Honestly, in between earth shattering events and family squabbles, Batman and Nightwing never get much face time. Luckily, when Heartless kills a man in Gotham, Dick and Bruce unite to solve the sensitive mystery together. Coincidentally, the murderer leaves the victims son Iko alive. Let’s dive deeper.
Left Behind
While out on patrol, Batman encounters a murder victim matching the M.O of one of Nightwing’s newest arches. Sadly, this includes the familiar method of leaving behind a child victim, which naturally disturbs Batman. Primarily, in the sense that this scenario mirrors his own trauma and the one that led him to adopt Grayson. In fact, it gives Batman more than enough reasons to seek Nighwing’s advice. Similarly, the involvement of Heartless motivates Nightwing to approach the case seriously. The common ground between father and son and their seamless chemistry is satisfyingly comfortable. Even if grazing the topic of their relationships is awkward, especially when Bruce calls Babs to talk to Dick. Although Batman has seen hundred or thousands of cases like these, he knows his own triggers. So much so, Batman knows which parts of the case he Nightwing should lead and which parts he can’t handle. Likewise, Nightwing also seeks to protect Bruce as well. This includes letting Nightwing handle the “interrogation” of the child left behind. Unlike the frightening conundrum of Batman frightening children like in Batman: The Night Cries, Nightwing has an easy time talking to the boy. Fortunately, the boy is a massive Nightwing fan and happily hangs out with him before detailing more details of the crime.
Something Wrong
A pervasively chilling tone underscores this issue. Firstly, the story draws several uncomfortable parallels between Heartless, Grayson, Bruce, and Iko respectively. Not to mention, Taylor contrasts Heartless’ sociopathic butler Gerald with Alfred in a set surprising flashback panels. Where the murder of the Grayson family disturbs Bruce and Alfred, Gerald and Heartless only see it as bonus entertainment. In spite of being another part of Heartless’ unforgivable history of retcons, it sells how diametrically opposed he becomes. Knowing Heartless is usually a talkative sadist, Iko’s statement and the sloppy autopsy convinces Batman and Nightwing that the killer is undeniably an copycat. Batman watching Grayson encourage Iko with a children’s story citing his own experience is my favorite part of the book. In the same breath, I never tire of seeing memories of Alfred being the paragon of good continue to influence the lives of the men he raises. Yet, their mutual closeness to the case keeps them from seeing it clearly. All help isn’t good help, and every legal guardian isn’t Batman and Alfred. Anyway, Bruce finally learns about Dick’s new fear of heights developing in Tom Taylors Nightwing’s b-plot. It’s still uninteresting and I have nothing to say about it until Taylor explains why. Unrelated, but for some reason there are smaller bat signals on the GCPD roof seemingly only there for aesthetic.
Recommended If…
You should be reading Batman: The Night Cries at this point. You’ve been following Tom Taylor’s Nightwing. Looking for good father and son content from Bruce and Dick. Alfred Bonus!
Overall
Archie Goodwin really cracked this kind of story wide open with Batman: The Night Cries, and now I see its influence in everything. It even opens with a similar prose about “a scream” in Gotham. Taylor’s story isn’t nearly as deep nor focused as that, but this is a much needed change of pace for Nightwing. Most importantly, I appreciate all of the check up Batman does with the family after whatever Gotham War did to his family. Overall, this story is pretty transparent, but I still like it for the most part. Also, there is nothing new I can say about Sam Basri’s consistently decent work on Nightwing. In order for this story to stand out more, Taylor would need to really do his best on part two. Score: 7/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review. COMMENTS
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