Nigthwing #60 is available now where all good comics are sold!
Synopsis
Detective Alphonse Sapienza may be a natural-born leader, forged through his many years with the GCPD, but does that give him what it takes to lead the Night-wings when their lives are endangered as never before? As fires that seem to have a mind of their own rage through Blüdhaven targeting cops, the team is up against its greatest test yet. Joined by Ric Grayson, how will the Nightwings save the city’s finest from a red-hot vendetta and the city’s newest villain, Burnback?
Review
My cycle of pain with Nightwing has come full circle. After berating the book for spinning the character off on a strange path following his shooting I had finally begun to accept Ric Grayson when this current arc began.
Reading issue #60 I’m finding myself in some kind of Groundhog Day scenario with Ric.
On the one hand he’s an engaging character: unafraid to embrace the existence of his past; keen to move on with his future and yet entirely unable to give up what tiny shred of Dick Grayson remains.
I feel like the various writers who have been taking on the book have been hesitant to fully embrace Ric. Name aside he’s a well established character in the DCU who now has plenty of potential to develop in new directions.
If they wanted to follow a darker path the writers could expose more of his struggle with his memory. Ric seems unplagued by ghosts from his past but there’s nothing to say they couldn’t return in his dreams. We know that he hasn’t moved on from that life when he describes his inbuilt urge to run straight in to trouble to help the innocent.
Dick Grayson is still in there somewhere so why ignore him whilst also alluding to his existence?
On the flip side they could embrace the lighter side of the character. This could be Ric’s opportunity to grab on to life and live it the way Dick Grayson never could.
Instead of doing either of those things we’re left with an amalgam of the two who strives for both and succeeds at neither. Cue one very frustrated reader.
The gang of Nightwing’s are interesting enough, there’s some development in this issue for Alphonse and Malcolm both of whom could potentially lead the series. But both are held back by Ric and the need to keep him in the fore.
Can only presume this is because , at some stage, status quo will be returned and Ric will embrace his past and regain his memories. All of which leads me back to a point I made when Dick was shot: what is the point of these storylines if there are no lingering consequences?
In the past DC has kept these character alteration stories to a shorter length. With Ric is feels like we’re being subjected to an endurance test or a strength of wills.
I’m not ready to give up yet… but I’m close.
Verdict
Nightwing finds itself struggling to recover after failing to land in its previous issue. Though story and artwork as engaging the overall lack of direction is still frustrating. At this stage I just want to understand, even vaguely, where we are heading with the story of Ric and the Nightwing gang.
5.5/10
Nightwing #60 is written by Dan Jurgens with art and a cover by Chris Mooneyham and colours by Nick Filardi.
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