But, yeah, I have been excited to read these two books ever since I saw the cover, so let's get to the issues:
This book certainly did not disappoint, and in fact exceeded the expectations I had for it.
I was a little concerned with what this Republic of Tomorrow was going to turn out to be, but it's a really good idea, actually. It's basically a group of people who have indirectly been negatively affected by the Bat-family's efforts, and their mission is to take out the Family because they are causing more harm than good.
It's a very nice concept that gets visited sometimes but not so often that it's stale: Do these heroes stop insane crimes from happening, or are these crimes being drawn to Gotham because of them?
The group is very clearly a bunch of actual people, as opposed to the generic "Mastermind and his stable of Lackeys" format. Each person is established as having a reason to go against Nightwing and the others here, and they even question those motivations as being worth it after Nightwing thrashes them and their leader blows up a clock tower to get away.
This is a textbook case of taking a motivation to an obscene level, and it's quite enjoyable. I also love the motivation that Detective Nie has for trying to hunt Nightwing. Without going into a sociological tangent, I will say that it was a great idea, and it was interesting to see that this tied all the way back to the first issue.
The tie-ins did get annoying after a while, and though I love that Nightwing's writers were nice enough to plug Batman and Robin in their story, the tie-ins did take up more space than normal.
Even so, the Damian-Dick exchange and the alternation of scenes from Nightwing's story to Detective Nie's story was well-done.
The story did feel like it dragged at times, but overall, it's a good story. I am interested to see where Dick's story with Tony Zucco's daughter goes, and hopefully that continues to develop in the next few months.
I would definitely recommend picking it up because the next installment is set up well, so it's kind of the jumping-on point now.
I was a little thrown off by the cold opening to the book, but geez, did this book get good!
Eventually, it is understood that the story will be told in flashback, and the fact that Roy knows so much about what is happening feels a little omnipotent, but it's not out of the question that he was present for these scenes.
Isabel is quickly becoming a character I want to see more of, so I'm genuinely hoping they don't match her up with the alien who clearly wanted him some.
Jason's role in this story is pretty minimal (which is odd for this book), but it's kind of welcome, as Starfire gets a great deal of focus and her backstory is revealed. I'm glad it's not super-different from the original, but Starfire clearly was made as an angrier being post-Flashpoint. Not necessarily bad, but definitely a contrast from what people are used to from the Wolfman-Perez Teen Titans and the show based off of it.
But despite how Starfire drives the plot, Roy steals the show. His relationship with Starfire leads to one of the best scenes in the book, and his little commentaries that you know his captors are hearing are just hilarious. The guard who literally asks him why he should care about his nonsensical monologue has been the most memorable line I've seen in a comic in months.
I quote it quite often.
But yeah, I highly recommend this book for purchase. It's a great jumping-on point, and more importantly, the ending of the main story sets up something that will excite anyone who has been a Starfire fan in the past.
I almost forgot, though. There is a side story with Essence while she continues her hunt. It's not too bad, and I'm sure it's setting up for something.
That said, I was so enthralled in the main story that it kind of felt like an add-on. It's good, but it can't match up to the main story. I'd advise skipping to the Essence story first, reading it, and then going to the main story.
Come back in two weeks for more Batman and Batman & Robin!
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