A Nightwing comic book should be entertaining. Yes, the plots are occasionally bleak, but seldom this absurd. Although I've never been a fan of Tim Seeley's work, I had high hopes for him, but he disappointed me with this drab of a disaster. I'm aware that many Seeley admirers adore his works, especially Nightwing, but I was unable to engage with these issues in Volume 5. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with the DC Universe Rebirth, or maybe I'm just becoming too old to read comic books, but I didn't enjoy "Raptor's Revenge." ╌★✰✰✰✰

The journey of making Dick Grayson more than the first Robin continues. The best job of this was done with the mask and costume but Nightwing is a good character. Its just the stories that are told don't really separate him from his time as Batman's sidekick.

ARC from Netgalley. 3.5 Stars.
Raptor has come to Bludhaven. Nightwing's former partner, from his time infiltrating the Parliament of Owls, wants to join forces with Grayson, but the attempt on Bruce's life has made Raptor an enemy. Raptor's plan is to kill many of Bludhaven's residents by infecting with the same rage-like virus that Blockbuster has. So, in a moment of desperation, Nightwing makes a deal with Blockbuster: help me stop Raptor and I'll leave Bludhaven forever.
Taking that deal, the rest of the Volume is very fast paced, full of fighting and backstabbing and treachery. In the end, Raptor is stopped and inprisoned, Blockbuster is cured of his ability to shift into the huge rage fighter, and Bludhaven is still protected by a (no-longer-dating Huntress :( ) Nightwing.
Title is getting better, but I'd rather see Grayson back involved with Batman.
Recommend.

Unfortunately, the downloaded link did not work. I was unavailable to download again because it was archived.

Nightwing and Bludhaven have a common enemy - Raptor. He has come to settle the score with Nightwing by turning Bludhaven citizens into super-strong monsters. Can Nightwing and the Run-Offs manage to stop Raptor, corral Blockbuster and survive? It will be a close-run thing.

The Rebirth Nightwing Vol. 5: Raptor's Revenge marks the final Nightwing volume by writer Tim Seeley. This is assuredly the end of an era, as Seeley was one of the writers of Grayson, which not so much reimagined Nightwing Dick Grayson as honed him into something leaner and more mature (though not less fun). Seeley and Tom King's Nightwing nee Grayson has been to an extent the kind of twentysomething, dashing Dick Grayson that writers have tried to get to for a while without it necessarily carrying over. Seeley and King seem to have made it stick, however, at least in part from Seeley shepherding the character back to his superhero roots and evidenced by the presence of artist Javier Fernandez and others, whose stylings represent more than just standard superheroics in the book's aesthetic.

So what got this major Marvel fan to read a DC comic.  Well, to be honest, I do like DC comics, heck I love all comics, but what grabbed me on this book was the artwork.  I just loved the style and action of the cover alone, and then once I opened book, I loved all of the artwork. It is just a really beautiful book to read.

Nightwing, the vigilante protector of Blüdhaven has to rely on former enemies to become allies to combat the possible destruction of his city.  The Raptor doesn't know what he's in for but soon learns that Nightwing is not a second stringer.  

Beautiful artwork, in depth story and great dialogue work together to create a book worthy of any comic book fan.

You can't miss with any Batman title lately. Nightwing is a favourite of the the family. Enjoy reading this series.

Oy, more Blockbuster. He's not my favorite character in the Nightwing Universe.

There's also quite a bit of Raptor in this TPB. He's also not my favorite character from the previous run, but, what he did in this one was defintiely interesting. And, he's going above and beyond in his quest to kill/hurt Nightwing.

Luckily Nightwing has the run-offs, who aren't totally sure they want to be good guys, who sorta pitch in.

My favorite Nightwing was never Bludhaven Nightwing, but, I like this series better than the Spyral stuff. We'll see what interesting places Nightwing gets taken this time.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to DC Entertainment.

Wordy, and OK to some extent, but this book relies totally in prior investment in a whole host of naff characters that you'll have never met before if you follow DC only on Netgalley. My bad? Not entirely.

Get more info on Raptor and ties to Dick's origins. Plenty of action and a great story line, but it did seem like there was a lot of going on in this issue but overall very great read.

'Nightwing Vol. 5: Raptor's Revenge' by Tim Seeley brings back a character from the Court of Owls and sets him against Nightwing in Bludhaven.

Dick Grayson is at a few crossroads in Bludhaven. He has a few relationship threads, a tenuous relationship with a casino owner/gangster, and a misfit gang of would be bad guys turned kind of good guys mad at him. Add the mix a weird drug that turns people into muscle-bound monsters and the return of someone who used to be a mentor, and you have a lot going on.

