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Nightwing: The Hunt for Oracle

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"The Hunt For Oracle" is volume five in the Nightwing Series that collects the original monthly comics (it's volume six if you count "Ties That Bind" but that one collects the miniseries). This volume continues from the previous one, "A Darker Shade of Justice" and it collects issues 41-45 of the monthly Nightwing and the two issues of Birds of Prey that it crosses-over with.

Chuck Dixon continues his excellent storytelling and characterization-work here. Nightwing (Dick Grayson) returns to Bludhaven after the events of "No Man's Land" in Gotham City. He takes his finals and graduates as a police officer. Meanwhile, the subplots from the previous volumes involving Tad (Nite-Wing) builds to a new level of intensity and violence in this volume as Nightwing attempts to take him under his tutelage. Also, new developments in the relationship of Dick and Clancy. Finally, there is the introduction of a new element into the Bludhaven police force (MacArnot) who may be a sleazier cop than even the legendary Dudley Soames was. For those who have been diligently following Chuck Dixon's developing plot-lines, the rewards of this volume are numerous. If like me, you like the soap-opera aspects of a monthly superhero comic where the characters grow, you'll love what Dixon is doing here.

Then we move on to the main plot. Blockbuster, the "kingpin" of Bludhaven wants to hunt down Oracle (Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl and Dick's girlfriend). And he does that by torturing Nightwing for information and by hiring a whole group of thugs/assassins. Oracle's partner, Black Canary, races against time around the globe to save her. This story also provides the biggest pay-out in the relationship of the "Birds of Prey" (Oracle and Canary) since the series began.

My only complain here is that the book seems to end on a cliffhanger (that I believe doesn't continue in the "Nightwing" books but are carried over into the "Birds of Prey" book instead). But then, such are the stuff that crossovers are made of. All in all, the story has so much to offer already that you'll overlook that.

Lastly, this volume also sees the debut of Greg Land as the new penciller for "Nightwing"; taking over from Scott McDaniel, who moved on to draw "Batman". While I absolutely love the dynamism and crazy action of McDaniel's art after the last four books, I have to admit that Greg Land is no slouch either. While he lacks the kinetic energy of McDaniel, Land more than makes up for that in his beautiful, clean line-work and absolutely gorgeous figure-drawing. For those of us who've followed Greg Land's art since the original "Nighwing" miniseries, you'll be pleased to see how much the man has evolved and improved here (and also in the CrossGen book, "Sojourn"). On a personal note, I prefer Drew Geraci inking over Land's pencils than Jose Marzan Jr. (who is far better when he's inking over Stuart Immonen). Both inkers strut their stuff in this volume so you can make your own comparisons. Patrick Zircher helps Land out as co-penciller and Butch Guice draws the "Birds of Prey" issues. The art in this book is pure eye-candy and this book is worth the price of admission on that alone.

Blockbuster has recently suffered his greatest loss not at the hands of Nightwing or Batman, but Oracle. He becomes obsessed with finding Oracle and killing him/her.
Nightwing and Nite-wing team up in this volume. It is Dick's hope that he can take Tad under his "wing." However, Tad shows a violent, antisocial streak when he kills an undercover FBI agent.
Oracle is nearly found, however, she runs circles around her enemies with superior planning and craftiness. She is proving to be a great asset to the Batman family beyond her impairment.
I could be wrong, but this looks like someone else started picking up the art in this volume on. Personally, I like the art either way, the main thing I like about the series is how action-packed it is without compromising the detective element. If you are picky about that sort of thing though, you might want to ask around.
Otherwise, I strongly suggest this book, and the Nightwing series.

(This TPB contains BoP issues #20-21 and Nightwing #41-46.)

Just to make it clear, I started out as a Black Canary fan, then as a BoP fan, and have only recently become a Nightwing fan. I wouldn't recommend this to newcomers of either title, but it's a fun read for anyone who knows the characters and settings well enough to hang on during the ride. As a BoP fan, I really enjoyed seeing how Oracle handles herself outside the clock tower against someone more challenging than a would-be mugger or a condescending shop clerk.

Good choice of art team--while I'm not utterly opposed to any of the other artists who've worked on either series, Land, Guice, and Zirchner's realistic styles are ideally suited for this gritty story.

This is the very first nightwing edition that I have ever read and I immediately fell in love with the story. This volume gives us the tiniest hope that his relationship with oracle might, in some way, still exist. It's a must have if you are a fan of the batgirl/robin romance.

This was my introduction to Nightwing's attempts to sort out problems in Bludhaven (I like Nightwing, and just decided to read Hunt For Oracle, as opposed to other Nightwing graphic novels, because I'm also an Oracle fan, from her old Suicide Squad appearances). The problems in Bludhaven include a corrupt police force, an attack on a shady lawyer named Bendel-White by a cop turned criminal named Torque, a Nightwing imposter calling himself Nite-Wing, who fights crime by being more violent than any of the thugs he pursues, and a festering gang war that centers around the withering but still-powerful crimeboss named Blockbuster who has had his success severely marred by the mysterious online interloper known as Oracle.

A lot of characters traipse through these pages, and they all make the story great...because they all want a piece of each other. Torque gets a shot at blowing two Night/Nite-wings out of existence, while Blockbuster works his Oracle problem from several angles by hiring several hi-tech and heavily-armed supercriminals to track Oracle down to her lair. This has Lady Vic and Brutale going after Black Canary, a known Oracle associate, while a couple of bizarre electronic experts--Mouse and Giz--try to zero in on Oracle's lair so a dude named Stallion and his small army of mercenaries can close in and commit mayhem. Things don't quite go as planned--not for Blockbuster and his minions, who discover that tracing Oracle is like tracing a phantom with numerous tricks up her sleeve, and not for Nightwing, whose reluctant team-up with Nite-wing sours right about when they invade Blockbuster's home. Capture, torture, escape, surprises, murder, a talking gorilla named Grimm who would like to tear Nightwing's arms out, and soon our hero with the 'ight' not the 'ite' in his name is out trying to save Oracle from Blockbuster.

Blockbuster's final cornering of Oracle in a docked submarine is a terrific finale, now involving even more hired villains, mostly stealth-attired gunsels, but also one of my favourites, the Electrocutioner. Meanwhile, it's Nightwing, Robin and Alfred the Butler (sporting a shotgun and looking distinctly out of butler mode) on the way to the rescue...but they're delayed by lethal, armored motorcycle jockeys. And Black Canary looks like she'll be late too. Which would leave Oracle, aka Barbara Gordon who is paralyzed from the waist down, fighting the good fight alone and in the dark, until all her tricks and boobytraps and ambushes are used up.

The fact that the story is not totally resolved, but does spin off to some Birds Of Prey graphic novel (obviously whichever one starts with Birds of Prey, the original comic book, # 22) does not diminish this complex actionfest. Though I jumped headfirst into the middle of Nightwing's perilous world by reading The Hunt For Oracle as an intro, I don't regret it. What had gone before is summarized or easy to figure out, and what is left dangling--like Torque's or Nite-Wing's ultimate fates after this, as well Black Canary's little life-threatening problem--just demonstrates that sometimes it's hard to splice up superhero comics and sort them into graphic novels when there are crossovers involved (in this case, the Nightwing and Birds of Prey titles), and when the creative team is busy running subplots that can last ten or twenty issues. Whatever. The action, the dialogue, the cruel twists, the characters colliding with each other nonstop, all make The Hunt For Oracle, and Nightwing, a superior effort by writer Chuck Dixon, and the various artists, like penciler Greg Land.