Nightwing Vol. 3: Death of the Family
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| Why so... not serious... okay, I need a new line. |
Writer: Kyle
Higgins
Artists: Eddy
Barrows and Andres Guinaldo
Collects: Nightwing #13-18, Batman #17 and an excerpt from the Young Romance one-shot.
Background:
Bat-family titles have continually tied-in to whatever Batman story is happening at the time.
As a former Robin, Dick Grayson has a strong connection to Batman, and has
appeared frequently in Scott Snyder’s stories.
Before we get too far into this review, it’s important to
note that Dick Grayson’s story has revolved closely around his former home,
Haly’s Circus. Haly’s was the place where Dick grew up and saw his parents
killed by ambush. Dick has since come to own the circus and feels the
responsibility of quite greatly.
Review:
Nightwing’s
problem of late has been that it has yet to cut the cord from Snyder’s Batman series. The last volume was
connected closely to Batman’s Court of Owls story, and now this one ties
into the Death of the Family story
arc. While I’m sure the Death of the
Family story arc works really well when crossed over all of the Bat-books,
but while reading the Nightwing
element of this event, it only served to reinforce how badly Nightwing needs to
step out on his own. Thankfully, this volume does allow for that to happen in
the future and for that I am glad I read it.
So the Joker is back in town, and that sends up warning
lights amongst every hero to ever work with Bruce Wayne. The Joker knows who
everyone in the Bat-Family is and is out to make them pay for the years of
continuity that saw him serve jail time and, at one stage, get his face
removed. The Joker has very specific plans for how he’s going to torture
everybody Batman’s ever cared for and for Nightwing, that means attacking Haly’s circus.
The Joker works best when he gives off the vibe of a
horror-story villain and Higgins has written him in just that way. Jokers tone
in this collection is unsettling. Everything from his word choices when
taunting victims to even the way the dialogue drags out words makes your skin
crawl. Joker’s methods are also pack plenty of disturbing punch. I won’t spoil
them, but it’s the sort of thing that has allowed Joker to stand out as one of
those villains who will never get old no matter who plays him in the Batman movies.
If only Nightwing got the same chance to shine.
I came into this volume expecting Dick Greyson to beat the
Joker’s sadistic trick on him, to not allow himself to be broken, and
definitely to not need saving by Batman. That doesn’t happen here. Instead of
being the heroic character that other volumes in this series have portrayed him
as, here Nightwing is the damsel in distress along with the rest of the
Bat-family; waiting for Batman to rescue them from their own inadequacies. Batman
#17 does an entertaining job, but it didn’t alleviate the sour taste in my
mouth that came from knowing that the titular character in the book was written
to be deliberately less cool than a character in another book.
The crossover issues are bookended by, at the beginning, a
story that shows Nightwing encountering Lady Shiva. This two-issue story arc is
mildly entertaining, but far too short to be satisfying. This only enforces my
belief that Higgins needs to separate Nightwing
from Batman if he hopes to do
something great with the character. The Lady Shiva arc feels rushed; likely
because Higgins knew he had to write a Death
of the Family tie-in.
The worst part of the book, though, comes in the
collection’s two concluding issues. In both of these, Nightwing does a lot of
moping. The artist change doesn’t help these issues, as the change is made more
sudden and jarring by the fact that these two last issues are just
uninteresting.
Overall, though, I have high hopes for volume 4. This volume
did what it promised. It killed the idea of the Bat-family and now we may see
some Nightwing stories that allow
Dick to really stretch his wings as he gains some autonomy and as his story no
longer needs to be bound to Batman’s. It’s just a pity that the path to it left
Nightwing feeling so disempowered. Death
of the Family gets three out of five cut cords.
***
+ Joker is characteristically creepy.
+ Raises hopes for what will happen in the future.
- Nightwing is reduced to victim-status in a book where he
should be the hero
- The last two issues are painfully dull.
Alternate Option:
Nightwing:
Night of the Owls
This is a cross-over volume done right. Nightwing gets the
spotlight he needs without detracting from any other character in the
Bat-family.
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