Written by: Devin Grayson
Penciled by: Patrick Zircher
Inked by: Andy Owens
Colored by: Gregory Wright
Lettered by: Clem Robins
Editor: Michael Wright
Publisher: DC Comics
Bludhaven’s resident lord of crime Blockbuster has put Dick Grayson (Nightwing) through one hell of a mental and physical gauntlet in recent months. The storyline has been brewing for years, but Chuck Dixon (writer of the series first seventy issues) never got to the big blowout. While Devin Grayson has continued to build the storyline up over the twenty issues she’s been the writer, it’s finally reaching a boiling point.
In the past few months, Blockbuster has burned down the Haley Bros. Circus (which Dick owns) and blown up the building that Dick lives in (and also owns). Blockbuster is no longer playing the games he used to be content with, as he now blames Nightwing for the death of his mother. Hence the reason he’s been playing so dirty of late.
Last month, Nightwing went through the majority of Blockbuster’s lackeys—and doing so with extreme prejudice. We begin this month with Nightwing in Blockbuster’s palatial estate as he comes face to face with Shrike. Shrike is one of Nightwing’s deadliest opponents. Their animosity goes back to the Robin: Year One mini-series, where the character was retconned into continuity. Shrike is up there with characters like Lady Shiva in his martial arts mastery, so Dick has his hands full.
The first half of the comic is a lengthy, fight sequence between the two. A portion of which is the best staircase fight scene since The Matrix: Reloaded. Devin Grayson has turned the last few issues into a pressure cooker that just when you thought it couldn’t get more tense has risen far beyond what you could expect. Dick’s finally coming down to the line in his struggle to reach Blockbuster. As I’ve said, this is a story that’s been years in the making, and it looks like next month is finally going to settle some scores.
As Dick’s been faced with more daunting challenges each month, Devin Grayson has morphed the character believably as the stress mounts. Dick’s become more and more like Batman the last few months. He’s become a dark brooding presence. This month, as he interacted with several characters in costume he hung from the shadows and had the whole Batman-thing going on. It’s a change that fits the storyline as its progressed, and fits with the other personal changes, including his breaking up with squeeze Barbara Gordon.
Patrick Zircher is doing some incredible work on Nightwing. This month he captured one of the best hand-to-hand combat scenes in a longtime. His knack for giving Dick that Batman-look is a really nice touch for the storyline, and he’s rendered some of the more tender moments (i.e. the extended cemetery sequence) with a fine hand. Since Devin Grayson took over Zircher’s the second regular artist on the title (Rick Leonardi did some great work as well), but I hope he’ll be the guy for a longtime.
Dick Grayson is a character that has grown up a lot more than most over the past fifty odd years. Writer Devin Grayson has put Dick through an insane series of events of late. Helping the character mature, yet remaining true to his roots. I’m anxious to see where Dick’s going to be in a few months. At the moment, Nightwing is one of the best titles on the market. The 100th issue is now only nine months away, and I imagine things will only get better as that anniversary issue comes closer.
