Review: Nightwing Vol 3- Death of the Family

Quick Summary

Pros: The action and crime fighting are on par with most of the other Bat-family books out there. The first half features a pretty interesting story.

Cons: The second half of the book is a mess of different plotlines. Some stories are not given real resolutions.

Overall: Thus far, the Nightwing series has been pretty average, with little to celebrate and little to condemn. This book is no different as it delivers another rather generic story about a non-superpowered superhero. This does not mean the book is all bad as it has some fun and interesting parts in it. However those positives are hampered by an equally great number of negatives. Overall this book may appeal to some but to most it will end up fading into obscurity.

 

Story

This collection seems to be a continuation of what the Nightwing New 52 series has been thus far, not good but not bad either. This book has its highs and its lows with neither standing out enough to define the book in any significant way. The first half contains most of the highs and details an interesting criminal mystery while the second half contains most of the lows due to its attempt to handle far too many storylines at once. There may be something great here for some readers, however for most this will be another rather generic street-level superhero fare.

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This collection starts with a pretty solid first half; it mainly focuses on Nightwing trying to take down Lady Shiva while also setting up the Circus. This ends up being a pretty interesting story as it highlights a big difference between Nightwing and Batman: Nightwing has a personal life. Readers get to see Nightwing try to juggle managing his personal life and taking down criminals. Plus the storyline itself ends on a pretty interesting note; it leads readers into thinking Lady Shiva is there to kill someone when all she really needed to do was stage an attempt on their life.

The collection’s middle contains the “Death of the Family” crossover. This is definitely a story that different readers will appreciate differently because of how closely it borders on going too far. I personally liked how dark and twisted the Joker got with most things, it gives you a sense that this man is a true psychopath capable of anything. However, I did not like his destruction of Haley’s Circus as it basically dooms that plotline (discussed below).

The story’s second half mainly suffers from having no real focus. It juggles between the end of the circus, Damian’s death, Nightwing’s feelings about his own parent’s death, and Nightwing taking down the Dealer. Thematically it is all meant to bring deliver a message about Dick coming to terms with what has happened in his past, but so much is going on here that this is completely lost. Without a consistent message tying these stories together, they fray apart and end up being a chaotic hodgepodge of mediocre stories.

Another problem worth mentioning is this book’s poor conclusion of the Haley’s Circus plotline. The first two volumes focused on Nightwing building up the Circus and helping the people who are a part of it. This volume trashes all of that and puts an abrupt stop to that entire story. The series was doing a lot of good establishing that story with Dick as a person yet it never managed to reach any sort of resolution. Instead things involving it are just cast aside completely. The next volume will, once again, focus on someone from Nightwing’s past returning; hopefully its resolution will be a little more satisfactory.

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Art

The first half of this collection features art by Eddy Barrows, once again. In terms of art it is good, characters look crisp and distinct while the backgrounds also all look realistic and beautiful. A lot of it actually looks a little bit better than Barrow’s previous Nightwing issues. For a more in depth look at it make sure to read the art section of ComicBookWire’s review of Volume 1.

For the second half of the book, Juan Jose Ryp takes over penciling. This is where the art takes a serious drop in quality. Though Ryp’s backgrounds are wonderfully detailed, his depictions of actual people look incredibly weird. People’s noses, eyes, and lips shift in weird ways from page to page and generally just look off. Though the art in this issue is alright for the first half, the second half of the book is not.

Continuity

This story is a continuation of the previous collection Nightwing Vol. 2: Night of the Owls (Review) and will be continued in the next collection, Nightwing Vol. 4: Second City.

• Nightwing’s E.M.P. Mask makes its first appearance in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review).
• Much of this volume involves the “Death of the Family” crossover event. This event starts in Batman and ends in Batman, with all of this collected in Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).
  • This volume starts by saying Joker is back in town. His return is in Batman #13.
  • Nightwing thinks that Joker knows all of the Bat-family’s identities. This is because of the events in Batman #15.
  • The nexus of the entire “Death of the Family” event takes place in Batman #17. This issue is contained within this volume.
  • The Dealer is shown auctioning off a set of teeth used to hold Batman. This also happens in Batman #15.
• Batgirl makes a reference to her hatred of the Joker because of what he did to her. This happens in Batman: The Killing Joke.
• Nightwing talks about Damian saving a city and about a death that occurred. These things take place in Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted.