Nightwing: Rebirth #1 - A Review

Despite Chuck Dixon's Nightwing being one of my favorite series of all time, I haven't been following Dick Grayson's recent adventures that closely. I was unimpressed with the first issue of the New 52 Nightwing series and haven't thought much of what few cameos I've seen of Dick playing the secret agent in Batgirl. I haven't read a single issue of Grayson and was only vaguely aware of Dick's secret identity being outed during the Forever Evil storyline.

Thankfully, Nightwing: Rebirth #1 proves a welcome introduction for readers who don't know Dick Grayson or, like myself just haven't been keeping up on recent events.





There isn't much of a plot to this issue nor is there a lot of action. The story is made up of a series of vignettes, showing Dick saying goodbye to his old life and reclaiming the Nightwing name. There's also some brief scenes involving Dick's enemies in The Court Of Owls and a scene establishing the new Huntress, who was apparently a character in Grayson, before she goes off to star in the new Batgirl And The Birds Of Prey series. Tim Seely does a fantastic job of providing this exposition naturally, without it seeming like he's just throwing out factoids for the newbies.

The artwork is equally efficient. Yanick Paquette instills a sense of motion to every panel - even the ones which just feature two people sitting down talking! This keeps the story moving and exciting, despite a distinct lack of fight scenes. And the color art by Nathan Fairbairn finds the perfect balance between light and dark, as befits the title character.