes, Barry? Or he goes, Wally? Wally? And

then he grabs him, and then it, like, restores

him. Yep. Very much. Which, again, the art is

just amazing. Like the panels between Wally dissolving

and Barry's just Barry being up against the night

sky with the lightning Oh the reds the blues

the yellows the oranges the fire of the lightning

just absolutely amazing So Barry saves Wally

and Wally's back But sadly something happens

to Barry Poor Barry, just didn't get a break.

We get a bunch of other flashbacks as well, which

is really cool. The issue pretty much sets everything

up for all the other rebirth number ones. We

eventually go back to the Batcave. Yeah, and

Barry and Wally are fine. Yep. Batman's looking

back at the letter again. We find that as the

epilogue starts, we find that apparently Watchmen

is gonna be in along with this series because

it's Dr. Midnighter or whatever the hell that

stupid character's name is from Watchmen. Not

saying the character's stupid folks, I just don't

know Watchmen all that well. me neither and it's

funny because Batman picks it out and then you

see the epilogue you see the the earth and then

out in space and what looks like Mars and you

see the the watch breaking yep so we didn't go

over this before but I want to go over it now

so we can just give credit to them Jeff Johns

wrote the whole thing On chapter one, the artists

are Gary Frank and Ethan Van Scriver, Brad Anderson

and Jason Wright on colors. Chapter two, the

artist was Gary Frank again with Brad Anderson

on colors. Chapter three was Ivan Rice on pencils,

Joe Prado and Rice, inkers and Hi -Fi colorists.

Well, Hi -Fi was one of the colorists. Chapter

four was Phil Jimenez and Gary Frank on pencils

with Matt Santarelli and Frank on inkers and

Gabe Elitav and Brad Anderson on colors. And

the epilogue was done by Gary Frank and Ivan

Rice on pencils with Frank and Joe Prado on inks

and Brad Anderson and Hi -Fi on colors. I love

the art in this issue. It's just simply amazing.

It really is, folks. I was not expecting... I

mean, I was expecting good things, but because

I have not read a lot of the Flash stuff, I've

only seen the TV show as of recently, but I just...

Man, I am so ready for this. I didn't think I

was like... You know how I am. Well, we both

are like this. Reboot again? Come on. I get they're

bringing back the the old universe and that's

fine to create this this new future universe

and that's all well good and great but I Didn't

know how much of an excitement I was gonna get

out of this and maybe it is because I was Watching

the flash TV show that I was more excited to

see Wally come, you know the original Wally come

back You know for now so But yeah DC universe

rebirth number one. I dug it. I thought it was

great. What are your overall thoughts on it?

I definitely enjoyed it. I'm I'm my hope in DC

is renewed And I and that's what saying I have

read Batman rebirth yeah, I Have not read any

of the other rebirth titles yet as I mentioned

at the beginning of the podcast. I'm waiting

until July when Batgirl and Nightwing hit so

that way we can just kind of do it all in one

kind of go with two different episodes focusing

on one focusing on Batman flash and Maybe one

other title who knows and then one focusing on

Nightwing and Batgirl seeing how those those

kind of come back together Is there anything

you really want out of rebirth that Hasn't kind

of already been teased or anything. Is there

any anything that you're hoping for? Not that

I really can think of. I mean, I'm just hoping

that it's Gonna be good Yeah That's true All

right. Well, I think that's gonna do it for the

episode folks That's DC Universe rebirth number

one the one shot I'm trying to think what's coming

up next after this I think after this we've got

oh lord I think episode 61 of back issue classics

is he -man again I could be wrong I don't know

there's just so many different things happening

I've as of this recording. I've recorded six

different podcasts in one day, so yes, I know

I'm crazy, so it's kind of hard to keep it all

together, but there you go. DC Universe, Rebirth

Number One, Bag Issue Classics, Episode 60. Where

are going to be able to find you online, sir?

On the Twitters at SCP -21. Find me at TF2 and

Mike, follow at GeekCastRadio on Twitter for

all the other network updates. You can also follow

at The Pullback on Twitter and find us over on

Facebook as well. Make your greatest game into

comics and we will catch you next time. You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pullback,

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

There are several ways to get in touch with us

and leave feedback for the show. You can visit

the website geekcastradio .com where you can

comment on the episode and all of our different

podcasts. You can rate our show on iTunes. Be

sure to leave us feedback. Call the voicemail

line 502 -526 -5821. Please remember to tell

us the show you're leaving the message for and

your name. Become a fan of us on Facebook by

searching Geekcast Radio Network. Send us an

email feedback. at geekcastradio .com. Follow

us on twitter at geekcastradio. So until next

time make your great escape into comics and unleash

the geek in you.