Review: Nightwing #118
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Tom Taylor
Art: Bruno Redondo with Caio Filipe
Colors: Adriano Lucas with Bruno Redondo p.24
Letters: Wes Abbott
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Nightwing finally faces off against Heartless, mano y mano! But, how does he do it without exposing his identity as Dick Grayson?
Positives
Like many runs from a lauded creative team, Nightwing #118 is Taylor and Redono’s moment to close out with a warm and heartfelt (no pun intended) feeling. That’s been a strength of the run in its entirety so it’s doubly important that it close out with that aspect landing. And, that aspect certainly does land. This run has been so much about Dick’s character and his relationships, both new and old it’s inevitable that only will time will tell what aspects remain essential to Dick’s supporting cast. What we get most strongly in Nightwing #118 is the assertion that Haley and Babs should be here for the long run. Alfred, though dead for a few years, still maintains his presence in Dick’s life.
This issue is surprisingly action packed despite the need to wrap things up. It’s a few pages longer than the standard issue, and that is indeed a positive. One of the themes that Taylor has been playing with in this run is the notion of goodness and how that is ingrained into Dick’s character. Taylor manages to keep this aspect at the forefront despite the challenge of defeating Heartless and the situation Heartless has had him in since the end of issue #115.
Positives Con’t
Redondo delivers what we’ve come to expect over the course of this series, and this issue is no exception. He goes out on a high note with a final page on which he also provides the colors. Redondo gives us the ‘Wing-family’ of Dick, Babs and Haley staring off into a starry night…or rather THE Starry Night (Van Gogh, 1889). It’s a real missed opportunity if it isn’t turned into a poster.
The other missed opportunity with this issue is the decision not to have Dick and Babs tie the knot. Melinda can be married…but, why not Dick and Babs. Though this issue does everything it can to cement that as the endgame for Dick and Babs, with Haley in the picture as well (literally the above mentioned final page!), it would’ve made this an even bigger emotional sendoff by the creators.
Negatives
The gap between issues #117 and #118 was disappointing. To catch all the details, you’ll want to reread from the beginning of the story arc in issue #114. Otherwise, as mentioned in previous reviews, this arc, “Fallen Grayson,” really needs more space. This creates some pacing issues, and I wouldn’t be surprise of Taylor had originally planned for it to be longer, but had to truncate it to fit in with the #ALLIN initiative this Fall. It’s a bit of a shame, because there are some interesting ideas we didn’t get to see fully explored. We needed to see Bruce filling in for Dick as Nightwing over the course of a few issues and in Nightwing #118 there needed to be more buildup to get to the resolution. I didn’t even remember that Heartless was using the hearts he was stealing for his own body, nor did I recall he’d kidnapped a bunch of kids as insurance against Nightwing. It all hits at once and an 8-issue story instead of 5 would’ve given the needed space to develop those ideas.
Verdict
Even if Nightwing #118 is a bit of a fast ending to “Fallen Grayson,” like the rest of the run there’s a lot of heart (no pun, again!) and character work that remains the strength of Taylor’s writing on the series. This is a story arc you’ll want to reread in one sitting, and it will assuredly assert your own desire to see Dick and Babs get married and start their own family together. Hopefully, Dan Watters got the memo and the tone and emotional center of the series continues with issue #119.
