I think this approach often creates problems, which is why he has Dick mention his aspirations to do more than just punch people. What interested me in this new run, was them going back to basics, with Dick being back in Bludhaven, Blockbuster has taken over city hall and runs everything behind the scenes. This was so good - all the right amounts of action, friendship, family, grief, romance, and hope put together to show exactly the type of man Dick Grayson is. Tom Taylor is getting to be synonomous with good quality, and his Nightwing run is yet another shining example of why.

You’re given an answer to that dilemma by the end, but the surplus of villains within these pages mostly linger on the fringes of the narrative. I read this because I am somewhat committed to reading a few/a lot of the Eisner 2022 nominees, and this is one I hadn’t yet read. Nightwing thankfully looks like he is built more like a fit trapeze artist and not a hormonally-enhanced bodybuilder--so that’s a plus! Nightwing looks great, the splash pages are outstanding, and I love how Dick’s movements as he soars through Bludhaven reflect his trapeze artist beginnings, so he moves like an acrobat.Anyway, Bruno's Nightwing looks like an acrobat rather than a body builder and the rest of his figures look right to me. The smaller scale ultimately works, even if I would’ve liked for our villains to have a more coherent, and intimate plan.

This arc is about a man given an opportunity to fix a problem in a way he hasn’t tried before and figuring out how best to do it. But Taylor is also, luckily, self-aware enough to wrap this bluntness in candy-colored art from Bruno Redondo and tons of action, which is breezy and fast-paced, so that you almost don't see the heaping portions of moralization thrown at you. With all this new found money Dick is now a billionaire, and wants to make a difference in Bludhaven.When Barbara attempts to tell Dick his past heroics have amounted to more than just punching bad guys, Dick admits it’s an “oversimplification”. I saw a couple editing mistakes, and I already know the kind of corporate production these comics go through, vetted by everyone, so I was put off on page two already a bit. Nightwing has had a rough couple of years with Ric so it was beyond nice to see him finally get a good run if not one of the best runs he’s had in a long time.

It’s all once again top notch work that is a must read for any fan of Nightwing, or like in my case, if you’re trying to get into the character.The book wastes no time showing us what makes Dick Grayson such a great hero, as it doesn’t open with him beating up a costumed villain Batman-style, or brooding in a dark alley, or saving the multiverse, but instead rescuing an abused puppy from a group of thugs in broad daylight. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. He’s wearing half of Anarky’s mask for some reason and his MO is to remove the victim’s heart and put it in a jar - literally making them less of a heart.

It’s a soft reboot at its core, throwing Dick into a new situation and given a problem he can’t solve via his usual methods. However, as much as Alfred is no longer around, the few scenes that evoke the late butler play as an emotional tribute to him, from his letter to Dick, to Batman’s only line. I had my problems with Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing as I read their single issues when they first came out. Taylor has a good handle on the Bat-family and I'm excited to see where this run goes in the future. Rick Leonardi and Neil Edwards draw the handful of pages that make up the flashback sequence, which aren’t bad but aren’t that special either, and I wasn’t that impressed with Heartless’ character design.Well, all the characters are tousled-hair gorgeous, and sleek, befitting most mainstream superhero YA, but okay.