Nightwing Volume 1: Better Than Batman Review

Nightwing Volume 1: Better Than Batman

By Tim Seeley, Yanick Paquette (Artist), Javier Fernández (Artist), Chris Sotomayor (Colourist), Carlos M. Mangual (Letterer)

I received a free copy of Nightwing Volume 1: Better Than Batman from DC Comics in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you want to check out the other book in DC Comics Rebirth series that I have read and reviewed, click here.

A part of DC Universe: Rebirth! 

Nightwing is back…in blue!

He’s been Robin, he’s been a super spy, a ghost. Now, Dick Grayson finds himself back in Gotham City fighting to reclaim the life that was taken from him. But when a new evil threatens those closest to Dick, as Nightwing he must once again choose whether or not to tear himself away from his home in order to combat this dark force.

Everything Dick thought he knew about being Nightwing will be brought to bear, and his relationship to his former mentor Batman will be put to the test in Nightwing: Volume 1, Better Than Batman! written by Tim Seeley (Grayson) with art by Yanick Paquette (Swamp Thing, Batman/Superman) and rising star Javier Fernández (Red Hood/Arsenal).

Collecting: Nightwing 1-4, 7-8, Rebirth

Summary from Goodreads.

Considering how I have not read any of Nightwing’s previous books, I found it very easy to pick up where he was at the start.

The storyline is around the Parliament of Owls blackmailing Dick into working for them. We then follow him on a series of missions set by the Parliament of Owls and him trying to get into their organisation so that he can take them down. Whilst a fairly simple plot, I still found it very enjoyable with enough plot twists to not make it boring. I do find that sometimes, having a simple plot that only focuses on one thing (in this case Dick trying to take down the Parliament of Owls) can benefit the story as it does not get bogged down by trying to do too much.

Although the storyline is an important aspect of a comic book, a great story cannot make up for bad artwork. Fortunately, for Nightwing Volume 1, the artwork worked very well with the story. I was able to tell exactly what was going on, and it was easy to focus on the right part of each panel (I do have a tendency to jump panels if the artwork grabs my attention). If was to nitpick, then I would only complain about the facial expressions. I was able to tell what they were trying to get across but they occasionally just did not seem quite right. Now I am no artist, so I cannot say what they should or should not change or even how they should do it; but if the facial expressions were more realistic then for me this would have been almost perfect.

If you know that you do not like Nightwing, then give it a miss but most people will enjoy this.

5/5

Have you read Nightwing Volume 1: Better Than Batman? Do you agree with my review? Let me know your opinion in the comments below!

Check it out on Goodreads here.

Get it on Comixilogy here.

Purchase it on Amazon here.

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