DCU Comic Book Reviews

NIGHTWING #136

321 Days, Part Three:  The Plan

November 2007

Written by Marv Wolfman

Pencils by Joe Bosco

Inks by Alex Silva

Cover by Ryan Sook

Synopsis

In Belgium, Dick Grayson (aka Nightwing) is investigating Eddie Hwang’s Mettle, Inc. to determine what Eddie wants from him when he is attacked by the 21 Tigers.  These are the same people who were also involved in Liu’s kidnapping that Nightwing prevented, proving to Nightwing that Liu and Eddie are working together.  In Staten Island, Eddie and Liu enter the Dark Side bar and capture two meta humans to take back to their lab.  After eating dinner with Liu, Dick is walking home when he is attacked by the 21 Tigers again, who try to detain him long enough to draw his blood.  Dick is able to get away, but he runs smack into the new Vigilante who helps Dick get away.  Meanwhile, Eddie and Liu are searching for Dick Grayson’s blood, which they need to refine a serum that will give the 21 Tigers meta-human abilities.  To get it, they enter Wayne Medical.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I hope this makes sense.  What strikes me the most about this particular storyline from Wolfman is that, in a manner of speaking, it really is a story written now not to fill in gaps in the life of Dick Grayson but to hopefully explain why Dick has been written in such a way for the past however-many years.  Sort of like saying, “you think Dick was written poorly, but not if you know this story, then he has been written in character all this time!”  It is not so much a retcon, per se, of Dick’s life but a story that attempts to fill-in the blanks.  Normally these are the types of stories that fall flat because the writer is trying to make it all fit within established continuity.  This story, however, works because it is less to do with what Nightwing is (or was) doing and more about who he is.  Because of that Wolfman has focused on Dick the character and it works as a story first and foremost.  The fact that it also fleshes out Dick’s history is just an added bonus.  The key, I think, is the inclusion of new characters such as Eddie and Liu (even though they are technically older characters, but nevermind) and the Vigilante, a character that is connected to Dick’s past but is so very much new.  As such, the story doesn’t feel like a nostalgic look backwards (like a story including past Titan members would feel), but a story that is set in the here and now, even with the links to Dick’s past. 

I like the contrast between Nightwing and Vigilante.  One is a romantic, someone who sees the inherent and wants to believe in the goodness of others while the other is a cynic who sees the bad and wants to get rid of it at any cost.  In the middle is Eddie and Liu, two people on the surface are good people, but the evil is lurking underneath with whatever plan they are concocting.

 

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