New artist, new city, new challenges - New Nightwing

[icon_uk]

I've bemoaned, in the past, what the DCnU cost Dick Grayson, gone was his long history as Robin, his maturation into Nightwing, his role as team leader, and the fact he lived in a world beyond Gotham (not always far away, but beyond the city limits). The reboot had him ousted as Batman and losing Damian as his snidekick (That's like a sidekick, but well, more snarky) and living in Gotham City.

What plots they set him up with tended to get sidetracked by "Events", like his annoyingly Gotham-centric new family history for "Night of the Owls", which ended in nothing, as the "Talon" title (Which in fairness is a good deal of fun and you should check it out) sort of took over where I might have thought a new Nightwing arc would start (since Talon is all about a former rebellious Talon seeking to dismantle the remains of the Court of Owls powerbase) and the less said about the overblown nothing that was "The Death of the Family" the better IMHO...

So now we have Brett Booth, fresh of the Teen Titans, as new artist coming to join Kyle Higgins, and they've changed as much as possible, and frankly, it's the sort of start this title has needed since the reboot IMHO.





This cover highlights the latest update of the Nightwing costume, with more red, but this time being used as highlights, his costume is more ribbed (for our mutual pleasure) and his escrima holsters are now on his thighs, which I have to admit makes more sense than someone renowned for agility and flexibility having to negotiate having two two-foot sticks sticking out from his upper back.

Oh, and that new chap is the Prankster, but he and Nightwing don't even meet this issue... I think...

The short version of the first half of the book is Dick arriving in Chicago on the trail of the, long presumed dead, Tony Zucco, the guy who killed his parents.

He takes a room in an apartment for a couple of months, meaning he has a new cast member (about bloody time), a guy named Mike. Dick's not enthused about having a room=mate, but since all his own money is now up in smoke in Gotham, and he doesn't want to ask Bruce for anything (as a result of the completely unconvincing "feud" that the Joker somehow engendered by whispering things to the assorted captive sidekicks that no one has bothered to tell elaborate on) so his funds are low, and the apartment is just next to the railway line so there's a handy means of travelling down to the city centre for him. (Space means I can't show Dick's reaction to it, which is just delightful)

Chicago had an unspecified, but VERY bad experience with costumed characters some time ago, which resulted in an entire railway station being levelled, and so the mayor has introduced a severely enforced "No Masks" policy city-wide. So Dick is determined to keep a low profile as Nightwing.... yeah, like THAT'S going to last...

Whilst trying to get info on Zucco via a local information broker, Nightwing meets a couple of local players; Spade, the information broker, and an odd and rather violent woman named Mali, who seems to have some sort of multiple personality problem, she seems to compulsively mimic those around her nd at the same time have conversations and arguments with herself/selves. I suspect we haven't seen the last of them...

At any rate, Dick finds himself being pursed by the Chicago PD, who are armed and not taking chances... (Oh, and Dick mentions that he doesn't use Kevlar any more, which given how often it used to be mentioned in the Chuck Dixon days, is perhaps some sort of sacrilege. I assume he's upgraded to something better and MORE bulletproof)



(I think this is the first time we've seen Dick using his "body language reading" ability since it was rather randomly introduced in Nightwing 0) Whilst it SHOULD be Cass Cain's schtick, at least SOMEONE still has it)

And now three pages I won't interrupt the flow of the narrative for...







Now THAT'S my boy! :)

Loving the art here, Booth suits Nightwing a lot more than he did the Titans. Most importantly perhaps, it has a nicely kinetic feel to it, which Nightwing should always have.

Zucco makes a small appearance, linked to someone significant to the plot.

Oh, and the Prankster, focus of the cover, doesn't even show up until the end, showing that he has something of a sense of (admittedly very warped) social justice, which I won't spoil.

This is actually rather promising I think! :)

Comments

[onceaskrull]

I literally groaned when I read the words "Brett Booth", but the pages here don't look too bad--maybe his art only really gets to me when he's trying to draw adolescents?

Haven't been following the title so don't know when they reintroduced the finger stripes, but yay! I miss the blue though, I guess I just can't be pleased.

[icon_uk]

I think perhaps having ONE main character rather than seven or so helps.

[superfangirl1]

The Prankster becoming a Nightwing villain instead of Superman is a awesome idea.

I can imagine of the Six O'Clock News. The cops will show a sketch artist image of Dick nice ass and tell people if you seen a butt like this. Please inform the cops asap. :P

[chrisdv]

"Ma'am, please describe the man..."
"Well, I didn't get a good look at his face, but the ass on that boy..."
MEANWHILE, IN GOTHAM...
"CPD reports say that the vigilante had, and I quote, a sweet ass..."
"Dammit, Dick."

[ablackraptor]

I really hope something like that ends up happening now.

[nyadnar17]

This actually looks awesome. There may be hope for Nightwing yet, going to pick this book up now thanks.

[alexanderlucard]

Chicago, eh? I hope the mayor is Kelsey Grammer.

[icon_uk]

Not unless he's been taking a LOT of... ummm.. tanning sessions.

[kenn_el]

I hate when they use real world locales (though it annoyed the heck out of me that I was supposed to believe, pre-Flashpoint, that there would be a United States city spelled with an umlaut), as it's too restrictive. One really cannot have a Chicago earthquake, as was once done with Gotham, for example. I like Booth's art, and, though Barrows was good when he was able to do the work, his tenure was too inconsistent for the title to develop a look. Is this the first gay artist to regularly draw Dick?

[beyondthefringe]

Oh, I'm pretty sure a lot of gay artists have drawn....
Oh. OH!
Yeah.

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

[nyadnar17]

I view the inability of DC to completely wreck Chicago as a plus give Dick Grayson's bad luck with cities in the bad.

