We have wrapped up all that Monster Men business click (here) if you still need to check that out. Now it is time to wrap up Nightwing's first volume, Nightwing: Better Than Batman. If you want to check out (part 1) and (part 2), click those links! Today I am covering issues 7 & 8 to finish off this volume. I'll be back next week with some Justice League fun, but for now let's see what Nightwing and his cute butt are up to.
Rise of Raptor, Part 1: Nightwing wants a break from Gotham, so he is in Sydney, Australia with his old Spyral pal, Tiger King. They are about to make a bust on some more members of the Parliament of Owls.
In a high rise a rich family who are clearly part of the Owls, are having dinner and chatting with their attorney about how they will avoid getting arrested. Nightwing is narrating, reminding us how Raptor got him the info on the Owls membership. (Remember that Raptor also sold that information to Kobra) The waiter serving the rich family is a member of Kobra, who injects himself with the stuff that turns them into super snakes.
Nightwing and Tiger are about to bust in, but there is a scream right before the snake monster busts out the door. They take the snake beast assassin down and look in to see the parliament members are all dead. At Spyral HQ they are just now noticing that someone is getting a copy of the names. Tiger realizes pretty quickly that Raptor is behind this, but before he can talk to Nightwing, Nightwing literally jumps from the building into action.
Later at Raptor's pad, Raptor is singing his own theme song, when he notices Nightwing he invites him to join in. Nightwing is not feeling it, no quips or anything. Raptor offers him a drink and a toast to the demise of the Parliament of Owls. Nightwing explodes in anger at being used and then tries to arrest Raptor for being an accessory to murder. Raptor shakes him off, he admits to selling the info to Kobra and then donating all the money to the refugees that the parliament had enslaved and exploited. If some Owls died, that is justice.
Nightwing disagrees, in favor of the law and prison as he again tries to grab Raptor. Raptor, having none of it, headbutts Nightwing and points out that rich people would have gotten a slap on the wrist at best. Real justice doesn't come from a court of law and Raptor points out that Nightwing's mother would have agreed with him. This pretty much pisses Nightwing off more. They fight and I love that there is a piano with sheet music titled Raptor's Theme. Less cool is the room of all things Nightwing.
Seems one of Raptor's hobbies is knowing everything there is to know about Nightwing and he has a whole wall of pictures and articles to prove it. Nightwing starts wailing on Raptor demanding to know who he is. Instead Raptor drugs Nightwing, calling him weak and saying that he needs to lose everything, then they can be the dream team Raptor has in mind. Nightwing passes out as Raptor is going on and on.
At Wayne tower, Alfred and Bruce are chatting. Bruce is feeling worried about Dick. He hasn't heard from him in a while and things have been tense. Bruce is about to give a press conference and as he steps out he gives a few lines trying to reassure the people of Gotham that the streets are once again safe (for now). Raptor (poorly disguised) is in the crowd and calls Bruce out, saying it isn't monsters and hurricanes destroying Gotham, but the damage done by one-percenters. Bruce pretty nicely tells him this is for members of the press only.
Raptor then reveals himself and beats up a bunch of security guards while saying a lot of junk amounting to, rich people are bad and how dare Bruce take in orphans to make carbon copies of himself. Raptor gets in close to Bruce explaining he is kidnaping him and that Bruce can fight back, but that would risk revealing that he is Batman. For a moment you think Bruce might fight back, but he doesn't. So Raptor does indeed kidnap Bruce, flying them both off with his drone (I know it had a cool bird name, but I have forgotten and refuse to go look it up).
In the Batcave, Damian is trying to get ahold of Nightwing. Nightwing wakes up still in Raptor's place, but realizes he has been out for 12 hours. Damian tells him about his father being kidnapped by Nightwing's new BFF and that he is going to slap him silly when he gets the chance (the idea of this made me laugh). Nightwing tells Damian to stand down, Raptor is going to want him alone. We end with a shot of Nightwing's mom standing next to a clown (a real creepy clown, in my opinion) whose color scheme matches Raptor's. Seems this fight is personal.
