Nightwing #116 - DC Comics

NIGHTWING No. 116, September 2024

Despite not a single punch being thrown, even in frustration at the sheer injustice of Nightwing’s unhealthy predicament, Tom Taylor’s script for this third instalment to his “Fallen Grayson” storyline should easily have engrossed the vast majority of the comic’s audience. True, the twenty-two page plot is extremely dialogue-driven, courtesy of some lengthy narration as the original Robin stealthily makes his way to the hidden city of Nanda Parbat by boat, car and an arduous hike. But even this word-heavy sequence is arguably an utterly enthralling one, due to the ever-present danger of Bludhaven’s most wanted escapee being suddenly recognised en-route to his first mentor of acrobatics.

In addition, the Australian author seemingly does a very good job of showing the impact of Dick’s arrest throughout the rest of the meta-human community, with the likes of Cyborg offering to “Boom Tube” him out of Police custody despite it making the Titans “appear to be aiding a serial killer!” This sort of situation is rarely shown in a book, and helps establish the concept that the villainous Heartless is actually attacking the super-hero community – something which is later re-emphasised by the murderous maniac threatening to kill an adult every thirty minutes until Nightwing’s team leave the city to his not so tender mercies.

This publication is also very good at rising the blood pressure of its audience to an alarming high through its depiction of the authorities’ blinkered bureaucracy, and just how well Shelton Lyle has clearly manipulated the government, the police and now the general public. Every reader knows that Grayson is entirely innocent of the wrong-doings he’s been detained for. Yet every time the cybernetically-enhanced crook opens his mouth, it appears that Batman’s heir apparent is damned even deeper; “Before any of you does something stupid know that I have many children imprisoned.”

Shouldering a significant portion of the storytelling duties for potentially such a sedentary issue is Bruno Redondo, who somehow manages to imbue the news reporters with all the disagreeably haughty hindsight one would expect from the modern-day media. Of particular note though has to be the multiple Eisner Award-winner’s phenomenal pencilling of Dick and the three-legged Haley walking up to Deadman’s Himalayan retreat – a sequence which is well worth pouring over for a while due to the trek’s ever-changing landscape.

The regular cover art of "NIGHTWING" #116 by Bruno Redondo