Nightwing

Batman: Black and White #5

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Batman: Black and White #5Offering another quintet of black and white Batman tales, Batman: Black and White #5 is anchored by a Two-Face story from Len Wein and artist Victor Ibáñez which features a complicated two-pronged attack, misdirection, and an appearance of Nightwing in his pre-New 52 costume (complete with the fan appreciated finger stripes).

“Hell Night” from Ivan Brandon gives us Batman on one brutal night (with a late twist I don’t quite buy) and beautiful art by Paolo Manuel Rivera. Blair Butler and Chris Weston offer a bizarre story featuring the death of the Caped Crusader (sort of), and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Andrew Robinson give us a story featuring Bruce Wayne mostly out of the Batsuit finding his “super-power” (but when he does appear as Batman it’s in the classic costume complete with the yellow ellipse Bat symbol).

Although I enjoyed the tone of Keith Giffen and Javier Pulido’s “Cat and Mouse” featuring a crook’s version of his encounter with Batman, it’s probably the weakest of this month’s stories. Worth a look.

[DC, $4.99]

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News and Notes

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news-and-notes-11112013-nightwing-wonder-womanThe Wrap is reporting Girls star Adam Driver is the front-runner for the role of Nightwing in 2015’s Batman vs. Superman

The Vulture is reporting that David Cross will make an appearance on Community for “at the very least, the second most important game of Dungeons & Dragons ever”

Variety is reporting Gal Gadot, Elodie Yung, and Olga Kurylenko are all in the running to play Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman

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Batman and Nightwing #23

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Batman and Nightwing #23Bruce Wayne‘s obsession about his son’s death continues in this issue as Alfred reaches out to Nightwing when Batman becomes lost in a virtual recreation of events trying desperately to change the outcome and save his son’s life. Although the structure of the story feels a little off, the emotion works well especially once Nightwing, and later Alfred, join in.

With Nightwing’s help Batman is able to “save” Damian, but it’s the advice Dick gives Bruce back in the real world that seems to finally start the healing process. And the comic’s final few pages dealing with Alfred resetting the simulation shows us, and Batman, just how much grief the butler has been carrying around for allowing Damian out of the Batcave on that fateful night.

Although the final former side-kick issue is done, the comic will continue the Batman and… with villains such as Two-Face and Killer Croc leading into Batman and Carrie Kelly #25 which may, or may not, begin a new direction for the title. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Batman and Robin #12

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batman-and-robin-new-52-12-coverThe Bat Boys come out to play as Gotham finds itself under siege from the threat of the new villain Termius. While Batman goes all Iron Man to fight the armored dying madman obsessed with destroying Batman and Gotham before he draw his last breath Damian gets assistance from the former Robins as Nightwing, Red Robin, and even the Red Hood, show up to stop Terminus’ hired mercenaries and odd mutated creatures.

Okay, Batman and Robin #12 isn’t great, and there are a couple truly groan worthy moments, but it’s certainly high on action (even if it never bothers to explain the reasons behind Terminus’ obsession with destroying Batman and Gotham).

I like seeing the Robins together in this issue and if DC is looking for another Bat-title to replace one of the underperforming New 52 books may I suggest something along the lines of Robin Team-Up (featuring Robins current and past teaming up for short arcs – which would allow for the inclusion of Stephanie Brown, too). Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Nightwing #11

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nightwing-new-52-coverAfter surviving an attack from Paragon and his acolytes in the Republic of Tomorrow‘s secret lair Nightwing continues to piece together who is framing him for murder, and why. At first he’s sure Detective Nie is responsible, but a little more investigating leads him to a new conclusion.

The issue also continues the tenuous relationship between Dick and Tony Zucco‘s daughter Sonia. The pair have their first fight when she breaks the news that his loan was denied by flashapply.com because of what happened when Haly Circus returned to Gotham. I’m really, really hoping writer Kyle Higgins isn’t going to try to link these two romantically.

Paragon cleans house of the disloyal soldiers before looking for a new ally to take down one of Gotham’s self-appointed saviors. The story continues, but doesn’t really advance that much (even Nightwing’s eureka moment is kept from readers) so aside from the developments in the subplot with Sonia you could probably skip this one and not miss a beat. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $2.99]

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