There is no doubt when Geoff Johns, one of the most influential writers of contemporary comics, releases something, the word gets out. But no one saw the huge impact his latest 80-page double issue comic called DC Universe: Rebirth would have.

If we really want to get the full effect of Rebirth, then we need to go back about five years. DC Entertainment decided it needed to inject a much needed jolt of energy into their comic book line thus capitalizing on the events of Flashpoint, a series where the Flash alters the time line and basically resets everyone’s history, this leads to DC’s relaunch of all our favourite heroes with The New 52.

Why did they call it The New 52, you might ask? Well, there are many reasons; first of all, The New Nineteen just didn’t sound right, ahem. Second of all, there are 52 weeks in a year and comics are published weekly. Third of all, there were 52 issues associated with DC’s relaunch. And last, but not least, The New 52 drew its inspiration from a cross-over comic series called Infinite Crisis, and that the events in this crisis created 52 universes or multi-verses.

With The New 52, DC divorced themselves from their heroes daunting, intimating and sometimes even confusing history/continuity. In essence, The New 52 removed all the hang- ups and limitations that went along with these characters and DC’s creative teams were finally given a chance to break away from the status quo. This lead to some really interesting experimentation with regards major characters albeit many long term fans were outraged with the “simply erasing decades of continuity” of their favourite heroes.

The relaunch worked and DC Comics sales were strong; up until recently. Personally in the beginning I thought that The NEW 52 delivered some fresh and exciting directions for my favourite heroes but like a lot of old time fans, I felt like something was missing.