Rise of Raptor, Finale: We start in a Nightwing flashback. Poor kid is trying to sleep but his circus bunkmate is snoring really loud. He sneaks out to sleep somewhere else, only to find his parents having a serious discussion about someone who is threatening Dick's mom. ( I think it has something to do with her cultural background as a Romani?) The person who is being threatening reminds Mary (Dick's mom) of a bird of prey because of his unnerving golden and piercing eyes.
Back in the now, Nightwing is racing to the place he thinks Raptor is holding Bruce. Nightwing is narrating about his memory and about how he is tempted to call every hero he knows to come and back him up. He knows that Raptor is unpredictable and that this is personal, so he has to go alone.
In a creepy looking torture chamber, Raptor is taunting Bruce. Bruce tries to reason with him, but that only leads to a Raptor rant. He is mad at Bruce for "ruining" Dick. Bruce points out that killing him goes against the code of honor Nightwing thought he had. Dick is usually good at reading people. Raptor isn't planning on killing Bruce, he has a very elaborate setup that will stab Bruce with a silver spoon if Wayne stock prices keep going up. (So he is going to kill him, just in a weird super villain way?)
Nightwing arrives and hits Raptor in the face, breaking his mask to reveal Raptor's crazy yellow eyes. Then he punches him real hard in the face. While Nightwing tries to free Bruce, Raptor goes on more rants about how much rich people suck. Raptor clicks a button that sends Bruce flying into the air. The rant continues until Nightwing gets to knee him in the face. It does not shut Raptor up, he explains about growing up in the circus, being immigrants, and being looked down on and called a health hazard.
Seems Raptor contracted leprosy as a child and the only person to come near him was Nightwing's mom. Flashbacks show us young Raptor and young Mary stealing meds to give to the Cirque Romanes. Raptor made some kind of oath to watch over her forever. Then she was killed and Dick was taken in by Bruce, the kind of person he and her mother would have despised.
Meanwhile Bruce still has a trick up his sleeve or rather a small pick in his mouth. Nightwing and Raptor are still having a pretty brutal fight. Nightwing is being a little more understanding now though, but points out blaming everyone for Mary's death and becoming obsessed with a moment actually makes Raptor really similar to Bruce. Nightwing feels lucky to have been saved by Bruce and if Raptor had come to him sooner, maybe they could have been friends. Raptor just tells Nightwing to shut up and gets sloppy in his fighting. Nightwing then breaks many of Raptor's bones and leaves him to go save Bruce. Bruce is able to get out of his restraints just in time and falls, but Nightwing catches him.
Later, Tiger and Spyral are there to take Raptor into custody and Tiger assures Mr. Wayne that should Raptor tell any tales of him being Batman, they have ways of making him forget that information (creepy). Nightwing begins to apologize to Bruce for almost letting him fall. Bruce stops him though, because he didn't fall, he jumped because he knew Dick would catch him.
The writer for most of this volume is Tim Seeley, he was the writer for Grayson and wrote for Batman Eternal. I like how he treats Nightwing and am very curious where the heart of the Bat-Family is going. The artist for these two issues was Javier Fernandez. They both worked together on issues #1-4. Have to give some credit to Ivan Reis for making some really dope Variant covers. See my favorite below. Also feel free to click on any names for Twitter links.
I know I did a favorite line in part 2 of this recap of this volume but the batshit crazy thing this rich owl lady says is worth sharing, enjoy.
Last Week: Batman: Night of the Monster Men, Part 1
Batman: Night of the Monster Men, Part 2
Next Week: Justice League Volume 1: The Extinction Machine, Part 1
Justice League Volume 1: The Extinction Machine, Part 2
Note: All images belong to DC™
That's what always gets me about comics (DC and Marvel) - OF COURSE you should call your other hero friends for back up. NEVER do something alone. Why are all these heroes always going into danger alone? Because it's personal? Because they want to prove something? That's bullshit. Stay alive, take a friend.
ReplyDelete100% agree. Silly heroes.
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