Finally, the Heartless story ends. And it does so in the best issue of Nightwing in ages, as writer Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo, Taylor’s artist partner for the best part of it, say goodbye to Dick Grayson. For now, at least – given their obvious affection for our hero and his world, I can’t see this being a ‘for good’ situation.
For now we have Dick confronting the Hoover-hearted hood who framed him for the murders he committed while Nightwing was footling around doing everything but hunting down the serial killer.
It begins with a threat, caught by Dick and partner Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl/Oracle.
Rather than go in his superhero hero identity, Dick shaves off his recent beard, puts Haley (Bitewing) Grayson on a lead and heads for Haven, a social housing project paid for with money the still-dead Alfred Pennyworth left Dick.
As ever, Heartless is a smug creep
Part of the reason he thinks he’s untouchable is that he has so many city residents working for him – he’s kidnapped, and is threatening to kill, their children. If only Dick’s allies in the Batman Family could find them.
And things just get worse for Heartless from there, especially when Dick does suit up for a satisfying action sequence. Mind, not everything goes Nightwing’s way, as someone else he wanted to bring before the judge is murdered by Heartless. Worse still, poor Haley gets shot by Heartless’s answer to Alfred.
It’s literally a cheap shot by Taylor, tearing the reader’s heartstrings, though brilliantly illustrated by Redondo, inker Ciao Filipe, colour artist Adriano Lucas and letterer Wes Abbott. I love good silhouette work.
Sadly, the very next panel shows the dog in pain, and it’s upsetting.
By the end of the issue, happily, Haley is on the road to recovery, able to join Dick and Babs for a gorgeous final image nodding to both one of history’s greatest artists and, perhaps, a very famous photograph. It’s a snatch of Europe and a slice of Americana, beautifully brought together by Redondo in a splash page he colours as well as draws. I won’t show it here because it’s worth the price of admission as a lovely art piece and an emotional grace note for a memorable run. It’s even signed by Redondo, Taylor, Lucas, Abbott and Filipe, whose delicate inks are a huge asset to the issue. Filipe’s finishing helps the emotion of Redondo’s people shine through, while Lucas’s unashamedly attention grabbing colours are gorgeous, I love hot pink hospital lights and tutti-frutti skies. And Abbott’s terrifically tidy letters for the conclusion of the Fallen Grayson serial are a treat.
The cover is typical of the way this series can blend design, colour and graphics. The work of Redondo and DC’s production department, with logo by Darran Robinson, it’s stunning.
As conclusions go, this is pretty darn good. The art speaks for itself, while the story once again shows that Dick’s people skills are as important as his amazing acrobatics. He defeats Heartless with the help of the Batman Family, half-sister Mayor Melinda, the ordinary folk of Blüdhaven and, of course, Bitewing. Dick is a good man who believes in people, and they believe in him. That’s Nightwing.
And that’s it’s for a creative team who have brought us some of the best looking, most high concept Nightwing tales ever. At their best, the stories of Taylor, Redondo and friends proved instant classics. I’m glad I was there for them.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
This was a really good capper to a terrific run of Nightwing; I’ll be taking a break from the book (in paper editions, at least) for a while after this. But this was a great one to go out on.
Let me become history’s greatest monster and defend the shooting of Bitewing. (We’ll be entering spoiler territory if that matters to anyone reading this.) Shooting Bitewing, as upsetting as that was, serves a purpose to the story besides a cheap tug at the heartstrings. It gives Dick something he can plausibly be occupied with when Heartless kills Zucco. If Dick weren’t occupied, he could have (and would have) stopped that killing. But since Taylor was leaving, he wanted that loose thread tied up and needed Zucco out of the picture, so the new team didn’t have to address it and could go their own way. So how to keep Dick from saving the day, even for the guy who killed his parents? Give him an innocent to care for. And Bitewing was the right pooch for the job.
I’m very glad he got better quickly. The art didn’t really convey that it must have been a fairly superficial wound, so I was really worried about out li’l 3-legged hero.
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Excellent defence of The Shooting of Bitewing. I’d counter by suggesting any random person could have been caught in crossfire and distracted Dick; the emotional connection wouldn’t have been the same, but Dick would still have put victim before pursuit.
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Oh, definitely! But emotional connections count — ultimately, they count more than plot. As you said, he’s tugging on the reader’s heartstrings with this scene, which wouldn’t have happened with an endangered unknown bystander (at least, not without devoting more panel time to it). I was just trying to make the case that the shooting served more story purposes that emotional manipulation.
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…And also, now we’ve got an indelible moment of heroism forever in Bitewing’s history!
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I’ve skipped some Nightwing lately and have never really cottoned to Heartless but this was a truly great issue. I love the effortless way he shows that Babs and Dick are such a good couple. Their start was obviously editorially mandated and awkward but since has become the best status quo. I think the last year of Nightwing and Titans has shown that Taylor can get sidetracked by ‘side quests’ that don’t move his narrative even if they are themselves great stories. (Well, besides Heartless being allowed free rein. It felt like this C Level villain was given as much plot armor as Dick) This personal finale for Taylor was a gem, showcasing all his better skilled. Redondo excelled too but his skill is so high it was almost business as usual rather than standing out. He even made the issues he drew where Taylor gave him the side quests soar.
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Excellent appraisal sir! It’s a shame we didn’t have an editor keeping Taylor focuses. The Titans stuff should certainly have been kept out of this comic.
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I did drop off at 100, having got a bit bored with how slowly Heartless was going (also never really a fan of the idea of Dick and Babs, it just seems really lazy to match them up), but I’m sorely tempted to go back and fill the gaps as I did really enjoy the run at the start and Redondo is such a good artist.
Stu
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I wouldn’t bother buying them all, read them on DC Infinite, if you have it.
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