Nightwing #53 Review

Moving On

Written By: Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza

Art By: Travis Moore, Patrick Zircher, Tamra Bonvillain, Andworld Designs

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 21, 2018

It's time to jump back into Nightwing, where last issue we left Ric Grayson face to face with the new Nightwing, Detective Sapienza.  Yeah, that had to be a bit of a mind fuck, but I'm sure more of that will come as the Scarecrow comes more into play with each issue.  Let's jump into this and see what Ric Grayson does with the knowledge that Bludhaven is being taken care of by someone other than him.  Let's check it out.

The thing that I've liked the most about this new status quo for our hero is that Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza are taking their time with it and letting this new feel for the character come natural and not having anything feel too forced.  You know, a slow burn style story and that continues here and feels perfectly natural in the reaction that they give Ric Grayson to meeting his alter ego and how he goes about his life with that knowledge.  

Besides for Ric though, I like what we're getting out of Sapienza as well and his recruitment that went down in the previous issue, or lack of recruitment.  Yeah, it's still solo Nightwing, but the way that the story is playing out feels great to get the people that Sapienza wants to help him in his new endeavor.  The biggest problem that we have with this series right now, besides for constant recap, which thankfully, we don't get a lot here at all is the background portrayal of the Scarecrow and what he's doing in Bludhaven.  He's always just showing up for a few pages so we don't forget about him and in this issue he comes fully out with the villain BDE and it feels kind of out of nowhere, even though we've seen him.  It just feels odd the way he's portrayed here when all we knew leading up to this issue is that he somehow got a guy to drown in his sleep.  Hopefully that changes and I can get fully on board with what the Scarecrow will bring because he's a cool character and I want to see him do some pretty amazing things. 

All in all, I'm continuing to really enjoy the art in this series and this issue ramps that up a notch, while continuing to give me the slow burn story that I wanted for this new status quo.  So yeah, while this title may not be for everyone with the way that it's portraying Dick Grayson, the biggest problem that I see here is that Vicki Vale showed up as a reporter in Bludhaven, when she should still be trapped in Wyrm's cellphone with Willem Cloke.......... but since that story arc was bullshit I can look beyond that continuity error for the most part.  

Bits and Pieces:

Nightwing continues to impress me with its status quo change and how the writers of this book are handling it. The art works great for the story that's being told and we're getting a whole new look at our main character now that he's come face to face with his alter ego.  It's a lot of fun even if it's not the Nightwing you're used to and I totally recommend it to people who have been staying away from this because this is certainly the most interesting the title has been in a long time.

7.8/10