Comic Vine Review

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Nightwing #4 - South Beach Connection

4

Nightwing and Batgirl take on a shapeshifter while the former boy wonder goes through some pretty heavy development. This book continues to be a standout in the New 52.

The Good

I like the continuity from BATGIRL #3, and the mentions of common events from both books. This issue is good because we get a better view of the Barbara/Dick backstory that just wasn't present in BATGIRL.

I also enjoyed the amount of exposition we got from Dick in this issue, and the exploration of his psyche makes this one of the better books that DC is putting out every month. We're only four issues in and I feel like I have a greater understanding of the Nightwing character than a lot of other figures in the DC Universe, and that's a testament to Kyle Higgins' great writing. I feel that Dick is a real person in this book, and not just a figure that happens to do awesome things.

The Bad

While I didn't mind the new villain, I felt that the whole "stealing/dealing microchips" part of the story wasn't really fleshed out enough to be anything more than a backdrop for Dick and Babs to spend a bunch of time together. In the end, it didn't really feel like there was any consequence to what happened, and especially since Spinebender wasn't a carry-over from another series, I never really felt he was a threat.

Seeing numerous lookalikes in this book kind of grates against me a little bit: they really could have differentiated Raya and Babs a little more than just being redheads, and the clown in almost-Joker makeup just seemed a little too accurate to just be a coincidence. The former just seems to be Dick "having a type", while the other is bad character design. If you aren't going to have a guy that looks like one of of the main character's greatest foes be significant to the plot, why have him there at all?

The Verdict

This book is doing its job in that it's making me want to pick it up week after week. There's a nice balance between action and drama that doesn't make me tire of either, and seeing Dick grow as a person endears me to the character.

Caring about the characters I read about mkes me want to keep reading about them. Who would have thought, right?

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