We stand on the precipice of yet another DC reboot event. Even though DC has made a point to everyone that this is NOT a reboot, when you are changing your lineup of characters to this degree and shaking up your universe in order to create a new, more palatable one for new readers, that’s a reboot. Sorry, DC. Anyway, DC Rebirth is the newest attempt from DC to rebrand itself in a way that fixes whatever people didn’t like about the New 52 lineup. And for the first time since the New 52 reboot in 2011, I am REALLY excited about the changes that are happening. It seems like DC has finally realized that they messed up when they made the New 52, and so they want to do their best to put things back the way they were. So what are they doing to accomplish that, and why am I so excited?

Well, first of all, they are reverting a lot of characters to their Pre-52 looks or close to it. Nightwing is back in blue, Tim Drake is actually back in some version of his Robin costume, but, more importantly, he’s not Batman Beyond anymore. Speaking of that, Terry McGinnis is alive again and back to being the Batman of the future. Stephanie Brown is Spoiler and in a larger role than she had in the New 52. Pre-52 Superman is becoming the main Superman again. And there are several other moves in that direction.

So all of that is good, but, in addition to that, DC is bringing back good, classic writers like Greg Rucka, who will be working on Wonder Woman. They seem to be very focused on their creative teams this time around, which is great. It’s always good when comic publishers realize the difference that a good creative team makes. A great example of this is the upcoming All-Star Batman title, which promises to match the artist for each arc up with the villain of that arc. The details on this are a little slim, but I am assuming something like “Okay. This upcoming arc involves the Joker. Who is the best Joker artist we can get?” Which is a pretty cool idea that really places the focus on the art of the issue. I’m super excited about that title.

That isn’t to say that DC is totally giving up on what they have done in the last 5 years. They have said that they want to keep the things that they liked (by which, I assume, they mean their readers liked) like the new Batgirl costume, the addition of Jessica Cruz as the first female green lantern, who will have a much larger role in this upcoming universe, a greater move towards racial diversity by keeping, for example, the new-52 Wally West, etc.

I am very excited about all of this. The event starts with a universe-wide Rebirth issue on May 25^th, and then the individual issues start in June. Everyone will get a one shot “Rebirth” issue and then move forward into a new #1 issue, most of which will be released twice a month, instead of the once a month schedule DC has been going with. Perhaps to compensate for the more frequent releases, the price is dropping from $3.99 an issue to $2.99 an issue.  All of the titles that have been announced so far look great, but I will especially be picking up Detective Comics (it’s where they are putting Tim Drake for now, and my wife is a big Tim Drake fan), Teen Titans, Titans, and All-Star Batman just to check them out. From there, I will probably wait for the trades, but I may pick up some other titles depending on certain life factors (like money).

For a complete list of titles, Newsarama has a pretty good list with release dates, so check that out here.