Comic Book Review: Nightwing #128

The Revolution really enjoyed the last issue of Nightwing. Wolfman seems to be turning the corner on this title and I think that there is hope for Nightwing after all. I’m curious to see if Wolfman can continue this upward trend with Nightwing #128. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciler: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Norm Rapmund

Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Dick thinking about how he should have died twice before and is now living on borrowed time. Dick then thinks about Barbara Gordon and how it is because of her that he is back in New York trying to figure out this third chance at getting it right. Whatever “it” is and whatever “right” is.

We cut to the secret lab where the new Raptor armor is being finished. The mysterious people behind the Raptor project are revealed to be the middle managers from Lex Corp. who were in charge of the Raptor project before Lex Luthor pulled the plug on the program. They decided to steal the Raptor armor and continue their work. They have now found a buyer and are frantically trying to solve the radiation leakage that doomed the first version of the Raptor armor.

We shift back to Nightwing staring at the grave that the hitman buried him in last issue. Nightwing thinks about how when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you. Nightwing wonders if he is slowly becoming like the Batman. Cold and detached from the world. Nightwing thinks how his parents never talked about God and neither did Bruce. Nightwing decides to sop into a nearby chapel to see if it can help him find peace.

Suddenly, Nightwing’s phone rings. It is JJ. JJ tells Nightwing that the Raptor is back. Nightwing thinks how his quest for inner peace will have to wait. Nightwing makes his way over to where the Raptor is causing trouble. Along the way, Nightwing thinks about Starfire and how she asked him why he looked forward to putting his costume on and fighting villains each and every day.

Nightwing realized that he never answered her. Nightwing thinks how he is fairly well adjusted. That he isn’t out for revenge. And he isn’t trying to prove anything. And he has more than enough money to buy his own island hideaway. And he doesn’t do it because it is the right thing. Nightwing does it because it is the only thing that he dare let himself do. That when you are fighting bad guys you don’t have time to think about anything. That he does this because it is easier than having to think.

We see Nightwing and the new Raptor lock horns and brawl with each other. The Raptor charges up his napalm cannon and Nightwing grabs his cannon and points it into the Raptor’s stomach and the Raptor blasts himself.

We cut to the ex-LexCorp. managers finally pinpointing the cause of the radiation leaks in the Raptor armor. That each time he fires the weapons he breaches the Raptor armor. The scientists are horrified that they have such a massive defect with the armor and that they are supposed to deliver a working product to their client in another hour.

The mysterious client then appears on a video screen and asks the ex-LexCorp managers if they have his Raptor armor ready to go. One of the managers says that they have suffered a setback and that because of the delay they will cut the price as a good will gesture. The mysterious client replies if the scientist means that the fault is with the power supply. That weapon discharge causes the armor to be breached which results in the wearer of the armor dying. The managers are stunned that the client knows the defect.

The mysterious client is then revealed as Lex Luthor himself. Lex says that this is the reason that he cancelled the project. Lex calls the ex-LexCorp employees nothing more than third-rate sycophant managers who chose to partner together in order to make money of Lex’s work. That Lex knows everything that happens in all of his companies.

The ex-LexCorp managers say that there hasn’t been any harm and the armor has been destroyed. Lex responds incredulously that there hasn’t been any harm? Lex says that nobody steals from Lex Luthor. With that the building where the LexCorp managers have their lab explodes.

We cut to Nightwing at Jace Lorens’ grave with Lorens’ wife and Lorens’ son, Phillip. Lorens’ wife is glad that her husband was cleared of any murders. Phillip yells that it doesn’t matter. That his dad lied to him. Phillip then runs off. Nightwing tells the mom to let Phillip blow off some steam. Nightwing said that he will keep an eye on Phillip when he can.

We zip forward to later that night. Phillip is walking down a city street by himself. He is then approached by a hottie in a fetish style wedding dress. She asks Phillip what time it is. The Bride thanks Phillip and Phillip walks off. The Bride then walks back inside a building wear she has a woman bound and gagged. The Bride says that it is almost time and that it has to be exactly on the hour or it doesn’t count. The Bride then wonders how the Groom is doing with his kill.

