Dick Grayson, once the loyal ward of Bruce Wayne has returned once again as the superhero NIghtwing, now embarking on a daring undercover mission to dismantle the Parliament of Owls, who believe that they have Nightwing in their power to do their bidding via sadistic blackmail.

That sadistic blackmail, as we learned in the Nightwing: Rebirth one shot issue was an explosive planted in the head of Damian Wayne, Bruce's son and the current Robin, but thanks to timely assistance and connections from his old friends, Dick was able to secure a device that not only removed the explosive from Damian's head, but allowed it to still convince the Parliament of Owls that it is still inside Damian's head ready to be detonated. Now, without that worry on Dick's shoulders, the Parliament sends him off to do their bidding, but before he leaves he takes one last trip to see everyone important in Gotham City before he goes, including Bruce and Damian as well as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl.

This is my first introduction to Nightwing as a series and so far the biggest thing I like about it is the narration from Dick's point of view throughout the books. It really does provide two distinct advantages for his character in that he is able to assess and ascertain to the audience exactly what is going on with him in the present, while at the same time is also able to compare and contrast to what he has done or learned in the past, either from Bruce or any other situation he may have encountered.

It's pretty clear in this first book that despite Dick's experience as a crimefighter and his willingness to go out and get the job done again that he still feels uncertain of himself and is almost learning or re-learning what it is to be in charge of his own pursuit of justice again. the others sense it too, hence their expressed concern for his well-being one by one as the story continues toward his jaunt to Europe.

Nightwing definitely feels like one of those series that is going to have connective tissue with other Gotham City related series like Batman, Batgirl, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey and Detective Comics. Despite the fact that it's taken Dick Grayson out of the country he is still dealing with a group of "Batman villains" and will surely be making more than one Batman reference to what is going on and how he is handling the situation.

If the Nightwing: Rebirth one-shot was intended to be a setup establishing book for Nightwing's return to the fray, then this first issue is his jumping back into that fray headfirst, finding himself in the middle of a situation with a new character named Raptor that promises to challenge every bit of knowledge and experience that Dick Grayson possesses. This will be yet another fun read in DC Universe Rebirth.

5 out 5 stars - DC UNIVERSE REBIRTH: Nightwing #1

This series publishes bi-weekly, next issue due out August 3rd.