DCU Comic Book Reviews

NIGHTWING #139

Living Proof

February 2008

Written by Fabian Nicieza

Pencils by Don Kramer

Inks by Wayne Faucher

Cover by Tony S. Daniel

Synopsis

[Continued from Robin, issue #169] 

In Tibet, Dick Grayson (aka Nightwing) witnesses Tim Drake (aka Robin) about to accept an offer from Ra’s al Ghul to use a Lazarus Pit to resurrect his dead parents.  Nightwing tries to stop him, but Robin fights him.  Elsewhere in Tibet, Damian continues to run for his life.  He decides to disguise himself as a member of the League of Assassins and boards a plane headed for Nanda Parbat, the current location of Ra’s al Ghul.  Meanwhile, Nightwing and Robin continue to fight.  I Ching interrupts the fight to impart some words of wisdom.  Nightwing listens to I Ching and decides to step back and let Robin make his choice.  Robin gathers some of the water from the Lazarus Pit, but then dumps it out, deciding against it.  Later, Nightwing and Robin are leaving Tibet when they encounter Talia al Ghul, who tells them they need to go to Nanda Parbat.  However, when they get there, they find they are too late.  [To be continued in Detective Comics, issue #839]

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Much like its companion book, Robin, this issue, the penultimate issue of the Resurrection of Ras’ al Ghul story, has very little to do with the main story.  Instead, it focuses on a peripheral story running parallel with Ra’s resurrection.  In the abstract, this is not a bad idea as it allows the writers of the main story to write a more concise, more focused story rather than drawing it out and diluting the story’s punch.  In the real, it doesn’t quite work.  First, the fight between Nightwing and Robin in this issue is extremely forced (and is not helped by making Nightwing using the priceless MasterCard quote that has already been beaten to death).  I don’t have much of a problem with the dilemma that Tim faces and his indecision around the dilemma or with Dick’s attempt to show Tim which is the right choice.  I don’t necessarily believe that Tim thinking about it is part of his character as I perceive, but that is the beauty (and curse) of a shared universe.  So, ultimately, I can abide by the plot.  Where the issue loses me is the insistence that Robin and Nightwing fight each other.  What?  The two of them can’t sit down and discuss it like rational human beings. 

Second, the issue ends with a cliffhanger, which I guess is supposed to make us anxious to read the final installment.  What it does is make me interested to know what happened to Damian after he boarded that plan.  How was he found?  How was he captured?  Why can’t Batman reach him.  The last panel is tossed into the story without fanfare or meaning, which just manages to underscore how much the rest of the issue has nothing to do with the main plot.  A better choice would have been to focus on Damian and show us his trip to capture-ville so that when Ra’s does get his hands on him, we know and understand how it happened. 

Despite all that, I have to once more commend Nicieza.  I still think he has written the character of Nightwing better than anyone in recent memory.  Nicieza does a commendable job making Tim’s thoughts of accepting Ra’s offer more plausible than Milligan did in the previous issue of Robin.