Nightwing #15 Review and *SPOILERS*

You Give Love A Bad Name

Written By: Tim Seeley

Art By: Minkyu Jung, Chris Sotomayor, Carlos M. Mangual

Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: February 15, 2017

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Now that the Run-Offs have been cleared of any wrong doing, Dick can finally get into his new life in Bludhaven and from what we saw at the end of the previous issue, it looks like his new life has a new girlfriend going for it.  That's right, Nightwing told Defacer, Shawn Tsang that he was the tights-clad hero of Bludhaven, but it didn't really seem to matter because as she says, she figured it out anyway.......... and really, anyone should have been able to figure that out.  With that though, we have ourselves a Valentine's Day story going on here, where we spend two months peaking into the relationship status of our hero and the former villain, through it's highs and lows.  Let's jump into this issue and hopefully find out that Dick isn't the perfect boyfriend because while I know I can't look as good as he does, I might be able to do things better in other areas........... like put the toilet seat down when I'm done.  Let's check this out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins two months ago, where we start out Dick and Shawn's relationship with a simple night out that leads to a kiss.  Things heat up though when we see two weeks in that Dick seals the deal and it's from there that we get to see the more human side of Dick and him trying to juggle a normal relationship with his superhero lifestyle.  This includes Wally West speeding over from Central City because he  wants the dirt on Dick's new girl and even Shawn having a confidant in the Run-Off Stallion.  Really though, this opening section plays a lot like Tell Me More from Grease and you know what?  I had a great time reading it.

Things pick up as we move closer to our present day, where Dick's staying over Shawn's apartment, meeting her folks and of course, Dick going and having to talk about his personal life to Red Hood, Starfire and eventually Batgirl, who tells him that he better not break her heart.  It's not all take out and snuggling though because even though things seem to be going pretty good for this new couple, Shawn has a fear of failure and is afraid that Dick will eventually see her for what she thinks she is and that's the DeFacer, but after trying to break up with Dick before they get too serious, our hero squashes all that shit by saying some things that go right to the heart.  Oh Dick, you old softy you!

In the end, we move to our present, where things seem to be going really well and Dick is explaining to Bruce how happy he is with not only his new home of Bludhaven, but with everything in general.  It just goes to show you though, you start talking like that and you're bound to jinx something and as this issue closes we see Shawn talking to her former crime partner on the phone, The Pigeon and telling her how much she's changed and how happy she is and just like that........... BAM!  Someone comes up from behind and grabs her.  

That's it for this issue of Nightwing and I love that we actually spent an entire issue just dealing with our hero's relationship status and how we got to dive in deep into both Dick and Shawn's apprehensions about it and what they did to move past it into a healthy relationship.   Of course we had to go and add some drama into our hero's life by having Shawn being taken and or hurt at the end, but for this issue, I'm happy that we went low key and got to explore Dick as a man out of tights for the most part, but even when he had to Nightwing up, he was still giving us the goods about what's up with Shawn and him.  It was just a nice break that gives us a bit of a breather as we head into the new arc and while I appreciated the story, I really dug the hell out of the art that accompanied it.  I mean, I loved Marcus To's run in the previous arc, but it seems that with each new artist, the book just gets better and better looking.  

Bits and Pieces:

We've got a low key issue with Nightwing this week........ and man, I love the hell out of it.  We get a chance to breath after our hero solved the Run-Off conspiracy last issue and take a look into Dick's love life for better or worse.  I thought this was really well told and the art is probably the best it's looked since this series began and that's something for how much I liked the look of the previous arc.  

8/10