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Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Bruno Redondo, Caio Felipe
Colors by: Adriano Lucas
Letters by: Wes Abbott
Cover art by: Bruno Redondo
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: August 21, 2024
Nightwing #117, by DC Comics on 8/21/24, joins Dick Grayson as he undergoes therapy to overcome his fear of heights. Meanwhile, Nightwing 2 follows up on a lead to Heartless’s identity.
Is Nightwing #117 Good?
Sheesh! The shortcuts continue in a big way as Tom Taylor scrambles to wrap up his tenure on the title, so hang on to your hats. Nightwing #117 finally makes the long-overdue journey to resolve the Heartless arc, but don’t expect the trip to be particularly satisfying or worth the wait.
When last we left Nightwing in issue #116, Dick Grayson embarked on a road trip, working his way to Nanda Parbat. Dick was greeted by the mysteriously “resurrected” Deadman as the man best qualified to teach Dick to overcome his mysteriously acquired fear of leaping. Meanwhile, Heartless’s bid to overtake the city comes to a head with a challenge to Nightwing to come out and play, prompting Bruce Wayne to don the domino mask.
In Nightwing #117, Dick Grayson, with Deadman’s help, engages in exposure therapy, scented baths with candles, and gently probing questions from Deadman to figure out why he’s still afraid of heights. The toxin in his system that caused the fear is long gone, but Deadman is convinced Dick is holding on to a deeply repressed secret that’s causing his fear to continue.
As expected, Tom Taylor invents a black box mystery to explain why Nightwing lost his “leaping” ability to create an air of mystery. Dick is hiding something from himself that’s creating performance problems in a ham-fisted series of dime-store psychology sessions, which could be interesting if it wasn’t so superficial.
During a relaxing bath, Dick has the first of two breakthroughs. He figures out he got the toxin from a glass of water he was given by Shelton Lyle after the events of Nightwing #105. Dick contacts Oracle to begin investigating Shelton Lyle, which coincides with Bruce Wayne’s, aka Nightwing 2, suspicions about Shelton Lyle.
It all comes down to this. After years (in real-time) of Heartless running around unchallenged with barely a scrap of effort from Nightwing to bring the killer to justice, Dick suddenly figures out Shelton is Nightwing because he drank a glass of water.
If nothing else, Tom Taylor should be banished from DC for the utter laziness of this shortcut. There’s no possible reason for Dick to conclude that a single glass of water offered weeks (months?) ago would be the source of the toxin. None at all.
With a renewed sense of urgency, Dick asks Deadman to put him into a situation where he has to overcome his fear. Deadman agrees and leaves Dick on a cliffside ledge with no way to comb up. During his forced time of introspection, Dick is forced to confront a guilty truth.
What is it? Well…
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
The night of his parents’ death, the Grayson routine was switched up at the last minute. In the originally planned routine, Dick was supposed to leap first, which means his parents were not the intended target. He was.
Holy needless retcon, Batman!
[END SPOILERS]
With that retcon fully exposed, Nightwing is all better and races to get back home to help stop Heartless. The issue concludes with Bruce confirming what Nightwing suspected and a visit to the Mayor’s home that leads to a confrontation with Tony Zucco.
What’s great about Nightwing #117? If nothing else, there’s a passive sense of satisfaction that comes with making progress in the Heartless saga. Tom Taylor is making moves to bring the run to a close before he’s removed, so give Taylor credit for putting in the effort to tie up all the loose ends before a new creative team takes over in October.
What’s not great about Nightwing #117? Oh, the sheer amount of laziness and shortcuts used to tie up those loose ends is heartbreaking. Nightwing held on to the loss of his leaping because of a long-repressed memory that didn’t pose a problem until now? Heartless’s identity suddenly comes to mind during a warm bath? The key to Heartless’s identity is a simple glass of water, which could have happened in hundreds of other ways between then and now?
Tom Taylor is rushing to tie up the plots with the cheapest of bargain-basement detective work and leaps (*heh*) in logic that the remaining page space will allow. It would be laughably funny if it wasn’t so disappointing.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Nightwing #117 picks up the pace and energy to overcome Dick Grayson’s fear of heights and make progress toward capturing Heartless before the creative team rolls off this Fall.
That said, Tom Taylor employs a ridiculous number of shortcuts and leaps in logic to rush the readers from point A to B, so it’s a sure bet you’ll get to the end, but you won’t be satisfied with the trip.
5/10
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