Review / Commentary # 12 - Nightwing # 12 “Inside Out”

Creative Team: http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=134303

• Writer: Kyle Higgins
• Penciller: Andres Guinaldo
• Inkers: Raul Fernandez & Mark Irwin
• Colorist: Rod Reis
• Letterer: Dezi Sienty
• Editor: Brian Cunningham
• Assistant Editor: Katie Kubert

Detailed Impression:

Nightwing # 12 picks up with the police investigation into Paragon's murder of his Republic of Tomorrow followers. He kind of let the cat out of the bag at the end of last issue when he approached Detective Nie about the case. Nie reveals that he no longer wants Nightwing for the Strayhorn murders before Paragon springs a trap that captures the police and separates them from himself and Nightwing. When Nightwing reveals to Paragon that he knows why Paragon murdered the Strayhorns, Paragon turns into a Bond villain delivering a ridiculous self-aggrandizing expository speech where we learn everything there is to know about him...except for what his motivations were or how he built a branded heavily-armed army with none of Gotham's roughly dozen vigilante detectives even noticing. His choice to focus his efforts on Nightwing seem to result solely from the fact that he lost the allegiance of his buddies the Strayhorns after Nightwing saved them.

I can accept that he would zero on Nightwing for personal reasons, but why was he against heroes in the first place? His followers had all lost something as a result of vigilante activities and he said he wanted to tear them down as false idols, but why? What had he lost that made him want to go after them to begin with? I also don't know what Paragon stood to gain from defaming the heroes. I'm not sure if Higgins was under the gun to finish the arc before getting roped into another event with the next issue's Zero Month (another tie-in with a Scott Snyder story), but I think this story could definitely have used another issue or two to nail down why any of this happened.

On the other hand, there are some serious pros to offset the aforementioned cons. The side story of Dick trying to move Haly's Circus to Gotham's old Amusement Mile and the hoops he has to jump through to make that happen works well. I was genuinely surprised to see that Detective Nie really was more interested in seeing justice done than railroading and framing Nightwing. I guess even the dirty cops in Gotham can sometimes see the light. The foreshadowing of Lady Shiva's return to the DCU for the first time in New52 continuity is also handled nicely.

I've beaten him up a lot in previous reviews, but Andres Guinaldo's art makes a quantum leap in this issue. While he could still do a little more to make his panel layouts more interesting, his facial work is actually really good in this one. Dick's face is consistently recognizable from page to page, panel to panel. There are no weird ethnicity shifts for any of the characters like last issue. In fact, the only character who might need some improvement is Paragon when he first removes his mask. For some reason, he looks like a vampire in the reveal. I also really dug Guinaldo's Penguin and the expression he drew on Dick's face as he's bandaging himself up communicated a great deal of physical pain while still managing to look fun and kind of goofy.

Overall Impression:

Unfortunately, I can't say that this was the home run ending I'd have liked to see for the People of Tomorrow arc. Whether dictated by outside forces or just not quite having enough meat to the main antagonist, Higgins failed to stick the landing on the main storyline. That said, I really like what he did in the B-story, introducing Sonia Branch/Zucco into Dick's supporting cast. I also like that Higgins shows Dick wanting to bridge his circus life and his Gotham City life by giving Haly's a permanent base of operations in town.

This arc had a lot of potential, but it suffered from an anemic villain and maybe a little too much to get done in too little page space. Paragon could make for an interesting recurring character. Unfortunately, much like Saiko, the main antagonist of Higgins' previous arc, Paragon never makes another appearance. However, the bad guy didn't die this time so there is still the possibility for him to make a return some time down the line. Hopefully, he'll have more reason to come calling if that next time ever does arrive.

***SIDE NOTE***:

The comments I made in the previous review for issue 11 about Sonia and Dick's partnership were a bit premature. I have been using my trade paperback of the issues as my reference for these reviews and must have mixed up the pages in my head. The two only have a very brief and terse interaction in issue 11. Their relationship, both professional and personal, is actually expanded in the pages of issue 12.

