Not that I haven't liked Nightwing and Red Hood's ventures, but when something so emotionally deep like Death of the Family is going on in Batman and Batgirl's main books, it's hard to compete.
But this month, while they're not perfect, I bought four books today, and two were really fun rides. (And two were complete B.S., but I'll get to those in my next post.)
So let's get to the reviews!
As I expected, Lady Shiva had her storyline finished up before the issue was over. This is my main complaint with the book, though it's alleviated somewhat by the fact that Shiva will clearly be a player in this book (or at the very least, another member of the Bat-family's book) at some point in the future.
The other major complaint I have is that Dick's insistence that she answer if she's working for Joker felt like they were forcing the connection in. Granted, in this case, it turned out that Shiva was working for someone else, so I didn't have a moment of total irritation like I did in Batman and Robin 14.
Other than those issues, though, this was a pretty nice read. A villain from a few months back was mentioned to connect back to the DOTF storyline, and it felt like a nice way to round out the story.
Dick's detective work and connection to his fellow circus folk was a nice touch, and a nice job has been done in making me care about Sonia as both a competent worker and a possible love interest.
Overall, it's not a high-priority buy, but if you're a fan of Nightwing, you'll definitely want to grab it. It's a nice chance to see Dick Grayson at his most awesome.
The trio's return to Earth and its interruption by Superman served as an interesting piece of filler before connection to DOTF. And that's really what this was: filler.
The first third of the book is all three of the title characters being arrogant and militant against Superman, and he basically just brushes them off. I get that Superman is really impressive and all, but Starfire is a war commander and Jason has fought with Batman - this group should have been able to launch a better strategy than charging Superman while he basically behaves like he said "Come at me, bro!"
The fight scene is pretty awesome, though, and Superman didn't come off as completely above their depth, so I'm not knocking it too hard.
It ends when Isabel points out that they are, in fact, all being insane, and we get the second act of the book: utter pointlessness. Ok, I'm exaggerating in that this will probably turn into a Superman-RHATO crossover later, but it felt like Superman just introduced his storyline into this book for a few pages, so it really felt more like a teaser for the next Superman book than anything else.
Until we get to the third act, which served as a teaser for DOTF. The possible death shown here actually has me nervous because I'll be genuinely upset if it turns out to be legit.
I also want to compliment the little fan service Scott Lobdell worked in by giving a 1989 Batman "Jack Napier" reference. I give you credit, good sir.
Overall, the comic has everything: humor, action and actual fear/sadness. What weakens it is that it's basically a teaser for one book and possibly two crossovers. That said, it's executed really well and it's worth a look, if not a buy.
Now stay tuned to this blog, where I will go off on some stupid, stupid decisions in other books, specifically in this week's DOTF crossover book.
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