DC Comics is going to be giving the dirt on Rebirth this morning at Wondercon, and they’re livestreaming the event on their YouTube channel. Dutiful nerd that I am, I decided to watch. Then I thought, what the heck? I’ve got a nerd blog. Why not post my reactions in real time as well?

So keep it on this page during the panel, folks, and hit refresh every few minutes. I’ll update as they do.

Kicking things off, they showed a video of DC heroes over the years, then they brought Dan DiDio and Jim Lee to the stage. Lee’s kind of adorkable, not entirely comfortable on camera but doing his best.

DiDio is calling rebirth a “reconnection to the fans” and says he wants to show the fans “we care about these characters as much as you do.” Without transcribing every word, he’s basically saying, “We hear you, and we feel it too, and here’s Geoff Johns to tell you more.”

(Brief tangent: How awesome is it that we live in an age where they can make this announcement in California, they put it on the internet, and I can watch it on my TV at home?)

Johns: “Rebirth is NOT a reboot.” As we have heard. He’s calling it “the next chapter.”

Johns on Green Lantern: Rebirth, and how it relates to the new initiative: “Rebirth is about taking everything, past and present, taking everything wonderful about these characters and bringing them to the fore.”

“What’s missing to me is Legacy.” YES.

The Rebirth one-shot in May will feature “the biggest secret in the DC Universe.” It will return some characters. It “may” feature the death of a character. Because of course it will.

Showing off some of the new designs for the characters. Oh my GOD, I love Supergirl so much. As soon as the pictures make it online, I’ll try to add them to this post.

Didio reiterates that the books will all be $2.99 an issue, with 17 twice-monthly titles and 14 monthly books. So fewer titles overall, but about the same number of issues a month.

Now we’re getting a video of fans and creators saying what their favorite DC stories are. I’m not disagreeing with any of the choices, but the audio sucks. We keep getting echo from the hall, and the sound is really low. Hopefully this isn’t going to be anything vital.

Bringing out the “Bat-Family,” Tom King (whose Vision is awesome) writing Batman, James Tynion IV on Detective Comics, Tim Seely on Nightwing, Hope Larsen on Batgirl and I missed the names of the women writing Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. This Batman image is crazy — a man and woman behind him wearing costumes with Batman colors but Superman-shield-shaped symbols with old lettering.

Augh, the video froze! Somebody tell them in LA!

It’s back.

TIM DRAKE AS ROBIN IN DETECTIVE COMICS! It’s a team book with Batman, Tim, Batwoman, Spoiler, CLAYFACE, and Cassandra Cain, whose new identity will come out of Batman and Robin Eternal.

Seeley’s first Nightwing arc is called “Better than Batman.” Tom King is verklempt.

Hope Larsen’s Batgirl looks like she’s running with the ball from the Burnside era, but taking her to Asia to “find herself as a person.” Rafael Albuquerque on art.

Julie Benson and Shawna Benson on Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. Somebody is pretending to be Oracle, and Barbara is ticked off. Black Canary and Huntress on the team… what version of the Huntress, then?

Scott Snyder, whose Batman has been awesome, will be teaming with John Romita Jr., on a twice-monthly All Star Batman. Romita’s co-artists will be Jock and Sean Murphy. Snyder says he wants to do stuff with the villains he hasn’t gotten to do before. At this point, you could give Snyder a Care Bears comic and I would read it. Also, Snyder is now DC-exclusive.

I’m sorry, I gotta say it again — Tim Drake as Robin.. And wearing a version of his classic costume. This makes me SO HAPPY.

Superman family!

Dan Jurgens writing Action Comics! The image is Superman slugging it with Lex Luthor in a kind of Superman armor. Dan says that this is the Superman and Lois from the current Lois and Clark series.

Gene Yang on New Superman. This one looks odd. It stars a Chinese teenager who somehow gets Superman’s powers. If anyone can do it, it Yang.

Steve Orlando on Supergirl! Again, I love this costume. It’s much more like the TV suit, and very classic-looking. Cat Grant is in the image too. Cyborg Superman (who in this universe is Kara’s father, Zor-El) will be in the book too.

Trinity, written and drawn by Francis Manapul, starring you-know who.

Phil Jimenez writing and drawing Superwoman! (Who the hell is Superwoman?)

Peter Tomasi writing Superman, which is awesome.

Then there’s Liam Sharpe on Wonder Woman. Is she a Superman-family book now? Jim Lee is calling Sharp his “big get” for Rebirth, like Greg Capullo was for the New 52. The costume, especially the colors, is very reminiscent of Gal Gadot. The book will be written by Greg Rucka!