Review / Commentary # 11 - Nightwing # 11: “Tomorrow Can't Wait”

Creative Team: http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=134302

• Writer: Kyle Higgins
• Penciller: Andres Guinaldo
• Inker: Mark Irwin
• Colorist: Peter Pantazis
• Letterer: Travis Lanham
• Editor: Brian Cunningham
• Assistant Editor: Katie Kubert

Detailed Impression:

The cover to issue # 11 of Nightwing gives us a pretty good preview of the opening battle Dick faces in the first few pages. Once again Barrows and Reis are sans inks on the cover, the pair's only contribution this issue and one of the weakest covers the two have provided so far in the series. Portions of the drawing just seem much less refined than what Barrows has put forward in the past and the colors appear a bit too washed out, although the use of white highlights to define the folds in Paragon's trenchcoat is a very nice touch.

Inside the book, Kyle Higgins starts things off with a bang. Picking up from where last issue left off, Nightwing is kind of on his heels. He got caught snooping around the Republic of Tomorrow's clocktower HQ by their leader, Paragon, and attempts to trash-talk his way out of what he anticipates will be a massive fight with the small but heavily-armed army. Needless to say but the attempt fails miserably. Instead, he lights up taser charges on his escrima sticks and jumps into the fray against the members of the Republic taking a brief but damaging advantage before Paragon gets him from behind with his plasma ring/whip weapon. When the gunmen recover and start firing wildly, Nightwing loses the momentum of the fight. His attempt to utilize a sonic weapon in order to return the tide of battle to his favor backfires when Paragon knocks the entire clock loose of the building to fall onto any unsuspecting bystanders on the street below. Nightwing destroys the clock before any civilian can be injured but loses track of the Repulic members in the process. The overall fight lasts for almost half of the issue.

Higgins sheds a little more light on Detective Nie and why he has it in for Nightwing. He also enlightens us as to the Republic of Tomorrow's motivations and shows what happens when those motivations are no longer enough to keep members from wanting to leave. A brief interaction with Damian in the Batcave gives us a glimpse of Nightwing employing his skills as a detective wherein he appears to solve the mystery behind the murders he has been investigating recently. Lastly, Higgins expands on the budding business relationship, and maybe a little more personal as well, between Dick Grayson and Sonia Branch, aka Sonia Zucco, daughter of his parents' killer.

The art team for the issue puts forward a satisfying effort. Andres Guinaldo's cartoonier style works better at some points in the issue than others. As with his previous work on the series, faces are the least successful aspect of Guinaldo's pencils mostly due to their inconsistency. Guinaldo catches a break for a few pages since the Republic of Tomorrow wear helmets that fully cover their faces. All the characters seem to fluctuate between solidly caucasian and vaguely Asian at various points throughout the issue. On the other hand, his figure work is excellent. The backgrounds get a little sparse here and there, but very few panels are totally lacking in this department. The washed out appearance of the cover continues through the majority of the issue even with a different colorist. Someone might want to remind Mr. Pantazis that all the characters' costumes in the book skew more black than grey.

Overall Impression:

Issue 11 does its job well as the middle issue of a three part arc. Higgins advances all of the subplots pretty nicely even though we don't get much, if any, resolution in the issue. The only things we learn for certain are that Paragon holds little attachment to his followers, being all-too-willing to kill them himself, and that Dick and Sonia will be working more closely with one another over the coming days. The latter fact brings with it a surprising revelation that could have some interesting character implications.

 On the art side, Guinaldo proves he can handle the action and emotion of the book very well. Both are communicated nicely, even though I'm not totally on board for his facial work. He might get a little more punch out of the action by emulating Eddy Barrows' non-standard panel layouts as Geraldo Borges did last issue, but his cartoonier style shows the beginnings of some of the strengths I highlighted in Trevor McCarthy's work from issue # 4. I would also like to have seen what impact Rod Reis could have had if he'd colored a few of the pages. I think it might have worked to give a smoother transition between the art teams from issue to issue.

