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R.E.B.E.L.S.
R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol. 1: The Coming of Starro
The legacy of the Legion of Super-Heroes lives on in this first collection of a new DC series. Brainiac 2, former member of the Legion, is now a hunted man. His cosmic police force safeguarded over 80 worlds until a mysterious adversary suddenly seized control. Now he must recruit a new team to win back his command and free countless billions. And this time, he's basing his new group on the greatest heroes and villains of the 31st Century! But can Brainiac assemble his team fast enough to stop Starro and his horde from conquering a universe?
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 12, 2010
46 people want to read
About the author
Tony Bedard
788 books24 followersAntony J. L. Bedard is an American writer and editor who has worked in the comic book industry from the early 1990s through the present. He is best known for his work at CrossGen Comics, where he was under exclusive contract, and for his run writing Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off Exiles.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 22, 2014
I remember flipping through an issue of this in the store some time ago, and wondering what on earth this gorgeous-looking book was that had Lobo in it, along with a bunch of freaky aliens doing things I completely didn't understand. You don't really pick up superhero comics to be surprised, and I sort of had no idea how to process this incredibly strange DC title I'd never heard of.
The L.E.G.I.O.N / R.E.B.E.L.S pocket universe within DC is a genuinely weird article: its only consistent feature is Vril Dox, a sort of human supercomputer who hires himself out as chief of an interstellar police force that gets paid very well to do terrible things in the name of justice. It's pretty standard stuff, except for the fact that Dox is a genuinely repugnant main character -- this isn't even a comic starring "the antihero everyone loves to hate," but functions instead as the chronicle of a kind of terrorist sociopath.
It helps nothing that the rest of the cast is made up of the forgettable, naive and weak-willed puppets Dox hires to work for him. They function so poorly as narrative elements that much of the original 1980s L.E.G.I.O.N series became a sort of Odd Couple in Space that followed Dox's attempts to hire, swindle, and manipulate the beastial bounty hunter Lobo -- and it was these interactions that fueled the series, until Lobo was spun off into his own franchise of books through the late 90s.
R.E.B.E.L.S is the third or so incarnation of the wacky adventures of Vril and Co, but it's designed to be picked up and read without knowing any of the pre-history. It's also the first post-millenial reboot, with all the subsequent style and production upgrades on the creative end one might expect. In this latest chapter of Dox's life, he's lost control of L.E.G.I.O.N., and is doing every horrible thing he can think of to get it back. From the start, it feels like there's a prologue you've missed, but there isn't; the function of this disorienting in medias res is that the reader is as confused as Dox is about what's happened to his military empire.
It's a weird comparison, but reading R.E.B.E.L.S is sort of like what it's like follow the machinations of Iago in Othello. There's a certain grim joy in watching the proceedings, despite the fact that there's no one to root for, and the inherent nihilism of the thing saps it of any recognizable narrative propulsion. But the book is still an enjoyable read -- it's kind of funny and the art is gorgeous; there's gross aliens doing gross things, and a strange joy each time we see more of Dox's sycophants and detractors get robbed of their collective agency by his plans-within-plans.
I guess I'm really giving R.E.B.E.L.S a 5-star review because I don't quite understand what makes it tick, and that's fascinating to me. It scratches the itch of reading a big-dumb-monster book, but there's nothing broad or simplistic about it. It's like someone took the trappings of Guardians of the Galaxy but turned the tone on its head. Nor does it take time to revel in the macabre, as Lobo might. Like Dox, the book is efficient and nasty -- with just the right amount of cool and charm.
The L.E.G.I.O.N / R.E.B.E.L.S pocket universe within DC is a genuinely weird article: its only consistent feature is Vril Dox, a sort of human supercomputer who hires himself out as chief of an interstellar police force that gets paid very well to do terrible things in the name of justice. It's pretty standard stuff, except for the fact that Dox is a genuinely repugnant main character -- this isn't even a comic starring "the antihero everyone loves to hate," but functions instead as the chronicle of a kind of terrorist sociopath.
It helps nothing that the rest of the cast is made up of the forgettable, naive and weak-willed puppets Dox hires to work for him. They function so poorly as narrative elements that much of the original 1980s L.E.G.I.O.N series became a sort of Odd Couple in Space that followed Dox's attempts to hire, swindle, and manipulate the beastial bounty hunter Lobo -- and it was these interactions that fueled the series, until Lobo was spun off into his own franchise of books through the late 90s.
R.E.B.E.L.S is the third or so incarnation of the wacky adventures of Vril and Co, but it's designed to be picked up and read without knowing any of the pre-history. It's also the first post-millenial reboot, with all the subsequent style and production upgrades on the creative end one might expect. In this latest chapter of Dox's life, he's lost control of L.E.G.I.O.N., and is doing every horrible thing he can think of to get it back. From the start, it feels like there's a prologue you've missed, but there isn't; the function of this disorienting in medias res is that the reader is as confused as Dox is about what's happened to his military empire.
It's a weird comparison, but reading R.E.B.E.L.S is sort of like what it's like follow the machinations of Iago in Othello. There's a certain grim joy in watching the proceedings, despite the fact that there's no one to root for, and the inherent nihilism of the thing saps it of any recognizable narrative propulsion. But the book is still an enjoyable read -- it's kind of funny and the art is gorgeous; there's gross aliens doing gross things, and a strange joy each time we see more of Dox's sycophants and detractors get robbed of their collective agency by his plans-within-plans.
