Review: Nightwing- Knight Terrors

Quick Summary

Pros: The exploration into Dick Grayson’s recent change is interesting.

Cons: Two of the book’s storylines are generic and generally lackluster. One of these storylines is also poorly handled.

Overall: This is a book that, unfortunately, has quite a few troubles within it. The main storyline is alright and actually shows some potential. However, it is weighed down by the rest of the book’s plotlines, which are flawed and generally not that interesting. This volume may appeal to readers looking for a very different Nightwing story but is definitely not for everyone.

Story

Nightwing: Knight Terrors, by Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza, offers a unique take on Nightwing but is ultimately pretty lackluster when it comes to actual storytelling. Nightwing’s individual story has some potential in the way it examines how one’s past can literally shape who one is as a person. However, this average-quality storyline is flanked by two mediocre ones. These involve a woefully unremarkable appearance from Scarecrow and the troubled introduction of a new vigilante group. In the end, the negatives within this book outnumber the positives.

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The main storyline in Knight Terrors follows Dick (now Ric) Grayson as he deals with memory loss. This portion of the book is fairly interesting, especially in how it depicts Ric’s struggle. He is resigned to simply accepting the fact that he no longer remembers his past and is perfectly fine charting out a new course in life. This puts readers in the same position as Barbara Gordon and Alfred, wishing he would return to what he used to be, even if it might not be the best thing for him. Plus, the return of a few skills and some superhero-powered muscle memories add some unique twists on Ric’s condition. All of this makes for a unique and compelling story that questions the importance of one’s past in making someone who they are.

Unfortunately, the other storylines in this book are pretty weak. Scarecrow’s story starts out with the potential to develop into a grandiose and clever scheme. However, it ends up being a pretty generic burst of violence brought on by Scarecrow’s fear gas, an utterly unremarkable ordeal. The other storyline involves a group of police officers who each take on the role of Nightwing in the real Nightwing’s absence. Though this storyline has some potential, it plays out in an equally generic way.

An additional factor hurting the effectiveness of this storyline is that police vigilantism is a complicated issue in the DC Universe, since it is typically antithetical to both the goals of the police force and the goals of vigilantes. However, it seems to be introduced and accepted here with little to no justification. Hopefully, as the conclusion to this volume suggests that this vigilante force will return, the problem will be written better in the next collection.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The quality of the artwork in Knight Terrors changes throughout the book but ends up alright overall. Almost every chapter comes from a different artist and several come from multiple different artists. At first, this works out alright. These fluctuations mostly come through flashbacks, with the change in art style helping to emphasize the change in time. However, this works out less well as the volume goes on. The jumps in style from chapter to chapter become more pronounced and give the reading experience a disjointed feeling. The actual artwork itself looks good, with a few exceptions, but the shifts prevent it from being as positive of an experience as it could have been.

Continuity

Nightwing: Knight Terrors continues the Nightwing series from where it left off in Nightwing Vol. 7: The Bleeding Edge (Review). However, the events of Batman #54-55, collected in Batman Vol. 8: Cold Days (Review), take place in between these volumes and have a massive impact on the storyline in Night Terrors.

The story here continues in Nightwing: Burnback (Review).