Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne

Batman One-Shots

by Kelley Puckett, Toby Cypress (Illustrator)

The virus has no name, but it exists...and it brings death. Now, mere days before it is to be unleashed on the world by a few militant madmen, it strikes a would-be hero - the batman!

With the Dark Knight clinging to life in the icy wasteland of rural Russia, only one man can save him.

He was raised to be a sidekick. They called him "Robin". Now, Dick Grayson is Nightwing - and he will travel to the ends of the earth to save him mentor and friend.

But can he win a race against a biological nightmare and the military extremists who would unleash it on an unsuspecting world?"

Genres: Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Kelley Puckett is a comic book writer. He is the creator of the character Cassandra Cain, the Batgirl who succeeded Barbara Gordon and who was succeeded herself by Stephanie Brown, as well as the second Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stylized artwork and a story of mentors.

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne is a Prestige one-shot special written by Kelley Puckett and illustrated by Toby Cypress. It centers on the father/son like relationship between Bruce Wayne as Batman and Dick Grayson as Nightwing as they would go through extreme lengths for each other.

Bruce Wayne as Batman is in a frozen Russian wasteland battling well-armed troops over a fragile vial of plague virus. Frozen and ravaged by illness, he of course defeats the opposing army singlehandedly, only to succumb to the plague. He collapses into a snow bank and to prevent further contamination destroys his tracer. Concerned, Alfred Pennyworth calls in Dick Grayson as Nightwing and sends him off to locate the Batman and manages not to find him still alive, but to cure him of the unknown plague using himself as a guinea pig.

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne is written and constructed moderately well. I like the premise of Puckett's story, it is a story about the relationship between Bruce Wayne as Dick Grayson – not just as mentor and student, but father and son and, in this case Dick Grayson, how far one would go to save the other. I just wished it was executed better as the narrative seemed rushed and a tad sloppy. However, the glaring quandary predicament is the artwork. Cypress' penciling is much to be desired and greatly distracts from the narrative.

All in all, Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne is an interesting insight of the relationship between Bruce Wayne as Batman and Dick Grayson as Nightwing – just wished it was better executed with better artwork.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

So is Toby Cypress a pen name for when Bill Sienkewicz wants to bash out some work on the quick without worrying about his rep or is this just a lukewarm cribbing of his style by a young wannabe? Even the word balloons for sound effects even show off a distinctive lettering that is straight lifted off the master. At any rate, it's not up to Bill's usual level and the story is kinda weak to be honest.

[Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

the panel is dick’s parents telling him you need to close your eyes and trust your partner to being there for you and them grabbing his arms so he doesn’t fall being drawn right next to bruce cutting off his locator signal so no one can find him and be exposed to the virus too which alerts alfred to send dick after bruce i will forever lose my mind over this

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was just OK, but the art was abysmal. The artwork was so bad that it was distracting. As an example, here are some of the drawings of Nightwing:

[Veronika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Zeichenstil ist... wirklich gar nicht meins. Er ist ziemlich schrecklich, ehrlich gesagt.
Aber die Story ist sehr intensiv und schön und man sieht in welchem Ausmaß Nightwing dedicated ist Batman zu retten. Also 4 Sterne für die Geschichte, 2 für den Stil, 3 insgesamt.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Batman is missing and Nightwing is tasked to find him.

[Kanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story with a very, very,very bad art.

[marol · Rating 4 out of 5]

a relação mais codependente da história, eu os amo ❤️❤️

[Sarah Mono]

Peak Nightwing. The art is at-times cool and at-times awful, but I’d take ugly Bloodborne over the sanitized Nightwing Run that just ended any day of the week

[finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

THEY MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME UGHHHH

[Amna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible art. Okay story.

[tee (rin's version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

the storyline is aight but the art style are just not my type

[Rashe · Rating 2 out of 5]

why are they ugly?

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite Nightwing stories, too bad it was ruined by the art.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I simply cannot comprehend the mindset of the person that read this script and thought, "this comic deserves to be put out in a special format that costs three times the price of a normal comic!"

Boring, not important to the ongoing story, and forgettable, for the most part, except for a sort-of-clever premise and two pages I thought were very well done. (Which is why it earned three stars.)

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea behind this book actually is not bad. Not breathtaking but not bad.
Although what *is* bad is the execution.
The writing is sloppy, rushed, rough and it feels like a lot is missing. If I did not already care about characters like Batman, Nightwing and Alfred, this story would not have touched me at all, the way it has been told.
Give the same idea to Grant Morrison or Jeph Loeb and you could've had another Batman-Masterpiece. They, like a lot of other Batman-writers, have the ability to make you care for the characters, to feel for them and to be afraid for them even if you know they eventually will survive.

With this story you just feel too far way to care. A shame, really.

And the artwork... the artwork is just horrible. I really can't get warm (no pun intended) with this style. It's harsh and careless and just not my cup of tea.

There was potential but it was messed up and buried pretty fast.
I don't regret reading it but I could have gone without. Definitly no must-read.

[Kati · Rating 1 out of 5]

Batman finds a deadly virus in Outer Mongolia and gets infected. Nightwing has to rescue him. And all that happens on the anniversary of Dick's parents' death.

Story by Kelley Puckett: Pathetic, bordering on laughable. Seriously, I don't expect Shakespeare, readable is enough. But this was so bad that I actually snickered in places.

Art by Toby Cypress: Hideously ugly. Sometimes, you don't even know what's happening. The drawings look like the work of a seriously mentally disturbed person. Atrocious!

Conclusion: Avoid, avoid, avoid! I could barely finish it and I'm throwing it away. How could these two people get their work published with DC Comics is totally beyond me. Someone should be fired for getting it printed!

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice idea, Nightwing saving Batman for a change. It was just a bit too short.

[Kacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, awful, awful art to the point of it being so I couldn't pay attention to the story.

[claundici · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's five stars for Dick's characterization (oh, Dick), two for the storytelling per se and four for the art. 3.5 is the actual average but halves are not allowed, so.

[Jane Blake · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful in many ways good plot but totally unworthy for a Nightwing story. Bad storytelling and awful art.

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not care what happens, I can't get past the crappy art.