Tag Nightwing

A Nightwing #101 Micro-Review – The Glad King

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Nightwing 101, cover, February 2023, Bruno RedondoTITLE: Nightwing #101
AUTHORS: Tom Taylor, C.S. Pacat
ARTISTS: Travis Moore, Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer), Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira (Inker). Cover by Bruno Redondo. 
RELEASED: February 21, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I got a little lost on this one.  Am I supposed to know who the king of Vlatava is…?

You guys see that horror flick Smile, last year? Said king takes a page out of that movie’s book as far as villainous features are concerned. Whether on the page or on film, it’s damn unnerving.

This feels a little more like a Titans issue than a Nightwing issue. To an extent I suppose that’s inevitable, what with the reemphasis the Titans are seeing these days. It’s not the worst thing in the world, so long as the book remains Nightwing-centric.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing #100 Micro-Review – New, Exciting, and Conspicuous

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

**This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Nightwing #100 cover, January 2023, Bruno RedondoTITLE: Nightwing #100
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Various. Cover by Bruno Redondo.
RELEASED: January 17, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This issue manages to be a nice celebration of Nightwing’s solo history via guest artists who’ve worked on him. Scott McDaniel, Eddy Barrows, etc. But it also clearly points Dick Grayson in a new and exciting direction. This is an issue of which all parties should be proud.

My only qualm with it? It’s got a scene where Batman and Nightwing are talking in front of Alfred’s grave…in broad daylight. They’d be kind of conspicuous, wouldn’t they? And they’re kind of blowing the whole secret identity thing…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo #3 Micro-Review – S&M Joker?!?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Batman and the Joker the Deadly Duo 3, cover, January 2023, Marc SilvestriTITLE: Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo #3
AUTHOR: Marc Silvestri
ARTISTS: Silvestri, Arif Prianto (Colorist), Troy Peteri (Letterer)
RELEASED: January 10, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I dig that cover, but…is that an S&M mask the Joker is wearing? What the hell? First S&M Riddler in The Batman and now this? If they give one to the Penguin I’m gettin’ the hell outta here…

Silvestri hits his stride with this issue, particularly in terms of his writing. His art was pretty much always on point.

The one downside to the writing: Nightwing is in this story, essentially in a sidekick role. Which is odd, because last I checked Batman had a sidekick. You might have heard of him. His name is Robin.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing #99 Micro-Review – A Feel-Good Bat-Book

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Nightwing #99
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Bruno Redondo, Geraldo Borges, Caio Filipe (Inker), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer). Cover by Redondo.

RELEASED: December 20, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This feels like a set-up issue. As in, what happens here is meant to set up whatever’s coming our way in future issues of Nightwing. In that sense, I’m definitely intrigued.

What’s consistently been interesting to me about this Taylor/Redondo run on Nightwing is that it’s largely become a feel-good title. It has a tone and feel more akin to, say, a Superman book. As it’s theoretically a book in the Batman family, you wouldn’t necessarily expect that. But the approach has helped Nightwing stand out from the crowd. So it’s clearly working. It’s certainly fitting around the holidays.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo #2 Micro-Review – A Guest in the Cave

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Batman & The Joker the Deadly Duo 3, cover, December 2022, Marc SilvestriTITLE: Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo #2
AUTHOR: Marc Silvestri
ARTISTS: Silvestri, Arif Prianto (Colorist), Troy Peteri (Letterer)

RELEASED: December 6, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Selina Kyle is in this issue, and has a line where she says Bruce Wayne “likes my kitties.” Is that meant to be dirty? I’m assuming it is…

As part of this reluctant partnership between Batman and the Joker, the latter is held prisoner in the Batcave. He’s restrained and hooded so he can’t move or see anything. But I still wouldn’t have brought him down there. And toward the end of the issue, Nightwing actually falls asleep in his vicinity. Talk about tempting fate. These brilliant detectives look mighty stupid all of a sudden.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing 2022 Annual Micro-Review – A Little Training…

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Nightwing 2022 Annual, cover, November 2022, Eduardo PansicaTITLE: Nightwing 2022 Annual
AUTHORS: Tom Taylor, Jay Kristoff, C.S. Pacat
ARTISTS: Eduardo Pansica, Inaki Miranda, Julio Ferreira (Inker), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer). Cover by Pansica, Ferreria, & Lucas.

RELEASED: November 29, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

In addition to an origin story for Heartless (shown on the cover), this issue gives us a really cute story about Haley/Bitewing. Quality stuff.

But my favorite of the three short stories we get in this Annual is about Nightwing doing a little training with Jon Kent. By and large, I think their friendship is a little bit forced. But C.S. Pacat, Inaki Miranda, and the creative team still manage to tell us an insightful story about Nightwing’s teaching methods compared to the one he grew up with under Batman.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing #98 Micro-Review – Oh, Thank God…

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Nightwing 98, variant cover, 2022, Brian StelfreezeTITLE: Nightwing #98
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Daniele Di Nicuolo, Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer). Variant cover by Brian Stelfreeze.

RELEASED: November 15, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Oh, thank God. They’re not actually going back to the Ric Grayson stuff, as the end of last issue suggested. It was a set-up for the introduction of Nite-Mite, Nightwing’s equivalent to Bat-Mite. (I might have gone with the name Mite-Wing. But Nite-Mite works too.)

Daniele Di Nicuolo has guest artist duties this month. He shows off his versatility by going suitably cartoony for the Nite-Mite stuff, and then also being able to depict scary demons straight from hell (literally). At the same time, Adriano Lucas offers a nice consistency. Great looking issue.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing #97 Micro-Review – The Return of [Redacted]

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Nightwing #97
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Bruno Redondo, Geraldo Borges, Caio Filipe (Co-Inker), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer)

RELEASED: October 18, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The ending of this issue really surprised me. We see the return of a character from an era on this Nightwing title that I didn’t think we were going to touch on again. At least not so soon. I kind of thought we were all just going to pretend like it never happened.

On another note entirely, this issue sees Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon have intimate relations while a mobster sits in the next room. Kinda hot, though I doubt Batman would approve.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 Micro-Review – “We’re the Titans!”

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths 5, cover, 2022, Daniel Sampere, Alejandro SanchezTITLE: Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #5
AUTHOR: Joshua Williamson
ARTISTS: Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sanchez (Colorist), Tom Napolitano (Letterer)

RELEASED: October 4, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The momentum from last issue continues here, as this finally starts to feel like a Crisis-level story with world-shattering implications. But it’s too little, too late at this point. If Dark Crisis had this level of tension and energy at the beginning, that would have been one thing…

This issue does include a really nice rallying moment for Nightwing and the Titans, though…

“You are not the Justice League!”

“We never were…we’re the Titans!”

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing #96 Micro-Review – The Anti-Batman

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Nightwing 96, cover, 2022, Bruno RedondoTITLE: Nightwing #96
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Bruno Redondo, Caio Filipe (Inker), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer)

RELEASED: September 20, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This issue really encapsulates what I’ll call the “Anti-Batman” spirit Taylor, Redondo, and the gang have created with their run on Nightwing. Meaning Dick lives his live with hope, draws people together instead of shutting them out, etc. There’s even a line in this issue about Dick having to “fight a lot of Bruce’s more toxic programming.”

That quote comes from a pretty great scene between Dick and Barbara. This Taylor/Redondo run has done more for them as a couple than any other story in more than a decade.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.