We cut to Nightwing standing on a rooftop staring into the night. Nightwing thinks how he moved to New York to decide what he wanted to be when he grew up. Dick thinks how he almost died a year ago. That he wasn’t much good for anything after then. Dick thinks how he almost died again two days ago. Dick realizes after looking into the abyss and having the abyss look into him that no matter how hard it gets that he should never ever give up. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Nightwing #128 was another good read. Wolfman has managed to crank out back to back good reads on Nightwing. I cannot remember the last time that we had one good read on this title, much less two good reads back to back. It is great to see a writer on this title who really gets Dick’s character. I love Johns on Teen Titans, but Wolfman is still the quintessential Teen Titans writer.

Wolfman is extremely familiar with Dick’s character and definitely knows how to write Dick Grayson. Wolfman is doing an incredible job delving into Dick’s psyche. This is by far the best version of Dick Grayson that we have gotten on this title in an extremely long time.

I love Dick’s soul searching that Wolfman serves up in this issue. Dick has been through so much since Infinite Crisis. Dick definitely has an incredible pedigree that is rivaled only by Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. However, Dick has certainly lost his direction and focus over the past several years.

Wolfman uses the two near death experiences over the past year as a springboard to re-examine Dick Grayson’s identity and his motivation to be a hero. This third chance on life is a re-birth for Dick Grayson and enabled Wolfman to give some much needed focus and direction to Dick’s character. Plus, hopefully, DC will allow Dick to assume his rightful place as one of the central players in the DC Universe.

Wolfman did an excellent job crafting Dick’s inner monologue as he questions who he is and why he does what he does. I like how Dick realizes that he never thought he was like the Batman, however, maybe the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree. That Dick has become colder and more detached from the world around him just like his mentor, Batman.

I liked how Wolfman explained why Nightwing puts on his costume and fights bad guys. Because when he is that whirlwind of action there is no time to think. Only time to do or not do. There are so many people in the real world who do that very same thing with their job. That the more they immerse themselves in work, the less time they have to think about how their personal life is in shambles. That is Dick Grayson. He focuses almost all of his energy into fighting crime so he doesn’t have to examine all the failures in his personal life.

Wolfman is definitely doing the best job delving into Dick’s psyche and laying the foundation for some rather critical character growth. For quite some time, Dick’s character has become stagnant. It is time for Dick to evolve.

Wolfman’s Lex Luthor was fantastic! That was a cool little twist revealing the mystery client to be none other than Lex Luthor. Lex’s rant was just perfect. And Lex blowing up all of the ex-LexCorp. managers with a bomb was unexpected, but completely in keeping with Lex’s Machiavellian personality.

At the end, Wolfman teases the reader with the next story arc. Evidently, Nightwing is going to be dealing with a criminal duo named the Bride and Groom. It wasn’t anything incredibly intriguing, but it was enough to get my interest piqued for the next issue.

The Bad: Where are the Monitors? We got teased with an appearance of a Monitor at the very end of issue #125 and then nothing since then. I was under the impression that DC had something huge in store for Dick Grayson that involved the Monitors. If so, it would be nice for Wolfman do begin moving that plotline forward a bit faster. Right now, it is more of a dangling plotline than anything else.

Jurgens’ art is average. It doesn’t really move me one way or another. I really wish that DC would put a more dynamic artist on this title in their effort to resuscitate this long suffering comic book. It has been such a long time since Nightwing boasted good artwork.

Overall: Nightwing #128 was another good read. When was the last time that you could say that about back to back issues of Nightwing? Wolfman is definitely doing his job in resurrecting this moribund title. I have a positive feeling that Nightwing is just going to continue to improve over the course of Wolfman’s run on this title. I’m not at the point where I’d recommend this title to anyone. However, if you have always liked Dick Grayson’s character, but gave up on this title a while back then maybe it is time for you to give Nightwing another try.