Nightwing #79 Review

 

Pizza Party!

Writer: Tom Taylor

Artist: Bruno Redondo

Publisher: DC Comics

Release Date: April 21, 2021

Cover Price: $3.99

I loved the first issue of Nightwing so, so much!  You see, Dick Grayson is my favorite character in comics, and like other fans, I had just gotten through over two years of utter hell.   Ric Grayson?!!  I know that Wally West fans are upset about what's happened with their fav, but Dick Grayson has had the crosshairs on him for way too long.  Not anymore!  Dan Didio is gone, and Tom Taylor has arrived, and I am so stoked.  With that said, how was this issue?  Let's find out...

The issue opens with Dick and Barbara feeding their three-legged dog, Haley, and deciding to get something to eat.  I like the banter between them, and I hope that eventually, Tom Taylor gets them back to being serious with each other.  I'll take what I can get so far, but if I ever meet Dick Grayson, I will have to school him on how to hold a piece of pizza properly.

It seems Dick is figuring out what to do with his newfound wealth and what starts as a night out on the town with Babs turns into a pizza party.  I hope he helps out the pizza shop because the going out of business sign not being addressed did bother me through all of this.  Still, Tom Taylor shows that Dick Grayson is a good guy, but most of us know this already, and I need more of an overall story to get started.

We finally get to that, with a shadowy villain who seems quite scary, but for most of the issue, it feels like Tom Taylor is trying to figure out all the different ways to show Dick is the nicest guy in town.  Some of them work, some of them don't.

The pizza party is fine, but putting a father and son up in an expensive hotel felt like Dick was throwing money at problems, but he's new to this, so that I can forgive.  However, later when he tracks down some kids who stole his wallet and finds out they live in a tent city of homeless kids, just letting them keep his wallet does not feel like enough.  It felt wrong for him to zip line away and leave them there to fend for themselves.  

We do get the Maroni  Crime Family talking with Melinda Zucco, but there wasn't much going on except reminding the reader of Melinda, getting a little action scene, and teaching Barbara that the Blud is worse than Burnside.

We end with the villain I mentioned earlier, which is creepy cool, but I need Tom Taylor to get past the "Dick Grayson is great" fan service and start telling a whole book worth of story.  I still am enjoying this book, but it's way too early for me to wonder when we are going to shit or get off the pot.

I love Bruno Redondo's art, but I'm incredibly impressed with Adriano Lucas's colors.  The book pops the whole way through and especially looks great digitally.

Bits and Pieces:

Nightwing #79 didn't impress me as much as Tom Taylor's first issue of Nightwing did, but I am still excited for this book.  I need things to get moving forward a bit more.  It may be just me, but I love Dick Grayson because he's a great guy, so I don't need to be reminded of it every page at the expense of story progression.

7.5/10