Superman: Rebirth #1
Superman: Rebirth #1 is the formal handoff point between the New 52 era and DC's Rebirth initiative for the Man of Steel — the issue that officially retires the post-Flashpoint Superman and installs the pre-Flashpoint, post-Crisis Kal-El as Prime Earth's new protector. By deliberately echoing the emotional beats of the 1992–93 'Death and Return of Superman' storyline, the issue makes a tonal argument: that hope, legacy, and heroic optimism belong at the center of a Superman book, not the angst that had characterized the New 52 run. It also sets up the foundational premise — a Superman who is simultaneously a husband to Lois and a father to young Jonathan Kent — that would define and distinguish the Tomasi/Gleason run for years to come, eventually spinning off into the Super Sons title. In that sense, it functions less as a conventional story than as a mission statement, one whose thematic promise collectors and critics recognized as a genuine course-correction for one of DC's flagship characters.
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The issue was written by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason — the same co-writers who would helm Superman vol. 4 — with interior pencils by Doug Mahnke and inks by Jaime Mendoza; Andy Park contributed a variant cover. DC revealed the creative team at WonderCon 2016 as part of the broader Rebirth announcement, and the book landed in shops on June 1, 2016, with a cover-dated August 2016. Tomasi had previously written the eight-part 'Final Days of Superman' crossover that killed the New 52 Superman, making him the writer who both closed that chapter and opened the new one — an unusual continuity of creative control that gave the transition unusual coherence. The first wave of Superman: Rebirth #1 sold well enough to prompt a second printing, which DC distinguished from the original by recoloring the Rebirth banner on the cover.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Written by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason; interior art by Doug Mahnke (pencils) and Jaime Mendoza (inks); cover by Doug Mahnke; variant cover by Andy Park.
- Part of DC's line-wide Rebirth relaunch, which ended the New 52 era (2011–2016) and restored elements of pre-Flashpoint DC continuity.
- The central dramatic conceit is that the pre-Flashpoint/post-Crisis Superman — operating on Prime Earth in secret with Lois and their son Jon — discovers the New 52 Superman's tomb cannot yield the Regeneration Matrix, confirming his younger counterpart is truly and permanently dead.
- Lana Lang appears as a key supporting character: she arrives at Superman's memorial intending to exhume the New 52 Superman's body and bury it in Smallville next to his parents, a mission she ultimately carries out by the issue's end.
- Story continuity places this one-shot between Justice League (vol. 2) #52 and Action Comics #957; Superman's ongoing story continues in Action Comics #957 and Superman (vol. 4) #1.
- Received a second printing with a recolored Rebirth banner to differentiate it from the first print run — one of the first wave of Rebirth one-shots (alongside Batman, Green Lanterns, and Green Arrow) to earn that distinction.
- Collected in multiple editions: Superman vol. 1: Son of Superman (TPB), Superman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1 (hardcover), and the Superman by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason Omnibus, as well as the DC Rebirth Omnibus Expanded Edition.
Reprints
Reprinted in Superman #2 (2016), DC Rebirth Omnibus #1 (2017), Superman #1 (2017), Superman #1 (2017), Superman #2 (2017), DC Rebirth Omnibus Expanded Edition #[nn] (2017), Superman: Rebirth Deluxe Edition #1 (2017), Superman: Action Comics by Dan Jurgens Omnibus #1 (2025)
Key issues in Superman: Rebirth
Other variants of Superman: Rebirth #1 (2)
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