By Chris Fenn
The finale to a series and the end of a hero.
I followed the Nightwing comics from getting back into the genre around Death of the Family. I’ve always liked Dick Grayson as a character; to me he’s always been everything Batman can’t be as well as being everything Batman needs.
Being the final issue to Nightwing’s ongoing a lot of loose ends have to be wrapped up. We get a good amount of recap through all of Dick’s history; but interestingly we get some references to Morrison’s run on Batman, as Dick mentions that “eventually, when I was needed, I was Batman”.
This is something that really confuses and annoys me about the New 52; they seem to want their cake and eat it. On the one hand they want a clean slate, with new beginnings and new origins, but on the other hand they reference a lot of pre-Flashpoint events which are not canon or party of the current continuity.
I suppose though, this can be an inherent problem when using an organisation like Spyral in a story like Batman incorporated. For anybody who doesn’t know, Batman Incorporated started in the pre-Flashpoint universe and focused on Batman making a global organisation to tackle the League of Assassins, headed by Talia. The story spilled over and was continued in The New 52, as a New 52 title, without any reboots or retcons. Events that took place in Batman Incorporated, such as the death of Damian, have also tied into other titles across the DC universe meaning that they are indeed cannon.
I know that may seem like a trivial thing to complain about when I am enjoying the stories I read, but I honestly cannot see the point of resetting a universe, or in this case multiverse, when creators do not treat a reset like a reset.
Moving on, one thing I truly loved about this issue was the fight between Dick and Bruce. I think it’s symbolic that both characters fought as Batman and Nightwing, and spoke as though this was a mission briefing, to finally end with the two men unmasked, arm around each other sharing a moment when the son makes the father proud.
A beautiful touch in this is seeing Alfred continue to perform his duties, but to have tears streaming down his face. It’s simply heart breaking to watch Alfred in Batman comics; the amount of mourning he does for all the family he has lost, but he always returns to his duties and tries to help everybody as best as he can.
One thing I have ignored is the opening to this issue. As this is effectively an issue #0 for Dick Grayson, we get some villains and key characters established. It’s hard to properly react to a band of people who kill for killings sake, but as a device I suppose it’s interesting. I liked how the vehicle they drove was “Un Cheval Pale” – or “The Pale Horse” – as you can’t beat some biblical imagery, especially when it references Death from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!
For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989
Posted on May 31st, 2014
Category: OUT OF THE LONG BOX, REVIEWS
Tags: Batman, Bruce Wayne, Chris Fenn, Comic Reviews, DC Comics, Dick Grayson, Nightwing #30 Review