In Nightwing #112, Nightwing and Batman track down the young kidnapped orphan all the way to Vietnam! Will their yearnings of vengeance supersede their pursuit of justice?
Title: Nightwing #112
Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Sami Basri
Backup written by: Michael W. Conrad
Backup art by: Francesco Francavilla
Cover by: Bruno Redondo
Variant covers by: Dan Mora, Francesco Francavilla, Robbi Rodriguez
Release Date: March 19, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers.
Years ago, Batman trained a recently orphaned Dick Grayson in the underground halls of the Batcave. Overwhelmed with anger, Dick is instructed by Bruce Wayne to not let his personal hurt keep him from seeing the people they fight as people, using violence as a justification for justice.
In the modern day, Oracle is alerted by Batman to know Nightwing’s whereabouts for the past month, hoping to determine the reason behind his fear of heights. Dick then suits up and goes to question Iko Wahid – the young boy orphaned the night previous about his father’s killer. When Nightwing arrives at the Uncle Loc’s apartment, Batman has already searched the building, finding that they’ve long since vanished. Dick uses Oracle’s software to hack Loc’s computer, learning that they’re on their way to Ho Chi Minh City. Taking a T-Jet from the Titans, Oracle informs the Dynamic Duo that Iko’s grandfather was a CEO of a large company, whose inheritance went to Iko’s mother after his death. When she died of a reported car crash, the inheritance went to Iko’s father, who opted to stay in the States for his son’s sake. Figuring out that this was all a scheme by Loc to gain the grandfather’s estate, Nightwing and Batman track Loc and Iko down at the airport, as they meet with Loc’s security. Making short work of the interference, Nightwing takes a bullet in the forearm as he disarms Loc and swears that he’ll return to America and face justice. Batman and Nightwing tie Loc up in the back of the T-Jet, and fly Iko back to Gotham safe and sound.
In “The Son of Gray part 2,” the Gray Son knocks out the Archbishop’s men, but keeps them alive, knowing that their defeat at his hands will haunt them long into the afterlife. The Archbishop gives no quarter and stabs the Son of Gray but is still knocked down to his feet. Before we see what happens next, we learn that the Archbishop has been narrating the events to his men, confident that the Son of Gray will come back to haunt him soon.
Nightwing #112 variant cover by Dan Mora (Images Courtesy of DC Comics)
This is an interesting issue to write about, because on the surface there’s plenty to enjoy and checks all the boxes of a perfectly serviceable done-in-two tale. Right away, I really liked seeing both Nightwing and Batman team up to pursue a simple murder and kidnapping case. Low-key, non-epic stories like this used to be the norm back in the day, and they’re sorely missed. Ultimately it’s not exactly something that the police couldn’t solve if they were put on the right track, but it stays in superhero territory since they’ve got Titans technology to make it to Ho Chi Minh City before losing Loc and Iko forever. There’s also the orphan element of it that ties Bruce and Dick together spiritually and emotionally, justifying the flashbacks to Dick’s early days under Bruce’s care.
I like this issue. I like the detective skills employed by the Dynamic Duo (details such as Batman already arriving at Loc’s apartment before Nightwing gets there is great), and Sam Basri’s art is solid and appealing. But underneath everything that’s good is a veneer of overwriting that chips away at the overall experience.
This is something that I’ve been mentioning in the past couple of issues, where Tom Taylor’s characterization of Dick and the other heroes is so warm and positive it becomes treacly and saccharine. Once again, in the recent past, especially with the new 52, the Bat-Family and Batman specifically were rendered so toxic and unlikable that fans were yearning for the natural chemistry and good-natured dynamic of years before. Speaking about Bruce and Dick in particular, their relationship has been often depicted as rocky since Post-Crisis and would worsen before returning to a heathier baseline every few years. I’m all for them getting along and understanding each other more than many others do, especially when recalling how the last decade of stories depicted them. But Taylor’s presentation of their relationship gets distracting when it’s covered with open emotion at every corner.
The opening flashback I still enjoy overall. Dick should be angry when he’s at his earliest training with Bruce, because him becoming Robin is the graduation from that emotional crossroads. And Bruce informing him on how they should behave on the streets is 100% correct, especially the detail he confesses about not always adhering to those ideals himself. It matches the popular concept of a younger, more raw Batman tempering himself for the sake of Dick when presented with someone he identifies with so much. It’s a great scene. We didn’t exactly need a callback to it in the end when Nightwing catches up with Loc, because Nightwing by this point has nearly fifteen years of a career to hone his emotions for this exact scenario, but it doesn’t invalidate the flashback.