And that's a lot of the problem with this. The Raptor storyline alone would have been enough, but it just feels like a lot of things were crammed in to finish off a story arc. This leaves some emotional endings lacking. There is also an almost preachy amount of political banter. It didn't bother me, but it was borderline.

I liked the art of Miguel Mendonca and Diana Egea in the earlier issues. I cared less about the Javier Farnandez art in the latter issues, but it's all colored well by Chris Sotomayor.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Raptor’s Revenge is the latest Nightwing volume (though I think even then we’re at least ten issues behind the single issue prints), and things don’t look good for Bludhaven. They’ve been building up the Raptor plotline since the first volume, so I’m happy to know it’s finally coming to a head here. It’s 50/50 on if they’re actually done with the Raptor plot after this; but since he’s been my favorite Nightwing antagonist so far I’m actually hoping they don’t drop him (maybe just give him a break so he can become a bit more mysterious again).
Nightwing volume five has been getting built up to for quite some time; first there’s the whole Raptor plot (obviously), plus the Bludhaven spin (with Raptor stirring the pot things have begun moving faster), plus several personal plots for Grayson (along the lines of girlfriends and ex-girlfriends…because there’s a lot of them).
I was excited to see the culmination of so many different plots here, but they ended up being somewhat…lackluster. Sure, Raptor is back and looking to actually end things this time, Grayson’s allies in the area are dwindling, plus the whole personal mess he’s got going for himself (one ex still in the city trying to help out, another newly made because of his actions…none of it all that surprisingly), but none of it really feels all that threatening. I want to be scared for Grayson, for Bludhaven and all of the others in the city, but the truth of the matter is I’m not.
I can’t immerse myself to that point; I know that no matter what happens Grayson will save the day and things will go back to some semblance of normalcy. Even the points in this story that had actual impact (like the breakup we were probably supposed to care about) didn’t really matter because we weren’t given time to care.
There were parts I liked about this volume, obviously, since it didn’t get a worse rating. It’s always nice seeing Helena, though I do wish she had actually been called in for the actual fight (though I totally get why she opted to leave the city when she did). Seeing the ex-villains team up all on their own to help out was pretty cool too – that was the culmination of their plot; they finally realized they could be heroes without any vigilantes prompting them to be good.
As for the Raptor plot itself. It was okay. Not bad, not great. I can understand why he both wanted to and struggled with the idea of killing Grayson. Likewise I believe the backstory Grayson was able to dig up on Raptor. I’m not sure the blame that was placed was entirely fair, but I also get why Grayson said what he did (and if we’re being honest clearly Raptor agreed with him, since he’s been punishing himself and others for all these years).
This was a decent read, all things considered. It didn’t quite live up to the hype of five volumes of buildup, but it was still really interesting at points, so I’ll take it. I wonder what they’re going to do next…personally I hope they build up or create a few new Bludhaven/Nightwing villains. I think that’s what this story needs right about now.

Just wow- Nightwing Vol.5 is the most action-packed comic I have read in a good while. The Boy Wonder really comes into his own in this story protecting his new home from his archenemy and a whole series of rage filled monsters. His old mentor Raptor has a boulder size chip on his shoulder against the rich and elite and feels Dick has betrayed him by siding with Batman and then the rich of Bludhaven. Nightwing gets help from unlikely sources as even former bad guys find redemption. The story raises the pulse much like a thriller as the battles just keep coming and even offer up hints of romance between Nightwing and Defacer. The Captain adds a little humor as the story comes a satisfying ending. The color and art express the mood and tell the story with an old school feel.. A pulse pounding and entertaining read driven by a great story! My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Adventure, fights, inward desires and past exploits and regrets are all wrapped up in this exciting episode. It can stand alone, but I recommend reading the other four first. Artwork is excellent as always, and this comes highly recommended.

I've always enjoyed Nightwing and his back story and this book was not an exception. From the title, I expected a bit more of the Raptor to be included but he wasn't as well fleshed-out as he should have been to be able to maintain that. If there's one thing I didn't enjoy, the cast of characters was so big that you only learn the names of the majority, even some of the major players. Because of this, it's not a book that can stand on its own merits but does compliment the series quite well. I'd still leave this to teens and up as there's your usual violence but the language is edited and there's no sexual content so it really depends on the kid.

I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I liked it. It was ok. I guess we have to wait for the next issue for the gang war subplot to come to the forefront. Raptor's story is resolved and ended.