Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Nightwing #105 Review

    


Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Bruno Redondo
Colors by: Adriano Lucas
Letters by: Wes Abbott
Cover art by: Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: June 20, 2023

Nightwing #105 is another gimmick issue to show what it would be like to live the day in the life as the oldest heir to the Batman legacy through the eyes of Nightwing.
Is It Good?

Nightwing #105 is a gimmick issue. It's a gimmick issue because it's drawn entirely from a first-person perspective, which means you see it all through Nightwing's eyes, and that's about all the value you'll get out of this comic. The story is middling.

Tom Taylor's script follows Nightwing and Batgirl when they respond to a call that Double Dare has hijacked a subway train containing a dangerous biochemical agent. In reality, only one-half of Double Dare hijacked the train as a getaway car after stealing a critically-needed vaccine. The vaccine manufacturer, Shel Pharmaceuticals, kidnapped the other half of Double Dare to get the vaccine back so they can jack up the price of its sale to make tons of cash at the expense of a suffering population.

Everything about this middling issue is quintessential Tom Taylor writing. Everyone loves Nightwing, even going so far as to receive compliments from every bystander he passes. The main conflict should be treated as a serious situation, but Nightwing and Batgirl treat the event with a casual, cavalier attitude that eliminates every drop of dramatic tension. The conflict is a not-so-subtle commentary on some social ill (the cost of medications, in this case). And Heartless makes an appearance (in civilian form) but has yet to be challenged in any serious way by Nightwing.

In other words, this is a mediocre, serviceable story wrapped in gimmicky visuals.

How are the visuals? Does the gimmick pay off? It's fine, but I wouldn't go out of my way to seek it out. You'd think that a first-person gimmick issue would take the opportunity to show off something special that you would only see if you were in Nightwing's shoes, but the story reads like any other story shown from a different angle. It's a novel gimmick, but as with practically every other issue in Taylor's run, it's some style with no substance.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces:

Nightwing #105 delivers another gimmick issue to recount a day in the life of Nightwing shown through his eyes. The gimmick is novel but doesn't show you anything unique, and the story is mediocre at best.

6/10

1 comment:

  1. You are about the only critic who sees this comic for what it is now.

    ReplyDelete