Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Bruno Redondo
Colors by: Adriano Lucas
Letters by: Wes Abbott
Cover art by: Bruno Redondo
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: May 22, 2024
Nightwing #114 marks the beginning of the end when Heartless makes his final push to unleash an army on the city, starting with the destruction of Dick Grayson's reputation.
Is Nightwing #114 Good?
When last we left the world's greatest Robin, Dick Grayson received a key to the city for being the greatest guy ever in the landmark 300th issue (legacy). Yes, Heartless is still running around killing people. No, Nightwing hasn't lifted a finger to stop him. Irony, thy name is Tom Taylor.
In Nightwing #114, we catch up with Dick Grayson climbing a snowy peak, presumably on a spiritual journey to get his leap back. Shelton Lyle, aka Heartless, watches Dick's journey via satellite transmission before starting a meeting with criminals.
Moments later, Heartless enters the gathering of crime lieutenants to inform them they all work for him now as lieutenants of the Heartless Army. To secure their loyalty, Heartless lifts the curtain on a secured room where the children of all attendees are imprisoned. When one of the larger men objects, Heartless miraculously breaks the man's wrist, whips out his heart-sucking Dust Buster from thin air, and rips the man's heart out in full view of his daughter. (Yes, it's a ridiculous setup for multiple reasons, but I'll get to that in a minute.)
Elsewhere, we catch up with Nightwing patrolling Gotham (ignoring Bludhaven and Titans' duties for some reason) without leaping from roof to roof. He laments the state of wealth disparity and lack of courage among the lowly citizens, but his judgmental view gets a kick in the hypocrisy bone when he beats up a thief who only stole a chicken to feed his family.
Later, Dick and Barbara get changed into formal wear to attend a fundraising event on behalf of the Alfred Pennyworth Foundation. When Dick begins speaking at the podium, after an introduction by Bruce Wayne, Dick is suddenly badgered by the press about his association with Blockbuster. Dick is surprised to hear that the press is circulating photos of him speaking with Blockbuster and that Blockbuster donated large sums of money to the Foundation.
Suddenly, the fire alarm and sprinkler systems go off. Heartless, attending as Shelton Lyle, tells his man to get ready to rip a heart out.
What's great about Nightwing #114? After a long, meandering, negligent amount of time not dealing with Heartless, Nightwing is finally getting off his butt and handling business. If nothing else, Tom Taylor's tenure on the run will conclude a conflict that should have been finished long ago. Better late than never.
What's not so great about Nightwing #114? Setting aside Nightwing's negligence of not addressing the Heartless problem much sooner, the method by which Heartless establishes a Heartless Army makes no sense.
How did a room full of high-level crime lieutenants, with presumably violent and paranoid personalities, not all know their children were missing?
Where did Heartless get the 3-foot Dust Buster 5000, Heart-Ripping Edition, when confronted by one of the resistant crime lieutenants?
In a room packed full of very dangerous men, why didn't they simply get up and rush Heartless to free their children?
The more you think over the situation, you realize Taylor elevates Heartless by making everyone around him, including Nightwing, ineffectual or incompetent.
How's the Art? Bruno Redondo's art is fine. Redondo's pencils/inks are exceptionally clan, but there's not much punch or energy to the scenes. Further, Adriano Lucas's colors are garish to the point of pain in some of the scenes. I'm surprised by how ugly the coloring is in this issue. Lucas should know better.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Good review, but just a slight correction: the scene where Nightwing is climbing a mountain happens two weeks or so after most of the issue. So Heartless isn't monitoring him there. That is two weeks before.
ReplyDeleteAlso the heartless plot is too ridiculous especially with how long it has gone on without anyone realising at least some of his identity by now. It particularly feels like Nightwing doesn't care that much about that mystery as mush as he cares about fighting heartless which is uncharacteristic for a detective like him. I mean, by now we should at least have a list of his suspects.
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