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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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Adventures in the Windy City: Nightwing volume 4 Second City

 

Cover of Nightwing volume 4 - Second City TPB


Review:

This TPB could be a photo album too - it collects memories and key moments of Nightwing's trip to Chicago. Dick Grayson sublets an apartment for his short-term stay, a quest to track down Tony Zucco, the man who killed his circus performer parents. In his efforts to bring Zucco to justice, he must first battle an environment that has turned hostile to "Masks" - costumed vigilantes.

Brett Booth's covers and action spreads make this worth the trip. The covers are dramatic snapshots of the conflicts. Most pages are artistically straight-forward, but Booth excels at showing the jaw-dropping moves, poses and hand-to-hand combat abilities of Nightwing, and he strings them together into amazing collages.

The story itself feels a bit derivative and repetitive of common superhero tropes, especially in the Batman family tree. A hero is driven to do what he does by the murder of his parents. A recurring villain with a name inspired by tricks and practical jokes - in this case, The Prankster. High-level police and political figures messing with the very edge of ethics and morality. It all combines to feel like a low-budget Batman, in this case so low-budget that Dick needs roommates to help meet rent, and needs to stitch and patch the rips in his suit between battles.

I could stare at the pages showing the battles and rescues for hours, and the occasional recognizable Chicago landmark is fun. But much of the book is a second-rate second city story. Chicago deserves better.

Description:

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!

Collects: Nightwing #19-24

Authors: Kyle Higgins
Artists: Brett Booth
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: July 15 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401246303
Pages: 144 pages


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