In “Nightwing” #30, a purported last hurrah for a hero is really just a mashed together setup for the next series.
Written by Tim Seeley and Tom King
Illustrated by Javier Garron, Jorge Lucas, and Mikel JaninThe Bat Family is forced to face the brutal aftermath of FOREVER EVIL, but after everything they’ve been through, can they stand together?
Going into “Forever Evil”, one of the most persistent rumors was that Dick Grayon, formally known as the Boy Wonder, would meet his demise at the hands of the Crime Syndicate. This turned out to be half true, as Grayson’s heart was stopped by Lex Luthor, but the hero was secretly revived a moment later. Even though he’s alive, Grayon now has to deal with the fact that the whole world knows his identity as Nightwing. Forced into seclusion, the former sidekick ponders his future, as his own self-titled series, “Grayson”, looms in the future.
The slightly oversized finale to “Nightwing” is divided into three parts. The first is narrated by Dr Leslie Tompkins, ally to the Bat-family since the night the Wayne’s were shot, and has nothing to do with Dick Grayson whatsoever. On a humanitarian aid mission in Africa, Tompkins finds herself in the midst of a battle between a group of deranged hunters out for human blood. She is only saved by the intervention of an agent of Spyral, an international espionage ring.
With the zany tone mixed with brutal violence, it almost feels like Grant Morrison dropped in with a lost segment of “Batman Incorporated”. There really isn’t enough space for writers Tim Seeley and Tom King to flesh out Spyral as anything more than a mysterious and morally ambiguous organization. The art from Javier Garron is cartoony in style, while thick solid lines that give weight to all the images. Despite the chaotic story, Garron manages to make everything clear and easy to follow, and the weirdo hunters provide Garron with a great opportunity for some unique and outlandish character designs.
The second part of the story focuses on Dick Grayson (finally) and Bruce Wayne broing down in the Batcave post-“Forever Evil”. Bruce is determined to keep Grayson’s survival a secret from everyone, even Alfred, despite the fact that the sometimes trustworthy Catwoman already knows the truth. Bruce wants Dick to infiltrate Spyral, and thinks the best way to convince him is to instigate a violent fight and emotionally abuse his former protégé.
Seeley and King write a Batman that would make Frank Miller proud, meaning he is a giant psychopathic asshole who sees everyone else as pawns to move around as he chooses in order to execute whatever mission plan he unilaterally made up that morning. The dialogue supports this, as Bruce taunts his closest ally about having to leave behind the only family he has left. The art by Jorge Lucas is perfectly decent, and the fight gives plenty of moments to see the pair in their full barechested glory. There a couple cool moments, like Dick and Bruce crashing down on top of the Batmobile, and the destruction of several mementos of their adventures together. Towards the end of the fight blood just starts pouring from their faces, and it is so over the top that it only highlights the unnecessary nastiness of this story.
The final segment finds Dick Grayson traveling the globe, kicking ass and taking names, meaning laboriously recounting his entire life until this point. It seems like Dick’s plan is to just stir up enough trouble that Spyral takes notice and comes to him, so basically the first 40 minutes of The Departed. These glimpses into his adventures are entertaining, but the character spends the whole time laying out his entire history, which would only serve to help anyone who was completely unaware that Batman had a sidekick.
The saving grace is the art from Mikel Janin, who renders beautiful realistic images that take the character off of the dark rooftops and into a brighter world. The moments of Grayson fighting on top of a blimp, taking out a sniper in an ancient city, and leaping from an exploding car are a great testament to Janin’s ability to handle a wide variety of scenarios with a high level of detail and consistency. This segment is basically just “Grayson” #0, to the point where Janin is the regular artist on the series, so if this keeps a boring recap out of the upcoming first issue it will at least help the new books get off to a quicker start.
“Nightwing” #30 is a mistitled mess. Far from being the send off for an incarnation of a character beloved of a large number of people, it really is just an information dump for the new series. Each of the three stories at least has its own feel, but they have nothing new to say about the character or his superhero identity. The art is descent overall, and Mikel Janin’s work is sure to create interest in the new “Grayson” series, but is not enough to save the issue.
Final Verdict: 3.0 Skip. For the real “Nightwing” finale, get issue #29 from long time writer Kyle Higgins.