Review / Commentary # 10 - Nightwing # 10: “The Tomorrow People”

Creative Team: http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=131646

• Writer: Kyle Higgins
• Penciller: Eddy Barrows & Geraldo Borges
• Inkers: Eber Ferreira & Ruy José
• Colorist: Rod Reis
• Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
• Editor: Brian Cunningham
• Assistant Editor: Katie Kubert

Detailed Impression:

We start a new arc in Nightwing # 10. That new start begins with a beat-to-hell Nightwing on the cover by Eddy Barrows and Rod Reis, as usual. This time there's a twist. Eber Ferreira inked the cover over Barrows' pencils. The inks lend a stark quality to the image emphasizing the danger Nightwing faces, especially given the image of his assailants reflected in the pool of mixed blood and rainwater.

Inside, Kyle Higgins finally gets to begin unraveling a mystery that he first hinted at during issue # 8. Nightwing doesn't have much to go on in the way of clues, a pair of identical brandings on two brothers who were apparently murdered using one of his escrima sticks. The fact that the murder weapon is tied to a member of the Bat-family and being kept out of the media (revealed in issue 8) makes him think there maybe something more to the story. In the meantime, we also meet several new characters: Detective Travis Nie seems to have a vendetta against the whole Bat-family, but a particularly nasty personal grievance with Nightwing. He even sends a SWAT team, guns-blazing, to take Nightwing at the victims' apartment, disregarding the potential collateral damage to other residents of the building. Surprisingly, we also find that Nightwing has earned the support of a high-ranking city official whose life he saved during the Night of the Owls attacks. Higgins teases out more information as the issue continues and Nightwing uncovers a small army of self-styled revolutionaries calling themselves the Republic of Tomorrow led by someone calling himself Paragon. The last big surprise that we get (humongous actually) comes in the form of a business venture Dick has been exploring with Lucius Fox and Lucius' revelation that the only bank that might be interested in the proposition is run by Sonia Zucco, daughter of the man who killed Dick's parents.

Barrows and Ferreira give us plenty of great art between the covers, continuing to deliver excellent character and background detail with dynamic page layouts and interesting panel designs. Unfortunately, the only page of theirs I don't love is the issue's title/splash page featuring the single largest drawing of our main character. His body seems too skinny; an acrobat of Nightwing's caliber should have significantly more developed lats. Additionally, the position appears as though it would be awkward for any character except maybe Spider-Man. On the other hand, the fight sequence in the apartment and Nightwing's dramatic escape from the situation looked fantastic. His loft's armory is equally impressive.

Sticking with the art, Geraldo Borges and Ruy José do an excellent job picking up where Barrows and Ferreira leave off. It helps that Borges' layouts and pencils share a very similar-looking aesthetic with Barrows' own. The second art team gets an additional leg up from colorist Rod Reis who brings a unifying element to the visuals that was lacking in the transition from one team to the next back in issue # 9. The only really big dip that the art takes in the book comes in the less-detailed backgrounds compared to Barrows and Ferreira.

Overall Impression:

Higgins introduces some very interesting character dynamics using the supporting characters in the book. Why is Nie so vehement, to the point of recklessness, in his pursuit of Nightwing? Since when does any city official besides Commissioner Gordon have any interest in repaying a member of the Bat-family for saving his life? Are Dick and Sonia really going to be able to put aside the fact that her father murdered his parents in order to work together? And how much more awkward is it that he thinks she's cute?

I love the possibilities that this issue represents. I'm also ecstatic to see Higgins be able to tell his own story with Nightwing in the main seat, as opposed to riding sidecar to Batman in the former's own series. Nightwing # 10 is a pretty good beginning to an arc meant to bring some clarity to a mystery that's been building for a long time. Discounting the one page discussed above and single small panel in the corner of one of Borges and José's pages, the art is really good to excellent. 

