Nightwing #5 Review and *SPOILERS*

We're Gonna Need A Bigger City

Written By: Steve Orlando, Tim Seeley
Art By: Roge Antonio, Chris Sotomayor, Carlos M. Mangual
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 21, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It's time for the second part of the Night of The Monster Men story.......... if you missed part one, go see the review for Batman #7...... or you know, just read the book.  Anyway, Gotham is under siege from big ass monsters and it's taking all of Batman's Gotham allies to keep things cool and calm, since we've also got a hurricane going on that the city hasn't seen the likes of since Zero Year.  Yeah, it seems that Hugo Strange set all of this up pretty flawlessly, especially since Batman still doesn't know what these monster are or what is making them tick.  Let's jump into this issue of Nightwing and see if our titular hero takes center stage in this book or if it's like Bryan Adams told us when he said "It's all for one and all for love"........... When is Bryan Adams ever wrong though?  Let's check it out and see our heroes beat the shit out of some monsters!

Explain It!:

Our issue picks up right where Batman #7 left off with Batman, Batwoman and Nightwing trying to contain a big ass monster from destroying the city, while Spoiler, Orphan and Clayface try to keep the evacuated populace safe within a cave system that is high enough to protect them from the flooding waters........... while Duke and Alfred try to determine what is making the Monster Men...... Monster Men.  After seeing the kind of tech that Duke and Batman have setup throughout the city, just in case of something happening just like this and getting a holographic Batman inspiring people like Bill Pullman in Independence Day, we finally see Dick follow Batman's orders and check out the morgue so that our heroes can get to the bottom of this situation........ since in the previous issue to this crossover we found out that the first monster was actually Bob Castro, who killed himself in Batman #2.  

It's funny though because we've had Batman talking about getting to a tech site that's hidden in Gotham so that Batwoman and him might stand a chance against these kaiju wanna-bes, but when we finally get there I have to say that I was a bit underwhelmed because all they end up getting are a Bat-cycle and a Nightwing-cycle......... and pulling off sweet wheelies doesn't seem like something we need right now.  Over at the cave system, things don't seem much better.  Even though the people seem safe, they also seem to be as bad as me when it comes to close quarters, but instead of getting into the fetal position and crying a bit, they look like they want to start tearing each other's heads off and that's possibly because of some red ooze that's pouring into the cave out of nowhere, but because we don't see anything more of this section........ I have no idea.  

In the end, Nightwing makes it to the morgue and it seems that Hugo Strange was ready for someone to come looking because the place was setup with guards, which Nightwing quickly dispatches....... and things go from bad to worse for our heroes because even though they've already taken out one monster and are engaging another, Dick let's them in on the fact that there were four bodies transformed and that one of them apparently dug it's way into the ground to escape and apparently has something to do with algae.  To make sure that we have a connection to previous issues in the Batman title, we find out that this Monster Man was originally Oleg Balinoff, who was the Kobra agent who shot down the plane in Batman #1, before apparently shooting himself, which was most-likely Hugo Strange doing the shooting.  As our issue closes, we see the third monster trying to break open Blackgate Prison and since none of our heroes will be able to make it there in time, it seems that Gotham Girl is going to step up, against Batman's orders and become a part of the team.  Hopefully she won't encounter the Monster Men and fall down cowering since she's still affected by Psycho Pirate.  

That's it for this issue of Nightwing and the second part of the Night of The Monster Men crossover and even though I knew it was a crossover going in, I kind of expected a little more Nightwing going on here....... you know, since it is his title and all, but he's barely the star of the show since we're dealing with events from the Batman title and still reeling from Tim's death in Detective Comics, making Batman put all the dangerous stuff on his own shoulders, since he's not about to let anyone get hurt again...... It's actually weird having Nightwing in here at all.  Even with that though, this is still an interesting story and I like where it's going....... But this issue was the classic second part to a story, where not a lot goes on because all of our heroes are simply trying to figure out everything that's going on themselves, plus we get added tension for the next issue, without actually seeing it here.  Like I said though, I'm still interested, this is just the way the breakdowns.......... break.  Hopefully, Nightwing readers are also picking up Batman and Detective Comics as well because alone this isn't much of an issue.  As for the art, it's very reminiscent of the style we normally see in the Nightwing title........ which I'm not really a fan of, but I found myself liking this more and think that Roge Antonio did a fine job on it.

Bits and Pieces:

You'll want to get Batman #7 to fully enjoy this issue since it is the second part of the Night of The Monster Men crossover because there's no real way to appreciate this as a stand alone Nightwing issue........ since our title character doesn't really have much to do.  As a continuation though, it isn't bad, but we're just along for the ride as our heroes try to figure out what's going on and because of that, this will totally work better after the full story is released.  

7/10