DCU Comic Book Reviews

NIGHTWING #140

Freefall, Part One

March 2008

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Rags Morales

Inks by Michael Bair

Cover by Rags Morales and Michael Bair

Synopsis

In a Central City cemetery, someone pulls a dead body out of a buried coffin.  High over Gotham City, Richard Grayson (aka Nightwing) sky dives to Wayne Manor.  In a Metropolis cemetery, someone pulls a dead body out of a buried coffin.  In New York City, Dick is at the museum researching the city to get a better sense of his new home.  That night, Nightwing is in Bennett ark investigating a rash of museum robberies.  He finds the thieves, interrupting their theft of the dead body of the French Knight.  Nightwing is able to subdue the thieves, but is suddenly attacked by some type of zombie.  The zombie then tries to fly away, but Nightwing latches onto to his leg.  However, the zombie is able to get away by flying Nightwing in a tall building.  Several nights later, Nightwing tells Robin that the building he crashed into will become his new base of operations.  After Robin leaves, Superman appears and tells Nightwing they need to talk. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Nightwing has gone through a number of creator changes in the past year or so and with it we seem to get a change in the direction of the book.  Except for the One Year Leap (which was meant to be different and shocking) none of these recent changes have been, well, different or shocking.  But it has been enough to see characters and settings appear and disappear so that at times it seems like Nightwing is wander around aimlessly.  In this issue, we once more get a new writer and art team and once again we get a new setting (the museum) and presumably new characters (Deborah) in the life of Richard Grayson.  I can’t blame Tomasi for the change, nor am I sorry to see the past year or so completely tossed aside.  Frankly, nothing Bruce Jones and Marv Wolfman had introduced made much of an impact that I would miss it.  But on the other hand, it is disheartening to realize that Nightwing is floundering to the point that it is that easy to toss away a lot of stuff without me missing it. 

So, with the new creative team, the real question isn’t so much what changes they have made, but whether or not it is worth coming back to see how it all plays out.  The answer, for me at least, is that I liked what Tomasi is trying to do.  The issue is narrated by Nightwing and Tomasi has a good sense of Dick’s voice as well as the relationship between Dick and Tim.  I am not quite sure what Tomas is planning with regard to Talia or Ra’s al Ghul and given what happened after the recent issue of Detective Comics.  In that issue, Batman permanently takes care of Ra’s, so seeing his warning in this issue seemed really odd.  Tomasi may have something in mind for Talia, which is fine, but he needs to be aware of what is going on with Ra’s. 

Sadly, the biggest misstep is the revelation that Black Condor (assuming that is him; it certainly looks like him) is wearing Captain Boomerang’s scarf.  I missed the visual and only realized it through the dialogue.  I am hoping it is interesting to note that the resurrected characters are Captain Boomerang and Black Condor, both of whom were drawn by Morales, in Identity Crisis and Hourman, respectively.  What else has Morales done in the DCU.  Perhaps that will indicate who is next. 

 

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