“Nightwing” reaching 300 issues – yes, this is #113 of the current run, but this is the 300th issue of a Nightwing ongoing – is significant. For a company with a plethora of iconic characters, a character whose first titular comic didn’t come out until 1995 reaching this milestone is unexpected. The only other characters with self-titled comics reaching this number are DC’s heaviest hitters: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash. This issue is celebratory, but in a smaller way than some of the other legacy celebrations but that seems like an intentional decision, taking a cue from its lead character.
Illustrated by and Daniele Di Nicuolo, Brundo Redondo, and Howard Porter
Colored by Adriano Lucas and Hi-Fi
Lettered by Wes Abbot
Since the 1940’s, you’ve seen him go from acrobat to orphan; from Dick Grayson to Robin; from Robin to Nightwing. You’ve seen him work alongside the universe’s most powerful heroes, against existence’s most sinister villains. You have seen Dick Grayson do so many things, but now, in his 300th issue, you will see him…well, you’ll just have to pick up the issue and find out. Join us for this legacy 300 milestone!
The main story in this issue is an in-continuity story about Dick Grayson’s birthday and how he chooses to spend it. Tom Taylor has an excellent sense of who Dick is as a character, and so creating a birthday tradition of Dick deflecting the attention from himself to others is another example of just how well Taylor knows his assignment. Dick is, maybe, the most beloved in universe character DC has, and it is his inherent goodness that makes him a fan favorite, too. Taylor exploits all of that without it seeming like fan service in this issue.
The art for Taylor’s portion is done by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Di Nicuolo’s work has a playfulness that works really well with Dick’s perspective, which is to see the world as an inherently good place and his job is to keep it good. The way that Di Nicuolo uses each of he supporting characters reinforces Dick’s perspective through their poses/actions. Tim is closest to Dick’s physicality, while Damian tries to be as different as he can be. Babs shares the spotlight with him, reluctantly, while Bruce and Jim Gordon look on with pride. Di Nicuolo takes Taylor’s scripting of these moments and not only brings them to life, but gives them a levity that undercuts some of the potential cheesiness that such an issue could elicit.
The cheesiness is in full effect in the two page insert that is written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Bruno Redondo. The sentiment here is nice on two fronts: Dick takes his friends to ‘Marv and George’s Pizza,’ a clear nod to Wolfman and George Pérez, the folks who made Dick Grayson into Nightwing. We see Marv himself, done almost photo-realistically by Redondo, deliver lines about why Dick is great/matters. The words are nice, but coming out of his co-creator’s (sort of) literal mouth make the scene jarring and a little too meta. It is weird that they went to Wolfman and said “hey, we want you to write a scene for this issue” and his reaction was, “I know! I’ll make it just about me!” The nods to Pérez are touching and nice, but the whole section is a whiff.
Thankfully for it, the biggest whiff of the issue is the backup by Michael W. Conrad and Howard Porter, which is a silent story about Dick trying to dismantle a bomb on the subway. Porter’s work is usually fantastically fluid, but this looks rushed and sloppy, and since there’s no dialogue to help it along, it is very noticeable. This feels like something thrown on the end just to pad out the running time but hopefully isn’t a tease for the next creative team on the book. Taylor and Redondo are wrapping up their run later this year, but this team is not an inspired pair, at least not on this story.
This issue is a mixed bag due to the guest writers/artists, but the Taylor/Di Nicuolo stuff is all solid and does a nice job both celebrating the milestone nature of the issue but also continuing the run that is currently happening. In the eventual “Nightwing by Tom Taylor” omnibus, this story won’t feel out of place, which is more than can be said for most milestone issues. But the character, if he is truly the most beloved character in the DC Universe, deserves more than this.
Final Verdict: A good main story is encumbered by overly sentimental or utterly fluffy bonus material. There is a good comic in here, but the extras drag it down, instead of elevate the issue to truly being a celebration of the character’s history.
