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The final arc of Tom Taylor’s tenure on Nightwing has finally begun! With the Alfred Pennyworth foundation successfully saving Blüdhaven, Grayson goes for a victory lap in his hometown of Gotham. However, as Denzel Washington would tell Will Smith at the Oscars,“the devil comes for you at your highest moment.” Let’s examine how it all falls apart!
At First Fall
“Fallen Grayson” begins by showing us the fate of Dick Grayson. At some point two weeks in the future, Grayson will seemingly lose everything. This includes abandoning civilization and shaving to scale a snowy mountain. Luckily, our hero has the one-armed Bitewing to accompany him like Balto or a Saint-Bernard. Rather than an “on the run” feel, the climb in particular reads very spiritually cleansing. In truth, both Taylor and Redondo admit they’ve had this bearded Nightwing image in mind for a long time. In spite of the solemnness of Grayson’s journey, his signature optimism still shines through in his lowest moment.
According to Tom Taylor, the first time that Grayson climbs a trapeze, he suffers a terrible fall. Adriano Lucas depicts this scene in chilling blue monotone, quietly implying a dreadful atmosphere. Yet, no fall ever kept him from getting back up. Even after his parents fall to their deaths, Nightwing would go on to make his entire life about making falling look good. As a Flying Grayson, Robin, Batman, and now Nightwing, Dick performs spectacular feats of fearlessness. Unfortunately, a mysterious fear of falling finally grounds the daredevil before his biggest fall to come.
A Change Of Perspective
In the present, Grayson begrudgingly realizes that Gotham needs change more than Blüdhaven. As a result of multiple hostile takeovers, the city is unable to fix it’s social issues and inequality. Everyone in the city fears doing anything good out of fear of retaliation from the psychos turning the city into a warzone every week. It isn’t until Grayson accidentally chases down a man stealing food for survival that he sees how bad things really are. Consequently, Bruce organizes a political fundraiser for Grayson’s foundation to appeal to change the city for the better. Even if that means encouraging Dick to lean into the political games. Of course, the more willing Grayson is to get into politics invites inevitable political scandal.
The evil trio of Tony Zucco, Heartless, and his sociopathic butler Gerald return to make Nightwing’s life a living hell. Horrifically, their first order of business is to kidnap the children of Blockbuster’s henchmen. Not to mention, Heartless chooses to intimidate them with theatrical display of jarred hearts that bathes the room in sinister magenta. In spite of the promise of a huge payday, Heartless sadistically seals the deal by branding his logo on his new recruits. Sadly, regardless of the blackmail, each member of this cult will have permanent association with this monster. Furthermore, the three haters watch for his happiest moment to drop a shocking secret about his proudest achievement.
Recommended If…
Bruce Redondo can do no wrong in your eyes.
You have enjoyed Nightwing thus far.
You love a good Nightwing story.
Overall
The double-edged sword of telling the story you’ve always wanted to tell is making it work. Overall, the first part of Taylor and Redondo’s big finale is living up to the hype. Unfortunately, oftentimes that means the fall can be far worse. My advice is be careful. If you tell readers you will challenge their hero to their boiling point, then you better turn up the heat as often as you can. In my opinion, Taylor has set up the supervillain wanna-be Heartless very well, but what matters more is what he does from this point on. Redondo and Lucas make a great team and makes Nightwing feel like the A-lister they want him to be. So, for argument’s sake, let’s start high and see if you can keep it up.
Score: 9/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
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