Writer: Tim Seeley / Artist: Miguel Mendonca / DC Comics
After the brief DC Metal tie-in (which weirdly, I wouldn’t have minded another issue of), Nightwing is back in Bludhaven dealing with Bludhaven shit. His hero’s arc is just about complete from the standpoint of his relationships to the city and its residents. This is truly some “Either you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” type shit. His relationship with Shawn is done. His new/old bae Huntress is giving him ultimatums. The Runaways are about fed up with his shit. And on top of all of that, his murderous mentor, super thief homie Raptor is out and running amok in the Haven.
Things are as bad as they’ve ever been.
Seeley does a great job showing Nightwing’s resiliency while also demonstrating that all these chickens coming home to roost are born from his own shortcomings and failures. Grayson has had some questionable judgment and intimacy issues along the way in this book and they show now, seeing him try to gain help in his pursuit of Raptor and being denied at every turn. It is an incredibly human storyline for Nightwing, which has been pretty enjoyable to watch unfold. Especially with the world that Seeley has built in Bludhaven with its characters having real weight.
Mendonca is on the art this issue and kind of kills it. There’s a decent mix of action sequences and dialogue heavy panels that Mendonca handles very well. The spirit of Nightwing’s rooted nature (high rise acrobatics aside) is conveyed well throughout the book and gives us the grounded hero we’re familiar with.
Nightwing starts a new arc with Raptor back in the spot and Grayson hitting rock bottom in his quest to bring him down. With a return of some established characters, the Nightwing creative team might have another good arc on its hands.
Reading Nightwing? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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