- Written by Tim Seeley
- Pencils & Inks by Marcus To
- Coloured by Chris Sotomayor
- Cover by Chris Sotomayor & Marcus To
“BLUDHAVEN” part one! Following “Night of the Monster Men” and his battle with Raptor, Nightwing heads to Blüdhaven for a fresh start. But that doesn’t last long when he runs into a crew of former Bat-villains!
Pickup your copy of ‘Nightwing’ #10 at Comixology now!
There’s a fair bit of dejavu going on in ‘Nightwing’ comics right now. This ‘new chapter’ in the characters life feels very much like a revisit to ‘Nightwing’ circa 1996.
Very early in the characters life he moved from Gotham to Blüdhaven to get some distance from Batman. All of that history was wiped out during the New 52 era which took the Dick Grayson character in strange new directions. With Rebirth DC Comics are making one of their best decisions of recent years by returning him to the place that made him famous.
This first chapter in the Blüdhaven story is very much about setting the scene. Dick spends very little of the story in costume as the story focuses more on his pre-nighttime activity. Taking the story at face value it’s fairly mundane. We see Dick interviewing for a volunteer position. Moving in to his new apartment. Spending the evening binging on comics, TV shows and junk food.
His everyday life is cut short by a police chase and Nightwing is finally able to hit the Blüdhaven streets.
Seeing Dick trying to build a normal life, particularly one away from the Wayne fortune is one of the most interesting aspects of the story. Despite some questionable choices by DC Comics in recent years Dick has become one of the most compelling characters in their universe. Readers identify with him and DC seem to have finally picked up on this.
Using this story to flesh out the Dick Grayson character is the perfect way to help put some heart back in this series. Running up to this issue there have been some small character moments but nothing which quite compares.
Marcus To and Chris Sotomayor bring a nice new aesthetic to the series. The new locale offers a chance to design some new environments for Nightwing to inhabit and the Blüdhaven character itself becomes quite important even just within this one issue.
I’ve found in the past that Dick looks completely different from page-to-page under some artists but that is not the case here. Characters are well defined throughout with guest appearances by Robin, Batman and Batgirl this issue is full of things to see.
If I had to have one gripe it would be that some of the daytime scenes felt a little washed out when compared to the night scenes. As a stylistic choice it isn’t bad but given the comparisons between Blüdhaven and Las Vegas (casinos, gambling etc…) it doesn’t quite match up.
Verdict
‘Nightwing’ #10 is a good re-contextualisation of its titular character. A familiar setting seen from a new perspective. There’s some minor intrigue with the villains but for now this story is firmly pointed at Dick Grayson himself.
