As the final arc of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing saga continues to rage on, issue #115 seems to reflect many of the overarching themes found in their run. Nightwing is ever the optimist, for better or worse. Danger continues to lurk in the shadows, despite the looming finale only months away. And yet, the story remains engaging through its consistent pacing and brilliant artwork. While Heartless creeps closer and closer to making his big play (and in part, he finally does), Dick Grayson’s time on top begins to crumble. While this run has been building up to this final play from Heartless, it seems he has learned more through the course of this run than Nightwing has.
DC Comics
While the issue carries a continuous flow of intensity, part of it feels a bit unnatural. Throughout this saga, Nightwing has overcome challenge after threat after hurdles that make him out to be unbeatable. Surely experience comes with wisdom, right? Yet, this issue brilliantly depicts many of the strengths and weaknesses of this run. One of the most glaring examples of this is early on in the issue when Dick is taken by surprise; in a way, this encounter feels similar to his experiences in both Nightwing #81 and #95, where there are moments in which Dick, with his years of experience and exposure to incidents such as this, seems to fall for traditional traps that seem beneath him. Nightwing has been poised to be one of the greatest heroes in the DC Universe, and yet this issue seems to be a reduction of his intelligence at times, and in its place is a depiction of his naivete.
DC Comics
That said, this is balanced with a determined and threatening couple of villains for Nightwing to come up against. Not only is he facing off with Heartless in this final arc, but the murderer of his parents. Through this, it does appear that Taylor is properly positioning Nightwing for one of his greatest comebacks yet; it just can’t help but feel a bit forced in the opening. This creates an awkward transition to the later half of the story, which winds up as the strongest part of the issue. While the latter half carries the burden of both one of the most unexpected cliffhangers, it also sets up possibly the greatest challenge for Dick Grayson to overcome.
Unfortunately, this issue continues the trend of carrying a preview for this week’s Titans book as well, which does sully the ending with an unnecessary promotion for a story entirely unrelated to the grand finale of an epic Nightwing saga.
DC Comics
Bruno Redondo and Adriano Lucas continue to elevate one another through their reunion together in this story. One of the series’ most consistent strengths has been how adept Lucas is at reflecting the tone of the story through his vibrant colors. This is further bolstered by Redondo’s brilliant line work. One of the hallmarks of his style is how animated his penciling continues to be, which makes small things like quizzical looks, small gestures, and major reveals all the more engaging.
Altogether, Nightwing #115 seems to do a lot while only doing a little. Which does seem to reflect a trend when one looks at this as a whole. Although Nightwing has been beaten down, exposed, and cornered by Blockbuster, Heartless, and others throughout this story, it seems he hasn’t learned to look out for the obvious. While reflecting on this, it does seem to negate some of the intensity this issue means to relay to the reader because part of the narrative feels like it was forced to create an environment where Nightwing would be vulnerable where he otherwise would not be. Altogether, this issue is not as strong as its previous one but opens the door for a strong follow-up.
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