Dexter soy you magnificent beast, thank you.

Source: Batman #141

Okay, so I didn't think Nightwing was going to make more appearances in this series, but apparently he is, so here we are.

Jason rejecting Nightwing's call is in character, and Dick being a bit cautious around Jason is also reasonable because, as much as I like Jason, he's prone to doing crazy shit from time to time.

I feel like Dick and Jason might team up, fight, or possibly both in upcoming issues, but it definitely seems like they'll have some interactions in the future.

Titolo

If I had to describe this era in one word it would be “directionless.” Even after Blüdhaven is utterly destroyed, Dick decides not to help them rebuild, but to flee to New York? I thought this was going to be a weird Bruce Jones decision, but nope. He stays there for the rest of the run. On top of that, the actual stories are clunky and episodic, and there isn’t much cohesion between the various writers.

Also, this is a repost because the formatting of the original was all out of wack, so apologies for that.

For this era, I read Nightwing: Year One by Chuck Dixon (Nightwing issues #101-107), Bruce Jones’ short run (Nightwing #118-124, or Vol. 11), Marv Wolfman’s run (issues #125-137, or Vol. 12 and 13), Peter J Tomasi’s run (issues #140-153, or Vol. 14 and 15), and Nightwing Annual #2 by Marc Andreyko.

Spoilers for this whole era.

What I liked:
1. Tomasi’s characterization of Dick. Much akin to Taylor and Grayson, Tomasi’s Nightwing is optimistic in the face of dire odds, and witty in the face of danger.
2. Tomasi’s overarching character arc for Dick. His arc is learning to love life again, and to use his free will to better his emotional state so he can be a better person. This fits perfectly within the larger character development of Nightwing since he’s been through so much trauma in the last 80-ish issues. While Tomasi doesn’t ever mention Dick’s trauma, it’s clear that his healing journey in this volume is in response to everything he’s been through.
3. Tomasi’s villainous foil for Nightwing. The villains, Dr. Kendall and Talia, are making an army of unthinking monsters to use for their own gain. Dr. Kendall literally says, “Free will is overrated and will not be tolerated any further,” when talking about his zombie army. It’s cartoonishly evil and juxtaposes Dick’s journey in a very similar way that Heartless did in Taylor’s run. It’s obvious, it’s fun, it works.

What I didn’t like:
1. The lackluster plots. Be it any of Marv Wolfman’s stories, the atrocity that was Brothers in Blood, or even the meh story of Tomasi’s Two-Face arc with “The Great Leap,” most of the storylines in this era just felt boring and uninspired. Some of them were worse than others, but none of them reached the heights of Grayson’s arcs.
2. The romance. None of these writers had a good romance subplot for Dick. Jones made Dick weirdly overly sexual, Wolfman attempted to retcon Dick’s entire romantic history (which didn’t work at all), and Tomasi’s little subplot with Deb had no chemistry.

Volume Ranking:
1. Nightwing Vol. 14, Freefall by Peter J. Tomasi. Not only did this volume have Tomasi’s amazing internal dialogue for Dick, but this is the only volume where the plot is actually engaging and interesting (even if the first few issues dragged a bit)!
2. Nightwing Vol. 15, The Great Leap by Peter J. Tomasi. While the plot with Two-Face wasn’t that great, Tomasi is still great at writing Dick, and he closes his character arc in this volume quite nicely when he beats the skydiving world record just to prove to himself that he can.
3. Nightwing: Year One by Chuck Dixon. Should I have read this when I reviewed Dixon’s era? Probably, but by the time I finished his first two volumes I was pretty tired of him. This is definitely the best Nightwing book I’ve read from him, though, but it does still have issues. The premise itself is pretty convoluted. I get that Batman is controlling, but he isn’t stupid. He knows that Dick’s work with the Titans is important, and he knows the scales of justice. Saving dozens of people from Brother Blood takes precedent over an incident with Clayface where only one baby might have been in danger. Batman would know that. Also, as I said in my reviews for Chuck Dixon’s first couple volumes of his Nightwing series, he doesn’t quite get the character like many other Nightwing writers. Dixon’s Nightwing is darker and more focused on violence than he ought to be, in my opinion. In chapter 4, Nightwing breaks into Arkham just to taunt the Joker because…? It doesn’t make any sense. Even Batgirl says so.
4. Nightwing Vol. 12, Love and War by Marv Wolfman. This book was dull and forgettable. Dick is characterized just fine, but the plot with Raptor and Lexcorp and all that just didn’t keep my attention. The next storyline was even worse after reading the first issue, so I cut my losses and DNF’d it.
5. Nightwing, Vol. 13, The Lost Year by Marv Wolfman. Wolfman does some retconning here, and not for the better! I originally wasn’t going to read this one after Wolfman’s lackluster first volume, but I read the Goodreads description and thought it was going to be a story completely set during the “lost year” in question, but in reality those scenes consist of a few flashbacks. The plot is this: evil ex girlfriend is still evil. But here’s the kicker: this was Dick’s first love, before Kory and Babs, and she’s the reason why he has commitment issues! It’s lazy, it’s contrived, it doesn’t make any sense.
6. Nightwing Vol. 11, Brothers in Blood by Bruce Jones. Not only is it badly written, but Bruce Jones doesn’t understand Nightwing as a character whatsoever. There’s a moment when Dick thinks that Jason should have stayed dead when the Joker killed him. Excuse me? Also, the plot could be interesting, but it simply isn’t. I don’t know much about Red Hood, but I’m sure he’s more nuanced than he is here. I got three issues in so as to give Jones a fair shake, but it really is as awful as everyone says.

