“Chug your soder. Batman may have raised me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to have fun.”- Nightwing
While Batman and The Flash (Barry Allen) had a crossover, it was only a matter of time until Nightwing would get a guest appearance from Wally West aka The Flash! All Wally wants to do is dash away from boredom and get past his own problems. So what better way to do that than to hang out than a night on the town!? That is until a new villain by the name of Time Bomb arrives. Nightwing and Wally are gonna have one heck of a time.
Michael McMillan begins his debut on the current Nightwing title and despite Seeley being absent on this issue, McMillan displays that he can carry the weight after Tim Seeley. McMillan’s writing feels like a good transition from what Tim Seeley has established, preserving a consistent tone that would make readers think that it wasn’t a different writer. That’s not a bad thing because McMillan makes great effort to examine Nightwing’s friendship with Titan’s member Wally West aka The Flash. In regards to the story, it’s a one-shot issue, but for a one shot, it’s a fun read. There is no diabolical villain that causes the protagonist to go through a five issue arc, no end of the world scenarios, it’s just an issue focusing on two grown, former sidekicks having a night out and catching up. The antagonist Time Bomb is a one-off villain that has an ability somewhat similar to Reverse Flash from The Flash CW TV series, in which he slows down time around him in order to appear fast to the human eye. Although Time Bomb is a one-off villain, he displays a threat that is actually worthy of Titan’s catalog. The best part about the issue is focused on the banter and dialogue between Nightwing (Grayson) and Flash (West).
The art by Christian Duce is great, I like seeing his pencil work and his layouts are good. His contour lines remind me a bit of Mark Texiera’s line work a bit. My favorite page is a scene that displays Time Bomb being first discovered by Nightwing and The Flash. It’s a good example of showing off panel work, action and narrative all at once. Duce manages to avoid any kind of confusion when it comes to his panel work, whether it’s seeing someone zig, zag, zoom off the page, or seeing a Baton ricochet between moments, he manages to make the actions clear to the reader. Some of the best panels are the subtle ones, where the focus is on the city streets, as well as just Grayson and West sitting in a bar. Duce does a good job at displaying his range from the regular everyday scenes to the extraordinary scenes. Sotomayor does good work with the colors, which helps bring the city life that Duce illustrates to energetic life.
I definitely recommend this issue, it’s a nice breather issue that is fun to pick up and read. There is no world ending threat, or alien invasions, it’s just about two good friends, catching up, and living life.
Newsdesk