Dick Grayson's life has been all over the place since the relaunch of this series. With the death of an old circus friend, reuniting with a childhood crush (with ulterior motives) and facing a killer determined to end his life, what else could go wrong?
The Good
I can't recall if I mentioned it before but when I first heard that Dick would be hanging out and traveling with Haly's Circus rather than stay in Gotham, I was skeptical. We had just seen that he was ready to put down some roots in Gotham. The reason for him getting involved with the circus again makes sense. It's also opened the door to looking into some secrets and mysteries from Dick's past. He's had a killer, going by the name Saiko, targeting Dick from the first issue. He called Dick Grayson the "fiercest killer in all of Gotham." We've been slowly getting revelations and with each one, more mysteries are being laid out.
Because it's the anniversary of the death of the Flying Graysons, the decision was made (without Dick's knowledge) to hold a tribute show there. This leads Dick to believe that Saiko will want to attack him in this bigger venue to make more of a show out of it.
What it comes down to, you're going to find yourself carefully reading each page to see if there are any clues as to what this is all about. Why does Saiko have a problem with Dick? What was that black book of names he found in issue #4? Why did Saiko refer to Dick as a killer? This is what keeps you on hanging by a thread.
The Bad
I am warming up to the idea of Dick traveling with the circus but when they pass through random places (like Austin, Texas in this issue), we're stuck with Dick fighting random bad guys. You have to wonder how long it will be until people start wondering why Nightwing keeps showing up whenever the circus is in town.
The recent revelation with Raya makes you wonder if she's really good at being deceitful or if there's more going on with her.
The Verdict
The mysteries are starting to unravel. Dick's been dealing with a lot since becoming part of Haly's Circus again. With the revelation of the book of names in issue #4 and upcoming solicits for this series, we know signs are pointing towards the upcoming Night of the Owls crossover in the Batman-Family books. Dick has been moving up to becoming a great detective but we're seeing that even he doesn't have all the answers. Kyle Higgins has been laying out a big mystery and it looks like it's all going to come to an explosive conclusion.