Variant Cover By Frank Cho
Reborn #1 is a comic I have been eagerly waiting for since it’s announcement last October. At the time there was zero information on the what the comic would be about heck, there wasn’t even a title if I remember correctly. So what could have me excited for a comic for over a year with virtually no information in the beginning?
About three years ago or so my brother-in-law Sheldon and I were geeking out over comics as we tend to do when we get together. One particular night we got talking about our dream collaborations in comics. I can’t recall what we came up with, but at the time my brother-in-law was reading one of Mark Millar‘s graphic novels, and I was deep into Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo‘s Batman run. Once we had talked about the books they were both working on we figured they would be the best creators to work on a comic together. We then started thinking how crazy good that comic would be but thought it would never happen cause at the time Greg was on contract with DC, and Mark was doing his own thing and was super busy.
Needless to say when at the time when Reborn had been announced (with no title), I freaked out in the best way possible when Mark Millar announced he was doing a comic with Greg Capullo and immediately bombarded my brother-in-law with texts of excitement. I could not believe our dream collaboration was happening.
In my opinion, Mark Millar is one of the best comic book writers in the industry and Greg Capullo is certainly one of the best artists today and has been for the past couple decades. All it took was two names to get me excited for a comic. My interest and excitement have only grown with the more information that has been gradually released the past several months. Now that I have my copy in hand and have read issue one, does it live up to the hype that not only the industry has given it but my personal hype as well?
Variant Cover By Todd McFarlane
Reborn asks the age old question where do we go when we die. Marks theory or at least his interesting idea is that when you die you are reborn as a younger version of yourself and thrust into a battle between good and evil. All of the people you one knew good and bad are there in this sci-fi fantasy world.
This is a different comic for Mark compared to his recent releases, while death is certainly not a new topic for him the question of the afterlife seems to be. He once again sets up a world and story you want to know more about with a great flow using a more traditional approach starting off with action then explaining then action etc.
Greg Capullo‘s art is perfect. This should come as a shock to no one. The man did over 80 issues of Spawn and earlier this year finished five consecutive years of drawing Batman (doing interiors and covers). Reborn is Greg’s best work to date. It is amazing how much better his art is when he is given more time than the strong demands of the big two’s deadlines.
I promised Jonathan Glapion (one of the best inkers in the industry today) on Twitter that I would credit and mention him in my review (he liked my tweet so I know he saw it ). He was frustrated with not always being credited as part of the art team on Reborn on articles and company sites, which is understandable. Creating comics is a team effort. Inking is not simply tracing over the pencil lines, it’s about adding depth shading contrast and so much more. Here’s an example from Greg and Jonathan’s work on Batman.
From Batman #8 (New 52) Pencils by Greg Capullo (left) Inks by Jonathan Glapion (right)
As you can see inking is a huge part of the art process and requires a lot of skill. Without inking, it would make FCO Plascencia colouring job a lot more difficult. FCO’s colours are excellent as usual with a great combination of vintage looking colours to soft and neutral to bright and vibrant which are all balanced according to the tone and needs of each panel.
Jonathan Glapion and FCO Plascencia make Greg’s great pencils look fantastic; this team has been making comics together for quite some time, and it makes sense for them to collaborate on such an ambitious book like Reborn. There is a page where the panels are planned out as a chandelier with art and it looks amazing something I have never seen before in comics.
Millar has said Reborn will be three six-issue series, which is much longer the most of his recent series and that there will be a novel adaptation released roughly six months from now. It’s safe to say this will be quite the adventure for us readers. As per usual with a new Millar comic, it is usually in the process or the rights have been already bought by Hollywood for an adaptation of some sort, Reborn is no different. Details cannot be released just yet.
This is an all-star team of talented creators coming together and making one of the best comics if not the best comic of the year. This is as I said before is a dream collaboration I thought would never be possible. Buy Reborn and quick. Reborn #1 has already gone to a second printing, and this is the lauch day!
10/10
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