People do extreme things when they fear for their safety, and the DC Comics miniseries, Nightwing: The New Order, looks at an alternate reality where the danger of superpowered beings has compelled the U.S. government to take drastic measures to subdue people with extraordinary abilities. Leading the charge is Dick Grayson, the former Nightwing, who runs a government-sanctioned task force that tracks down Supers who refuse to use mandatory power inhibitors. The final page of last month’s debut issue revealed that Dick’s teenage son has manifested his own superpowers, putting Dick in a position where he has to choose between his son’s freedom and the obligations of his job. As a former writer of the Nightwing ongoing series, Kyle Higgins understands Dick Grayson’s character and has crafted a story that makes Dick’s tranformation into a fascist enforcer plausible, and the art team of Trevor McCarthy and colorist Dean White has brought intense drama to the page as Dick’s life becomes increasingly complicated.
This exclusive preview of this week’s Nightwing: The New Order #2 delves deeper into the events that led to the current status quo, depicting the rise of superheroes and supervillains with bombastic spectacle. Higgins and McCarthy previously worked together on the Batman: Gates Of Gotham miniseries, and Higgins gives McCarthy a script that allows him to play with the biggest names in the DC Universe and show off his action storytelling skills. The superhero battles in these pages are huge, but when the scope of the story narrows to explore how superpowers have trickled down to ordinary people, McCarthy makes the panels smaller and quieter to reflect that shift. Dean White is one of the best colorists in the business, and he brings remarkable texture to McCarthy’s linework while setting the mood with his bold palettes. There’s a lot of depth in both the story and artwork of Nightwing: The New Order, making it an enlightening superhero tale about the dangers of authoritarian policies.