Nightwing #29 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins (writer), Russell Dauterman (artist), Pete Pantazis (colorist)

The Story: We’re all a part of the circus, some of us are just lucky enough to be performing with nets.

The Review: Nightwing is something special. I’m obviously biased toward that opinion, but I really do believe it. Nightwing is Robin, but cool. Nightwing is the hero who grew up with us. Nightwing is the hero you wish you could be. In the end, it’s not even the Nightwing identity that we’ve attached to, but the man behind the mask. Dick Grayson was Robin. Dick Grayson was Batman. But Nightwing is Dick Grayson and that’s something that Kyle Higgins understood from Day One.

The structure of Nightwing #29 is a beautiful, peculiar little bird. Caught somewhere between a seventy-four year past, a heart-breaking present, and an uncertain future, Dick’s final adventure under Higgins’ pen is a simple story well told. The story alternates between Nightwing’s attempts to stop Zsasz and rescue Jen and Dick’s musings on loss, grief, and identity. While each half surrenders space to the other they come together to form a rather beautiful whole.

Though Dick’s tussle with Zsasz will not likely compare favorably with some of the more impressive fights he’s had in this series, the tension that Dick’s felt since the night his parents died and through twenty-nine issues is channeled through his reminiscences and into his worries about Jen, giving the issue the necessary dramatic arc and building the short battle into the climactic encounter that ends the series.

Nightwing #28 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins (writer), Russell Dauterman (art), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: The more things change, the more they stay the same…

The Review: Dick Grayson’s time in Chicago has been something of a renascence period for the character. He felt at home, solidified his status as a solo hero, and finally started to put down some roots. It’s been a beautiful run, but we finally stand at the precipice. We all know that those roots are gonna have to come up, but while Dick is slow to tie himself down, the bonds he forms are iron cast and cutting them is going to be hard. Appropriately, Kyle Higgins delivers a wonderful introspective issue as the series begins to wind down.

While it’s something of a reflective issue, Higgins makes sure to give us another of his uniquely acrobatic fight scenes, calling back a character that I admit I was not expecting to see again. The surprising villain’s powers suit the style of the issue’s artist, Russell Dauterman, perfectly. The twisting combat is beautifully rendered and, while the snaking paths hurt the momentum of the scene at times, Dauterman pays particular attention to Nightwing’s movements, creating an impressively clear fight scene.

Higgins crafts a scenario that highlights Nightwing’s inherent heroism, while raising serious questions about what a mystery man hero like Dick can accomplish in the sci-fi madness of the DC Universe. It sets a tone for the rest of the issue, and an interesting one at that.

Batman: Cacophony #1 (of 3) – Review

By Kevin Smith (Writer), Walter Flanagan (Pencils), Sandra Hope (Inker), and Guy Major (Colorist)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I am not much of a DC reader, but as long as it’s not heavily steeped in continuity, I will pick up the occasional Batman story from time to time. I decided to get the first issue of this particular story after reading a recent interview Kevin Smith did in Wizard. The story he has planned sounds quite interesting and Smith swears that Cacophony will get completed on a decent schedule (unlike some of his past work).

The Story: Deadshot breaks into Arkham Asylum in order to assassinate the Joker. But he soon finds that another, Onomatopoeia, is after the same target for a different reason. A fight ensues and soon Joker is free from Arkham, looking for revenge on the person responsible for using his Joker venom for profit. Meanwhile, Batman has his hands full dealing with the lunatic, Zsasz.

What’s Good: The story is off to a nice, intriguing start and I’m definitely glad I decided to give Cacophony a shot. The artwork by Walter Flanagan is lively and the writing by Kevin Smith is (mostly) humorous and entertaining. Also, I have to mention how awesome I think Onomatopoeia is. He’s a character that really puts the medium to great use.

What’s Not So Good: My biggest complaint is that I am really not a fan of the way Joker is portrayed in this story. He comes across as (and looks) a bit too wacky for my tastes. While the dark edge necessary to make Joker work is there, something just feels a bit off. And considering he takes up a decent portion of the book’s pages, it lessened my overall enjoyment of the story a bit.

Conclusion: More Onomatopoeia and less Joker would have earned this book a higher score. That said, I liked what I read (and saw) and am interested in seeing where the story goes from here. Also, I’m pretty sure that this story will be best suited for casual readers as opposed to hardcore fans… but I could be wrong.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny