Nightwing Annual #2 Review

What Made Dick, Ric

Written By: Dan Jurgens

Art By: Travis Moore, Nick Filardi, Andworld Design

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: October 30, 2019

I don't know if you know this or not, but awhile back Nightwing was shot in the head by KGBeast, leaving our hero not knowing who he was beyond his childhood memories.  Pretty much, he just wasn't Nightwing or Dick Grayson as we know him at all and more importantly, he didn't want to be those things either.  This Annual is going to take us on Ric's road to recovery after he was shot and show us what happened before he went off to Bludhaven to start his new life......... which really, it's about time we saw something dealing with that.  Let's jump into this issue and check it out.

For this Annual we see a very slow paced story that introduces us to Dr. Haas, Ric's specialist that Bruce Wayne flew in from Switzerland so that she could oversee Ric's recovery and with that, Ric recalls what he remembers after waking up in the hospital.  This is a pretty basic story for the most part, where we see Bruce, Damian, Barbara Gordon and Alfred waiting for the news that Dick will be the man that they've always known and love, only for them to be torn apart emotionally when they realize that he doesn't remember any of them and it's in these scenes that the book shines........ especially when it come to Damian.  

Beyond Ric's recovery though, we're presented with the best memory that our former hero has in the form of old relatives that take him and his family in while their in Bludhaven, during the Thanksgiving holiday and while this bit is a little slow as well, it does a great job in bringing the Court of Owls into the focus of not only what Dick would encounter during that arc, but what we're dealing with now in the current arc in the series and actually seeing that the Ric that we've come to know over the last year or so was actually manipulated way more into being this current incarnation than simply being shot in the head, which actually opens up this new status quo for our hero in new and interesting ways that gets me excited for what's to come.

All in all, this Annual has fantastic art, even if it's for the most part just showing us Ric..... or Richard as he's called in this Annual, sitting around and recalling what he remembers.  Yeah, not a lot of action to be found here, but the emotional moments really do shine and the way that it opens up the story that we've been dealing with was done in a very skillful way that leaves me very intrigued with what the future will hold for Ric Grayson.  Even without the action and a lot of this story really just reminding us about what we already know about what happened to Ric, there's some great stuff here and I can't wait to see where our current story takes us.

Bits and Pieces:

Yeah, you'll get a lot of what you've already learned about what made Dick Grayson, Ric Grayson, but you'll also get so much more as well that really just opens up the story in new and interesting ways.  We got some great art and while it doesn't have to do anything too dynamic with this low key story, everyone looked great throughout.  Thankfully this Annual did something unique because it brings new interest in a series that was starting to feel tired.

7.5/10