Graphic Novel Review: Nightwing: Volume 1: Traps and Trapezes by Kyle Higgins

Author: Kyle Higgins
Publisher: DC Comics
Published: October 16, 2012
Page Count: 160 pages
Availability: in print, buy on Amazon or your local bookstore or on Kindle with Cimixology, available on DCUniverseInfinite

Nightwing is patrolling Gotham City, musing over everything that’s been happening to him, especially since he was Batman while Bruce was “away”, retconning Grant Morrison’s Batman run a little. He is attacked by someone looking for Dick Grayson, “The Fiercest Killer in Gotham City”. Later he decides to visit Haly’s Circus when they return to Gotham. It leads to a mystery involving his past and he has no idea what it means.

The new lore added to Dick Grayson's origins with some new elements that weren’t in any previous iterations of the character. The new aspects of Dick’s origins and not just his origins as Robin, but his connection to Haly’s Circus and his family history make for an interesting story.

The story has taken Dick Grayson in an interesting direction and it just made the character even more interesting than he already was.

He has already been a great character and this story gave him more aspects that also give him interesting friends that are great for him to interact with.

I love the new lore that has been added to Dick Grayson because of this graphic novel.

I really loved the mystery the story set up, it’s one of those you could figure out, but it’s not too predictable unless you recognize certain tropes. But I really enjoyed that they did keep all the surprises to drop them at the end of the graphic novel.

I like how they kept the true secrets of what’s going on until the end of the story, because this does tie into Batman: Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder as well.

The artwork by Eddie Barrows is really great. I like the character designs and the action scenes are very good.

The art is very detailed and I like the art style and character designs. The art isn’t always consistent because some of the issues weren’t illustrated by Edie Barrows. But I do like the art in this graphic novel.

The art in this comic is excellent and compliments the story with exciting fight scenes that look cool.

I really like the illustrations and I can recommend this volume for the art as well as the story.

The pacing of this graphic novel drags in the middle, because one issue only has a plot point at the end of it, and another issue is also just filler, and because it takes place in the middle of the comic, the story gets bogged down by filler.

The filler is also just decent fight scene filler with one off villains. It’s not anything particularly memorable though.

This book is rated T for teen and is recommended for ages 13 and up for violence, blood and some implied sexual content.

Nightwing: Volume 1: Traps and Trapezes is a great way for newcomers to comicsto start reading, but it does make references to events before the New52 Continuity Reboot.

While the graphic novel is more enjoyable if you are familiar with DC Comics and certain Batman and Nightwing stories, you can definitely go into this blind and enjoy it all the same.

It is a ton of fun to read and has nice artwork to keep you visually entertained.

Nightwing: Volume 1: Traps and Trapezes by Kyle Higgins is a great graphic novel that I love a lot. The story is excellent and I really enjoyed it, especially since it added so much to Dick Grayson’s story and history that is something that makes him even better as a character.

This graphic novel has a solid story and interesting, well-written new characters that are a great addition to characters in Nightwing stories. The artwork is also very good, but somewhat inconsistent.

It’s still a great read that I really love and enjoy. Dick Grayson has been one of my favorite characters for a long time and I loved that this story added so much to both Dick Grayson’s character and family history.

I also love that this story added more to Dick’s childhood by having some of his childhood friends play a big role in this story arc.

This graphic novel isn’t perfect and it has some slow pacing that interrupts the momentum of the overall mystery when it interrupts the story with meaningless filler that only has minimal plot relevance until the last page of the chapter.

I enjoyed this story a lot. I’ve always liked Nightwing as a character. I enjoy his origins in the circus and I enjoyed the fact that they returned him to his roots involving the circus. I also liked the mystery that they were setting up and it does tie into the Court of Owls and Night of the Owls storylines.

I’m very happy that I own this graphic novel in my collection of comics. It’s one that I feel is worth paying for, especially since it’s pretty cheap to buy a physical copy, but the digital copy is also pretty inexpensive too if you have a Kindle Fire HD with color. If you want to read the comic on your PC, there is a Kindle app.

I would recommend a physical copy because it’s nice to own a physical copy of comics rather than just digital.

I highly recommend this comic book for anyone who likes Nightwing as a character or if you’ve enjoyed reading his comics. I love the writing and the mystery this book sets up and it’s a really enjoyable read as well. It’s one of my favorite series from the New 52 lineup DC Comics has. It’s well worth buying it for your comic book collection. If you’re curious, check your local library, they might have it on their shelves for you to read.