Review: Nightwing #109 – The Batman Universe

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Overview: In Nightwing #109, Dick Grayson tries desperately to save lots of the lifetime of the lady he as soon as cherished as Ric Grayson!

Title: Nightwing #109 “The Crew of the Crossed: FINALE”Author: Tom TaylorArtist: Stephen ByrneColors: Adriano LucasLetters: Wes AbbottMain Cowl: Bruno RedondoVariant Covers: Jamal Campbell, Dan Mora, Mike Deodato Jr.Launch Date: December 19, 2023

This comedian e-book evaluate comprises spoilers. 

As Beatrice Bennett sinks to a watery grave, tales above Nightwing (Dick Grayson) is wrestling together with his sudden burst of worry from the considered saving her. He recollects a time in his life when he practically fell and had a short worry of heights, however shirks that off and dives after Bea, leaving her would-be-killer/half-brother Dirk to start out his takeover of The Maintain.

In a flashback, we see a younger Robin enter the Batcave. He’s greeted by Alfred Pennyworth, who informs him that he’s to learn to sew up an individual by way of fight drugs. Though considerably nervous at first, younger Dick takes the needle and begins studying the artwork of therapeutic on a small pig. This carries us by way of to seeing Bea awaken from her near-death expertise. Regardless of her accidents, she is decided to cease Dirk from seizing management of The Maintain earlier than the rumors of her demise bend the individuals to his will. As recompense for saving her life, she releases Dick from his debt, however understanding the chances she faces (and regardless of his worry), he commits himself to aiding her anyway.

Arriving simply as Dirk is about to set sail, Bea regains the allegiance of the Quartermaster Amanda. Dick – indignant at Dirk’s betrayal and homicide of First Mate Lucas – simply takes out all of Dirk’s males. Bea arrives on the scene and takes again command of her ship. Later, Amanda delivers Dick’s delivered package deal, which seems to be surveillance digicam footage of Tony Zucco messing round with the Flying Grayson’s trapeze the night time Dick’s dad and mom died. Anxious to get again to Blüdhaven, Nightwing dons his masks and begins the journey residence.

After an more and more well-paced sequence of points, this concluding chapter ended up being a giant letdown.

All the things has to do with the payoffs to what’s been established within the final couple of points. Whereas I thought Bea would survive (nonetheless improbably) from her being impaled and falling from a killer top on the finish of Nightwing #108, the truth that she’s up and working the very subsequent day was precisely the type of neat-and-tidy lack of penalties I’ve come to resent from Tom Taylor’s run. It makes the entire shock ending of the earlier difficulty a giant fake-out. Look, that is comics, and present DC has been working to get away from the grimdark period of the New 52 and the Geoff Johns/Dan Didio period of blood and guts that has permeated the corporate because the mid-2000s, however one thing’s received to provide. Penalties from motion must happen, and whereas I can grit my tooth and settle for Bea surviving the autumn, having her stick with it as if nothing occurred two scenes later is sort of insulting. Severely, what’s the level? I assumed that your complete incident of her near-death was to push Nightwing on when confronting Dirk. That’s commented on, however not enormously. He leaves Dirk for Bea, and thinks to himself that the entire affair has ticked him off, nevertheless it’s informed to us with out a lot displaying. Sure, it’s over an motion sequence however not one rendered with any actual sense of vengeance of added violence. Take away the thought captions, and it appears like enterprise as common for a superhero motion sequence.

Just about every part I didn’t need to have occur on this conclusion got here to cross. Bea – like I warned towards after it was revealed she’s Captain Blud – simply begins talking like a pirate and never the down-to-Earth particular person we knew again in the course of the Dan Jurgens run within the Rick Grayson period. As a substitute of contractions, we get a lot of “won’t” and “have been.” Possibly the concept is that resulting from her personal disaster of id together with her half-brother questioning her place in Blüdhaven legacy, she’s carrying herself extra like an archetypical pirate chief, however to me it reads like a much less realized character. She’s only a pirate archetype now, not Bea the particular person. Additionally, the transient scene of her regaining Amanda’s allegiance sucked. This girl led Lucas to his demise and practically received Bea and Dick killed. Not solely ought to they not be as forgiving, however Amanda goes again on their aspect as a result of Dirk is a jerk. If somebody is that flighty in a 24-hour time span, you don’t need them in your aspect. And screw her anyway, she led to Bea’s crew to getting captured.

