Titans: Rebirth #1

Written by: Dan Abnett

Art by: Brett Booth

Coloured by: Andrew Dalhouse

Lettered by: Carlos M. Mangual

I will freely admit that I don't have a deep history with the Titans. The majority of my exposure to the Titans comes from other people, and most of that has been positive, so when I saw that this series was getting a Rebirth, and that it would probably be closely connected with the overarching storyline of the Rebirth event itself, I decided that this would probably be a good place to jump in. So, is this a good place for newer readers like me to jump in? In my opinion, yes, as long as you have some amount of familiarity with some of these characters. But does the issue itself hold up?

The story follows Wally West, having just returned from the speed force in the Rebirth special itself, attempting to reconnect with the past members of his team, the Titans. After a brief misunderstanding with Nightwing, a shock coming off Wally re-ignites the memories of him within Nightwing, and our story unfurls as Wally connects with the Titans of the past and we are treated with images of Wally's impact in their lives. The issue focuses less on real storytelling, and more on raw emotion as, like in the special itself, we see these other DC characters remember their friend who had been gone, and what he had meant to them.

The artwork can be a bit odd at times, specifically when a character is yelling their faces look weird, but overall the artwork is extremely good. There is a bit of an overuse of full-page and mostly full-page panels, which makes the book seem fairly condensed, as not a lot happens, but the action is great, conveying a great sense of motion with Wally in particular. Due to the fact that this story is more emotion than plot, the panel reduction doesn't really hinder the storytelling, and what is there is great, it just seemed like the majority of the book was presented one panel at a time.

Overall, Titans Rebirth has probably been my favourite of the Rebirth titles so far, with a lot of emotion, decent character introductions, and a good set-up for where the book is going. The implication from this issue is that it will be very important going forward for the ongoing story of Rebirth, and if the quality remains this high for the series, it will be easy to keep up with.