Nightwing #80 Review

Writer: Tom Taylor / Artist: Bruno Redondo and Adriano Lucas / DC Comics Tom Taylor has the perfect formula for writing Nightwing: Heart, heat, and hands. He and the rest of the creative team find the perfect balance of this H-Factor every month and deliver what is my current favorite mainstream comic. Heart Nightwing #80 follows Nightwing as he tries to find and look after Elliot, the son of a man Dick got a hotel for in the last issue, only for him to wind up dead by the hands of Blüdhaven’s newest serial killer Heartless.  Taylor is such a damn good writer. Because yes, the plot needs to have Dick go after Heartless, and that puts him in the path of this kid Elliot, but Taylor does such a wonderful job conveying just how much Dick truly cares. It jumps off the page.

Heat In addition to the warmth we get from Dick being Blüdhaven’s resident Nice Guy™, this man also drops some top-level superhero bars on his punching bags.  Nightwing is definitely up there with Spider-Man with the top-level quips, but the way they’re used in this book really helps to add some levity to a story that would otherwise be hella dark.  In a pivotal moment in Nightwing #80, Nightwing bounces his escrima stick off of a goons head and simply asks the question “Is this where you want to be in life?” Such a simple line, but it was responsible for a knee-slapping laugh from me. Bars. That’s all I can say.  Hands What’s a Nightwing book without throwing hands? My guy has some of th…