Editorial # 6 - “The Future Looks Bright for a Certain Gotham Knight"

For even casual fans of DC Comics, it will come as no surprise that Dick Grayson's time as a super spy is soon to be ending. As revealed during DC's Rebirth panel atWonderCon, our hero going to be back in costume as Nightwing and that costume is going to be black and blue! The biweekly book will at least partially spin out of events in the current Grayson series and helmed by current series co-writer, Tim Seeley. Fans of Grayson should find that a comforting thought. I'm only familiar with one of the two series pencillers. Marcus To is fantastic! If you need proof of that, check out the pre-Flashpoint Red Robin series, the Huntress mini-series, or some of his fill-in work for Francis Manapul on the Flash. I don't know Javi Fernandez' work, but I do like the couple of images I have seen, so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic.

Dick will also be hanging out with his Titans pals in a new monthly series spinning out of TitansHunt. That one's by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Abnett has been keeping my interest piqued on Titans Hunt, so I'm fairly certain that I'll be okay with the writing. Booth's abbreviated run on the New52 Nightwing series was really good. I found it to be vastly superior to his more recent work as the artist on the Flash or his earlier work on the first New52 Teen Titans series. The preliminary images of Titans look pretty good, so...fingers crossed?

So how will all this affect TKF? Since I still intend to review everything since the start of the New52, I will continue to work on the already existing books. However, at my current rate, I realize that if I stay totally chronological, I won't get to the Rebirth books for many months. Therefor, I have decided that once Rebirth hits, I will review the new Nightwing and Titans books in as close to real time as I can and continue to catch up the previously existing series when I'm not working on the new ones.

Lastly, I'm still planning to get to work on the original superhero concept that I mentioned in my first TKF editorial. I'm not sure how that will affect the overall output on this project. Once that's ready, I'll have to make any necessary adjustments on the fly. I have a little research to do first, but hopefully I can have that up and going by late May or early June. We have a new baby in the house, so time and consciousness don't coincide a lot right now. I will have reviews for Nightwing # 10, and possibly # 11, up by Saturday. I've already written them in my head. Just need to get them typed out. Anybody reading, I hope to hear from you soon. Later, Fliers! (If there really is anybody out there reading these brain droppings, that's what I call you in my head. Let me know what you think.)

Review / Commentary # 9 - Nightwing # 9: “The Gray Son”

Creative Team: http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=131645

• Writer: Kyle Higgins
• Penciller: Eddy Barrows & Andres Guinaldo
• Inkers: Eber Ferreira, Ruy José, & Mark Irwin
• Colorist: Rod Reis & Peter Pantazis
• Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
• Editor: Bobbie Chase & Brian Cunningham
• Assistant Editor: Katie Kubert

Detailed Impression:

Nightwing # 9 features an intense battle on the cover between Nightwing and his great grandfather, the Talon named William Cobb. The figures are dynamic, especially Talon's, and the scene is dramatic even though Nightwing looks like he'd be equally engaged (if slightly less bloody) as a drummer in a metal band. One sort of wonky thing is that both characters' upper bodies appear too big to be supported on the relatively puny legs Barrows draws for them.

Inside the book, the creative team continues its work from the last issue progressing the battle and relating Cobb's origin through numerous flashback sequences. Cobb's origin, as well as that of the Grayson family line, is deeply tied in with one of the five leading families of old Gotham, Haly's Circus, and the Court of Owls.

Barrows handles the art chores for roughly two thirds of the issue. His pages are as good as ever and the panel layouts contribute nicely to give the action more of a sense of motion. Andres Guinaldo's pages are generally well-drawn. However, his more traditional layouts are visually less interesting. Additionally, and I don't know if this is because of the multiple inkers and colorists involved in completing the issue, some of Guinaldo's facial work looks pretty rough. In all likelihood, Guinaldo and company were just in a rush to get the pages done in order to back up Barrows who might have gotten behind. The art shift is more disappointing because of the extremely lush background work Barrows put in. Again, he was probably under a time crunch, but Guinaldo's pages just don't have a comparable level of detail although his action work is still pretty spectacular. His action work looks its best in his first few pages showing Cobb at the beginning of his career as a Talon.

