Nightwing Year One

Product Information

Art of the Crime • The Attack of the Annihilator • Batgirl of Burnside • Batgirl Rising • Batgirl: Wanted! Unable to avoid fighting crime, the man Grayson begins a new odyssey donning a new uniform and a new name.

Now that comic books have started to gain more popularity and attention, we are continuing to see our characters leave the four color pages and make the leap to screens both small and big. It’s a great option for people who want more Dick Grayson without him being Robin, and it’s a very newcomer-friendly book if you’re trying to get into DC Comics characters that are associated with Batman, but you aren’t sure where you should start. Scott also revamped the classic Charlton Comics character SON OF VULCAN for DC, co-engineered the epic JOKER'S LAST LAUGH crossover event, and wrote BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS for 17 issues. Fully recommend for fans of Dixon and Beatty's previous work, Nightwing readers and any Batman readers looking to round out the story like I was.Dixon’s tales were exciting, exploring new territory, while still keeping Dick Grayson just within the sphere of the other Bat-titles. There will be a few familiar faces and even the evolution of a costume, but ultimately it is a well told and satisfying tale. Given that we've had a Dick Grayson- Robin: Year One, a Barbara Gordon- Batgirl: Year One, and a Dick Grayson- Nightwing: Year One, one could speculate that the next in line is a much-deserved Oracle: Year One. Inevitably, Batman also ends up finding the next Boy Wonder who will end up facing Dick Grayson in a battle of ego. In his eighty years of existence, Dick Grayson has held many titles and roles; acrobat, Robin the Boy Wonder, Teen Titan, various undercover identities and even Batman sometimes, but it is his identity as Nightwing that he is perhaps now most recognized for; one that was adopted nearly forty years ago.

Now, when it comes to comics, Chuck Dixon doesn’t make characters share his political views, and he doesn’t bring up politics at all; I didn’t know he was a conservative for a long time, and I didn’t care because he wrote fun Nightwing and Batman comics that I like. The heart of the issue though is the eternal Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon on-again/off-again romance which is off here because Dick is with Starfire, but which Dixon has always written to perfection. From the start, we are thrown into the midst of the action and Dick's journey to becoming Nightwing was a bit rapid. Without any grit, gore, or vulgarity, this origin story is simply uplifting and inspiring at the end of the day.This story exists in the post-Crisis and pre-New 52 world and tries to sandwich itself in-between a handful of issues of Batman and the seminal Judas Contract of New Teen Titans. Batman is attempting to remain in control but challenged by Robin (Grayson) starting to be his own man. The story also boasts the first appearance of Killer Croc, which had always been a mystery to me until I picked this up. This book serves as a fine continuation again, bridging the gap between those stories and the modern age continuity. Dick embarks on a trip to find himself, encountering Superman and Deadman, before teaming with Batgirl as the new Nightwing--while Batman meets a young Jason Todd stealing tires off the Batmobile.

Fans of that title and creative team will tell you the first three years were absolutely electric and very much what the fanbase longed for in a solo outing by Nightwing. And it's a nice touch that, like Ma Kent, Alfred still made Dick's first Nightwing costume, even after he's left the 'Cave. Unable to avoid fighting crime, Grayson begins a new odyssey, donning a new uniform and gaining a new heroic identity.They have created a dynamic style that has great movement, which is perfect for a character who was with the circus. We knew the basics, Robin was “fired”, and Dick taking it one step further would fuel his recent failures under Batman into a new costumed identity and a new desire to prove himself to the greater superhero community.