Welcome to Graphic Policy’s DC Rebirth: Recap And Review where we take a look at the comics released under DC‘s Rebirth banner and try to work out just how accessible they are for new readers – we’ll also be providing  recap of sorts for the relevant story beats up until the issue in question in order to help you figure out if the series is something you’re interested in.

Each comic will receive a rating of Friendly or Unfriendly based on how easy it was for
new readers to pick them up; the ratings are based solely on the issues released in the post-Rebirth ongoing series. More consideration regarding the comic’s accessibility will be given for the specific issue being read rather than the series overall, but if reading a back issue will help, then that will be mentioned. Generally, the quality of an issue won’t be discussed unless it directly impacts a new reader’s enjoyment of the series.

You may notice that not every comic is covered week to week, and that’s because I  sometimes forget to read them  (although that doesn’t happen often). If I have missed an issue, typically I won’t go looking for back issues to catch up on events – this feature is all about accessibility for new readers, after all.

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Aquaman #16 Aquaman stopped a war between Atlantis and the US instigated by a shadowy corporation, NEMO. This Friendly comic picks up in the aftermath of that battle.

Batman #16 Tom King has been weaving his overarching tale across multiple issues, so there’s a lot to go over for this recap. I’m lazy, so let’s keep it real short; Batman needs a villain to help a superhero introduced in Batman #1, and Bane also needs the villain to keep him off venom, so when Batman “rescued” said villain from Bane, he wasn’t happy. This Friendly comic is worth reading for the Batburger scene alone.

Cyborg #9 Uh… so I genuinely don’t remember what’s going on here, and that made this issue somewhat Unfriendly. If you want to read this, it’s best to check out either the trade, or the previous issues.This is after all the ninth part of the current story…

Green Arrow #16 A transition issue between story arcs, this issue wraps up a tale in which Green Arrow was framed for murder by the Dark Archer while simultaneously battling some violently crooked cops. Oh, and Ollie’s sister had vanished for a bit but seems to be back now.  It’s Friendly in a round about kinda way.

Green Lanterns #16 This series has been one of the most new reader friendly of all of DC’s post rebirth comics thanks to the love-it-or-hate-it habbit from Sam Humphries of introducing everything at the start of each issue. I could do a recap here, but there’s honestly no need, because it’s Friendly enough as is.

Justice League #14  This is a Friendly standalone issue that really doesn’t need a recap (even though you’ll think it does at first).

Midnighter And Apollo #5 The penultimate issue of the series is actually quite Friendly all on it’s own. Yeah, you’ll miss some nuances and  little bit of the “whys” but you can read this no problem.

Nightwing #14 Wrapping up the first arc that has Nightwing back in Bludhaven, we find Nightwing trying to stop a murderer and clear some ex-villains who were framed for murder. This is a fun, relatively Friendly comic.

Superman #16 Somebody is stealing the powers of Supermen,/women/rabbits from across the multiverse for some reason or another. Our Superman has a plan to rescue them, and volunteered as bait so the multiversal Justice League can track and save him and the others. Even with the summary, this will be hard to follow as it ties into the wider DCU more than you’d think. For that reason, and the fact it’s not all that good, I’m marking this as Unfriendly.