Under Peter Tomasi’s guidance, Nightwing has become one of the favorites of the Revolution. Tomasi has the perfect mixture of drama and humor. His Nightwing is the James Bond of the superhero set. He is the cool guy with a sense of humor. Tomasi has also been putting him up against A-list villains. Talia was in his first story line. This story features Two-Face.Creative Team
Writer: Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Rags Morales
Inks: Michael Bair and Bob Petrecca
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: In the first part of this story, Harvey (Two-Face) Dent recruited Nightwing to protect his former love, Carol. Nightwing and Carol are pinned down by sniper fire on a Gotham roof top. Nightwing was shot.
Nightwing dodges bullets while making his way to Carol. He hits a button on his wrist unit to summon his flying wing. He ties her to him and grabs the handle of the wing. As it takes off, Nightwing is in severe pain from the bullet he took in his shoulder. He hopes he has the strength left to hang on until they get to safety. The sniper watches as they fly out of his range.Using his infrared goggles, Nightwing sees the markings of one of Batman’s safe houses. He warns Carol that the landing will be a bad one. After they crash, Nightwing reaches the keypad of the safe house. A secret door opens. He tells Carol that she has to stay there until he returns. She is worried that he lost too much blood.
Nightwing reassures her that he is going somewhere for special attention. The servomotors don’t sound good on the flying wing. Nightwing uses his good shoulder to hook himself into the wing. He blacks out. The wing goes on auto pilot to take him to the Batcave.
Alfred is looking out the window when he spots the wing. He rushes to the cave. The wing crashes into the Batmobile. As Alfred picks him up, Nightwing apologizes. He hopes he did not wake Alfred up. Alfred drags him into the Batcave’s medical center and puts him on the operating table.As Alfred works at removing the bullet from Nightwing’s shoulder, he tells Alfred which safe house Carol is in. Alfred says that is the fifth time Nightwing told him. He says this is the last time he will operate on Dick or Bruce with them being conscious.
Dick wants to know when Alfred learned arthroscopic surgery. Alfred responds that he learned by watching the Discovery Channel. Alfred then says that he is building a bridge and jumping off of it if he is asked another silly question. Dick says he enjoys Alfred’s bed side manner. Dick is going to contact Dr. Mid-Nite. He can team up with Alfred for a new reality show: “The Brave and the Bald”. Dick is worried that Bruce is really gone this time. Alfred agrees. He gives Dick medicine to make him sleep.
When he is done, Alfred takes off the gloves while he walks through the Batcave. The bloody glove falls against a display case that holds Robin’s uniform. He washes up and returns to Dick’s side. Sitting in a chair, he holds Dick’s hand while he sleeps. Hours later, Alfred wakes to the sound of a motor running. Nightwing is taking off on one of Robin’s motorcycles. A note is in Alfred’s hand. It says, “thanks, Alfred”.
Nightwing makes his way to the safe house. He punches in the code to open the secret door. As he drops in, Carol tries to hit him with a pipe. She did not realize it was Nightwing. From the amount of blood he lost and the length of time since he left her, she thought he had died. Nightwing says he has a good health plan with a reasonable deductible. He takes her to a safe house in New York.
Nightwing explains the special features of the house. He prepares to leave. He is going for another flying wing. He gives her a special signal to contact him anytime. Carol’s cell phone rings. Nightwing warns her that a GPS could locate her cell phone. He attaches a device to block GPS tracking. The person on the other end of the call is Harvey Dent.
Harvey explains that he was watching Nightwing rescue her. He had to ask Nightwing for a favor because he could not let someone murder her. Nightwing ends the call. As he leaves, he promises to return soon.
In Northern Manhattan, Nightwing is using a flying wing to fly out of a building. Alfred called him to give him some bad news. The bullets he removed from Nightwing had trace elements from Scarecrow’s fear gas. He wants Nightwing to return to the Batcave for the antidote. A signal goes off. A security breach has occurred at the safe house. Nightwing tells Alfred he has no time for fear.
Nightwing flies back to the safe house. He drops from the wing. A signal from his wrist device blows open the window of the safe house. Nightwing drops through the window opening. Inside, he is surrounded by Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and Poisen Ivy. He wants to know what they have done with Carol.
Comments
The Good: Another great script by Tomasi. He continues the perfect balance of drama, action, characterization, and humor. Dick’s interaction with Alfred is perfect. Tomasi shows how much Alfred cares for the members of the Bat Family. His teasing of Dick while he operates is one of the highlights of issue.
I love it when the writer’s continue the tradition of using the names of former Batman creative personnel. The safe house is located on the corner of Aparo and Goodwin. Aparo is the fantastic artist best known for his work with Bob Haney on the original Brave and the Bold series. He was one of the top artists ever to draw Batman.
Goodwin is Archie Goodwin. Archie was writer and editor of the Bat-books many years ago. He is also the author of one of my all-time favorite series-Manhunter. Manhunter appeared as a backup series in Detective comics. If you have not read the Archie Goodwin/Walt Simonson Manhunter stories, run to the nearest comic store and get it.
We see that Bruce did a good job training Nightwing. He is well prepared for the various problems he runs into. Nightwing demonstrates that he is one of the top heroes in the DC universe.
The Bad: At this point, the connection to Batman: RIP is very small. Maybe it will be more obvious later.
Morales artwork was ok. This is a disappointment. Up until this time, Morales has been one of the better artists around. This time, it looks like he did not do his usual outstanding job. This art looks very average and that is a let down. Hopefully, Morales will return to greatness next time.
Overall: The story was as good as expected. The art was not as good as usual. The author is keeping the mystery going. Who was the sniper? Who is trying to kill Carol? I know I will be eagerly waiting for the next installment.