I recently, like literally today; had the pleasure of reading Tom Taylor’s NIGHTWING: INTO THE LIGHT. It will go a long way for the reader of this article to be informed up front that I do not like this book, I think it sucks on every conceivable level.
In the first place I understand that this is coming off the back of a really odd run where Dick Grayson was an agent of Spyral, and a cop in Bludhaven. They were trying to ground him in Bludhaven, which can be difficult when pretty much everyone who is familiar with the character understands that he grew up in Gotham and associates him with Batman. It is an interesting theoretical balancing act to strike between acknowledging the history of the character with Batman, and trying to give him his own room to breathe, I think this book does it incredibly poorly.
Nightwing lives in Bludhaven and in Bludhaven we have Kingpin except its not Kingpin its blockbuster in a white suit standing in an office talking to his secretary who is the mayor who is in fact the illegitimate half chinese half romani progeny of Dick’s father previous to his relationship with his mother. This is sort of a funny thing as I have a personal understanding and dialectic that Nightwing is a hero that is in modem alot Like Spiderman- but I didn’t anticipate that this would read like the author just got out of Spiderverse and sat in his Nightwing chair to write Nightwing. Maybe it’s the artists fault, but I can’t help but think it was a design intention. Whatever the case it was poorly constructed.
The other thing thats happening in Bludhaven is child protection, Batman and co. are oddly concentrated on child protection these days, I think this is a weird gay-ally libtardism that has more to do with projection of matured innocence in their fantasy characters than it does any commentary about sexual predation, or sex trafficking as it relates to reality. Nightwing runs around on the streets and watches a flouridated version of the Holmesian Baker Street Boys steal peoples stuff until they steal from a Mob boss, where Nightwing must finally intervene but on the side of the children. Truly the Romani stereotypes manifest themselves.
Another part of this is dedicated to Nightwing and his friends. Him and Wally are the least abrasive part of this as a reading experience, while Nightwing and Superman/boy are the most abrasive. Something to be gleaned there perhaps.
Superman/boy John Kent is gay and you have to watch him kiss his purple mulatto (real btw) on a balcony before he can have a Superman adventure, also John doesn’t like the hologram of Clark in the Fortress of Solitude because he can’t relate to his dead dad. Presumably this is because Superman I was a competent and interesting character able to get through a single engagement against a villain without breaking down in tears. (John Kent is not able to do this for the duration of his presence in this book.)
The nightmare evisceration of masculinity, paragonic virture, and superheroes as an institution is the primary actual goal of books like this. Nightwing deserves better, and he deserves stories that are actually about him. Putting him on his own two feet does not necessitate that you introduce origin twisting personal drama or rape his sense of personability by presenting fanfiction level QRF response from every hero he has interacted with whenever he is in trouble. There are no stakes for anything happening in this book, the Teen Titans- all of whom are individually and collectively far more powerful and apparently capable than Nightwing are literally in this book every 10 pages. I don’t understand why they don’t just do everything for him if they have that much time on their hands. I will say that at least I got to see a panel with Donna Troy in it, which is more than I can say for the 7 or so years prior to this.
Do not read Tom Taylor’s Nightwing.