DC Comics Rebirth & Dark Days The Forge #1 Spoilers & Review: Road To Dark Nights: Metal #1 Begins With 7 BIG DC Character Returns, Answering Some Big Rebirth Questions Involving 3 Jokers & Justice Society (JSA), Plus 4 Parts Of DC’s Secret History Revealed! UPDATED

Spoilers, Top Story

UPDATED.

It begins!

DC Comics Rebirth and Dark Days The Forge #1 Spoilers and Review follows!

Dark Days: The Forge #1 has several classic DC Comics characters return in the DC Rebirth era.

1. Carter Hall, The Golden Age Hawkman, of the classic Justice Society of America (JSA)

A reincarnating hero that…

…has a experience the Dark Multiverse, where his Nth Metal originated from, and who exists in modern day DC Rebirth.

2. Ganthet, the Guardian has returned to the Green Lantern Corps from the Blue Lantern Corps of Hope.

Her orders Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, to go to Earth to stop it from becoming aware of a “terrible truth” about or by “whispers from the dark”.

And, who is about to acquire and drop that knowledge? Batman aka Bruce Wayne.

3. Batman and the Outsiders return!

Along with DC Rebirth’s Batman and the Suicide Squad’s Katana, plus New 52 stalwarts Metamorpho and Black Lightning, Halo amd Geo-Force make their comics return. So, at least 4 “old” friends have returned to the fold in Rebirth with the whole team trying to uncover the mystery of the Dark Multiverse and Nth Metal.

4. Immortal Man.

Who will be part of the new Dark Matter bannered Immortal Men series with… Duke Thomas’ mom?

5. Mister Terrific returns from the New 52 era Earth 2!

Mister T, of the modern day Justice Society of America (JSA) prior to Flashpoint, was on a special mission when he went to Earth 2 years ago. Her has returned with knowledge.

6. Plastic Man!

????

7. A Joker?!

The mystery of the 3 Jokers begins to unravel as, a seemingly not-so-insane Joker, is freed by Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, and Batman sidekick Duke Thomas.

This character appears to be from the Dark Multiverse, and is on 2 of the 3 covers of next month’s Dark Days: The Casting #1…

…and has knowledge of the Nth Metal and more; which is also revealed throughout the issue from Carter Hall’s journal as well.

On top of this 6+ (more than 1 Outsider), we also get a few DC secret history reveals from the issue that set-up Dark Nights: Metal.

1. Modern day DC Comics was founded on 3 tribes or 4?

Great to see Carter Hall back!

2. The Nth Metal is in several classic DC artifacts including some of the Court of Owl’s.

3. The Green Lantern ring is not immune from the power of Nth Metal. Looks like willpower is not the only thing that can make or break the formerly most powerful weapon in the universe? His ring can’t even register Dark Multiverse characters like the Joker?

4. In addition to trapping or preserving Plastic Man and a Joker, Batman was also storing a big device at the Fortress of Solitude.

You may recall this from the Crisis on Infinite Earths tied to Jack Kirby’s Kamandi lore? Some kind of cosmic tuning fork and this looks like the means through which Batman will head to the Dark Multiverse.

With Aquaman playing a big role too.

So…

A trippy issue with great art. I’m still digesting what I’ve read, but I give this a 7 out of 10. That may go higher with re-reads and more Easter Egg finds. An entertaining issue.

John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!