Higgins uses the fight scenes to good effect in order to provide meta-commentary about the criticism directed toward Nightwing by, not only other characters in the DCU, but also other members of the larger comics fandom who might view the character as a poor man's imitation of Batman. Higgins responds to the criticism via the dialog between Nightwing and Talon while also pointing out that Cobb's view of the city is both myopic and dated. He also does a fine job resolving the battle in such a way as to highlight Nightwing's degree of skill and strategy.

Overall Impression:

Issue # 9 of Nightwing is not perfect. It is very good, but hindered by multiple art teams. The situation is exacerbated by inconsistent coloring; not that the colorists are incapable, but having a single colorist could have provided a unifying element to smooth out the differences between the two pencillers and three inkers.

I don't know if Cobb's origin story was Higgins' creation or that of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo who had first developed the character. I do recall Higgins stating, in his “Fatman on Batman” interview, that he came up with the origin of the Grayson family name which I found to be really cool.

I've complained ad nauseum about Snyder's Batman overshadowing many other stories occurring in the Bat-family of books. After Night of the Owls, Snyder relents for a short while. This allows Higgins and company to do address their own story arc over the course of the next few issues developing some plot points they established over all of their previous issues. We'll see how that works out for them in upcoming reviews.

Review / Commentary # 8 - Nightwing # 8: “Bloodlines”

Creative Team: http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=131643

• Writer: Kyle Higgins
• Penciller: Eddy Barrows
• Inkers: Ruy José
• Colorist: Rod Reis
• Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
• Editor: Bobbie Chase
• Assistant Editor: Katie Kubert

Detailed Impression:

Nightwing # 8 sports a cover by series regulars Eddy Barrows and Rod Reis which nicely previews the dual stories being told between the pages. The drawing is pretty fantastic, even if it is a bit misleading. The Talon in the foreground is central to the story, but only makes a brief appearance in the issue. Barrows' hyper-realistic style makes the whole piece look spectacular and is especially on display in the depiction of the owl sitting on Talon's shoulder.

Barrows' work seems particularly suited to the events, dress, and overall style of pre-modern eras. That's mostly to the benefit of this issue since a good part takes place in the early 20^th century. However, unlike the cover or previous flashback scenes in the series, the flashback sequences in this issue are fully inked. The effect lends a harder, less dreamy feeling to the flashbacks, but still work equally well.

Higgins uses these scenes to tell the story of a poor Gotham boy who made a life for himself as an entertainer thanks to a chance encounter with the ringleader of Haly's Circus (which we learned in the last story arc is a front for a Court of Owls recruitment program.) This being the first of a two-part tie-in to the Night of the Owls, we are initially led to believe that the Talon Dick fights in the present day story is the same child, now grown up and serving as an assassin for the Court which most Gothamites still consider to be an urban legend. The battle between Nightwing and the Talon is brutal and well-illustrated. Higgins switches between past and present well and Barrows lays out the pages in a manner that enhances both stories nicely.

The revelation that another Talon is involved and has actually been the one in the flashback sequences comes as no small shock. The fact that he is not concerned with hunting a member of the Gotham City upper crust, but is instead focused on killing Nightwing, whom he knows to be Dick Grayson, is even more of a surprise.

Overall Impression:

There isn't a terrible lot to say about issue # 8 of Nightwing beyond the fact that it is really, really good. The majority of the issue is dominated by the two stories discussed above, both of which tie back to Scott Snyder's Night of the Owls arc in the main Batman series. Higgins, Barrows, et. al., do a remarkable job extending that story. The only real drawback to the issue is that, as stated in my previous review, Snyder's story takes precedence in a book that he doesn't actually write. In fact, only one page of the entire issue is dedicated to pushing an ongoing Nightwing-centric plot forward.

As we'll see in the next issue, the Court of Owls and Night of the Owls storylines do revolve around Dick Grayson to a certain extent. However, they ultimately don't really matter much to the character at this point (although Tom King's Robin War revives the connection much later on). The teaser page for the next arc does a nice job of building enough suspense to keep readers intrigued and interested in seeing how the mystery of Nightwing's weapon being used in a murder will be resolved.