Nightwing #102 // Review
Dick wakes up in Blüdhaven Morgue. Given how much he’s been through over the decades, it’s not exactly the worst place he’s ever been. That doesn’t mean he has to feel good about it, though. There’s a demon on the loose. He and his Titans will have their hands full in Nightwing #102. Writer Tom Taylor crafts a tight, little intro to a promising story for Dick Grayson and company featuring art by Travis Moore. There’s also a one-shot back-up story by C.S. Pacat that makes a clever play on the traditional Batman/Superman World’s Finest dynamic. The one-shot is drawn by Eduardo Pansica with inks by Julio Ferreira.
Of course...when you wake up in the morgue, the first thing you’re going to want to do is call your girlfriend. And when your girlfriend is Barbara Gordon, she can help you assemble a team to deal with the problem you have undoubtedly found yourself in. Of course...suddenly finding a perfect copy of yourself endangering the life of an innocent girl is going to be kind of infuriating. That’s why it’s nice to have friends and colleagues like the Titans. Elsewhere at a circus, a seasoned former Robin aids a young Superman in investigating a mystery.
Taylor tightly sculpts a plot that could have easily been a silly slugfest with a demon. The tension of Nightwing vs. “Nightwing” cleverly complicates an already rough hostage situation that plays with the reader’s emotions. This is a small-time demon up against the Titans, so there’s never any real danger, but Taylor finds ways of keeping the conflict interesting from beginning to end. Taylor’s work with the Titans feels strikingly well-articulated. Pacat’s back-up feature is a remarkably tight mystery that leans into the background and history of the Batman and Superman dynamic in a way that also shows just how far Nightwing has come.
Moore finds a deliciously sinister look for a demon. It’s not easy to come up with something that seems both new and distinctly demonic. Moore manages it beautifully in a visual presentation that’s ever-so-slightly better in drama than it is in action. Pansica and Ferreira nail the feel of a superpowered mystery much better than most Batman artists have managed over the years. The dramatic difference between Nightwing’s experience and the young Superman’s youth is as subtle as it is vivid. A mystery investigation runs the risk of feeling pretty flat on the comics page, but Pansica and Ferreira do a good job of bringing it to life.
In a few years, Dick Grayson will have been Nightwing for just as long as he had been Robin. An issue like Nightwing #102 is a satisfying look back at where Grayson has been without taking anything away from where he is now. It’s a very clever balance that moves things forward for him without all of the flashbacks and needless nostalgia that so often accompany this sort of story.
