Review by Karl Verhoven

Nightwing and Flamebird are characters who occasionally appeared in the Superman stories of the 1960s set in what was then the shrunken city of Kandor. Nightwing was Superman and Flamebird was Jimmy Olsen, but in the New Krypton mythology they’re two new characters.

Greg Rucka doesn’t make an issue of who they are, or of their purpose. They’re Kryptonians, but aware that Kryptonians other than Superman are unpopular on Earth, they disguise their origins via armoured costumes suggesting their powers are technology based. Their intention is to capture renegade Kryptonians hiding on Earth, sent there as sleeper agents by General Zod, who’s anticipating war. General Lane’s idea of protecting Earth is no more human, bellowing lines like “I want those spies caught, interrogated and broken, and I don’t care how”, and hiding behind national security to ride roughshod over human rights.

When creating his own projects Rucka almost always has a strong female lead, and crime or mystery is his genre of choice, although often spliced with another genre’s trappings. Straight superhero work is never on the agenda, which suggests he’s not greatly predisposed to the genre. That may all be speculation, but Nightwing and Flamebird is ordinary, at its best when there are conversations during quieter moments, and only serviceable otherwise.

That’s also partly down to the art, featuring many misproportioned figures, brutality (especially Sidney Teles), and four artists with different styles over six chapters. Pere Pérez would be the name that stands out, but this is early in his career, and while good, he’s not the welcome sight he’d later become. The sample art is from Diego Olmos, who not only draws the most pages, but is the most efficient.

It’s only right at the end of the main story that things become interesting, as the super powered ally General Lane is seen with takes matters into her own hands, seemingly with access to powers every bit as formidable as the Kryptonians he’s demonising.

That’s the break point, with the remainder of Nightwing and Flamebird’s story playing out in Volume Two. However, the closer here is an origin story of sorts, starting when Brainiac abducts the Kryptonian city of Kandor. It’s the best inclusion by some distance, with Rucka detailing upbringings characterised by loss, adversity and deprivation. Psychologists might predict brutality as the inevitable result, but it isn’t and Rucka supplies considerable thought to Kryptonian practices to bolster a cracking tale of faith and connection.