Nightwing: The New Order #5 Review

Old Dogs

Written by: Kyle Higgins
Art by: Trevor McCarthy, Dean White, and Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 27, 2017


I have really enjoyed New Order and while I am sad to see is closer to being over, I am pretty pumped to see how it ends.  I'm not so sure that it will all work out for Dick Grayson, but that's the reason I like books like these...they don't all have to have a happy ending.  So, how was this issue?  Let's find out...



The issue opens with Kate Kane having a little talk with Liz.  If you don't remember, Liz is the girl from Crusader's HQ that has been helping Dick Grayson and the Titans.  We find out that her sister was a meta affected during the Metropolis incident and also that Kate knows she is the mole.  We don't get to see the ramifications from that yet as we head back down below to continue the Titans fight with the super cyborged version of Mister Freeze. 

I have to say, poor Mister Freeze actually came off as a guy who was concerned with Jake...for about a second.  It's not like he had a turnabout, it's just that he got blasted by Lois and Starfire!  With him down, we pause a second to see that Wally has no powers (from Freeze's darts last issue) and that Kate and her troops are heading their way.

A big battle erupts but the art becomes so frantic at this point that I can't say it was cool.  It's as if Higgins and McCarthy don't want you to think that there was ever a chance our heroes would be brought down so it's Wam! Bam! Thank you M'am! and off to more important things...like Lois Lane.

It seems that Higgins either painted himself into a corner with Lois or he wanted to show how badass she really is, but either way, Lois needs to do things a Blue Lantern usually can't and does because...well, she's Lois Lane!  She confronts Mister Freeze (who I really thought was out of the game from before), but instead of attacking, she sets up a force field to give the team time to escape.  They do escape, thanks to a couple surprises (well, not really surprises since both were set up earlier) and it's back to Bludhaven to figure things out.  

The big question is what are the Titans going to do with Jake and while Dick has been a bit of a flip-flopping hypocrite the entire series, he stands up for what he believes here...kind of.  While he still wants to go into hiding with Jake, he eventually plans on using the situation to reform the Crusaders.  The problem is, Dick didn't realize this was all just his decision.

The Titans (with Dick in tow) head off to Metropolis for the final act and I have to say, the book kicks it into overdrive from here on out.  We see that Metropolis might as well be Snake Plissken's New York City and we get a huge character introduction (reintroduction) that I never saw coming.  It's a reunion and a cool team-up and...well, it's just plain cool!

The issue ends by showing us some very important bits of past information that sheds light on why things went down the way they did and also gives us the idea that you can teach old dogs new tricks even as Dick Grayson doesn't seem to follow that adage.  We get some really good moments with Jake, but the cliffhanger does a good job of making a Dick look like an ass!

I am still fully onboard with this series and can't wait until next month.  However, the first half of this issue was probably the least enjoyable of the series.  The big moment of Jake being sprung from the Crusade felt too much like filler and ended way too quickly.  I don't just mean page count, but what actually went down.  However, the ending of this issue ramped up the excitement and has me so pumped for next issue.

I have loved Trevor McCarthy's art throughout this series, but again, it was a little down in the whole escape scene.  It just didn't flow well and was even a bit confusing at times.  Other than that, the rest of the book looked great and the new characters looked fantastic.

Bits and Pieces:

Kyle Higgins and Trevor McCarthy give fans a penultimate issue that didn't wow me until midway through, but then it wowed me big time.  It was still a bit more setup than I expected, but the setup and the cliffhanger have me excited for the finale.

7.5/10