[benuben]

Well, I think it's much better, than if all the superhero stuff was happpening in fictional cities.

[filthysize]

Not true. They sank San Diego to the bottom of the ocean in Aquaman.

[icon_uk]

Also Montevideo was wiped off the face of the planet in Morrison's JL.

[cainofdreaming]

Red crotch eyes. Well, that's certainly a distinctive look.

[icon_uk]

Sort of a call back to his old Disco!Wing yellow crotch arrows

[darkknightjrk]

Yeah, this just feels like what a Nightwing book should be like. I'm actually excited for it now. :)

[chrisdv]

Prankster's new costume is kinda awesome.

As is Nightwing's.

NEW COSTUMES FOR ALL!

[shingi70]

Its crazy how much an artist has an impact on a book.I kept hearing the writing was bad but from what I've read it was decent it was just the art hampering it down.

Dropping Teen Titans and barrows lame ass for my Brett Booth Goodness.

Also someone should post more Captain Marvel.

[icon_uk]

Oh the art from Barrows was pretty, VERY pretty IMHO (He also gave Dick a great deal of graceful fluidity in his movement, but perhaps at the cost of not depicting him as powerful), and the writing wasn't bad, but as I said, I don't think it was going anywhere, it just sort of hovered around waiting to get sidelined by the next crossover. I'm hoping they steer well clear of those for a nice long while.

Oh, and please don't use the term "lame" as a perjorative on S_D, it has able-ist connotations.

[sun_man]

shitty art is shitty

[chrisdv]

Yes, but there's none here.

[sun_man]

except for Booth's shit

[icon_uk]

Out of a desire to propogate positive discussion, what comic art are you enjoying these days?

[kurenai_tenka]

Well, Booth's Titans art has been pretty horrible, but this is actually alright. The only problem I have with it is that his Tim and Dick look nearly the same. =/

[icon_uk]

Well, based on the DCnU timeline they're probably only two years apart in age.

[kurenai_tenka]

I appreciate that, but I don't think it says much for the artist when his characters look the same... particularly two main/central ones.

[mommy]

My first reaction was "The fingerstripes are back!" followed promptly by "...But they're the wrong color." I guess I still associate Nightwing with blue.

Any ideas on why Chicago was picked over New York City? The character spent a lot of time in NYC pre-boot, so it feels a little odd to have him in Chicago now.

[icon_uk]

Diversity of locale I guess.

Since his Titans run has been erased from the timeline, Dick probably hasn't spent much time in New York, and since that's where heroes tend to congregate, better to send him somewhere that is virgin territory, without it being the sinkhole that Bludhaven was.

[coldfiredragon]

I love this art! God do I love this art. It fits Dick in so many ways that post-reboot Nightwing art just didn't for me.

[big_daddy_d]

I like his look here. Both Nightwing and Prankster. As for Prankster, interesting that he's going to become a Nightwing villain. Makes sense for him to be a street level type because my only exposure to him in Superman was in an old animated series in an episode where he kept pranking people, got a stern talking to from Superman and very easily ended up in jail. Then a few years ago in an issue of Supergirl where he someone stole Steel's suit and hard it out with her.

Sooo.. can someone educate me?

[ablackraptor]

I agree completely that this issue was better then the previous few. I have actually enjoyed the previous issues, but this is the first that felt like it was its own being, and the art does help the flow a lot.

[junipepper]

All right. I'll give it another shot. After all, fingerstripes! Even if they aren't blue.

Not sure what the red highlights are supposed to be for; it's not like his crotch was hard to locate before.

[chrisdv]

Probably just wanted to draw people's attention to it.

For strategic reasons, obviously.

[icon_uk]

Only Nightwing would come up with the idea of redirecting people's gaze away from his ass by highlighting his crotch.

Never mind that if people stare there too long his secret identity is in peril, through word association if nothing else.

[junipepper]

Shlong Grayson.

[darth_cloudo]

...The art here is actually pretty...nice?
And the writing actually feels kind of....fun??
I kind of want to...buy...a new 52 book???
What's happening D:

[ablackraptor]

If you want to be more confused, try looking up stuff about he last few Green Arrow issues. Change of staff have given it a new poppy feel and a Born Again-like story to kick things off that's actually working out pretty good. Yes, New 52 Green Arrow is now actually good, and the sky fell a bit when I realized that.

[maxisanacorn]

The art and coloring for the pages looks MUCH better than his other work, very fluid and kinetic. His faces are still wonky though, but Brett is I think in some respects better than people give him credit for. He still can't draw women and clothing for women though it's a bit stuck in the 90s. I don't like the coloring for the cover but he does a really solid job with this layout. The colorist did a good job too.

Is red actually a more practical color for nightwear than blue? I thought I remember reading somewhere that red doesn't show up at night with night things so it's actually a better choice?

[ablackraptor]

no idea if that's true, but blue traditionally blends better with the night darkness then most colours. In fact, its guessed that the few times historical ninjas DID wear fancy PJs to fight in, they likely wore blue instead of the more often used black for that reason.

Though, both are still drawn usually with a dark shade, so I suppose they both blend in well into the darkness.

[junipepper]

There really are some wonky faces, I have to agree. It looks like a stylistic choice, but it just doesn't work. He could do better, I think, but this is apparently how he wants them to look -- not much you can do about that.

[shadwing]

Now if they could just cut to a Certian Chicago Based Wizard yelling at his phone "No Murphy that particular fireball wasn't my fault...!"

Never gonna happen but a fangirl can dream can't she?

[thanekos]

Urban fantasy Nightwing. There's a thought.

[shadwing]

Hey, I've seen Buffy/Nightwing crossovers, why not DresdenFiles/Nightwing?