Nightwing #105 – Tom Taylor, Writer; Bruno Redondo, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Tom Taylor has done a good job with unusual done-in-one issues playing with the art style, and it’s not a surprise given how vivid Bruno Redondo’s art is. Last year’s one-panel sequence was a masterpiece, and this year’s installment takes another tack—“You Are Nightwing”! It’s a first-person issue as Dick Grayson wakes up in bed next to Barbara, gets licked by Haley, and is getting ready for a day of crimefighting when he gets an alarmed phone call from his sister—a pair of supervillains have stolen a bioweapon and hijacked a train. But a lot of things are a little off with the story. The villains are Double Dare, a pair of gymnast mercenary villains who are low-level crooks and certainly not into terrorism. As Nightwing and Batgirl approach the train, they find that it’s been evacuated, there’s no evidence that any sort of attack is being planned—and the two criminals have a very different story.
Taylor has always worked the social issues he feels strongly about into his comics unapologetically, and this issue turns the focus on the biotech industry and its pricing, as the sisters are attempting to get ahold of some very valuable cargo that may just be able to save their country. This issue is a bit more complicated than some, as there’s a fine line between profiting and profiteering, but once it becomes clear who’s behind this biotech company and how far they’re willing to go to get the vaccine back, it becomes very easy to root for the thieves. What ensues is a fun corporate caper, complete with some switching of costumes and a very tense face-off. It’s actually been a while since the villain of this story appeared, so this seemingly art-focused, experimental issue does a great job of getting us excited for the next act of Tom Taylor’s run on this title.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