I guess I'm really giving R.E.B.E.L.S a 5-star review because I don't quite understand what makes it tick, and that's fascinating to me. It scratches the itch of reading a big-dumb-monster book, but there's nothing broad or simplistic about it. It's like someone took the trappings of Guardians of the Galaxy but turned the tone on its head. Nor does it take time to revel in the macabre, as Lobo might. Like Dox, the book is efficient and nasty -- with just the right amount of cool and charm.
February 26, 2010
Admittedly this might be a slightly high rate for this tome, but it was a fun read for me. Virl Dox is back, yes the hero pretty much everyone loves to hate. He uses people, berates, people, and firmly believes that he is the smartest man in the galaxy (truthfully at the very least that is close to true). Someone has usurped Dox's control of the L.E.G.I.O.N. the pay for protection interstellar police agency he foudned (hey when this title was first done years ago that means Dox beat Blackwater to the legal pay for protection racket). Dox receives some unexpected, and amusing help from his 31sy century descendant, but Dox decides to go abck to doing things his way. BTW the supporting characters are fun too. If the editors leave writer Tony Bedard alone I believe he'll turn in fine work like he did working for CrossGen.
October 25, 2024
This is a fabulous read, I really enjoyed rereading this.
While you could argue that the actual heroes are not really fleshed out, if you dont know the returning characters from the original L.E.G.I.O.N. then you dont really get to learn anything about them, and the new characters are so ignored that one of them i didnt really know what his powers were for most of the story, the writing for the actual story and the background for the villains is superb. The radical reinvention, to me at least, of Starro is just great. I loved the three main villains and am looking forward to finishing of the rest of this series
While you could argue that the actual heroes are not really fleshed out, if you dont know the returning characters from the original L.E.G.I.O.N. then you dont really get to learn anything about them, and the new characters are so ignored that one of them i didnt really know what his powers were for most of the story, the writing for the actual story and the background for the villains is superb. The radical reinvention, to me at least, of Starro is just great. I loved the three main villains and am looking forward to finishing of the rest of this series
September 10, 2020
3.5
This was pretty good, and seems like an underrated gem since I’ve almost never heard about it. Not quite good enough to put into the “great” category, but it’s enjoyable so far. It has a strong Adult Swim vibe, if that makes any sense. Good artwork, interesting Coluan anti-hero, fun intergalactic space adventure.
This was pretty good, and seems like an underrated gem since I’ve almost never heard about it. Not quite good enough to put into the “great” category, but it’s enjoyable so far. It has a strong Adult Swim vibe, if that makes any sense. Good artwork, interesting Coluan anti-hero, fun intergalactic space adventure.
May 24, 2018
Pretty good. Bedard seems to pull in just about every alien world in the DCU here, to good effect. I've always loved DC's cosmic characters and even though the Green Lantern Corps is absent, they're alluded to. Art is very Moebius-like, just perfect.
April 1, 2020
This was a lot of fun. It’s full of science fiction pulp fun with plenty of old familiar races popping up. It’s also got a snarky humor about it that I enjoy.
December 21, 2021
Entertaining.
December 3, 2010
I might have given this a 4-star rating, by I think my expectations were a little too high.
I really enjoyed all of Marvel's Annihilation books, and was expecting this to be something similar... It didn't quite measure up, in my opinion. Bedard writes some good dialogue, and I really like the Vril Dox character. Also, Starro makes a great villain. Part of the problem I have with this is that it seems to crib a lot of plot points from Annihilation, and even a watered-down version of the Gamora character appears, and makes a speech VERY similar to Gamora's. I may be wrong, but I think Annihilation came first.
On the art side, I really loved Andy Clarke's work, and would like to seek out more. Unfortunately, he only drew the first half of this arc. The art in the second half was just passable.
So, I like the characters and plot overall, and I'm somewhat curious to see what happens following the cliff-hanger ending, but overall, it didn't quite deliver to my expectations. Good, but certainly not great.
I really enjoyed all of Marvel's Annihilation books, and was expecting this to be something similar... It didn't quite measure up, in my opinion. Bedard writes some good dialogue, and I really like the Vril Dox character. Also, Starro makes a great villain. Part of the problem I have with this is that it seems to crib a lot of plot points from Annihilation, and even a watered-down version of the Gamora character appears, and makes a speech VERY similar to Gamora's. I may be wrong, but I think Annihilation came first.
On the art side, I really loved Andy Clarke's work, and would like to seek out more. Unfortunately, he only drew the first half of this arc. The art in the second half was just passable.
So, I like the characters and plot overall, and I'm somewhat curious to see what happens following the cliff-hanger ending, but overall, it didn't quite deliver to my expectations. Good, but certainly not great.
May 8, 2014
When this book was coming out I heard very good things about it. I finally decided to check it out. This book suffers from a common symptom of DC Comics as there are way way too many characters introduced almost at the same time. Tony Bedard, whose work I usually enjoy, does a very good job with Vril Dox but struggles to infuse any personality into the other characters. There was just too much going on. Tons of different alien races, multiple villains, unsettles protagonists, etc. Just jumbled. The art, mostly by Andy Clarke, was decent but he struggles with the amount of characters as well. Overall, uninspired.
July 16, 2012
I was pleasantly surprised by this volume, full of nice continuity to both L.E.G.I.O.N. and LoSH. Also, good writing and nice art. On a second read, it remained a strong comic with a very nice overview of the DC Universe. My only complaint is that the big plot feels a bit too much like one of the Marvel cosmic series, and that was lessened on a second read.
August 26, 2016
Last read March 15, 2011.
July 22, 2012
This is one of those books where it was really well written with great suspense, and yet I hated it because it forever alters one of DC's greatest characters.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews