Nightwing: The New Order #3 Review

Boxing Match

Written by: Kyle Higgins
Art by: Trevor McCarthy, Dean White and Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 25, 2017

I am a big fan of this elseworlds story which is no surprise as Dick Grayson is my favorite comic book character and Kyle Higgins is one of my favorite writers.  This issue picks up after last issues cliffhanger which was a doozy...Jake revealed he had powers, him and Dick were taken in by the authorities and Alfred was killed.  Yea, that last bit was huge and I am expecting more WTF moments to come.  Do they start coming in this issue?  Let's find out...


The issue opens with the reveal of who has been behind the very recent miseries of Dick Grayson and his family.  It's Kate Kane and somebody better get a hold of her press agent pronto since she is suddenly bad in a bunch of books, in continuity and out.

She tells Brady not to engage Dick until she can get to HQ, but Brady (who was the one who killed Alfred) does so anyway and it doesn't go well for old Brady.  I can't say I was shocked or upset about it either...Brady with his long, sexy hair and...excuse me a moment.  Okay, I'm back.

Dick continues by getting past every guard in the HQ and jumps out of the window and runs off to freedom.  Well, he actually runs off to Tim Drake's house, but kind of the same thing.  The two ex-Robins get through some tense greetings and than Tim finds out where Jake is being held.  It looks like Dick is heading off to Central City!

The story continues with Dick getting his old gear from a pretty cool place and heading off to get his son.  After some background information about Dick and Kate's relationship (with Jake continuing the narration), Dick comes face to face with John Stewart and an extended battle ensues.  The issue ends with Dick on the losing end of a bunch of Green Lantern boxing gloves before being whisked away by some pretty awesome new guest stars.

This was my least favorite issue of the series, but since I loved the first two issues, that isn't as bad as it seems.  Kyle Higgins sets up a bunch of pieces here and all of them are really cool, but the issue itself had two padded out fight scenes and because of that, I can't give it high marks.  Still, I love the character work and the overall story is still very intriguing so I'm considering this just a minor detour before getting back in the express lane.

I have really liked Trevor McCarthy's art in this series so far, but it was another thing I thought that was down a bit here.  The fight scenes weren't as crisp as they should have been and a couple of panels were a bit confusing.  Plus, he seemed to have problems this issue with character consistency.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue was a down moment in an otherwise great series.  Kyle Higgins may not want to overplay his hand halfway through the series, but that leads to a padded out issue.  I am still fully onboard, just not this issue.

7.0/10