Things turn cloying in the modern day scenes when Oracle says that Bruce is Dick’s Dad.
Tom Taylor has repeatedly described Bruce and Dick as father and son in less figurative language since issue #100, and it’s inartful. For one, Barbara’s dialogue “It’s a mystery, Dick. He wants to solve it. And he’s one of the world’s greatest detectives. And he’s your Dad.” reads way too expository for first-time readers to be natural. Everyone knows Bruce and Dick’s relationship at a most basic level, Barbara trying to urge Dick into relenting for Bruce to help him in this way comes across as almost phony. Similar criticism goes to Dick’s feigned indignation at Bruce’s efforts to figure out what’s wrong with him. His responses to Bruce’s request for his whereabouts and a blood sample reek of some of the worst writing from the live-action Titans show, especially the quip about Bruce “stalking” him. It’s lazy, none of this is out of character for Batman, and it’s not even the wrong thing to do. Taylor may have intended for this to exemplify Dick’s emotional defenses at feeling vulnerable, but that’s not how it comes across. Batman is always secondary to Nightwing in this story – an intention of Taylor who on social media jokingly refers to Bruce as Dick’s sidekick. But morally and effectively, Nightwing is rendered as the better, more ideal superhero. That’s not uncalled for in the Nightwing title. But for character consistency and cohesion’s sake, Dick responding to Bruce’s medical request being “Uh, that’s weird. Pretty sketch bro.” is stupid. It’s stupid writing that serves little because it’s left on the panel as a needlessly dismissive comment. Because of that, Dick doesn’t come off as our hero in need of help, he comes off as calling Batman out on bad behavior. But that’s not what this situation is, so he looks like a jerk, and Taylor looks like he misunderstands the dramatic potential he put into his own story.
I’m being very presumptive with Tom Taylor in this review, and I apologize if it reads disrespectful, but his positive writing efforts have grown less elegant as his run has gone on. Some people have come after him for depicting the Titans as Nightwing’s sidekicks, in a live-action Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men kind of way. Their appearance in this issue doesn’t help those accusations, because they’re just standing in a room waiting on Dick’s beck and call at a moment’s notice. No one looks busy, no one’s doing anything on their own, their own lives and concerns don’t exist when Nightwing is in the room. This seems harsh, but consider the scene where Batman reassures Gar that he’s a hero despite his recent public condemnation during the events of Beast World. Gar is minimized as the scene progresses while Batman talks to him, so even though he’s the topic of discussion he’s practically pushed out of the scene. Now this might be Sam Basri’s fault for depicting the artwork in such a way that it falls down like that, but I’d imagine script instructions would’ve included Gar’s reaction and response to Batman’s words were it otherwise presented.
What I’m trying to say is that what Taylor goes for in large gestures of positivity and optimism read too broad and open-armed that everything else in the storytelling feels diminished. When the Dynamic Duo catch up to Iko and Loc, Batman’s inner monologue describes how he works through murder cases clinically and coldly to get the job done and how Nightwing can’t do the same. I’d like to think he knows how to do that, but also it sounds like Bruce doesn’t take into account victims of violence, and we know from the opening scene that that’s not true. It’s also another big swing at making Nightwing a better hero than Batman, which is more telling and not showing. There’s also the line “My son isn’t knocked down” after Nightwing takes the shot in the arm, which would be cool if Bruce knew he was dying but as is reeks of overwriting just as much as everything that’s come before.
I’m bothered by all this because I can see the same exact story with the same exact emotional beats hit with far slicker, to-the-point writing that doesn’t read like it has to do backflips in order to convince the reader that Batman and Nightwing are great guys. It’s been done before, it can be done again.
But maybe I’m reading too much into Taylor’s positivity and coming away cynical. Because the new 52 and Geoff Johns and Dan Didio…that entire era really was terrible. I’ve seen firsthand people online truly believe Batman is a repeated domestic and emotional abuser due to those comics, and if Taylor has to dress up these characters with pillows and bunnies to bring an understanding of who they are all the way around to back where they used to be (because if we go back to the very beginning of Dick becoming Nightwing, there was zero animosity and Bruce was fine with it as Dick moved on from the role), then so be it. And it’s not like he’s the only one. Batgirls and Wayne Family Adventures and James Tynion have worked to achieve similar goals. I feel that Taylor’s work is the loudest and least subtly written, but I’ve rarely thought it’s been out-and-out bad. Still, it’s the unshakeable feeling I’ve had in the past few months, and as we close out Taylor’s run this year, we can return down the line and compare and contrast how his efforts worked to make Nightwing DC’s top hero in the final equation.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
