Nightwing #114 - DC Comics

NIGHTWING No. 114, July 2024

Apparently reuniting “the Eisner Award-winning duo of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo… to tell Nightwing’s greatest story yet”, this opening instalment to the pair’s “Fallen Grayson” five-part arc surely must have impressed the vast majority of its audience upon its release as the forty-sixth best-selling title during May 2024. Indeed, whether it be the comic’s excellent opening flashback to an infant Dick dangerously attempting to climb the metal ladder up to his parent’s terrifyingly high tightrope, or Heartless’ truly gruesome means of manipulating his minions into doing precisely what he instructs them, this twenty-two page periodical grips the reader’s interest straight from the start, and simply doesn’t let go until an Alfred Pennyworth Foundation gala is dramatically cut short by a series of fire alarms.

Admittedly, much of this publication’s plot is progressed through a series of dialogue-driven interactions between either the narrative’s two lead antagonists, or the likes of Damian Wayne informing his grown-up predecessor how uncomfortable his tuxedo is; “I put on a suit for you. It’s restricting in places I prefer freedom.” But these conversational pieces are so well penned, and prodigiously pencilled by Redondo, that they seamlessly flow into this book’s much more darker sequences - such as when Shelton Lyle decides to stop reminiscing about the deaths of the Flying Graysons, and quite literally tears the heart out from one of his more uncooperative stooges right in front of the heavily-muscled man’s young daughter.

In addition, the Australian author does a great job in showing the doubts slowly creeping into Nightwing’s mind as a super-hero. Apparently one of the creative team’s goals for this publication was that they “wanted to show the world why Dick Grayson was an A-lister in our eyes”, and clearly in order to do just that, the Melbourne-born writer plans to bring the titular character down to earth with a resounding bump first. This ‘fall’ has already started in a previous issue with the acrobatic suddenly developing a fear of heights. However, in this comic the reader is shown that the Teen Titans’ decision-making might be giving him cause for concern too, when he thwacks a shoplifter with one of his batons straight in the head after mistakenly believing the famished fellow was pulling a weapon on him, as opposed to simply returning the stolen cooked chicken he’s taken.

The regular cover art of "NIGHTWING" #114 by Bruno Redondo