Nightwing #4 – Review

By: Kyle Higgins (writer), Trevor McCarthy (writer), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: If this were a romantic comedy, it’d be called “Seeing Double-Red.”

The Review: Speaking as a former fanfiction reader (and, admittedly, writer), I speak from personal experience when I say that it’s always a bit risky to write the same characters as another writer, especially if they’re still writing them.  You have the burden of being constantly compared to each other, and it can get a little dicey if people like one writer’s approach better.

Gail Simone already did a very fine Dick and Barbara reunion last month in Batgirl, so you have good reason to be a bit skeptical of Higgins’ follow-up.  Since the former lovebirds had a rather auspicious parting, it seems somewhat premature to have them meet again so soon.  Higgins himself calls that point out when he has Dick asking Babs doubtfully, “So you decided to just…come say hi…after you made it clear you wanted to do this alone?”  And while her reply of wanting to “try this again” is sweet, it’s not very convincing, story-wise.

Setting that aside, Higgins writes the couple with their characteristic chemistry, though they wisely spend most their time talking and doing shop.  The mini-plotline about the shapeshifting Spinebender and stolen microchips is largely forgettable, but it provides an easy, straightforward basis for the two young heroes to show some excellent teamwork and get some action (not that kind, shippers) without any angst or melodrama attached.

Even with a fairly simple chain of events, Higgins has a habit of glossing over logistics.  The one that really stands out in this issue is when Spinebender takes on Nightwing’s form and tries to trick Batgirl that way.  Granted, these doppelganger tactics are pretty old, and the solutions tend to be arbitrary most of the time, but Higgins should have made an effort to play out the scene with some degree of logic.  Having Babs later explain that she “just went after the cuter one” makes for mild joke, but does little justice for her deductive abilities.

Of course, with Barbara in town, and Dick in some indefinite relationship with Raya, it’s inevitable the two redheads would meet and have their obligatory moment of awkward civility.  To their credit, each handles the other’s appearance gracefully, though I’d say Babs proves the better woman in this case.  Even as there’s a hint of animosity in her mild-mannered questions (“Come on…I’m taking an interest in your love-life.  You know—friend stuff.”), at the end of the day, she lets Dick live his life and encourages Raya to be part of it.

Since most of the issue gets dedicated to Batgirl and Nightwing’s side-mission, we return to the conspiracy behind Haly’s Circus only toward the very end, where Dick makes a major discovery that reveals nothing particularly enlightening to either him or us.  Frankly, this whole “dark secret of the circus” thing has been handled with so much vagary that it’s hard to care what happens on that front, either way.

If anyone can pump life and energy into an otherwise underwhelming script, McCarthy can.  In fact, he did much the same thing on Batman: Gates of Gotham when, coincidentally enough, Higgins took over the writing.  Here, McCarthy’s sleek, cartoony lines not only make for some dynamite action sequences, with intense, scattershot paneling that takes you right into the tension, he also has a pretty nice flair for drama and detail.

Conclusion: Better art and a solid guest spot by Batgirl makes for a much stronger read than before, but since both are temporary features, I still can’t say I’m interested enough in the usual material to keep up with the series in the long-run.  Dropped.

Grade: B-

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – I’m betting both Raya and Babs took one good look at each other and thought, “Really?  One carrot-top to another?  Fetish, much?”