Review: Nightwing Annual 2024 #1
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Travis Moore
Art: Travis Moore
Colors: Alex Guimares and Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Wes Abbott
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
We already learned there was more to Bea Bennett. Now learn her full secret history and what she shares with Dick Grayson! An espionage rollercoaster!
Positives
Fleshing out Bea Bennet is a great idea after revealing her pirate past in Nightwing #106. Travis Moore puts a lot of hard work developing the script as well as the art. He utilizes a lot of elements from Dick Grayson’s past to create the story. As a longform espionage story there are lots of twists and turns and they utilize this aspect of the genre well.
The strongest part of Bea’s past is her time with the Quartermaster, something we’ve know for a while. Nightwing 2024 Annual provides some context. Showing that Bea and Dick were both taken in as orphans and adopted by someone to care for them is an enjoying parallel. While this story doesn’t give full closure for Bea, it does demonstrate that she’s got a separate life beyond her relationship with Dick when he was “Ric” Grayson.
Negatives
Bea Bennet’s story in Nightwing 2024 Annual doesn’t have enough space to be effective. It’s understandable that this wasn’t going to play out over a five year period in an ongoing series, but it has that sort of scope. Because of this, a lot of the twists and turns feel forced. It also doesn’t provide enough space to connect readers with Bea outside of being “Ric’s” girlfriend. The pieces of that puzzle are there, but this story has so much that it is told too quickly to be effective.
This leads to the connected places in Bea and Dick’s lives being a bit contrived. Moore works in a lot of intersections and parallels that would be more effective in a story that had more space and/ or was a different set of characters. One of the things that’s lost by giving Bea such a circuitous backstory is that is eliminates the sweeter moments of her romance with “Ric.” Bea is no longer “just a girl” that he meets, she’s someone there specifically to watch him. It’s contrived.
The speed at which the twists come down the stretch of the narrative make it difficult to focus on what’s happening. There’s not enough time for the impact to be meaningful. This makes the ending feel rushed. The first half of the story is paced a bit better.
Verdict
While Nightwing 2024 Annual has some interesting ideas, the pacing of the story and amount of twists make it difficult to create the right connection with Bea. The idea of giving her her own story is solid, but it would’ve been stronger if the tale had been centered around her and the Quartermaster instead of turning her into a near super-spy. The story is unbalanced with too much plot and not enough of Bea herself. The art is strong and Moore’s effort on the project is clear.