There’s a lot extra. Dick’s mysterious panic assaults are revealed to return from a heretofore unmentioned incident when he was a child. We don’t spend the flashback on this, nor can we even see when he realizes the place his worry comes from. And although there’s dialogue about him scuffling with it, it’s not rendered properly by Stephen Byrne. Dick has expressions of whole fright for a panel earlier than they’re forgotten about once more. Bea mentions that he’s squeezing the handles on his chair whereas they fly to confront Dirk, however we don’t see that. Whereas it’s in character for Dick to push his issues out of his thoughts, this difficulty ought to’ve seen him battle increasingly with what’s occurring behind his head, nevertheless it merely pops in at random instances and clears out for extra plot exposition. There’s 2-3 pages concerning the origin of Blüdhaven and the way Bea got here into the Crossed Keys that really feel misplaced with the remainder of the sequencing.

Let’s Discuss About That Tony Zucco “Revelation”

Lastly the massive revelation of Dick’s mysterious package deal at The Maintain is video proof of Tony Zucco being current the night time his dad and mom died. Tom Taylor has Dick say this gives what couldn’t be confirmed years in the past when Zucco was initially captured by Batman and Robin. I actually dislike this. Each single revealed retelling of Robin’s origin has Zucco rightly arrested for the homicide of the Graysons (or he dies of a coronary heart assault in Batman: Darkish Victory, however not earlier than they’ve the products on him). In 1940, it was traces of acid used on the ropes. Different retellings commute between proof that the ropes had been lower and acid. However Zucco didn’t get away with killing the Graysons. That’s why he was in jail in Nightwing #100! The purpose is, it feels as if Taylor is attempting to take credit score for the concept that Zucco could be a lawfully confirmed killer, however that goes towards each Zucco story the character has appeared in. Why write as if it is a new thought? It additionally chips away at what separated Bruce Wayne and Dick for therefore lengthy. A lot of Bruce’s historical past had Joe Chill escape justice for years and years, and typically Batman didn’t even know who killed his dad and mom. Dick had that a part of his life wrapped up straight away, thus differentiating him from Bruce in an actual approach. However now, apparently, they by no means proved Zucco killed the Graysons. I don’t perceive the purpose.

Which results in the purpose of this complete arc. Whereas there was some interpersonal drama with Dick and Bea, it didn’t go very far as soon as the Dirk character got here into the story. Studying that Bea’s been a pirate the entire time and even influenced Dick’s work in Blüdhaven was a stunning reveal, however by the tip, it reads extra just like the sneak introduction of a brand new character moderately than a revelation about an outdated one. The entire battle of Dirk wrestling management over the Crossed Keys and The Maintain is solved in a mere few pages. Dirk is claimed to have informed everybody Bea is useless and is properly on his solution to conquering every part, but Dick and Bea beat him in mere minutes. We’re informed within the final two points that different pirates resent Bea, however that doesn’t play out with anybody else. Taylor is attempting to make commentary on discrimination and prejudice however takes it nowhere when it solely comes down to at least one man. There’s no precise battle that has the characters run up right into a brick wall. Amanda is again on the crew, everybody loves Bea, and Dick will get his package deal…which seems to indicate him that Tony Zucco killed his dad and mom. What, did he not know that earlier than?

Editor’s Word: DC Comics supplied TBU with a sophisticated copy of this comedian for evaluate functions. You will discover this comedian and assist help TBU within the course of by buying this difficulty digitally on Comixology by way of Amazon or a bodily copy of the title by way of Issues From One other World.

Closing Ideas

That is the Tom Taylor difficulty of Nightwing that I’ve disliked probably the most in his complete run. Fleeting moments like Dick describing how one of many Robins stole tires from the Batmobile are good, however the total sense of time wasted poisons the entire story. It is virtually as if we have gone the opposite approach with Taylor’s Nightwing within the trendy DC period in distinction to the earlier one I described earlier than beneath Dan Didio. Now characters are too good, and incidents are wrapped up far too simply. The phrase “tremendous straightforward, barely an inconvenience” could not be extra aptly utilized on this run.

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