This is Joker's Circus
Review
Interesting thing on the credits portion of the first page that I just noticed. Maybe it was there before, maybe it wasn't, but for how long as Nightwing's creation been credited to Marv Wolfman and George Perez? Would you think there would be a link to the person who originally created Dick Grayson? Interesting.
Any who, to the comic itself! One thing that has bothered me with the whole Death of the Family crossover has been trying to figure out where Joker had time to get everything together for our heroes. Taking a look at all the set up he had to do just for this issue of Nightwing, it is almost to the point of breaking my suspension of disbelief from within the comic book universe.
That one part aside, this is actually a really nice issue. Looking back, we really didn't need last issue's set up too much. A lot of that information is covered up right away. I could see how fans who have been reading Nightwing would want last issue's events to be shown, but if you are coming to the book just to see what Joker has done, this is the one issue that you need.
I've been down on the art before in this book, but it fits more here than in previous stories. The uneven perspective and angles of the panels fit with getting you into Joker's world. The light and darkness and the colors are done quite well in getting the mood of the story set. The look of Joker's mask is just creepy to get the nerves twitching. There have been some artists involved in the Death of the Family books that just don't seem to bring a sense of creepiness to Joker's mask, considering that it dead, carved skin held together by strings to some one's face. Barrows does a nice job of bringing the level of creepiness up, much in a similar way that is being over in Batman & Robin.
This is also the last issue that Barrows will draw in the pages of Nightwing. There is an in-house ad at the end of the book for Teen Titans where his pencils will being to shine there. Or will they? That pose that Superboy is sporting just looks awkward. It reminds me a little of Catwoman's pose from the cover to Catwoman #0 that was solicited but then replaced. Interesting.
The last page is to be expected at this point with all Bat-family books ending with Joker presenting something bloody for the Bat-family to see in Batman #17. So far, I gotta say that I like what this book has done with Nightwing's story thus far with regards to the whole Death of the Family crossover. I would almost say that this is the easily in the top 3 of Death of the Family issues itself. Excellent job.
Grades
Words: 9/10
Pictures: 8/10
General Feeling After Reading: Creeped out, intrigued.
Buy Next Issue: You know, I really am interested in what happens in this book after the events that just happened. I'll give it a go.