Nigthwing #59 is available now where all good comics are sold!
Synopsis
There’s a new team in town who will have to learn the hard way that fighting injustice doesn’t mean you’re cut out to be a superhero. As the newly formed Nightwings are forced to deal with a fiery threat they never saw coming, reluctant recruit Ric Grayson has to make the choice between a carefree life without capes or answering the call that’s been ringing his entire life—the call to be a hero. Join Ric Grayson and the Nightwings as they learn what it takes to be a team—and what happens when you fight who you truly are.
Review
The saga of Ric Grayson continues this month with “City Ablaze”. Although less interesting than the arc featuring Joker’s Daughter we are beginning to see some developments with the series’ characters.
There’s a heavy focus on Malcolm Hutch as the only Nightwing to appear in this issue. Through his character we get to see Ric being more of a mentor, in fact you could easily say more of a Bruce character with Malcolm playing the role of the Robin figure.
Ric choosing to train Malcolm and the others, hiding his heritage and his vigilante roots, is definitely pushing the character in a new direction beyond his memory loss. We’re beyond Ric accepting his past and moving on and now we’ve reached the character beginning to carve out his own path in life.
It’s understandable that many fans are still disheartened. This version of the Grayson character lacks a lot of the charm and with of the Dick Grayson character. Instead there’s this serious, downbeat character who looks like the guy we remember but acts nothing like him.
It’s like seeing an ex with their new partner. You can recognise the person he once was but you just can’t get to them somehow.
Jurgens pitchers the character in perhaps the most interesting way we’ve seen him post shooting. If this series is going to continue with Ric choosing to turn his back on his past then I hope we get to see him continue down this Bruce like role (but in his own Ric way).
The training sequences between Ric and Malcolm are easily the highlight of the issue. The lowlight has to be the storyline involving the fire villain. For want of a better phrase it currently feels heavily undercooked. Given this is only part one there’s plenty of places for it to go in the coming issues.
Verdict
“City Ablaze” is the beginning of year a new arc for Ric Grayson and the team of Nightwings. With DC really stringing out this story (or do we call it status quo now?) we getting to explore more of how the character is becoming a mentor to others.
But even when Ric Grayson is becoming a more compelling character a less than exciting villain makes this issue more of a slog to read.
5/10
Nightwing #59 is written by Dan Jurgens with art and a cover by Chris Mooneyham and colours by Nick Filardi.
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