Nightwing #50 Review

The First Rule of Nightwing...... You Don't Talk About Nightwing

Written By: Ben Percy

Art By: Travis Moore, Chris Mooneyham, Klaus Janson, Tamra Bonvillain, Nick Filardi, John Kalisz, Carlos M. Mangual

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: October 3, 2018

In the aftermath of Nightwing catching a bullet with his brain, we will now see the new status quo for the character and how he'll act going forward......... So far, he's a bit of douchebag, but that's to be expected when your memories, personality and so on and so forth have been completely altered by a flying piece of lead.  Let's jump into this over-sized issue and see what Dick Grayson is up to and how his friends and family are dealing with this new Dick.  Let's check it out.

Now like we saw when Dick Grayson became a super spy for Spyral after his supposed death at the end of Forever Evil, I bet there's going to be people out there crying "foul" or "not on my watch" when dealing with the new version of this character who wants nothing to do with being a hero and really seems to only want to be left alone while he drinks, gambles........ and breaks into people's houses who are on vacation when he wants somewhere to sleep.  That's right, it's all-new and all-different and while I can agree that this character isn't my Nightwing........ it's at least something new and interesting going on with the character and I can get behind that aspect.

Yeah, it seems like the Bat Family have been getting hit pretty hard lately and none of them really resemble the characters that they were when Rebirth began, but since I thought that this title had been getting pretty stale lately, I don't mind this change for the foreseeable future because it adds a new dynamic to him and seeing him eventually find his way back to what made people love him in the first place seems like an interesting time.  

For this issue, though, we're really just seeing what's up with Dick Grayson as of now and it's weird beyond the fact that he wants nothing to do with Nightwing or superheroes in general because he talks about not remembering things, but at one point talks about honoring his circus background, which felt weird.  The weirdest part though is how this new take and this issue, in general, feels like Dick Grayson is just out there living the plot to Fight Club and I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow going forward has an alter ego that comes out when he sleeps.  

All in all, I'm all in on this new status quo because like I said, at least it's interesting and I'm all for getting away from that Dark Web arc and having a legitimate reason that Nightwing doesn't feel like Nightwing.  Also, I liked the art enough in this issue, but the flashback stuff I wasn't too hip on, but overall, this was a solid over-sized issue that laid down who Dick Grayson is now for better or worse.  I just wish I knew a bit more about the character's recovery and what he does and doesn't know about his past because it just kind of feels like it's being thrown out there willy-nilly whenever it's convenient.

Bits and Pieces:

It's all-new, all-different Nightwing going forward and while I'm sure people are going to hate it outright, this is something that while not something that I initially love, it's something that is at least interesting and finding a new way to make this title fresh.  The art in this issue is decent and while I would have liked to know more about what's going on behind the scenes with our character, this issue did a decent job in setting up his new status quo.

7/10