DCU Comic Book Reviews

NIGHTWING #144

Freefall, Part Five

July 2008

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Don Kramer and Rags Morales

Inks by Christian Almay, Michael Bair, Sandu Florea

Cover by Rags Morales and Michael Bair

Synopsis

After Dick Grayson does his first night jump, he and Deborah go out on a date.  In Beijing, the Mother of All Champions gives birth once more.  She then prepares for conception for her next birthing when she is suddenly kidnapped.  In New York City, Nightwing apprehends drug dealers and then uses a hang glider to deal with a crisis across town.  Days later, Talia al Ghul stops by to tell Dick that she will not stop her plans, no matter what he might think.  Dick tells her they will be at war.  Talia tells him that sometimes innocent citizens can get caught in the crossfire and produces and picture of Deborah sleeping in bed to emphasize her point.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue is all over the place and I can’t decide if this is a good thing or not.  Between a peek into Dick’s private life and a peek into his crime fighting life, we have the Mother of All Champions from the Great Ten and then an appearance from Talia, just in case we forgot who Nightwing is supposed to be fighting.  Each of these pieces stand up great on their own, but taken together as a whole as a single issue, it doesn’t quite work.  Here is the odd part, however.  When viewed in the context of Tomasi’s entire run and what he has set out to do since that first issue, this issue fits in perfectly.  There is an overall thread tying everything together; we just haven’t seen it yet.  And while it is obvious there is an overall story arc, I think Tomasi is less interested in the plot that he is in writing a character-based story with a strong focus on Nightwing, who he is as a person and crime fighter, on his own and within the context of the DCU.  All of these elements are on display here and build upon what Tomasi has been doing in previous issue, even if it doesn’t quite hang together in the 22 pages presented here. 

I think this is the first time that the Mother of All Champions from the Great Ten has been explored in any great depth.  When I first heard f the concept, I thought it was ridiculous and while that feeling is still a little prevalent, Tomasi managed to make the character interesting.  The pathos of giving birth to children she’ll never touch and who will die in an extremely short time, gives the idea of giving birth to 10 super soldiers and little more depth and resonance.  I look forward to seeing more. 

 

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