Creative Team:
http://www.dcindexes.com/features/comic.php?comicid=131643
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Writer: Kyle Higgins
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Penciller: Eddy Barrows
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Inkers: Ruy José
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Colorist: Rod Reis
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Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
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Editor: Bobbie Chase
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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 20th
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.
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