The Nightwing Fan Club

For me... it was a worrying début for what was once my favourite character. There is indeed much in common with the Dixon era #1 for his first series. It's great to look at, has frenetic action, and doesn't dare go very deep into Dick Grayson's character. I definitely see similarities, and that worries me... It does read a lot like fanfic in some places.

"This is on me."

That's his reaction to ducking into an alley while two cops are brutally slaughtered?
I read that and was like, "Oh my Christ!" I was literally shocked.

"This is on me."

It was a solid first issue that someone new could pick it up and understand who the character is. (The main point to doing a #1 issue)

The set up was good the inner dialogue helped people understand who he is and where he came from. Something "we" (us hardcore people) don't need but it made this book accessable to anybody.

He's nothing like Batman so he's not Batman-lite. I feel he still has this tag only because he's still associated with Batman.
Overall, I feel it was a strong first issue that had good set up, the art was awesome and I feel that Seiko is misdirection making you think it's connected to Haley's Circus when in fact it will lead to what's going on in Batman. But we shall see!

First off this book was 23 years in the making and today we finally have it in our hands. Was it worth the wait? YES... I really think it was.

Coming in a nice over-sized hardcover similar in size to the new Batman and Robin hardcovers done by Grant Morrison, and featuring a forward by Marv Wolfman and an afterward by George Perez, plus an extra feature showing some of the old script and some commentary telling of the changes that we're made to it since it's original inception. This is one nice looking book filled with a lot of great stuff.

As for the story and artwork, Marv Wolfman and George Perez shine here. They are on the top of their game (no pun intended) with this stand alone story. It starts out with the governments discovery of multiple terrorist attacks all across the globe. CBI agent King Farrady knows what is going on...

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Well this issue was interesting and bittersweet in a lot of ways.

They finally touch on something since Identity Crisis, would Tim finally go after Captain Boomerang for the death of his father? Well it turns out to be yes and no. Then of course the real question would Tim kill him for what he did? Well no on that. Tim has gone through a lot since he first came into the Batman world. He's lost a lot of people he was close to (and had some come back) and he has changed and been hardened by those tragedies. But he was still trained by Batman and is still a good person at heart.

Basically in the last issue Tim sets Captain Boomerang down some paths that he knows that by the end of it he would get...

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As a long-time fan of Nightwing, it’s safe to say that this was my most anticipated book of the New 52 relaunch. It has been several years since the conclusion of the last ongoing Nightwing series ended, and in that time Dick Grayson has been very visible, but in the Batman role, and not the Nightwing one. When he first donned the Bat’s cape & cowl, I was quite excited for his step-up into the “starring role”. However, after reading the numerous stories that featured him, it became clear to me that most writers really didn’t seem to have the right feel for Dick’s character. In my opinion, only Morrison & Snyder really seemed to be able to write him the way that I saw his character. So, although I was anxious to have Dick go back to his solo role of Nightwing (still my favorite ‘incarnation’ of Grayson), there was also some concern that the writer may not be a good fit. Still, it’s a new Nightwing book, so as the countdown to the new book go closer, my excitement grew tremendously! Having now read Nightwing #1, I can say that I’m less concerned about the writing than I thought I would be.
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This just wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for. Given all of the talk surrounding Barbara’s new found “mobility”, I was expecting a really dynamic book. And Gail Simone’s professed love for this character seemed to guarantee that she would know exactly how to write the character. Yet for me, it just didn’t feel quite right…like we were witnessing a slightly different Barbara…not the one that I’ve loved for so many years. I’m going to give Simone the benefit of the doubt, and assume that she wanted to get a lot into this first story, so that new readers and old readers would all be on the same page as to Barbara’s new status quo. My hope is that the next issue will have more of a REAL “Barbara” feel, as opposed to this post-traumatic stress syndrome version that we seem to have here. As to the art, I’ve got no real complaints. It was good, solid artwork, in my opinion, but it certainly didn’t evoke a strong reaction from me in any way. All in all, I think my expectations might have been too high for this one, causing it to be a bit of a letdown.

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Apparently DC is not afraid to show how diverse it has become by showing off it’s female characters with not only a strong heroic side, but a strong sexual side as well. This issue has caused quite a stir amongst the internet crowd, due to its rather provocative (some might say soft-core porn) finale between Bruce and Selina. It certainly was a shock to see that level of sexuality on display in a comic. But, having said that, it didn’t feel forced or gratuitous. Instead, the scene seemed to fit the story that was being told in a relatively natural way. Winick’s writing here was average at best though, and did not really give me a huge interest in the Selina Kyle character. Her motivations throughout the book were not very clear, and in some cases, felt pretty weakly constructed..

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Now THIS is a good book! The art and the writing, both by J.H. Wiliams III, really worked for me here. I don’t have a lot of familiarity with the Batwoman character, other than from the short run she had in Detective Comics a couple years ago. However, that seemed to be enough of a background for me to understand what was happening in this book. The story was very well written, tying back nicely to the events of the previous series, but not so much so that a new reader would be lost right out of the gate. William’s art is tremendous with some of the page layouts being absolutely outstanding. In particular the two-page spread where Kate & her father are arguing, while we see all of the prior events that are the cause of the argument, played out in the background. It really is art telling a story, which is something that is rare in comics today. This book is a keeper, and it should not be passed over.
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_Okay, by now you should all realize that this is a top 5 book for me. Even still, this issue falls a little flat. Diana deals with the ramifications of her new heritage, and really, that's all that happens.

it's not much of a review, is it? Well, it's not much of a comic either. Don't get me wrong, the comic handles everything well. The emotions are touching and come through on all levels. But this installment does nothing to advance the overall plot really. And that's a shame because this book still has the potential to be the best book in the new 52.

The art remains beautiful. At one point Diana grabs hold of a torch and spreads its flames with her breath. It's a beautiful panel.

As for the story, each scene is well written, and taken individually is excellent. But when summed up into one comic, all I could say was "that's it?" when I got to the last page.

I hope that issue 4 sees the action and plot return to this book!

I was on the fence about this book, so I waited for the price to drop to $1.99 on the digital store to check it out.

In a way, I'm glad I did.  I want to like this book, but there's something missing in the execution. Obviously, it's another set up book, but one that doesn't take itself too seriously.  Everyone in the book has code names, but none of the code names make sense, like the guy named Irish who was born in Russia, or the guy named Canada who's from Atlanta..

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