Nightwing #93 from DC Comics turns our attention to Bludhaven’s villains and it’s a win-win for fans. Tom Taylor continues excelling as series writer, with the equally grand Bruno Redondo on pencils. Wade von Grawbadger jumps in on pages 14-20 for inks. Adriano Lucas carries on excellent coloring chores as does Wes Abbott with lettering. So, the last issue brought about some wonderful interplay between Dick, Bruce, and Blockbuster in public, along with masked perps vandalizing the new Haven facility made via the Alfred Pennyworth Foundation. It ended with Blockbuster getting a house call. From Heartless. You know. That guy who’s been stealing hearts literally and made Nightwing look like a dope twelve issues ago.
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Well, now this new rogue shows real gall. He tells Blockbuster that he wants control over Bludhaven, even offering to pay for it. I mean, the level of audacity alone is great reading. I said way back in issue #81 that Heartless showed he was A-level material, and this issue displays he can also hang with Roland Desmond. For a minute. Despite the tension, this scene kicks in a modicum of humor as well. It was a great way to open the issue, with a power-play and unexpected ending for it.
Meanwhile, our hero is trying to clean up the vandalism but runs into legal trouble and has to lean on Oracle. This storyline runs in a similar vein to the first one. Lots of audacious moves and plays spotlighted with humor. This could make it feel like watching an MCU film, where so many serious points are deadened by a pointless joke. But here, Taylor makes them stick because they are valid to the various plotlines he’s been scratching at since the beginning of his run. This isn’t humor for the sake of it. It informs the story and makes sense for each and every character. Taylor doesn’t skip a beat. Pacing is natural, none of the plots feel forced, convoluted, or out of place. Each one is given enough time.
Things come to a head as the issue progresses, and the team gives a great continuation to the Haven vandal story while upping the complexities of Nightwing’s struggle to liberate Bludhaven from corruption.
Redondo never stops blowing me away with his simplicity of form. There has never been so much to look at in a comic while knowing the number of lines in play is minimal. Add in Lucas’ neon pastel brilliance along with Abbott’s SFX and cool lettering approach and this is another modern work that is like the love child of Lee Weeks and Andy Warhol. Also, you can catch a hint of added black on pages 14-20, enough to know that von Grawbadger is lurking about putting in his personal flair. I keep saying this art team is golden, but I feel Redondo, Lucas, and Abbott are my favorite comic book artists of the 2020s. The entire Nightwing team is crafting stories and visual katanas every month, fresh from the fire.
Nightwing #93 brings multiple stories out to play and makes it looks easy. One rolls into the next and, considering all that Dick has to handle, he never looks too worn out. But the tension grows just enough here and every month to let you know the implosion is right down the road. This issue really brings the actions, the laughs, and is smart enough to offer peeks into certain things to make you come back for more. No info dump and no monologuing. Just perfect storytelling that juggles a large cast with ease.
Nightwing #93 is available now wherever comic books are sold.
Nightwing #93
TL;DR
Nightwing #93 brings multiple stories out to play and makes it looks easy. One rolls into the next and, considering all that Dick has to handle, he never looks too worn out. But the tension grows just enough here and every month to let you know the implosion is right down the road. This issue really brings the actions, the laughs, and is smart enough to offer peeks into certain things to make you come back for more.
