Nightwing #120 – Dan Watters, Writer; Dexter Soy, Artist; Veronica Gandini, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: It took no time at all for Bludhaven to return to its natural state – chaos – as last issue saw a massive gang war kicked off by the seeming assassination of all the gang leaders, a powerful and sinister new tech company emerge in a partnership with the Bludhaven PD boasting that they would bring the city under control, and a mysterious new masked villain with ties to Dick’s circus career lurking in the shadows. And this issue wastes no time getting us back into it, as he breaks into the tech company’s base and takes on an army of robots controlled by…animals? It’s a unique tribute to the classic Morrison/Quitely Vertigo series We3, which featured cyborg animals working for the government, and Dick soon finds himself in possession of a cybernetically enhanced rabbit – which poses a bit of a problem, since he has a very active dog who just saw a snack enter the house.
It’s a great example of how Dan Watters’ style, usually very haunting and noir-oriented, has changed up a lot for this book. While he’s definitely still working some darker elements into his writing, it’s also much more of an energetic superhero book. Like the previous run, it also has quite a few things on its mind. This story is largely about the privatization and militarization of security, with a tech company turning the unstable and corrupt Bludhaven PD into a deadly force looking to show off its new tech – with tragic consequences that put Dick in a much darker place than we usually see him. The visuals are great, the pace is fast, but it doesn’t seem to have as full a cast as Taylor had previously built – mostly focusing on Dick with a brief cameo from Barbara. But this does work to show us exactly where his mind is right now – and how our mystery villain is going to push that to its limit.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
