Just one issue after a new era of NIGHTWING began, a new era of NIGHTWING begins!
Nightwing 51
Written by Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza
Pencils and Inks by Travis Moore and Garry Brown
Colors by Hi-Fi and Nick Filardo
In the LAST ISSUE, Dick Grayson began to deal with the consequences of being shot in the head while out on patrol with his mentor in the pages of BATMAN 55. That issue was written by Benjamin Percy, who I have been a big fan of since he started writing GREEN ARROW for DC Comics’ Rebirth era. But he’s off NIGHTWING as of the last issue, leaving us with Scott Lobdell to pick up the threads Percy started.
It’s too early to tell if that’s a good thing. His first issue is mostly a rehash of what Percy did in issue 50. Instead of telling Batgirl that he no longer wants the life he had as Dick Grayson, he tells Alfred, the man who helped raise him. And he no longer goes by Dick. Apparently, he’s Ric Grayson, now.
Outside of professional wrestling, how many people do you know that go by “Ric”? I’m having trouble coming up with any.
Ric is just going about his life, living out of his car, spending his free time at a bar called Prodigal – a little too on the nose, don’t you think? – and driving a taxi until he decides what to do next. Until someone tries to rob him, and his training kicks in and bits and pieces of his life as Nightwing start to seep back in.
But while Grayson is off having an identity crisis, a Blüdhaven police officer discovers the lair Nightwing torched at the end of the last issue. He understands that the city needs Nightwing, as crime is spiking without him, and it looks like we have a new man taking over the identity. This time with a gun.
It’s intriguing, and I’m curious to see where this is going, but Lobdell has burned me several times before. As far as first issues go, though, this was a good start.