DC Reviews 1/17/23 – Batman Superman World’s Finest #11, Nightwing #100
Nightwing #100
With so many of the DC Rebirth titles cancelled or renumbered, seeing Nightwing crack the 100-issue mark is impressive. While the book had the occasional rough patch, it’s been a solid read for the majority of those issues. This current run by writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo is undoubtedly the best stretch of the title thanks in part to building on what came before them.
Nightwing reflects on an offer from Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman with Batman before thinking back on Heartless’ big attack on Bludhaven. Launching a prison break designed to sow as much chaos as possible, Heartless is ready for Nightwing. He just didn’t count on Nightwing getting a little help from his friends. In lieu of a regular monthly Titans book seeing them appear in Nightwing is always a treat though it’s not fully complete until Roy Harper returns.
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The action is solid, but Taylor’s calling card on this run has always been the personal ties and pitch perfect portrayals of the various characters that pop in for cameos. Another great aspect of the run has been how Taylor established Nightwing as the glue for the DCU, which helps to explain what could come across as random cameos just for the sake of throwing in more fan favorite characters.
And as always, Taylor delivers huge on these big emotional beats. At times, it feels like he’s been writing Nightwing for 100 issues the way he gets Dick Grayson and his supporting cast.
In a fitting homage to 100 issues of this run of Nightwing, some of the celebrated artists who’ve worked on the title return to tackle some pages during the big action sequence. Scott McDaniel, Rick Leonardi, Eddy Barrows, Javier Fernandez and Mikel Janin swing by to contribute. That was a nice touch. Redondo still had enough moments to shine with his usual stellar sense of storytelling.
This run of Nightwing has been better than my expectations and with the new status quo change stemming from the final page of this issue, the series seems poised for another great stretch so long as Taylor and Redondo stick around.
Rating: 10 out of 10