Nightwing: The Great Leap TPB

Man, I do like Peter Tomasi's writing, but he does write some gore. There is an issue in this trade that is just filled with Nightwing fantasizing about killing Batman's rogues gallery. It's crazy gory, and while it is all a Scarecrow-induced fantasy, I think it clearly makes it into "Hey kids, comics!" territory. I can't imagine letting my 5-year-old see this thing.

The title of the trade is more than a bit odd. I see where it fits in, because we do see the "great leap" towards the end of the trade, but I would think that a Two-Face related title might have been more appropriate.

The bulk of the trade deals with Nightwing's relationship with Two-Face. There are a ton of references to a baseball bat-beating that I don't think I ever read. Was it in Robin: Year One? The conflict is that Harvey Dent wants Nightwing to save an old flame of his, while Two-Face wants her dead. I like the set-up, and the payoff is pretty good. I will say the story veers dangerously close to having Nightwing be incompetent. A LOT of bystanders and cops get hurt and killed in the little showdown between Nightwing and Harvey. Another thing, seeing this trade reminds me how much I like Nightwing. Tomasi takes time to show him enjoying his real (non-superhero) life. He goes to work, goes out to dinner, makes milkshakes and popcorn, and best of all watches movies with Alfred and Tim Drake. Nightwing really is the hero you'd want to hang out with in the DCU.

The art is really inconsistent, the only good part is that the many artists are all good. Rags Morales, Don Kramer, Doug Mahnke, that is about as great a stable as you could hope for to draw a book. I just wish one guy could have done more of the issues.

Fair