Writers: Kyle Higgins & Christos Gage
Artists: Thony Silas & Iban Coelo
First Publication: March 2015
Source: Comixology
Publisher: DC Comics
Graphic Novel Challenge #5
Kyle Higgins continues to write some of the best traditional style comic books with this crossover. This time he builds upon a story about the evil version of the future Justice League of a parallel Earth. The plotting is perfect as the characters from two very different Earths collide.
Highly recommended.
Writer: Kyle Higgins
Artist: Thony Silas
First Publication: November 2014
Source: Comixology
Publisher: DC Comics
Collects issues #1-8
Graphic Novel Challenge #4
When I saw that Kyle Higgins was writing this series, I knew I would enjoy it. Higgins is one of the best Nightwing writers and his handling of the rest of the Bat-verse is spot on. Now he gets to show what he can do with the future Batman.
“Rewired” is classic comic book storytelling. Terry McGinnis is dealing with going to college, being disenfranchised from Bruce Wayne (due to events in the previous series), and building a working relationship with Dick Grayson and Commissioner Barbara Gordon. A mystery villain keeps you guessing as the story builds to its finale.
Highly recommended for fans of classic comics or the Batman Beyond series.
Author: Kyle Higgins
Artists: Brett Booth, Will Conrad, Norm Rapmund
First Publication: July 2014
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: DC Comics
Collects issues #s 19-24
Graphic Novel Challenge #2
From NetGalley: Kyle Higgins sends Nightwing to the Windy City to track down his parent's killer!
After the Joker's attack on the Bat-family, Nightwing finds himself in a new setting with an unlikely ally, The Prankster. Together they are being hunted by the mysterious Mask Killer while Dick tries to find the man who killed his parents, Tony Zullo. Twists and surprises are at every turn in this exciting new chapter of Nightwing!
Kyle Higgins, my favorite Nightwing writer, took him out from under the shadow of Batman and made Nightwing into his own hero. The struggles with finding out that Tony Zucco was still alive and tracking him down helped define Nightwing. The additional change of moving to Chicago also gave him a whole new environment to make his own. Higgins is a master of plotting and characterization. Dick Grayson sounds right when his dialogue is scripted by Higgins. And the art is amazing. Booth, Rapmund, and Conrad all do a fantastic job of bringing the scripts to life.
Highly recommended. If you are any kind of Nightwing fan, pick up and read all of the Higgins collections.
Author: Kyle Higgins
Artists: Will Conrad, Cliff Richards, Russell
Dauterman
Publisher: DC Comics
Source: NetGalley
First Publication: December 2014
Collects: Nightwing #s 25-29, Annual #1
Graphic Novel Challenge #58
The finale to Nightwing’s solo title was a good one. I have been a fan of Kyle Higgins tenure on this title. He has fleshed out the background of Dick Grayson, especially his life at the circus. The main focus of this collection is a battle with the classic Bat-villain the Mad Hatter. Nightwing becomes involved with trying to help a victim of the Hatter who suffers from multiple personalities. A side effect of her mistreatment at the Hatter’s hands is that she is able to imitate any fighting style once she sees it. Higgins uses it to show the emotional, mental, and physical struggles of this battle.
Also included is a Nightwing Annual that shows Dick’s last day in Gotham as he leaves Babs Gordon behind. An epilog to the series is the final issue in the collection. It is written by the team who are writing Grayson. They use it to set the stage for that Dick Grayson/spy comic.
Highly recommended.
Writers: Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel
Artist: Stephane Perger
Cover Date: January 2012
The Avengers was one of the first series I read regularly. At the time, it was written by Steve Englehart with various artists. It did not take me long to start buying the various Marvel reprint titles and get up to date on the Stan Lee and Roy Thomas runs on this title. Through it's ups and downs with creative team changes, it remained one of my personal favorites. When Brian Michael Bendis did his first arc "Avengers Disassembled", I knew it was going a direction that did not appeal to me. I tried to keep reading it but the "Bendis approach" was not the style I liked on Avengers. The only Avengers title I am currently reading is Christos Gage's "Avengers Academy". It is more in the spirit of the old school series. And that leads me to "Avengers Origins".
Higgins and Siegel have written a slightly different take on the origin of the Vision. Roy Thomas did it originally. This version stays true to the spirit of the original story. This is what I would consider to be part of my Avengers. If you are a fan of the old Avengers stories and are looking for something different from the current Bendis series, I strongly recommend picking this up.
The art by Perger is in the painted style of Alex Ross. Perger does an excellent job illustrating the story. I will be looking for more of his work in the future.