Issue standouts:
1. Nightwing Annual #2, “Hero’s Journey.” This issue, penned by one-time Nightwing writer Marc Andreyko and art by Joe Bennett and Jason Wright, went through the romantic history of Dick and Babs. It was a really heartfelt story reminding us why the couple work so damn well. We see mistakes and forgiveness on both sides, and it’s just so great. Why aren’t they together during the run after Infinite Crisis? I don’t know, it’s not explained in any of the issues themselves, but the latter part of this series is certainly worse because of it.
2. Nightwing #134, “Freefall, Chapter 4.” This issue is a bombastic team-up of Dick and Tim, full of witty dialogue, and over-the-top action. The villain is cartoonishly evil, and is defeated is classic fashion; Nightwing and Robin foil Dr. Kendall’s plans, but he gets away just in time. It feels very much like a silver- or bronze-age story with a 21st-century focus on big art splashes and snappy dialogue that feels just realistic enough. It reminded me a great deal of the best issues of Tom Taylor’s run.

Favorite covers designs (pictured above)
1. Nightwing #150, cover by Nathan Eyring. Okay, to be honest I only have this on here because it’s iconic and I wanted something recognizable as the main photo for this post. It’s good, but not my favorite. Although, to be fair, the covers for this era weren’t my favorite in general.
2. Nightwing #125, cover by Alex Sinclair. While I really dislike Nightwing in New York, I myself adore New York, and so I can’t help but love seeing one of my favorite superheroes in one of my favorite cities, diving into the air in classic fashion.
3 Nightwing #132, cover by Keith Champagne. Same reason as above. Nightwing against the Empire State building is just awesome.
4. Nightwing #153, page 19, art by Joe Bennett and Don Kramer. This isn’t a cover, of course, but I wanted to include it because I think it preludes the next chapter of Nightwing’s life so beautifully, and it’s a great homage to the legacy of Batman (who is dead at this point).

Author ranking:
1. Tom Taylor
2. Devin Grayson
3. Peter J. Tomasi
4. Marv Wolfman
5. Chuck Dixon
6. Bruce Jones
7. Dennis O’Neil

I won’t be reviewing any of the Nightwing-as-Batman books on here, but I will be reading The Black Mirror and posting it on my Goodreads, which is in my bio, if that interests you. I bought the Prince of Gotham omnibus for the next era, so I’m excited to dive into that (if only to have a more cohesive story). As always, be kind in the comments, and let me know what you think!

RED HOOD TAKES COMMAND OF THE TEEN TITANS IN THE NEW DC NEXT LEVEL SERIES FROM ACCLAIMED CREATORS KYLE HIGGINS AND DANIELE DI NICUOLO! After rejecting an offer from Nightwing, the next generation of the Teen Titans have chosen Red Hood as their mentor! But does the harrowed former boy wonder have what it takes to control these impulsive heroes of tomorrow?

The clock is ticking to save their missing friend as the kids take their team out of the chat rooms and onto the streets of Seattle for their first stake out and attempt to infiltrate Ascend.

Inktober Day 13: flimsy

His goofy ass yet gorgeous costumes were always flimsy but i love them ♡ Dick Grayson as Robin, Disco Nightwing and Nightwing ☆

A DUO DIVIDED! While Batman foils the plans of the Mad Hatter, Robin has been sent in undercover to infiltrate the Wolf Pack and figure out who's pulling their strings!

Thought Richard would look cool in the jonin flak jacket and WOW I was right 😭

I lowkey just got into DC pretty recently and really like nightwing and i kinda made this wip of my OC and Nightwing (^u^)!!

idk when I'll finish it bc of school but Ig i wanted to share this since so many ppl are really really AWESOME artists and wanted to contribute ig (>_<)"

I was thinking about making more artwork of him with the ring, but I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in seeing it

Inktober Day 11: Rescue

First day in a new home.

Best duo in the world ♡

I know he’s built a pretty decent career (Blade runner, teen wolf) but I always thought the idea of him as Nightwing was a bit random. I haven’t watched BladeRunner since I was like 11 when it first came out, but I don’t remember my first impressions of him being anywhere linked to cast as Nightwing?

Could someone perhaps breakdown why he was so heavily in demand specifically for this role? I rarely see people besides him get fancast with such enthusiasm. Perhaps if there are recommendations of what to watch him in as I’ve never personally seen the connection.