The book will be written by Greg Rucka! And Sharp will be sharing art chores with Nicola Scott. Rucka says Sharp will be doing odd-numbered issues that take place in the present, while Scott will do even-numbered “Wonder Woman Year One” stories. Scott is AMAZING. This is a perfect fit for her.

Up next will be the Justice League family.

Tony Daniel doing art for Justice League. Bryan Hitch writing. TWO Green Lanterns on the team — Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.

Joshua Williamson writing Flash. New Flash villain, “Godspeed.” Nice and creepy visual on this guy – skinny, all white, almost like Slenderman meets the Flash.

Robert Venditi writing Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. This book will have Ethan Van Sciver and Rafael Sandoval on art. Venditi says the book begins with Sinestro planting his Warworld in the center of the universe, where Oa once was, and it’s the story of what Hal and the Corps (including John Stewart and Guy Gardner) do next.

Sam Humphries writing Green Lanterns. Johns is going to co-write the Rebirth one-shot with Humphries. The book will star Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz as “the new Green Lanterns of Earth.” They’re rookies, partners, and “don’t know what they think of each other yet.” Humphries calls it “Lethal Weapon with alien technology.” Nice. The Red Lanterns are the bad guys in this book.

John Semper on Cyborg. Art by Will Conrad and, one of my favorites, Paul Pelletier. Semper says the book will be about Cyborg as someone “already living with the Singularity… where does the soul of the man begin and the soul of the machine start?”

Dan Abnett on Aquaman. Johns talks about Abnett’s past awesome work on Legion Lost and Guardians of the Galaxy. He’ll be co-writing with Brad Walker, who also will be sharing art chores with two others. (They’re flashing the credits on screen, guys, I’m writing as fast as I can, but I miss some.) Abnett says in this book Aquaman wants to make Atlantis “part of the world.” I can totally see Arthur sitting in a United Nations panel.

Abnett will also be writing Titans with Nightwing, Arsenal, Donna Troy, Tempest. Who is the woman in green?

Jason Fabok is here to talk about issue 50 of the current Justice League run, which he’s drawing. He says it will “blow your minds.” Okaaaay… so why are we talking about it on the Rebirth panel? I assume it’ll lead into the one-shot?

Holy crap. Johns just said this is going to follow-up on the part in issue 42 where Batman asks the Mobius Chair what the Joker’s real name is. They teased this with an image of many Jokers throughout the years. What the HELL are they up to?

Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner on Harley Quinn. Jim Lee says these two have made Harley “the fourth pillar that supports House DC.” Hard to argue with that. Conner says the book will have “more of the same madness PLUS.” The costume looks like they’ve merged the New 52 version with the movie version. She definitely has Margot Robbie hair.

Philip Tan on Suicide Squad. Lee will also be working with Rob Williams writing. He clarifies that each twice-monthly book has “a team of artists.” They tried to find artists with similar styles and sensibilities that work well together. Tan calls the book about “redemption.” The team will be Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Rick Flagg, Katana, Boomerang… basically the movie team. Lee further says that Harley and Croc will be an interesting team-up, and Conner jumps in with “Harley’s power is that she doesn’t really know that she can’t do anything.” DiDio adds that she’s now DC-exclusive.

Conner says a lot more guest-stars in Harley’s book, including Poison Ivy, Power Girl, and a lot more “bat-characters and non-bat characters.”

Remaining titles:
Ben Percy on Green Arrow.
Red Hood and the Outlaws co-starring Bizarro and Artemis.
The Hellblazer by Simon Oliver, with Swamp Thing.
Deathstroke with Christopher Priest.
Batman Beyond with Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. “The return of Terry McGuinness.”
Blue Beetle with Keith Giffen, starring Jaime Reyes AND HIS MENTOR TED KORD!
Damian Wayne leads the new Teen Titans, by Ben Percy. The Titans apparently aren’t thrilled about this.
Super Sons — no creative team, but “Son of Superman meets son of Batman.”
Justice League of America — “which we can’t talk about yet,” Johns says.

Finally, the full cover of the Rebirth special, by Gary Frank, shows the heres of the DC universe reaching out towards a hand reaching out from the light. It’s intriguing, to say the least.Rebirth special, by Gary Frank, shows the heres of the DC universe reaching out towards a hand reaching out from the light. It’s intriguing, to say the least.

Overall impressions… I’m really liking what I’m seeing. There are some killer creative teams, and some books I can’t believe I’m seeing. Some stuff is outright insane, but in a good way.

You have my attention, DC Comics.