Nightwing is trapped in his own nightmare, but will he figure that out, or more importantly, survive the experience? Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and Daniele Di Nicuolo wrap up their two-part Knight Terrors story today, and it pushes Dick to the limits.
If you missed the first issue, Knight Terrors: Nightwing is set in Arkham Asylum, where Nightwing has found himself as an inmate. This issue opens with Babs being dragged away and Nightwing forced to hear Scarecrow chatter in his ear. He’s tense, pissed off, and willing to crack skulls to get to his friends. The pairing works well, keeping Nightwing on his toes while allowing Scarecrow to soak up every bit of fear from Nightwing. Something is going on with the villain, but he helps him nonetheless.
As far as plotting goes, this issue has a lot to offer. There’s a cafeteria scene with some wacky iterations of villains, an appearance from Harley that’s worth a laugh, and a sticky human mess for Nightwing to avoid. All that while Babs is turned into a techno-human, as seen on the cover, and a rousing climactic battle ties into Dick’s childhood to cap it all off.
Meanwhile, Nightwing has to consider whether killing Batman is some urge deep inside him or truly his greatest fear. Given Nightwing will be battling Batman soon in “Gotham War,” this issue feels like it’s tying into whatever conflict they’ll have in the coming months.
This pairing works well.
Credit: DC Comics
The art by Di Nicuolo has a cartoony edge with obvious manga influence when it comes to facial expressions. That suits the nightmare setting since nothing is as it seems. Visually a lot is going on when it comes to blocking out scenes, like a faraway shot of Nightwing and Scarecrow’s back to us to help show how alone they are or total chaos with food flying in the cafeteria scene.
The horror elements work visually as well. That goes for the puddle of a person Nightwing comes upon as well as the visuals of Batman dying, dead, or screaming. I can’t say the issue is all that scary, though, with Nightwing mostly frustrated rather than fearful.
Knight Terrors: Nightwing #2 has a lot going for it as it puts the title character through the paces. There’s interesting psychology to unpack for both Nightwing and Scarecrow, giving it the extra complexity a tie-in like this needs to be a worthy read.
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