Nightwing #143 Review

Written by Peter Tomasi
Art by Don Kramer

Summary: Nightwing has been a controversial title for me. I don't think he can carry a title by himself. He is stuck in a weird place. It would be bad for his character to go back to being a sidekick but at the same time I can see validity in it. This new writer though is at least making think twice so lets get into it. Our heroes are cruising somewhere over the African ocean in the bat-plane. Robins riding shotgun and Nightwings running the show. They are sitting there joking around and arrive at their destination. The plane goes into sub mode and they go Navy Seals all up in this bitch and get to the island. They are trying to find the guy who is been messing with the dead bodies and they tracked him to this island. They do some reconn and get Red Arrow to give them a lay of the land. Once they figure it out they jump some guards and break into the secret lab. They beat up some more people and decide to split up to end all this. So the evil professer X, best way to describe the villain, is killing some of his creations because they are self aware and aren't completely committed to his cause just yet. Nightwing discovers a little evil place where they got tubes of people which is never good, he radios to Robin who immediately gets jumped by a ninja and the evil Professor X goes off on an evil tangent. He seeks the birdmen on Nightwing in a fight that spans the entire base. They get to the incenarated room and he convinces the birdmen to switch sides. Professor is ready though and starts pushing the button that makes their heads explode. Nightwing frees Robin and then the birdmen pull another heel turn and start helping Nightwing again. The Professor is ready to go at this point and takes off in a rocket ship, to which Nightwing and Robin try to hold on to but can't and they fall in the ocean. They then swim back to the Bat-sub.


Comments: I still have mixed emotions about this title. The issue itself reminds me of Casino Royale with he whole back to basics approach featuring action. This issue succeeds in being action packed and all but I got several reservations. There was a bit too many clinches like the rocket ship escape, I mean seriously come on now. Nightwing just seems to be like a glove that different writers try on. Sometimes he is actually superheoring in NYC, other times hes around the world, and then the rest of the time hes playing the 2 to Batman's 1. As they say if the glove don't fit you must acquit. Ok that doesn't really work there but Nightwing has been the best he can be in a long time and this could turn around. The chemistry between Robin and Nightwing is great, they work really well together. The cover also looks really good to me. I don't know why but it just appeals to me. This was a pretty good issue and its worth it. Quick sidenote, I'm watching the Rick Ross Speeding video on youtube, I gotta say, I'm impressed with Rick Ross's athleticism at the start of the video, its pretty amazing.


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