Alfred was a billionaire - whodathunkit? And, following his demise, he left everything to Dick Grayson. Newly rich Dick decides to help his adopted city of Bludhaven, first by feeding and housing the homeless. But shenanigans are afoot in city hall as Blockbuster, the boss of Bludhaven’s underworld, is busy installing a new mayor - Melinda Zucco, the daughter of Tony Zucco, aka the man who killed Dick’s parents - and a new serial killer called Heartless is stalking the streets, murdering the homeless. And if there’s one thing Dick hates, it’s dicks! Time for Dick to get a firm handle on things and start rubbing out these problems…
(Alright, I’ll put the dick puns back in the pants - for now!)
Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo, the creative team behind Suicide Squad: Bad Blood, reunite to produce a surprisingly decent Nightwing book with Volume 1: Leaping into the Light. I haven’t read Nightwing in years - apparently he recently suffered head trauma and thought he was someone else for a spell? That sounds stoopid and I’m glad I missed it - but this isn’t a huge stumbling block and the book is easily accessible on the whole.
It’s not an amazing story. Dick doesn’t have any great nemeses like Joker or Penguin so he gets Batman’s rogues gallery castoffs like Blockbuster who’s basically DC’s Kingpin. Heartless is an unremarkable new villain too. He’s wearing half of Anarky’s mask for some reason and his MO is to remove the victim’s heart and put it in a jar - literally making them less of a heart. Hmm. Melinda Zucco seems more promising although that storyline ends up playing out in a soap opera-y way.
It was nice to see Babs Gordon and Tim Drake show up for the ride - Dick and Babs’ never-ending on/off romance is back on, sorta - and Taylor’s light, playful tone fits the series like a glove. It’s not a badly-written book, it’s just mostly very easy to put down because nothing that gripping is happening - until that final chapter, which has a great scene where Dick escapes Blockbuster and takes down an attack copter.
And, if you’ve read Taylor’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, you’ll know he can really bring the emotion when he wants, and he leans HARD on the feels for that closing chapter, in a way that even I
Bruno Redondo’s art is fantastic - it’s very slick, very appealing. Nightwing looks great, the splash pages are outstanding, and I love how Dick’s movements as he soars through Bludhaven reflect his trapeze artist beginnings, so he moves like an acrobat. I especially like how Redondo often zooms out during a scene so you know the area the characters are moving around in exactly - it shows he’s really thought about the setting.
Rick Leonardi and Neil Edwards draw the handful of pages that make up the flashback sequence, which aren’t bad but aren’t that special either, and I wasn’t that impressed with Heartless’ character design. Overall though, no real complaints about the art in this one - it’s tip-top.
I don’t think I’ve come across any truly great Nightwing books. The best ones seem to be just ok - which is where Leaping into the Light sits for me. The lack of a strong or memorable story lets it down a bit but it also has great art throughout with some sweet moments here and there. Overall, Nightwing, Volume 1: Leaping into the Light is a decent beginning/leaping on point/soft relaunch of this title and I hope it becomes even better as it goes on.
No comments:
Post a Comment