Nightwing saves a puppy from the mob in an issue that goes all-out on visuals with a single, action-packed panel stretched across its pages. Nightwing #87 storytold by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo (as credited in the comic, but for the more traditional of you, written by Tom Taylor and drawn by Bruno Redondo), colored by Adriano Lucas and colored by Wes Abbott.
I had a blast reading this issue. It’s a gimmick, but god, it’s a fun one, and one that’s been done very well. That’s the short of it—now for the long.
Nightwing #87 made me realize that I’d been mistaken about what the hook for this run is. It’s not about Heartless, a villain who’s made a total of one proper appearance in the nine issues this run’s had so far. It’s not about Nightwing rediscovering who he is after a stint of being the widely loathed “Ric” Grayson. It’s not even about Dick Grayson: Billionaire and Dick’s plans to make lasting change in Blüdhaven through the magical power of infinite money. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that where the run suffers most is when it tries to be about those things.
The hook for this team’s run on Nightwing is having as much fun with the character as possible, and when that’s the focus, it soars. And that’s what this issue has done.
As the solicit will have told you, this entire issue can be read as a single panel. It’s not technically true—readers with physical copies aren’t given a 20 page fold-out. Digitally speaking, my Amazon Kindle version (the only version of comic I’m really able to buy here in India) didn’t come as one long image I could scroll through. Nooo, I had to painstakingly screenshot every page and line ‘em all up together in Paint to create the giant panel reading experience this issue is apparently intended to be. Even then, in order to actually see anything I had to continually zoom in and out of the panel to get a proper sense of what this comic’s supposed to be. It’s XKCD’s Click and Drag all over again.
Reader. I loved XKCD’s Click and Drag—and if this if your first time hearing about it, I recommend you click the above hyperlink and explore it yourself.
Much like Click and Drag (last time I’m mentioning it, I promise), this issue is crammed full of Easter Eggs well worth taking the time to explore. A dig at Gail Simone for a social media in-joke, Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine, some fun graffiti, a reminder that Heartless still exists, a possible tease for a future character, and a bunch I probably missed. Redondo has a clear sense of what he wants Blüdhaven to feel like, and the wealth of background characters filling every page, the streets Nightwing speeds through; it’s a beautiful snapshot of a city at sunset. They may just get a single appearance on a single “panel” in this book, but I’ve suddenly got a lot of love for Blüdhaven’s citizens. My favorite is the homeless child by the river who’s made her own version of Nightwing’s escrima sticks, striking a heroic pose as the real Nightwing chases down bad guys in the distance, oblivious.
There are little nods that Nightwing has proven an inspiration to Blüdhaven. We see the aforementioned graffiti, the child and the man who straight up gives Nightwing his bike so he can transition seamlessly into a car chase (despite speed being entirely unnecessary given that there’s a tracker in Haley’s collar). It’s a lot more effective than any one scene trying to show the same might be. Storytelling via background details, I’m fascinated.
I should probably mention the story, only no, not this issue. The story is about as throwaway as it can be – mobsters steal the puppy of newly announced billionaire Dick Grayson. Nightwing chases them, then teams up with Batgirl to get Haley back. I’d say you barely even need to pay attention to the dialogue or caption boxes, but there are points where it does help keep track of the action’s flow. There’s a break in the action about three-quarters in, as Nightwing waits for Batgirl to catch up and late evening turns to night that the dialogue emphasises. The words are snappy, light, keep the pace, but, honestly, are best thought of as background noise.
The words you should be paying attention to are Wes Abbot’s sound effects. There’s a real classic charm to them. The variety of the lettering and little sound effects does a lot towards keeping up the comic’s lively pace, as words dance across the page, with bangs, pinks, speeyows and spaks chasing Nightwing across the page; screeches and vrrms making dangerous turnings around the bridge doing a lot more evocative work than motion lines ever could.
Because despite being an all-out action issue, there are no motion lines in the entire thing. Redondo’s style of filling the page with multiple iterations of the same figure to denote action is pure comic book magic. The norm in comics is to have the “past” images of a character somewhat faded, with only their “present” image filled, to help readers follow the action and keep track of where a particular character has ended up. Having nearly every iteration be in full bold, though, gives the reader a lot of power. Pull back, and you can almost feel the action flow in front of your eyes as you follow it, left to right. Zoom in, and it’s a perfect pause. You get to choose where the “panels” are – where to focus the action, and how to follow it.
I found myself spending a lot of time lingering in one of the final action scenes, following the path of Nightwing’s escrima stick, rewinding to track Batgirl’s glass-shattering entrance, marvelling at how well they timed it, and admiring the grace of their movements and how perfectly it all syncs up—then replaying it a few more times before moving on. There’s a freedom here you rarely get outside of a video game (speaking of which, I felt that thud as Nightwing landed on a van, flashing back to about a hundred Spider-Man missions requiring you do accomplish the same thing).
Redondo’s action, though, has a clarity to it that makes it all extremely easy to follow. There’s such a clear sense of how the action flows, and Nightwing’s blend of technical perfection and an acrobat’s grace gets the perfect showcase.
Redondo’s art is very much the star of this issue, but Adriano Lucas’ colors are what makes it all so breathtakingly gorgeous. Gotham is the night, but Blüdhaven is a sunset city, and Lucas washes the entire evening with glows of oranges touched with pink, buildings painted with the blues of early evening and twilight. Pulling out far enough to be able to see the entire issue at once, you can see daylight fading as your eyes move from left to right. The issue’s biggest time jump happens right at the point where you can let your eyes linger on Blüdhaven harbor, watching the lights twinkle in bright orange waters as Nightwing waits for night to fall. Lucas’ lights are hypnotic – the streetlamps being my favorite bit of magic lighting up the city’s streets.
Nightwing #87 feels like Nightwing at his best. Technically perfect, a joy to behold, always moving, always inspiring, and deeply aware of the city he’s a part of. As much of a pain as it is to read this comic as intended, it’s absolutely worth the effort (no, I’m not sharing my giant image with you [well, okay, my editor Matt gets one]), and a sneaky, very last minute entry for becoming one of my favorite issues of the year.
