Nightwing: Rebirth #1 Review

Writer: Tim Seely / Artist: Yanick Paquette / DC Comics

Nightwing, AKA Dick Grayson, has been through a lot since the conclusion of Forever Evil a couple of years ago. Having had his secret identity exposed to the world, almost killed with a bomb, going undercover with an evil organization that were exposing hero’s identities called Spyral and now back again, Dick has been busy. In a surprising turn of events (well, surprising to me, anyway) Grayson turned out to be a very solid book, taking a known character and placing him in a completely new environment and situation. Now Nightwing is back in Gotham for a new challenge…

…problem isn’t you wouldn’t really know it considering half the book is summarizing his time as an agent without Spyral. We get a good amount of his greatest hits and the relationships he forged with the new Huntress, a matinee with Midnighter (my favorite part of the book) and the like while he reunites with Damian. The issue is basically all exposition until Batman enters the conversation and we see why Nightwing is back and what his motivation is. The Parliament of Owls still believes that Grayson is their legacy and it serves as the catalyst for him to don the Black and Blue again. I’m still excited for a new Nightwing book and have all the confidence that Seely will continue to write the character well, but we’ll have to get past the Rebirth part first because nothing of supreme interest happens this time around.

NW1a

The art, also, is a mixed bag. The style is much softer, which I’m sure is intentional when much of the issue pivots around bonding moments between Damian and Dick. But also, there’s not a ton to work with as far as opportunities to do anything robust either, considering the action is pretty light and intermittent.

It’s nice to get Nightwing back in a proper book after the successful Grayson run, but this book is all setup to why we’re getting that book. It may be the product of a Rebirth title, but one can hope the next issue hits the ground running with the actual conflict.

7.4 Bomb Nasal Removers out of 10

Are you following Black Nerd Problems on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Google+?

Tags:

  • William is the Editor-In-Chief, leader of the Black Knights and father of the Avatar. With Korra's attitude, not the other one.

  • Show Comments

  • Scribe

    Even though I enjoyed Grayson, I’ve been looking forward to ol’ Dickey boy being “back in black” and blue. Hopefully this time around they’ll show just how great my fav. hero really is.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

comment *

  • name *

  • email *

  • website *