Gates continues to be a fun ride.
Following an action packed issue, this issue of Gates of Gotham is a little bit different. The dust settles, and the bat kids regroup, figuring out their next move. Where as in the past, things start to go poorly for Nicholas Ander's and his brother who has become skeptical in their relationship with the Waynes and other families of Gotham. The past segments of this book remain as interesting and intriguing as always, at this point I'm not surprised how much I like these segments, but as an over all feeling from the get go, it is surprising that I'm perhaps more interested in this than the present day stuff.
What I've found to be very strong about this series so far, is the spot on characterization. If anyone is worried about the new Nightwing series, I'd really recommend reading this, because Higgins really does nail all the characters in the scripts. With Dick's transition into Nightwing, we see continue to see similar identity, "who am I really" like themes, that are echoed currently in Detective Comic s (obviously, since Snyder plotted this book) but the supporting cast is nailed too. Cassandra's adept skill in reading body language comes into play, which is a hit on the head in terms of who she is. Then Tim and Damian are teamed up, portraying their relationship as it should be, going off what we've seen in Red Robin, where, they still don't like each other, but will work together if need be. Tim also takes a dig at Damian, by pointing out the only reason he doesn't like Cass is the fact that Bruce chose her over him, something that is critically important to Damian and his relationship with those around him.
Is this a different type of issue than what we've seen? Yeah, but that isn't a bad thing at all. I've figured this series to be like a roller coaster. First we had the initial ascent, then the drop from that first hill, now some twists and turns, and I expect the final two issues to be the loops and corkscrews.