Ricky Church reviews Nightwing #5…
“Night of the Monster Men” part 2! The Monster Men are stomping their way through Gotham City. How can the Bat-team face the monsters and the storm of the century? And when Nightwing goes behind the scenes to discover where the monsters came from, what lurks in the shadows may be worse than the monsters themselves!
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Nightwing #5 here
‘Night of the Monster Men’ continues in Nightwing #5 as Batman and the rest of the team fight against Hugo Strange’s creations. This issue builds very well off the events of Batman #7 (read our review here) and further explores the tensions between Batman and his comrades in the wake of their recent loss. Though Nightwing #5 still follows Batman and his arc to a large degree, the title hero gets his own time to shine as Dick is not only conducting his own investigation into the monsters, but is the voice of reason to Batman.
That is definitely a big plus as it would have been easy for Nightwing to be sidelined in favour of Batman’s fight against the monsters, but it is to Steve Orlando and Tim Seeley’s credit that Nightwing remains a huge part of this chapter. It is also good to see him standing up to Batman, realizing that the Dark Knight is pushing everyone in a misguided way of protection. Aside from Alfred, Dick Grayson has long been the one character to really understand Bruce and tell him what he’s thinking so it is good to see Orlando has a good grasp of Nightwing’s character and his relationship with Batman.
The story also gets built up more as Batman and Nightwing piece together clues from Batman, further tying the earlier issues in with ‘Monster Men’. A more surprising fact was seeing Claire, aka Gotham Girl, show up and deciding to take part in the action. In such a crowded story as this, her placement doesn’t feel forced, but completely natural, especially after the events of Batman #5 and #6.
Where the art in Batman #7 was spotty at times, Nightwing #5 is the opposite throughout. Roge Antonio’s artwork has more of an animated look to it with fluid character movements that are complimented by Chris Sotomayor’s colours. The atmosphere isn’t as moody as Batman #7 with Antonio using bright colours in places, but it serves the look of Nightwing and as well as making some of the latest Bat-gadgets really pop off the page, especially the Bat-beacon. With this issue, ‘Night of the Monster Men’ has really upped the ante for Gotham City.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
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Originally published September 25, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
