DC Comics reviews 3/18/20 – Batman #91, DCeased Unkillables #2, Justice League #43

Nightwing #70

Nightwing takes a terrifying turn as Dick Grayson is stuck in the middle of an identity crisis just as The Joker comes to town to eliminate the “fake” Nightwings.

Writer Dan Jurgens smartly advanced the amnesia story arc without completely dropping it. Instead of having mo memory of his real past, Dick is struggling to determine which memories he can trust — those of his past with Batman or the other where he was raised to be a Talon.

Meanwhile, three of the four Nightwings consider if its time to call it quits on their vigilante career. With Joker in town it probably is time to retire. I like how Jurgens is setting this up organically as Dick becomes more comfortable with his old identity and the short amount of serious trauma the replacement Nightwings have endured in a short time.

Ryan Benjamin handles the art this issue. It’s not as striking as it’s been in previous issues and reflects more of a sketch style. Benjamin didn’t design it but Dick’s new costume is way too generic and seems more geared for Captain America than Batman’s protege. That’s the point to a degree as he’s his own man, but the color scheme and design looks like it was whipped up in 10 minutes.

Jurgens hasn’t gone down The Joker well so his appearance here has the right amount of dread and scares as he starts adding to his victim count. This is one of the preludes to The Joker War and it gets off to an ominous start for the Bat Family, but well worth grabbing for Batman readers.

Rating: 8 out of 10