Nightwing is a favorite character of at least this member of the Revolution. Chuck Dixon did a great job, in his run, of building his solo career into an interesting contrast of the Batman. Wolfman did a good job of re-establishing the character, getting him back to basics after the One Year Later issues did him some damage. Wolfman did not, in this revolutionaries opinion, have the most interesting adventures for Nightwing to participate. This is Peter Tomasi’s try to establish Dick Grayson, Nightwing, as a viable solo character in his own book as he starts his run.
Penciler: Rags Morales
Inker:Michael Bair
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Nightwing shows up to a meeting with Batman and Robin (Timothy Drake) by parachuting his way (20,000 feet worth of parachuting) to Wayne Manor. Alfred muses “One a Flying Grayson…”. Batman and Robin are sure that something is up with the League of Assassins and Ra’s and Talia. Batman states that this should be the top priority and that the Batcave is theirs to use as needed. He also states that they are family and there is no one he trusts more.
Nightwing stops at the New York Library to get the lay of the land of New York, using old, original reference material. As he leaves the library, Talia speaks to him briefly but yields no
information. He then goes on patrol, getting the lay of the land, especially around a museum that he thinks will be targetted soon by robbers on a museum crime spree. As fate would have it, he stumbles across robbers in the museum He subdues them, stopping them from stealing a french knight’s remains, but just as he stops to breath, a green winged, roughly humanoid monster jumps out of the coffin and attempts to flee.
It starts to fly away, but not before Nightwing can get a line on its foot and come along for the ride. The creature eventually flies Nightwing into a lighthouse whose windows he crash lands through as he lands up near the light. A few nights later, Nightwing relates to Robin that he plans to use the museum building as a base of operations, and since it is owned by Waynecorp he is able to be made the museum curator. Robin leaves, and we conclude with Superman telling Nightwing that “We Need To Talk”
The Bad: Some of the pages in this issue are certainly being used for setup that will pay off later, like the Talia scene, that makes the story seem to drag a little, but this is common in pacing a comic to be published in trade format. Also, starting a fairly realistic, street level title with a winged humanoid creature felt a little out of place.
Overall: This team has made Nightwing a character that is very easy for the reader to relate to. It remains to be seen where the title is going, and if it can develop into some thing more than a poor man’s Batman, but this is a solid first issue, and recommended. This team does have the potential to make the Nightwing comic do what Nightwing did to Batman years ago, stand on its own.