Story Title: “Targets: Conclusion”
Reviewed by: Mathan “I miss Devin Grayson” Erhardt
Written by: Marv Wolfman
Layouts: Dan Jurgens
Finishers: Norm Rapund & Rodney Ramos
Colored by: The Hories
Lettered by: Phil Balsman
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: DC Comics
The issue begins with Nightwing pondering his place in the world while swinging rooftops in NYC. Then we find ourselves in a lab where the Lexcorp scientists behind the Raptor suit debating whether they should sell it despite its design flaws. Oh it’s as exciting as it sounds.
Then we see Nightwing returning to the grave he dug out of last issue while thinking about his upbringing. But he gets a call about a new Raptor causing havoc and he’s off. While en route he questions why he’s a hero while thinking about Babs and Kory.
Then Raptor and Nightwing fight. Nightwing wins because he turns Raptors powers against him, which kills the villain. But Nightwing didn’t really “kill” him, because the Raptor wasn’t going to survive having absorbed too much radiation to live for much longer anyway.
We then find out that the guy the scientists were going to sell the Raptor suit to was none other than Lex Luthor, in shadow, who then kills them for stealing from him. Later at the original Raptor’s grave, his son throws a tantrum because his father lead a double life. As he storm off, he encounters 50% of the villains for the next arc. The issue ends with Nightwing strengthening his resolve to be a hero.
I really wanted to like this arc. It couldn’t have been too hard for Wolfman to follow up Bruce Jones’ OYL arc. Yet now that Wolfman’s first arc is done it’s still pretty disappointing. It featured forgettable villains and a boring hero. The scenes with the former Lexcorp scientists are excruciating to read. And the scene introducing the Bride seems so forced it might as well have been paper-clipped into the issue.
Art-wise, things were smoother than I expected. There’s a relatively uniform look for the issue despite having two finishers. Nightwing looks great in the in the air, with all the swinging he’s doing. The colors are solid as well. But the story even hampers the art, which isn’t really exciting.
