Nightwing: Love and War

I wanted to like this one, I really did. Marv Wolfman created Nightwing he should know how to write him, but he missed. While I liked the running commentary from the hero, I liked seeing into his mind, it's Nightwing's nature that his mouth and his brain are in motion as much as his body, I didn't like way the story was handled.

Nightwing is still a vigilante trained by Batman. I found that too much of the story took place in daylight, or that Nightwing spent time with the people he helped. I don't mind that he continued helping them. I mind that he did it in costume, in broad daylight.

It was an OK mystery story, with an OK ending, but there were big holes in the narrative where something was just missing. The second story in the volume had little connection to the first. The first hadn't really been concluded when Wolfman moved onto the second.

Bruce Wayne was only part of the story for a few panels but was done poorly while he was there. He would never had a Batman/Nightwing conversation as Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson, and certainly not in the middle of a party. He had a Batman conversation as Bruce Wayne, saying things as he would when he's playing the billionaire playboy.

All in all, I was disappointed. I can only give it a 2.

Nightwing: The Lost Year

I admit it. I'm a Nightwing fan. I like that he's a hero that has evolved within the DC Universe from a sidekick to a leader to a hero in his own right. I can put myself in his place at times wondering what it would be like to have seen my parents' deaths and then be raised by Batman. How would that screw a person up?

Nightwing: The Lost Year by Marv Wolfman, with art by Jamal Igle and Jon Bosco, is a collection of some stories from the series that deal with the time between Dick being a true sidekick to Batman and becoming his own person.

"Hero's Journey" was sweet and funny and nostalgic for the "Dynamite Duo" days of Robin and Batgirl. It was nice to see the two characters just reminiscing of their teen years when they could have, almost, had a relationship. And what stopped it from happening.

"321 Days" was closer to the New Teen Titans days that were all about teen angst. This story really went into some of the reasons that Dick decided to put aside his Robin persona and re-invent himself as Nightwing. He knows that he can handle it, he's been with Batman for years and he's led the Titans but his mentor, his father figure, seems to want to hold him back. It was a nice coming of age story.

I enjoyed this story immensely. I'm giving it the full 5 out of 5.